Activities of Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA related to 2023/2068(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on extending the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime
Amendments (16)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas gender-based and sexist hate speech and hate crimes disproportionately affect women1 ; whereas young women and women in the public sphere are targeted by hate speech in particular; whereas some groups of women facing intersectional discrimination experience exacerbated hate speech and hate crimessuch as women with disabilities, migrant, racialised women such as women from ethnic minorities, black women and women of colour, older women, women with lower education levels, women with health problems, and LGBTIQ+ people are confronted with exacerbated and different layers of hate speech and hate crimes combining sexism with other forms of intolerance or discrimination; _________________ 1 Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy, ‘Combating Sexist Hate Speech’, 2016.
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas sexist hate speech takes many forms both online and offline, notably victim blaming and re- victimisation; “slut-shaming”; body- shaming”; image-based sexual abuse, brutal and sexualised threats of death, rape and violence; offensive comments on appearance, sexuality, sexual orientation or gender roles; but also false compliments or supposed jokes, using humour to humiliate and ridicule the target;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas multiple factors, such as patriarchal societal structures, unequal power relations and gender stereotyping, fuel hate speech and hate crimes against women and gender non-conforming people; Whereas they experience this hate online, but also offline in a variety of settings, including the public space, workplace, schools or public transport;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas women who are public figures, in particular politicians, are particular targets of online or offline violence and hate speech; whereas women and LGBTIQ+ rights defenders and women journalists experience more hate than their male counterparts; whereas the aim of sexist hate speech is to humiliate or objectify, to undervalue women’s skills and opinions, to destroy their reputation, to make them feel vulnerable and fearful, and to control and punish them for not following certain behaviour; whereas sexist hate speech seeks to silence women and gender non-conforming people, undermine their freedom of speech and limit their movements and participation in diverse human activities;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas many women and gender non confirming people are facing daily online threats of murder, sexual assault or rape and often they are not taken seriously by law-enforcement officials and by society as a whole; whereas when reporting this cyber violence, they are still sometimes discredited and stigmatised, resulting in these crimes going underreported and underestimated;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas, at present, 15 Member States do not include gender identity in hate speech law; whereas statistics show that hate speech against LGBTIQ+ people is pervasively common, in particular online, and there is a notable absence of laws in some Member States to prevent, address and penalise such forms of online abuse;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Urges the Commission to include sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics as discrimination grounds specifically covered by hate crime and hate speech as a new area of crime under Article 83(1); considers such a measure to be essential to ensure the protection of LGBTIQ+ persons in the Union;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and Member States to include an explicit definition of gender-based hate speech and hate crimes, which includes sexist hate speech and misogynistic assaults and related penalties when legislation is proposed;
Amendment 63 #
3. Welcomes the Commission proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, and the inclusion of minimum rules for the definition of the offence of hatred online and cyber-violence; calls on the Commission to ensure that this directive serves as a minimum standard when it comes to legislation tackling online hate speech and hate crimescyber incitement to violence or hatred; underlines that in order to ensure that online material qualifies as cyber incitement to violence or hatred, such material should be assessed based on the criteria laid down in the UN Rabat Action Plan ;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls on the Council to activate the passerelle clause by adopting a unanimous decision identifying gender- based violence as one a new of the areas of crime listed in Article 83(1) of the TFEU in view of combatting all forms of gender based violence in a coherent, holistic and coordinated way across the EU;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to pay particular attention to the intersectional forms of gender- based hate speech and hate crime targeted at women and girls from a racial and ethnic background, migrant women, those with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ people;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to actively research, analyse and report on anti-gender movements, including their strategies and funding.strategies and funding; recalls that the labelling of LGBTIQ+ people as an ‘ideology’ is growing in online and offline communication and in campaigns against so-called ‘gender ideology’; highlights that feminists and LGBTIQ+ activists are often the targets of defamation campaigns, online hate speech and cyberbullying;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on Member States to ensure that professionals and practitioners likely to come into contact with victims of hate speech and hate, crime such as law enforcement, lawyers and judicial authorities, health professionals, school teachers receive evidence-based training aiming to provide targeted support and assistance, prevent secondary victimisation and stigma and ensure a human rights based, intersectional, and gender sensitive response;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on Member states and the EC to support civil society organisations fighting all forms of online and offline gender based violence, particularly those that provide victim support services, including by providing financial support; Calls to promote the ethical and privacy- by-design development and use of technological solutions that support victims and help them to regain agency and contribute to protect victims in the online space; calls for the full accountability of perpetrators and for the promotion of programmes addressed to perpetrators aimed at ensuring safe relations and pro-social behaviour;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Calls for awareness-raising and educational programmes, including programmes addressed to boys and men, as well as campaigns involving all relevant actors and stakeholders, to address the root causes of hate speech and hate crime, with a specific focus on promoting changes in social attitudes and safe relations and removing gender norms and stereotypes; Stresses the need for special programmes to promote the respect of fundamental rights in the online space, with special regard to developing digital education, literacy and skills to equip users to fight against the dangers of the digital space as well as to manage their responsibilities when interacting within it, particularly in social media platforms, and to ensure the safe use of the internet;