National Bystander Awareness Day

A good bystander doesn’t just stand by, there are many things you can do to help victims of hate.

You can either help from the safe distance or get directly involved. Whatever you do makes a real difference.

It can be difficult to know what action to take, or whether help is needed at all. Remember that there are always safe and simple ways you can challenge hate without stepping out of your comfort zone. These include indirect and direct interventions.

Raising awareness of safe interventions is why we are celebrating National Bystander Awareness Day, by launching our reporting hate crime reporting resource page.

The "Bystander effect" means people are less likely to intervene when there are others around. National Bystander Awareness Day is a chance to help people understand this effect and take steps.  

Bystander Intervention means recognising a negative situation and responding in a way that can stop or de-escalate it.

Hateful behaviour often happens in public places. so there’s a good chance you’ll witness it when you’re out and about.

Whether it’s a passing comment or a confrontation, we all must challenge any sign of hate.

What can you do as an individual?

• Sign the pledge to:

1. Ensure you understand what an act of hate is and the impact it has on individuals.
2. Improve knowledge about actions people can take when they witness an incident.
3. Support anyone affected by hateful behaviour.

• Report any incidents or encourage those affected to report.
• Share knowledge on how to tackle hate with other people.

What can you do as an organisation?

• Set up reporting page or other way of helping people know how to recognise and report hate crime.  
• Let people know what they can do with indirect and direct interventions.
• Stand by Me offers training will allow team members to know what to do.

Luke Medcalf, Communities and Inequalities Development Manager at Active Humber said: 

"Active Humber has a responsibility to ensure all genders, faiths, abilities, sexualities and races are free to play and watch the sports and physical activities that they love, free from hate. That is why we are supporting National Bystander Awareness Day.

"We believe that people have the power to make a positive change and that this change happens when many small things add up over time. We hope that by creating this webpage, with the help and support from the fantastic Communities Inc, we help to empower and educate people so that they can recognise what hate crime is, know how to report it and finally how best to support victims of hate."

National Bystander Awareness Day is a day that unites people to tackle hate and hostility as part of the Stand by Me project developed by Communities Inc, a social enterprise passionate about tackling hate crime and inequalities.