Insufficient monitoring and recording hinder efforts to effectively tackle widespread antisemitism

The report 'Monitoring and recording antisemitism in the EU' shows the gaps and discrepancies in how Member States record antisemitic incidents. It suggests what authorities can do to improve the recording of antisemitic incidents, which have risen following the Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing Israeli military intervention in Gaza.

Drawing on existing tools and guidance, the report suggests the following steps that countries should take to improve their recording systems:

• Monitor and record antisemitism: countries capture different types of information according to how they categorise and define antisemitism. This can lead to many countries appearing to have a low number of officially recorded incidents. Some countries do not record any incidents at all. National authorities need efficient hate crime recording mechanisms for police to record acts of antisemitism. Human rights statutory bodies can also support improving the monitoring and recording of antisemitism.
• Recognise antisemitism: hate crime recording systems do not always explicitly flag antisemitic incidents. This can be due to data protection concerns with regards to logging a victim's ethnicity or religion. Police officers need to be able to identify and record the antisemitic bias behind incidents reported to them. This would require specialised training.
• Exchange practices and provide resources: there is a lot of guidance and tools on collecting data and recording antisemitic incidents. Exchanging good practices in existing EU-wide conferences and working groups would facilitate further peer learning among national authorities, the police and human rights bodies. Ultimately, operationalising such good practices requires sufficient resources for implementation.
• Civil society cooperation: FRA surveys regularly reveal large-scale under-reporting of antisemitism. Involving civil society and Jewish community organisations can help encourage victims and witnesses to report incidents and build trust between Jewish communities and the police.
• Learn from diverse stakeholders: input from diverse stakeholders is needed to effectively tackle antisemitism. Bringing together the police, the judiciary, civil society, tech companies, human rights statutory bodies and Jewish community organisations would encourage reporting and improve hate crime recording.
• Surveys: FRA's antisemitism surveys capture the lived experiences of Jews across Europe. Regular national surveys would allow countries to better tailor their efforts to effectively counter antisemitism.

The report highlights EU and national commitments to tackling antisemitism and identifies existing guidance and support structures. It covers data from all EU countries, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. The accompanying country overviews provide more detailed information with official administrative and data from international, governmental and non-governmental sources, as well as human rights statutory bodies, where available.

FRA, and its predecessor, the EU Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, have been publishing overviews of antisemitic incidents since 2004.

Quote from FRA Director Sirpa Rautio:

"Jews across Europe continue to face persistent antisemitism. Countering this requires concerted efforts underpinned by robust data that captures the full scale of antisemitism in Europe. Only then we can hold offenders to account, get justice for victims and foster a Europe where Jews can live their lives freely and openly."

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