AbOUT THE SUbMISSION Transgender Europe (TGEU) presents a collection of hate crimes against trans people every year and, together with partner organisations, submits them to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). ODIHR publishes hate crime data for all its member states based on information provided by states, international organisations, and civil society.1 As countering hate crime requires a comprehensive effort, ODIHR works together with government institutions, criminal justice systems, civil society actors, and international organisations, and supports them in designing and developing monitoring mechanisms and data collection, drafting legislation that addresses hate crimes, and building the capacity of prosecutors and police in OSCE countries to understand, investigate, and prosecute these crimes effectively. This brief report focuses on violence and hate crimes against trans people in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2016, and presents a summary of the cases collected by TGEU’s Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide and ProTrans projects through partnerships with trans rights groups and advocates in the respective countries.2 HATE CRIMES Hate crimes are criminal acts motivated by bias or prejudice towards particular groups of people, and they can be based, among other categories, on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, or disability. Hate crimes are often the most visible manifestation of hatred towards trans communities. A hate crime comprises two distinct elements: » It is an act that constitutes an offence under the criminal law, irrespective of the perpetrator’s motivation; and » In committing the crime, the perpetrator acts on the basis of prejudice or bias. As the hate motive implies that the crime was committed not primarily against the victim, but against a whole community based on the bias related to the victim’s (actual or perceived) belonging to a particular group, TGEU and partners make efforts to document and verify indicators that show anti-trans bias involved in the recorded incidents. These can include language used during the incident, the perception of the victim/survivor or the witness, or the location and timing of the incident.3 1 See more: hatecrime.osce.org To learn about the Transrespect vs Transphobia Worldwide project, visit transrespect.org. To find out more about the ProTrans project, our partnershipbuilding work in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and all the submitted cases, see tgeu.org/pro-trans. 3 Find out more about how we monitor hate-motivated incidents in our monitoring guidelines: tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Monitoring_ Transphobic_Incidents_final.pdf 2