International Day for Countering Hate Speech 2023: Date, History, Facts about Hate Crime

The 18th of June is International Day for Countering Hate Speech. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to combat hate speech and established this landmark in the struggle against it. According to the United Nations, hate speech is any speech or writing that assaults or discriminates against an individual or group on the basis of religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender, or any other identity factor. In this volatile world, speech should not be used as a weapon to create more chaos; therefore, the International Day for Countering Hate Speech will help end hate speech.

The background of International Day for Countering Hate Speech

Intentionally spiteful speech, actions, and gestures constitute hate speech. Therefore, it should be regulated and made illegal. The United States has spent years attempting to prohibit hate speech and violent offences, such as the burning of crosses by the Ku Klux Klan. Over the years, efforts have expanded to include alleged’speech and thought’ offences. Currently, any public statement against illegal immigration or same-sex marriage is considered ‘hate speech.’ The Southern Poverty Law Centre includes pro-family organisations that oppose same-sex marriage on its list of hate groups.

The two varieties of threatening speech that could be restricted under the law were ‘gestures or speech used to incite violence’ and ‘obscene or libellous words.’ In Schenck v. United States, argued Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1919 that shouting “fire” fraudulently in a theatre was illegal. The law, however, preserved the argument for preventing physical injury from hate speech.

Congress requested in 1992 that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) investigate the role of telecommunications in inciting hate speech and violence. In 1993, the N.T.I.A. reported that an atmosphere of hatred breeds violence. After the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, the ‘hate speech concept’ was introduced into political discourse by President Bill Clinton, who asserted that it occurred as a result of loud, furious, and hateful voices. In 2009, the National Hispanic Media Coalition revised the definition of hate speech to include four components: false facts, defective argumentation, divisive language, and dehumanising metaphors. Hate speech was not limited to inciting violence, but also included an environment that could promote violence.

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5 FACTS ON HATE CRIME

In California, hate crimes increased by 47% between 2009 and 2010.

In 2011, over 6,222 incidents of hate crimes were reported.

In every count of bias, the likelihood that a Black person will experience a hate crime is higher.

Motives for hate crimes are race, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and disability, in that order.

Between 2003 and 2009, nearly all victims of hate crimes were exposed to hate speech.

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR COUNTERING HATE SPEECH DATES

Year	Date	Day
2023	June 18	Sunday
2024	June 18	Tuesday
2025	June 18	Wednesday
2026	June 18	Thursday
2027	June 18	Friday