Results of the support "COVID-19 impact on hate crimes and violence"

The FCT has released the results of the special support for research projects on the "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crimes of discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence and on hate speech", which approved 6 research and development (R&D) projects for funding.

This special line of support was launched by the FCT in conjunction with the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality, and was supported by the High Commission for Migration, IP (ACM) and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG). The special support was aimed at R&D projects and initiatives that enable the production and dissemination of knowledge and action research in relation to crimes of incitement to hatred and violence and the expression of hate speech, in the wake of the pandemic and the dissemination of its impacts on the most vulnerable groups in the population.

The deadline for applications ran from January 25 to February 15, 2021, and 50 eligible applications were received. This support had a budget allocation of 200,000 euros financed by national funds, through the FCT budget, and the 6 selected projects will be financed between €24,812.96 and €35,995.77 per project, for a maximum duration of 10 months.

The projects will focus on the following lines of research and action: Hate speech on the internet (3 projects), Exposure of young people and children to hate speech (2 projects) and the legal framework for the crime of incitement to hatred (1 project).

Of the projects selected, 5 are coordinated by women and 1 by a man. The committee of experts that issued the scientific opinion to support the decision of the President of the FCT Board of Directors was made up of 12 members, 8 women and 4 men. The success rate of the applications was 12%. The projects will be developed by the following institutions: União de Mulheres Alternativa e Resistência (UMAR), Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC-ID), Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia (CRIA), Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências de Educação da Universidade do Porto, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa and Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

The launch of this support line by the FCT followed the recommendations of several European and international organizations to strengthen the understanding of crimes of incitement to hatred and violence of a racist, xenophobic, gender and homophobic nature, also warning of the low rates of reporting and participation. These concerns have been amplified by the disproportionate effects on certain vulnerable communities and groups of the expansion of discriminatory practices and hate speech during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to segmentation, greater insecurity, social exclusion, isolation and stigmatization of these groups, even preventing their access to vital rights and services (health, employment, etc.) and promoting the escalation of violent behaviour and crime (ILGA Europe, 2020; UN, 2020). Health professionals, journalists, humanitarian workers and essential services have also been victims, in various ways, of disinformation and segregation motivated by fake news (UN, 2020).

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, FCT has sought to support the development of Portuguese science to combat Covid-19 and mitigate its impact on society, and has even launched several exceptional funding lines. The following initiatives stand out: Gender Research 4 Covid-19; RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 (with two editions); Call for Studentships DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19, Call for R&D projects AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration; Summer with Science, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES).