Incident category
MIA documents incidents that occur as a result of antigypsyistic prejudices.
A series of indicators based on the guidelines for monitoring hate crimes by the “Facing Facts!” initiative has been developed in order to better demonstrate what antigypsyism is. These indicators signal when an incident could have been inspired by antigypsyism. The following indicators suggest a possible antigypsyistic background: the victim’s perception; the witnesses’ perception; the perpetrator’s background; the location of the incident; the time of the incident; words or symbols; a history of previous incidents; the degree of violence.
When differentiating between types of incidents, MIA follows the categorizations of other monitoring structures. The categories capture the basic character of the incident and serve to classify the incidents centrally. The differentiation of the incident categories is not related to any criminal offenses that may be connected to the incident.
Note on categorization: Cases often fit into several incident types. The hierarchy between codes on the same level is as follows: Codes that are listed first have precedence over those below them. For example, if someone is insulted and beaten during an incident, then the incident will be tagged with the category “attack” instead of “verbal stereotyping – verbal attack.”
Categories:
Under extreme violence, we include physical attacks or attacks that can result in loss of life or severe physical injuries. These include arson attacks on inhabited buildings, bombs, shootings, kidnappings or knife attacks.
Under attack, we document physical attacks that do not endanger the life of the victim or result in serious physical harm. This also includes the mere attempt of a physical attack, e.g., when the person being attacked is able to defend themself or flee in time, or the attack misses its target.
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Under the category of discrimination, we document disadvantages that are motivated by antigypsyism. These include, on the one hand, discrimination resulting from institutional actions in the context of fulfilling public tasks, based on unwritten rules and routines (e.g., racial profiling by the police or exclusionary practices in the educational sector). In addition, we use this category to document forms of individual discrimination resulting from individual actions, even when it takes place within an organization or company (e.g., when services, such as being served in a restaurant, are denied).
As property damage, we document attacks on, damage to or defacement of sites memorializing the genocide perpetrated on the Sinti and Roma as well as antigypsyistic-motivated damage to personal property. This category includes arson attacks on property that do not, however, endanger anyone’s life, or the spraying or painting of antigypsyistic slogans or symbols on either memorial sites or the personal property of a victim.
Threats are verbal attacks clearly directed at a person or institution. They involve either a threat of violence against people, groups or things or an indirect or nonverbal threat of violence against specific people.
The category verbal stereotyping includes antigypsyistic statements that are not explicitly threatening (not directed at anyone in particular) and are not directly associated with discriminatory practices. This includes verbal attacks in the form of antigypsyistic insults or when people are specifically addressed in antigypsyistic ways. In addition, antigypsyistic propaganda (e.g., speeches or posters at meetings as well as graffiti or stickers both in the public space and in private property of non-Roma) is recorded here, along with mass mailings (antigypsyistic texts/mails sent to multiple addressees) and other verbal stereotyping such as romanticizing attributions.