Half of European Union fail to tackle hate crime: Report

VIENNA (AFP) - Half of European Union (EU) countries are failing to tackle hate crime, thereby violating European conventions, by not keeping track of offences linked to race, religion or gender, a report said on Tuesday.

Thirteen out of the bloc's 27 member states could provide only "limited data" on hate crimes, said a study by EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

This meant that few incidents were recorded, data was rarely published and the motivation behind the crime, if specified, was usually restricted to racism, the study said.

These countries included Spain, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria, among others.