Hate speech information

A summary from National Police HQ regarding the various places where hate speech or violent extremist material can be reported.

---------------------------------

November 2023

Experiencing hate (bias or prejudice) can cause immense harm and fear.

If you, or someone you know, is being targeted because their identity, such as their race, religion, sexuality, gender, age or disability, it is important to support, record, and report. You can report any activity that makes you feel unsafe.

Make sure you and any affected people are in a safe place, away from the offender. If you are a witness, make it clear the person(s) affected are not alone and you are there to support them. If you can do so safely, record a video or take photos of the incident, write down details (e.g.time, location, descriptions of people involved), and preserve any evidence. This could be important if there is an investigation.

Ways to report are below:

Call 111 if someone is in danger.

Call 105 or report online using the 105 forms if an incident has already happened and no one is in immediate danger.

Visit https://webforms.police.govt.nz/en/form/hurt-damaged-stolen

Or call 105, or 111 in an emergency

Crime Stoppers

Crime Stoppers is an independent charity offering a safe and anonymous option to speak up and report.

Visit crimestoppers-nz.org/report

Or call 0800 555 111

Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission

The Human Rights Commission offers a free, confidential service to help with enquiries and complaints about unlawful discrimination, sexual and racial harassment, and harmful speech.

Visit tikatangata.org.nz

Or call 0800 496 877

Netsafe

You can report issues including online abuse, bullying and harassment, to Netsafe.

Visit netsafe.org.nz/report

The Department of Internal Affairs: Countering Violent Extremism Online

The Digital Violent Extremism Team at DIA is responsible for keeping New Zealanders safe from online harm by responding to and preventing the spread of objectionable material promoting or encouraging violent extremism.

Visit dia.govt.nz/Countering- Violent-Extremism

CERT NZ

CERT NZ responds to cyber security threats in New Zealand. They support people affected by cyber security incidents and provide information and advice.

Visit cert.govt.nz/report

Members of the community can access the DIA website page which provides reporting information in a variety of different languages.

DIA have also provided some useful information (See below).

• Te Tari Taiwhenua enforces the Films Videos & Publications Classification Act 1993. That has a very high threshold for what is illegal.
• We have seen an increase in content that has been referred to us by the public and communities affected. Much of this fall short of ‘objectionable’ (illegal).
• Where New Zealander are sharing illegal content, they are investigated.
• Anti-Semitism or Islamophobia posts are forms of hate speech. Much of this will not be ‘objectionable’ (illegal) under Films Videos & Publications Classification Act 1993.
• Unlike other countries, New Zealand has no specific hate speech laws relating to religion.
• Our incitement provisions in the Human Rights Act 1993 (s131) apply only to inciting disharmony on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic origin, or national origin. However, a court imposing a sentence with regard to an offence committed partly or wholly because of hostility towards a religious group must take that into account as an aggravating factor (section 9I(h) of the Sentencing Act 2002).
• The New Zealand system provides under Section 9 of the Sentencing Act for hate motivations to be considered by the court as an aggravating factor when determining a sentence for offenders.
• NZ Police has introduced Te Raranga, a four-year partnering programme to improve its response to hate crime, hate incidents, and hate speech. Delivery is focused on improving the knowledge and skills of staff, supporting enhancement of internal systems, practices and processes and development of resources to: support victims, witnesses, and communities to recognise and report hate crime; align partner agencies to work towards reduction of the harm caused by hate crime and train police staff to recognise, record, respond to and resolve hate crime if it occurs.
• Te Tari Taiwhenua working with NZP and other agencies within Te Raranga over the NZ impacts Gaza – Israel conflict.
• As a group we have been vigilant in relation to the online environment since the start of the conflict and remain so.

• There is wider information on what is TVEC and its relationship with objectionable under the FVPCA 1993.
• The Digital Violent Extremism Teams role and how and when they remove content are explained on the website.

Protective security at your sites:

Can I also remind everyone to ensure that sites linked to your respective organisations should complete a security review and audit of processes and hardware. There has been an incident lately that was not recorded on CCTV as the recording function on the device was not working. While it can be difficult to identify someone via photo or video it is still a vital piece of evidence that may show repeat behaviour from the same person at the site, or the same person is being seen at multiple sites.

Owners and operators can access the assessing your protective security tool and security audit form on the link below. Do not underestimate having members making themselves familiar with the “detecting hostile reconnaissance” tool as well.

Prepare your crowded place | New Zealand Police

More resources in a variety of languages is here: Standing against hate - resources | New Zealand Police

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash