National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2015

National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2015 is run by Stop Hate UK from Saturday 10th October to Saturday 17th October. It aims to tackle hate crime issues by raising awareness of what hate crime is and how to respond to it, encourage reporting, and promote local support services and resources.

• People across the UK will be tweeting using hashtag #‎NHCAW
• The public services of Wales will be tweeting using hashtag #HCAWCymru15

Hate crimes are any crimes that are targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards:

• disability
• race or ethnicity
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• transgender identity.

The crimes can be committed against a person or property. A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted; anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.

Hate crime can take many forms including:

• physical attacks such as assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson
• threat of attack including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls
• groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded, malicious complaints
• verbal abuse, insults or harassment - taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school.

All hate crimes and incidents should be reported to the Police, whether you have been a victim, a witness or you are reporting on behalf of someone else.