Hate crimes lead to 21 deaths in Catalonia in the past 30 years

At least 21 people were killed over the past 30 years in Catalonia in hate crimes motivated by racism, xenophobia, or aporophobia, among others, as documented by the investigative reporting project crimenesdeodio.info.

Created in 2015 by journalists David Bou and Miquel Ramos, in collaboration with the NGO SOS RACISME Valencia, the website details  a total of 101 hate crimes across Spain resulting in 103 fatalities, of which around 20% occurred in Catalonia. 

The interactive map at the heart of this website has just been updated to include crimes up to this year. It provides a visual aid to highlight the location and motive of these murders. With this website and its features they aim to bring awareness to and prevent hate crimes.

The map allows you to search for crimes based on their motives. The most common causes of hate crimes were racism, xenophobia, and aporophobia, a fear of or hostility towards poverty and poor people. Helpful definitions of other categories such as transphobia and ideological hatred can be found on the website.

In Catalonia, racism and xenophobia motivated nearly a third of cases. One such case is that of Ibrahima Dieye who was murdered on January 3, 2012 in Barcelona. Although the assailants chanted racist phrases as they committed this crime, the courts did not categorize it as a hate crime.

This is true for other cases on the website. Ramos explained to digital news outlet elDiario.es that the website also includes hate crimes that were not ruled as such. Through the help of human rights and victims associations they have created a more comprehensive list of hate crimes across the country.

The website also includes graphs about the ever vacillating growth and decline of such crimes. 

For more information, you can find the website here.