SUKURS - projekt przeciwko przemocy motywowanej nienawiścią

Hate Crimes Victims Aid Service in Wroclaw

In mid-June 2010 Nomada Association started a project aiming to assist people who have encountered different types of violence and discrimination because of their origins, appearance, religion, social status, political views, etc. Such people, in legal and human English terminology, are called Hate Crimes Victims. In various countries, this concept is being explained in different ways: the violence of hatred, violence motivated by hatred, right-wing violence, violence motivated by prejudice, hate crimes, etc. No matter what you call it, one thing is certain: violence and discrimination exist in Poland and therefore Nomada Association implements a project referring to this topic. This problem is not only conceptually, but also institutionally neglected. From our own observations and the Association for Legal Intervention reports comes the conclusion that police and courts ignore the existence of hate crimes, yet according to the Polish Criminal Code a person committing an offence of racial discrimination should be criminally liable (Article 119 par. 1 KK).

Law enforcement agencies often understate the problem by not wanting to accept or even preventing the submission of the offense notice. In most of the cases the fact that the victim is a foreigner, a person who doesn’t speak Polish fluently or a socially excluded person, often having no idea about one’s rights or fearing of contact with public services is being used. That is why we decided to create a trained group of people whose job is to grant direct basic assistance. The tasks are ranging from calming a person and helping to reach a safe place, helping contacting police in order to make a crime notice, if it is possible and the victim is willing to, filing official complaints against police (depending on situation). Additionally, if the individual case would be appropriate and the victim would be willing to, we are ready to help contacting the media and making the story public. Our direct experience shows that the support of media and positive assessment of public opinion are in favor of a quick and positive solution to the matter both at the police and in court.

Project objective

The main objective of this project is to provide a basis for Hate Crimes Victims Aid Service in Wroclaw. To implement the actions we will complete the following tasks:

Conducting field researc
Providing assistance to socially excluded people by basic counseling and legal advice (even conducting a lawsuit if necessary) by a group of trained experts
Creating a network of contacts and cooperation between organizations, institutions and groups that assist people at risk of potential violence, racial hatred, or have contact with groups who are vulnerable to this type of violence and discrimination
Monitoring media and police statistics to track cases of hate attacks and monitoring of such (that is: what happened, why, whether the crime was reported to the police, what was it classified as and if the case went to court).

Who are we looking for

For the project we are looking for both volunteers and partners, in particular:

Volunteers to conduct field research (participant observation, interviews, questionnaires) among people who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and hate-motivated violence, including among others: homeless, foreigners and immigrants, ethnic and religious minorities. We offer training, original work, opportunity to meet interesting people. The experience of conducting field research raises awareness of human rights and multiculturalism.
Students and graduates of law and psychology interested in the topic of violence motivated by hate who want to expand their education and provide advice and assistance to people discriminated against because of their origin, appearance, opinion, religion or social. We offer a series of professional training and the opportunity to gain experience. In some cases it will be possible to complete an internship in our organization.

- trainers in:

basic legal assistance to people facing discrimination and the various kinds of violence motivated by hatred (in particular making notice of the offense, filing complaints, observing the work of the courts during court hearings, rights of hate crimes victims, regulations governing the issue of hate violence)
basic psychological assistance (how to talk to socially excluded people, often after trauma, what to look for, how to fight stereotypes and prejudices, how to convince people to the problem of hate violence and encourage them to combat it)
intercultural communication (customs and cultural differences, how to cooperate and talk to culturally different and / or socially excluded people)
mediation and cooperation with media, police and public administration

If you are interested in the project please contact us via e-mail.

+48 71 307 03 35

Hate crime

Point of support

Hate Crimes Victims Aid Service in Wroclaw