WASHINGTON - October 8 - Praising House passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation that was included in the Department of Defense authorization bill, Human Rights First noted the victory sets the stage for renewed U.S. influence to combat hate crimes abroad. The bill is expected to gain Senate approval next week.

"Today's victory is an important step forward in strengthening the U.S. government's response to these vicious and violent acts," stated Tad Stahnke, Human Rights First's Director of Policy and Programs. "This measure fills critical gaps in the response to this problem at home, while also sending an important message to foreign governments who struggle with similar problems in their countries. It demonstrates that U.S. lawmakers are committed to tackling these problems at home and will enable the U.S. to more effectively encourage other governments to strengthen their responses to hate crimes."

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act strengthens existing laws by giving the Department of Justice (DOJ) the power in certain cases to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence by providing the DOJ with jurisdiction over crimes of violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also makes grants available to state and local communities to train law enforcement officers or assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias-motivated crimes. The measure has been endorsed by 26 state Attorneys General, a number of the nation's most important law enforcement organizations, more than 275 national civil rights, professional, civic, education, and religious groups. President Obama has also indicated his support for these much-needed reforms.

Human Rights First noted that, in 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigations documented 7,624 U.S. hate crimes directed against institutions and individuals because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or disability. According to HRF's 2008 Hate Crimes Survey, similar violent hate crimes are on the rise across Europe and the former Soviet Union, a region where the majority of governments are failing to adequately address the problem. The United States has led efforts to confront this scourge through its foreign policy and engagement in multilateral institutions such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. While an increasing number of European states are adopting hate crime legislation, there are few signs that it is consistently applied and only 13 of the 56 states reviewed by Human Rights First have legislation that extends to bias based on sexual orientation. The adoption and enforcement of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act and implementation of a series of other key reforms would carry significant weight as the United States seeks to encourage foreign leaders to toughen their own hate crimes response.

We call on the government of the United States to demonstrate continued international leadership in multilateral organizations, advocate measures to combat hate crime in bilateral relationships, and expand efforts to support civil society organizations, by taking the following steps:

• Raising violent hate crime issues with representatives of foreign governments and encouraging, where appropriate, legal and other policy responses, including those contained in Human Rights First's ten-point plan for governments to combat violent hate crime.

• Offer appropriate technical assistance and other forms of cooperation, including training of police and prosecutors in investigating, recording, reporting and prosecuting violent hate crimes as well as translation of Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) materials on hate crimes.   

• Ensuring that groups working to combat all forms of violent hate crime have access to support under existing U.S. funding programs, including the Human Rights and Democracy Fund and programs for human rights defenders.

• Take the lead in the adoption of Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) decision in December 2009 that reaffirms the commitment of member states to combat all hate crimes, including those motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity bias. 

• Provide for extrabudgetary contributions, secondment of personnel, and other in-kind support for OSCE programs to combat violent hate crimes through reporting on states' responses as well as programs to train law enforcement officials and civil society organizations.

• Maintain strong and inclusive State Department monitoring and public reporting on racist, antisemitic, xenophobic, anti-Muslim, homophobic, anti-Roma and other bias-motivated violence-including by consulting with civil society groups as well as providing appropriate training for human rights officers and other relevant mission staff abroad. 

For more information about Human Rights First's work to combat hate crimes in the U.S. and abroad, visit http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/discrimination/index.aspx.