New NI campaign to target hate crimes

An advertising campaign aimed at drawing attention to the rising numbers of hate crimes taking place in Northern Ireland has been launched.

According to figures from the PSNI there has been a sharp rise in the number of racist, homophobic, sectarian, religious and disability related incidents reported over the past few years.

During April 2006 to March 2007, there were 1,047 racist incidents, 155 homophobic incidents, 136 faith / religion incidents, 1,695 sectarian incidents and 48 disability related incidents. This compares with 936 racial incidents, 220 homophobic incidents, 70 faith/religion incidents, 1,701 sectarian incidents and 70 disability related incidents reported to the PSNI from April 2005 to March 2006.

The new campaign will run for the next month in areas where high incidents of hate crime have taken place. These areas include Belfast, Craigavon, Ballymena, Dungannon, Lisburn, Coleraine, Magherafelt and Foyle.

Last February, a survey carried out by researchers at the University of Ulster suggested Northern Ireland was one of the most intolerant places in the western world. People in the North, it found, were the least likely to want to live beside someone of a different race and were more opposed to migrant workers than most of the 19 countries surveyed. They were also the most unabashedly homophobic.

Speaking today, assistant chief constable Drew Harris, head of Criminal Justice and ACPO lead for Hate Crime, said that whilst reports of hate crime to police had increased he believed that this was an indication that individuals felt more confident about reporting such incidents to police. However he added that there is still under-reporting of such incidents.

"Reporting hate crime is one way of ensuring that further incidents are prevented and offenders are brought to justice. We want to encourage people, whether they are victims of a crime or witnesses to an incident, to report it to police," said Mr Harris.

In March 2007, a scheme aimed at providing personal and home security measures for victims of hate crimes in Northen Ireland was launched. It provided 24 hours a day support and reassurance to victims and help with repairing broken windows and getting rid of graffiti painted on homes.