North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has tabled a Statement of Opinion in the Senedd to coincide with National Hate Crime Awareness Week outlining the best way to deal with the offence.
It reads:
The Senedd:
1. Notes that national hate crime awareness week 2022, a week of solidarity with those affected by hate crime, is between 8 and 15 October.
2. Notes that the national week aims to encourage the authorities (governments, Police and councils), key partners and communities affected by hate crime to work together to tackle local hate crime incidents across Wales.
3. Believes that hate crimes are based on ignorance and prejudice and recognises that the best way to tackle that is through integration, engagement and sharing together.
This has already received cross-Party support from 20 Members of the Senedd – see: https://record.assembly.wales/StatementOfOpinion/303
The National Hate Crime Statistics for England and Wales 2021/2022 were published by the Home Office on 6 October. The statistics show a 35% increase in recorded hate crimes across Wales compared to 2020/2021. There were 6,295 recorded hate crimes across the four Welsh Police Force Areas of which:
- 3,888 (62%) were race hate crimes;
- 1,329 (21%) were sexual orientation hate crimes;
- 227 (4%) were religion hate crimes;
- 864 (14%) were disability hate crimes; and
- 247 (4%) were transgender hate crimes.
North Wales Police saw an increase of 33%,
Mr Isherwood said:
“Hate crimes are based on ignorance and prejudice, but there's some wonderful work, for instance in North Wales, NWAMI, Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration, which recognises that the best way to tackle that is through integration, through engagement, through sharing together.
“Hate crime is a serious offence which can have devastating and long-lasting effects on individuals and communities across Wales. During this National Hate Crime Week we must tackle Hate Crime issues by raising awareness of what Hate Crime is and how to respond to it, encouraging reporting, and promoting local support services and resources.”