National Hate Crime Awareness Week

Every year, in the week of 14 to 21 October, National Hate Crime Awareness Week takes place. It aims to encourage people and organisations to take a stance and active approach in tackling hate crime.

National Hate Crime Awareness Week provides us with an opportunity to:

1. Raise awareness: one of the primary goals of this week is to increase public awareness about hate crimes. Many people may not realise the extent of the issue, so this awareness week helps shed light on the prevalence and severity of these crimes.
2. Promote tolerance and inclusivity: this week encourages individuals and communities to come together, regardless of their differences, to promote tolerance, understanding, and inclusivity. It sends a message that hatred and discrimination have no place in our community.
3. Encourage reporting: many hate crimes go unreported due to fear, shame, or mistrust of the authorities. This awareness week encourages victims and witnesses to report hate crimes, ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable.
4. Support prevention and intervention: by highlighting the issue of hate crimes, communities can work together to prevent future incidents and intervene when necessary.

Our work on tackling hate crime

University of Essex: a Hate Crime Incident Reporting Centre

Also known as third-party reporting centres, Hate Crime Incident Reporting Centres are places you can go for advice from trained people if you don't want to go to the police. The University of Essex is proud to be a Hate Crime Incident Reporting Centre, and it seeks to provide a safe and inclusive environment where our members can report and get support with any experience of hate crime incidents, whether these might be related to sexual orientation, race, disability, transgender identity, faith, or beliefs.

As part of our approach to tackle hate crimes, we also have number of Hate Crime Ambassadors trained by the Essex Police team, who can help signpost any victims to relevant services and provide you with support and guidance.

Support for staff and students

On our campuses, staff and students can report any incidents through our Report and Support platform. This is a safe space where members of our community can access support, information, and guidance after any hate crime, harassment, or sexual violence incidents.

Students can also access further support from the Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service by contacting wellbeing@essex.ac.uk.

Guidance and advice on wellbeing is also available on the University’s Wellbeing Directory, and staff can also access information via the Health and Wellbeing webpages.

Further links

National Hate Crime Awareness Week have put together an extensive list of supporting services that can help victims to approach hate crime incidents.