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CASVIC, Campaign Against Secondary Victimisation, are a campaign group dedicated to tackling Covid-related hate crime in the UK. CASVIC was born out of an initial campaign led by concerned community members in December 2020.
A student of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) background was physically and verbally attacked with their race and Covid-related hostility motivating the crime. The student self-defended themselves and their friend during the attack and subsequently the student was charged with a public order offence. A joint letter of concern disseminated by the campaign group was signed by 67 organisations and sent to the local CPS for the case. The student was found not guilty of the public order offence.
Secondary victimisation is not new nor infrequent for ESEA. Secondary victimisation is when a victim of a crime is victimised again by the police. This may include indifference, rejection, or being charged by the police.
CASVIC has three objectives:
- Persuade the CPS and Police to adopt our proposal to implement new guidelines to eradicate a blind spot in the existing system which fails to protect those victims of hate crime who exercise their right to self-defence, and
- Enact legislative changes to decriminalise those inadvertently convicted during the pandemic for self-defending against racially-motivated hate crime.
- Persuade the police to develop guidance in dealing with secondary victimisation.
CASVIC have launched a national survey to record and analyse hate crime data from ESEA as a step towards these three objectives.
Click here to fill in the CASVIC Hate Crime Survey
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Please email casvic.org@gmail.com for more information.