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The University will be closed for Winter Break from Monday 22 December until Monday 05 January. Reports will not be monitored during this time, and those submitted after 22 December will be responded to when the University reopens in January.

For urgent advice or support on gender-based violence or hate crime, visit SARCS, Police Scotland, or your GP for medical assistance. The University's External Support webpage provides details of other organisations that can help.

In an emergency, if you or someone else is at immediate risk, call 999. For non-emergency medical advice, call NHS on 111.

Hate Crime is crime committed against a person or property that is motivated by ‘malice or ill-will towards an identifiable social group’.
 
You can be a victim of a hate crime if you believe that someone has targeted you because of their prejudice against certain characteristics.
 
In Scotland, the law currently recognises hate crimes as crimes motivated by prejudice based on:
  • race
  • religion
  • sexual orientation
  • transgender identity
  • disability
 
You do not need to be a member of a minority community to be a victim of hate crime. The law is quite clear that the identity of the victim is irrelevant as to whether something is a hate crime or not. The motivation of the perpetrator is the key factor in defining a hate crime.
 
Hate Crimes can take a number of forms, including, but not limited to:
  • Threatening behaviour
  • Verbal abuse or insults including name-calling
  • Assault
  • Damage to property
  • Encouraging others to commit hate crimes
  • Harassment
  • Online abuse on sites like Facebook or Twitter
 
Hate Crime can happen anywhere, both online and offline and is always completely unacceptable. What is illegal offline is illegal online.
 

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There are two ways you can tell us what happened

Report anonymously or Contact an advisor