Czech Republic: New handbook advises foreign nationals on how to respond to hate

Foreigners who become the target of hateful assaults in the Czech Republic can find advice on how to address their situations in a new handbook. Instructions on how to report a crime and what a criminal investigation and trial entails are described there.

Necessary contacts are also provided in the book. It is available in Arabic, Czech, English, Russian and Vietnamese and can be downloaded from the Internet.

The In IUSTITIA organization, which produced the handbook, informed the Czech News Agency about it yesterday. That organization wants to make it easier for asylum-seekers and immigrants to access justice and feel safe in the Czech Republic.

During 2014 In IUSTITIA tracked 86 cases of hate violence in the Czech Republic. The incidents most frequently happened because of the actual or perceived ethnicity, nationality or religion of the people who were targeted.

According to the organization, the number of assaults committed by "ordinary people" – those who do not belong to an extremist movement – has increased. The growth in Islamophobia is one of the most significant trends.

In 2011 the group tracked 57 cases of hate violence. The phenomenon includes everything from damage to buildings and property, to intimidation, to online assault through social networks, physical attacks, sexual assault, threats, verbal attacks and murder.

Perpetrators commit the violence because of the actual or perceived age, disability, ethnicity, group membership, homelessness, nationality, political conviction, religion, sexual orientation or skin color of the persons targeted. "Readers can learn what to do in any given situation – how to file a criminal report, what will happen when they do so, how the interrogation will go, what their responsibilities are, what happens during a court proceedings, what the survivor of an attack can do and what his or her rights are," said Aneta Dufková of In IUSTITIA.

The handbook was created as part of a project called "Safe in Your New Home". Its aim is to improve foreign nationals’ access to justice if they have been targeted by hate violence.

The organization has been informing migrants about their rights, providing them with advice and in some cases with attorneys. In IUSTITIA has been focused on preventing hate violence and aiding survivors of hate violence since 2009.

The organization currently works in Brno, České Budějovice, Kladno and Prague. Since last year its mobile counseling center has been running as well.