North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has this afternoon called on the Welsh Government to do more to increase the confidence of victims and witnesses to report hate incidents.
The number of recorded hate crimes in Wales rose by more than 20% during 2014-15, with almost 75% classed as race hate crimes, a 19% increase on the previous year.
Campaigners have said that much of the rise is due to better reporting, and communities feeling more positive about coming forward to report incidents.
Mr Isherwood, who is the Welsh Conservative Shadow Secretary for Communities, would like to see more victims come forward and speaking in today’s Assembly debate on ‘Tackling Hate Crime’ said:
“Reporting of hate crimes should be encouraged. Hence our Amendment 1, “noting the key recommendations of the ‘All Wales Hate Crime Research Project’”, on which the Welsh Government’s Tackling Hate Crime Framework is based. These include: “More needs to be done to increase the confidence of victims and witnesses to report hate incidents and to promote the view that reporting hate is the “right thing to do”.
“It goes on to say that victims felt that “incidents are ‘too trivial’ to report, or that the police are unable to do anything”. It also recommends that “Welsh Government should take the lead on ensuring that accessible third-party reporting mechanisms are in place for victims who don’t want to report directly to the police”.
“Quoting the All Wales Hate Crime Research Project, our Amendment also states “more should be done to ensure that hate crime perpetrators are dealt with effectively and restorative approaches should be made more widely available in Wales”.
Mr Isherwood also called for action to address the increasing problem of older people being specifically targeted by criminals due to their supposed vulnerabilities.
He said: “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.”