Hate Speech and Hate Crimes

About

The aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge about social problems and difficulties that contemporary multicultural societies have to deal with. International and EU legal instruments concerning human rights protection as well as international and EU obligations to criminalize certain acts of racism and xenophobia will be discussed. The course will also focus on how the national authorities, legislation in particular (e.g. in the USA, Spain, Germany and Poland) fulfill these obligations in the area of criminal law. The course will underline the role of the European Court of Human Rights in two dimensions: substantive criminal law as well as positive procedural obligations regarding investigation and trial in hate speech and hate crimes cases

Course aim

Students will learn:
1. What are the international and EU law obligations concerning the criminalization of racism and xenophobia as well as positive procedural obligations regarding investigation and trial in hate speech and hate crimes cases.
2. What are the international and EU law standards of protection of human rights that national criminal law may infringe.
3. How the states fulfill the obligation of criminalization racism and xenophobia in their national law.

Students will be able to:
1. Interpret international, EU and national legal text concerning hate speech and hate crimes as well as human rights protection laws.
2. Assess whether certain domestic laws are consistent with international, EU and constitutional standards.
3. Prepare a comment on European Court of Human Rights judgment concerning hate speech case

Fee info