Country Reports
(Updated December 2003)
Bringing together data on current or recent events
poses special problems, mainly because in most cases the results of
investigations undertaken by state organs take a long time to become
available. In addition, the data collection takes place under severe
time pressure, and scientific studies covering the monitoring period
are often yet to be presented.
Furthermore, the NFPs in the individual Member States are faced with
very different starting conditions as to the collation of data on anti-Semitic
incidents. In Greece, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Finland
there is neither a specific recording of anti-Semitic incidents by the
police or responsible state security agencies, nor NGOs, which specialise
in the collection of such data. In these countries the information comes
almost exclusively from Jewish organisations and the media. In other
countries, such as Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and
the United Kingdom, no data from state agencies was available at the
time this report was compiled (data collated by state agencies is mostly
published annually, in the second half of the following year); however,
at the same time there exist networks of NGOs in these countries which
deal with racism and anti-Semitism and, besides the aforementioned data
sources, collect and provide information. Finally, there are countries,
like Germany and Austria, in which state agencies record and classify
anti-Semitic crimes according to specific categories; here, too, there
are also numerous NGOs and research institutions dealing with racism
and anti-Semitism.
In addition, with the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
and the American Jewish Committee there are organizations, which monitor
anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, commission polls on current public
opinion and media analyses, and immediately publish (reports, Internet)
their findings. The Stephen Roth Institute (Tel Aviv) and the Institute
of Jewish Policy Research (London) also compile national reports on
anti-Semitism covering almost all EU Member States, whereby these reports
are naturally first published one or two years later.
The data was collected essentially through the following methods:
– Inquiries at the police, state security agencies and ministries
of the interior
– Interviews with or questions posed by telephone/in writing to
Jewish organisations
– Inquiries at NGOs which have specialised in monitoring racism
and anti-Semitism
– Analysis and evaluation of the media (newspapers, TV)
– Research on the Internet
– Evaluation of research studies, media analyses, opinion polls.
A detailed description of sources used can be found in the Annex “Reporting
institutions and data sources”.
For this Synthesis Report, the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism
(CRA), Berlin, unified and supplemented the submitted NFP reports. Furthermore,
the attempt was made to balance out the different evaluations provided
by the NFPs on anti-Israeli prejudices. Some NFPs have not classified
anti-Israeli prejudices as anti-Semitic, whereas others have very precisely
distinguished between a criticism of Israel that is not to be evaluated
per se as anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli stereotypes which clearly utilise
anti-Semitic prejudices. In compiling the Synthesis Report the CRA was
able to draw on surveys, data and some media and Internet sources published
after the deadline for submitting the NFP reports. These sources provided
additional information on the individual countries. Furthermore, to
be able to identify trends and developments over time, the CRA studied
materials on anti-Semitic incidents prior to 2002 for the individual
countries. Based on anti-Semitism reports up to 2001 and other sources,
the aim of this presentation was to provide a context for the evaluation
of the monitoring period.
Also the CRA had to compile reports for two countries
on its own: neither the National Focal Points from the Netherlands nor
from the United Kingdom provided reports. The differing length of the
individual country reports mirrors not only the degree and frequency
of anti-Semitic attacks and prejudices in the individual countries (Belgium,
Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom), but also the
intensity of monitoring by institutional and state agencies and the
sensitivity towards anti-Semitic incidents.
Sources:
C.R.I.F. - Released by the European Jewish Congress |