Advancing legislative measures
A solid and effective legal framework is essential in the fight against hate speech, necessitating the implementation of preventive, punitive and rehabilitation measures.
By establishing clear laws and regulations that explicitly define and prohibit hate speech, we create an environment preventing its proliferation.
Through a combination of legal recourse and proactive initiatives, we can work towards a society where hate speech is prevented, addressed, and penalised.
To achieve this and foster a harmonious sport community for all, our six partners have implemented both administrative and criminal punitive measures, along with rehabilitation programmes for offenders and those affected by hate speech.
#SportIsRespect
Country: Germany
Organisation responsible: Federal Government
Main topic addressed: Fight against right-wing extremism
Type of resource/practice: Legislation
Approach: Penalisation and rehabilitation of the offender
Target group(s): Society as a whole
Timing: 2022
Language: German
Brief description of the practice: The Federal Minister Faeser announced an action plan to fight right-wing extremism in her government policy statement on 15th March 2022. The action plan sets important priorities for the fight against right-wing extremism during the new legislative term and includes a package of punitive and preventive measures.
Context and objectives: The rationale behind this measure is to take a decisive stand against all anti-constitutional, violent activities – be it right-wing extremism, Islamism, conspiracy ideologies, left-wing extremism or any other form of extremism, because extremist and terrorist activities pose a serious threat to social cohesion and harmony.
Steps/activities of the practice: The punitive measures include better disarmament of right-wing extremists, increased investigation of financial activities to dismantle right-wing extremist networks, consistent and holistic prosecution of punishable content online and a simpler process for removing right-wing extremists from the public service.
The preventive measures aim to promote a democratic culture of debate and to improve civic education, especially in terms of how to deal with conspiracy ideologies both online and offline. In addition, services are being set up to help people leave the scene of extremist conspiracy ideologies.
There are also measures for protecting local government officials and for acknowledging the concerns of the victims of right-wing extremism.
Follow-up ideas and future plans: The involvement of civil society partners.
