Webinar:
Aporophobia: Challenging Hate Crime Against People Experiencing Homelessness in the EU
16.00-18.00 CET
11 May 2021
English and Spanish interpretation available
Read the concept note here
Aporophobia is a neologism created by the Spanish philosopher Adela Cortina to describe the “rejection of the poor”. It describes an adverse attitude from the non-poor against the poor, going from antipathy, contempt, disgust, disregard, to fear and hate. Aporopohobia can lead to hate and in the most extreme cases to hate crime against poor people including the homeless.
Hate crime is the most severe expression of discrimination and core fundamental rights abuse. Various member states adopted measures targeting such crime, however, both in the EU and in the Member States’ legislation, hate crime against homeless people is not always conceptualised as “hate crime” because homelessness is not understood as a grounds for discrimination like race, disability, gender etc. This webinar highlights the need for aporophobia to be recognised and given sufficient importance in the area of hate crime.
This webinar, hosted by FEANTSA and Hogar Sí, will present two panels, the first on national experiences of aporophobia, and the second focusing on a European perspective.
Full programme:
Experiences on the ground:
Chair: Maribel Ramos Vergeles, Deputy Director of Hogar Sí
- Criminalisation of homelessness in Hungary and the impact on hate crime - Noémi Molnár, lawyer at Utcajogász, Street Lawyers Association, Budapest, Hungary
- The need for proper regulatory instruments and specialised services to fight hate crime - Miguel Angel Aguilar, Prosecutor attorney, Barcelona, Spain
- Q&A
European perspective:
Chair: Freek Spinnewijn, Director of FEANTSA
- The role of the EU in fighting the criminalisation of homelessness - Katrin Langensiepen, MEP, Brussels, Belgium
- Encouraging the collection of data on crimes against poor people in the EU - Henri Nickels, Fundamental Rights Agency, FRA, Vienna, Austria
- Q&A
