Hate crimes can be considered to be the most severe form of discrimination. This also means that hate crimes can be based on all the grounds on which discrimination occurs. It is important to be well informed about these grounds to properly identify hate crimes.
When a hate crime is committed, the perpetrator has chosen the victim because of certain characteristics possessed by the victim. Directly, Ukrainian law considers the offenses to be hate crimes if they were committed because of a bias on the grounds of, race, nationality (ethnicity), religion and sex. Meanwhile, Ukrainian law separately also recognizes that deliberate actions aimed at inciting hatred, as well as direct and indirect restriction of the rights of citizens on certain grounds, may be accompanied by violence. In this case, the protected characteristics are: race, colour, political, religious and other beliefs, gender, disability, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, language or other characteristics (so, there is an open list of characteristics).
Ukrainian law also recognizes that hate crimes with a motive to incite social hatred or enmity may be committed because of a bias on other grounds not exclusively listed in the law. These grounds should be thoroughly investigated by the public authorities in each individual case. Such other (common) grounds may be, for example, person’s sexual orientation.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s racial or ethnic origin or nationality, this can be considered to be a hate crime.
There are reasonable doubts about the appropriateness of using the term "race" and derivatives from it ("racial origin", etc.) due to the doubtful scientific justification of the very concept of "race". However, the term "race" is widely used in international law and in the national legislation of Ukraine. The UN definition of racial group is based on the hereditary physical traits often identified with a geographical region, irrespective of linguistic, cultural, national or religious factors.
Racial or ethnic origin refers to people who are defined by race, colour (darker or lighter skin), descent, national or ethnic origin. Sometimes this origin may be based on a shared understanding of history, territorial origin (regional or national), particular cultural characteristics such as a language or religion, or a shared sense of belonging to the same community, ethnic majority or minority. Examples of these may be Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish or Roma, etc.
Nationality refers to a legal relationship between an individual person and a state. Some people are stateless, which means that the individual has no formal or protective relationship with any state.
example The perpetrators detonated a bomb in an airport because they hate all foreigners that enter the country.
Read more about discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s religion or beliefs, this can be considered to be a hate crime. “Religion or belief” means that the person adheres to a particular religion (or not), has a religious background, other (usually philosophical or political) beliefs, or has decided not to adopt a certain religion or beliefs.
example A mosque was attacked during the usual prayers. After the attack, police found anti-Islamic posters in the perpetrator’s flat.
Read more about discrimination based on religion or beliefs.
If a person becomes a victim, due to the person’s age, this can be considered to be a hate crime. Age refers to being of a certain age or within a certain age bracket, or being young or old.
example During an attack on a youth club, the perpetrator shouted ageist slurs at the attendees, who were mostly young students.
Read more about discrimination based on age.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s sex, gender or gender expression, this can be considered to be a hate crime. ‘Sex’ refers to a person’s biological status. ‘Gender’ refers to the roles that are given to people in society based on their sex. ‘Gender expression’ refers to a person's behaviour, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender.
example A person was attacked for wearing a skirt in a country where skirts are usually worn by another gender.
There is no such protected characteristic as gender in the Ukrainian criminal legislation.
Read more about discrimination based on sex and gender.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s (dis)ability, this can be considered to be a hate crime. Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments (for example, as a result of a curable or non-curable illness).
example A person with mobility impairment attacked a person without disabilities. Later the police discovered that the perpetrator had written several posts on social media directed at people without disabilities.
Read more about discrimination based on disability.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s social status, this can be considered to be a hate crime. ‘Social status’ refers to a person’s social standing in society and the relative level of respect, honour, or assumed competence possessed by the person.
A group of teenagers systematically committed violent attacks on the homeless. The group chat, in which the teens chatted on messenger, was called "Street Cleaners" and contained statements indicating a conscious intention to select the victims of the attacks from among the "vagrants.
Language refers to a person’s native language, their knowledge of or proficiency in the official (state) language and proficiency in other languages. This also can refer to someone’s use of language and the characteristics of their speech such as accent, size of vocabulary, and syntax.
example Group of persons attending German language courses were attacked and the perpetrator shouted insulting slurs about German language, Germany and Nazi regime.
Read more about discrimination based on language.
If a person becomes a victim due to the person’s sexual orientation, this can be considered to be a hate crime. Sexual orientation means a person’s attraction towards the opposite sex (heterosexual), their own sex (homosexual – gay or lesbian) or both sexes (bisexual).
example A gay couple’s apartment was broken into and trashed. The perpetrator left a note with homophobic slurs in it.
Read more about discrimination based on sexual orientation.
A person could become a victim due to a perpetrator’s bias on several grounds simultaneously.
example A Roma gay couple was attacked while walking in the park. The perpetrator shouted various slurs directed at the victims’ Roma origin, and their sexual orientation, before attacking them.