denigrate an individual13. If Netsafe are unable to resolve the complaint, the complainant may bring proceedings in the District Court and seek a range of orders, including removal of the digital communication in question and cessation and restraint of the conduct of the person responsible for it14. 34. Recommendation 2: That the Committee urges the Government to: (a) Review the adequacy of current legislation in addressing and sanctioning hate speech and incitement to racial disharmony, including hateful and disharmonious speech targeted at the religion and beliefs of ethnic minority communities; and (b) Following that review, make any changes necessary to ensure that the legislative framework is adequate and contains appropriate and effective sanctions. “Hate Crime” data (LOT 7) 35. Safety and security of the person is a fundamental human right. Ensuring the safety of all people in New Zealand from hate motivated crime is a central component of achieving harmonious race relations. Data on both hate-motivated incidents and “hate crimes” provide important indicators of the state of public security and actual levels of violence affecting communities. 36. There is no specific category of offence identified as a “hate crime”. However, under the Sentencing Act, where a crime has been committed wholly or partly because of a hostility towards a group of persons due to an enduring common characteristic such as race, colour, nationality, or religion, it is regarded as an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing15. 37. The actual number of complaints, prosecutions and convictions relating to hate motivated crime is still not systematically recorded in New Zealand. In the absence of robust data on hate crime, information about when and how this is occurring is available only in an ad hoc way from localised studies and media reports. 38. New Zealand needs better information on the incidence and nature of “hate crimes” than is currently available because: (a) there is a lack of understanding of the scope and magnitude of the problem – one reason for this is that hate crimes are often under-reported; 13 Ibid s 6 Ibid s 19 15 Section 9(1)(h) Sentencing Act 2002 14 9