On extending the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime

The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality calls on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

A.whereas gender-based hate speech and hate crimes disproportionately affect women; whereas young women and women in the public sphere are targeted by hate speech in particular; whereas women facing intersectional discrimination experience exacerbated hate speech and hate crimes;

B.whereas multiple factors, such as patriarchal societal structures, unequal power relations and gender stereotyping, fuel hate speech and hate crimes against women;

C.whereas anti-gender movements are internationally connected and spread rhetoric against anyone who does not fall under the norms of the heteronormative, patriarchal society;

D.whereas hate speech often starts as an act of bias, which can then lead to motivated violence; whereas hate speech and hate crimes have an enormous psychological and physical impact on individual women and a detrimental impact on society as a whole;

1.Calls on the Council to conclude a Council decision including hate speech and hate crimes as an area of crime within the meaning of Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as soon as possible;

2.Calls on the Commission to include an explicit definition of gender-based hate speech and hate crimes when legislation is proposed;

3.Welcomes the Commission proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, and the inclusion of minimum rules for the definition of the offence of hatred online and cyber-violence; calls on the Commission to ensure that this directive serves as a minimum standard when it comes to legislation tackling online hate speech and hate crimes;

4.Calls on the Commission to actively research, analyse and report on anti-gender movements, including their strategies and funding.