Thirty one countries adopt working definition of antisemitism | The Jewish Chronicle

2016/06/02 Leave a comment

Interesting that IHRA adopted the broader definition, discussed during my time as Canadian head of delegation (2010) rather than the narrower revised definition of the European Fundamental Rights Agency (see EU Parliament’s Israel-relations czar defends removed anti-Semitism definition | The Times of Israel). The difference between the two is that the broader definition includes certain aspects of criticism of Israel in the definition:

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has adopted a working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA, which is made up of 31 member countries, and has a unique mandate to focus on education, research and remembrance of the Holocaust, agreed on the non-legally binding definition last month. The definition states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

Sir Eric Pickles, UK Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues and Head of the UK delegation to the IHRA said:

“I am delighted that IHRA has adopted, by consensus, this working definition of antisemitism, and I particularly congratulate our chairman Mihnea Constantinescu from Romania for his leadership on this issue. With this definition agreed by 31 countries, we can step up our efforts in the fight against antisemitism internationally.”

IHRA Chair, Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu said: “By adopting this working definition, the IHRA is setting an example of responsible conduct for other international fora and hopes to inspire them also to take action on a legally binding working definition.”

Source: Thirty one countries adopt working definition of antisemitism | The Jewish Chronicle

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EU States Fail to Record Anti-Semitism as Incidents Increase

2015/10/02 Leave a comment

A reminder of the importance of collecting reliable, and to the extent possible, consistent data.

The StatsCan Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2012 is such an example, particularly useful given the inter-group comparisons by ethnicity and religion, and is more objective than statistics collected by individual groups.

A report published Wednesday by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in Vienna finds that anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise throughout Europe, but the virtual absence of proper data collection and “gross under-reporting” make it difficult to trace the trend accurately.

“Despite the serious negative consequences of anti-Semitism for Jewish populations in particular, as the FRA’s relevant survey showed … evidence collected by FRA consistently shows that few EU Member States operate official data collection mechanisms that record antisemitic incidents in any great detail,” the report says. It points out that “this lack of systematic data collection contributes to gross underreporting of the nature and characteristics of anti-Semitic incidents that occur in the EU. It also limits the ability of policy makers and other relevant stakeholders at national and international levels to take measures and implement courses of action to combat antisemitism effectively and decisively, and to assess the effectiveness of existing policies. Incidents that are not reported are also not investigated and prosecuted, allowing offenders to think that they can carry out such attacks with relative impunity.”

But even where data do exist, according to the report, “they are generally not comparable, not least because they are collected using different methodologies and sources across EU Member States. Furthermore, while official data collection systems are generally based on police records and/or criminal justice data, authorities do not always categorize incidents motivated by anti-Semitism under that heading.”

Source: The Jewish Press » » Report: EU States Fail to Record Anti-Semitism as Incidents Increase

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