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Mr.
Chairman,
All
Western European countries have their share of right wing parties
promoting intolerant ideas. Some fall on their own irresponsibility,
like one marginal Norwegian party, which some years ago propagated
that all adopted children of non-Norwegian origin should be sterilised.
Other parties hit a larger audience like seen in recent years in
France, Austria, the latest local elections in Belgium, and the recent
advances of the Norwegian progress party.
We
would like to draw your attention to the recommendations made by the
European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, as well as the
NGO forum of the European Conference against Racism, that political
parties should explicitly refuse to work together with or form a
coalition with parties which are propagating racist ideologies or
inciting ethnic hatred through their program, election campaigns, or
statements by individual party members.
Negative
stereotyping of foreigners and members of ethnic minorities in media
leaves them vulnerable to discrimination in employment, housing and
education. When they are subjected to discriminatory practices in
employment and to various forms of abuse it reinforces the perception
that they are not equal to nationals. Undocumented migrants are
particularly vulnerable to racist violence and exploitation by
employers, landlords, police and others, who may take advantage of
their situation. They are routinely unjustly labelled by media,
politicians and other public figures as criminals, taking jobs away
from nationals – thus providing those with an inclination towards
violence with an apparent justification for attacking foreigners.
The
media is traditionally representing the majority population, and
should bear a much larger responsibility in showing positive sides of
migrant culture, not only images of “fanatical muslims”, wars,
famine and underdevelopment. In particular, we would like to criticise
the practice of many printed media to highlight when a crime has been
committed by a ”foreign” perpetrator. This is never done when a
crime is committed by a national.
Even
if a country’s Constitution practically always proclaims equal
treatment and rights, the case legislation for individual lawsuits is
insufficient, sometimes surprisingly so.
In
Norway, a real estate rental agency published an advertisement
stating “no foreigners”. This case was taking to court based on
paragraph 135 of the penal code, the so-called Racism Paragraph, and
it was expected to be a clear breach of the law. However, the
procurator surprisingly lost the case, and it is now pending before
the Supreme Court. This shows very clearly that relevant legislation
have often not been properly tested, and turns out to be not
sufficient when it comes to a real case.
In
Sweden, racist and Nazi ideologies are gaining in popularity.
Crimes that have been conclusively linked to the White Power movement
have taken more and more violent forms in the past year, resulting in
four cases of murder or manslaughter and the same number of attempted
cases of murder or manslaughter. Sweden is one of the leading
countries in the world with respect to the production and distribution
of "White Noise" music, which plays a central role in the
neo-nazi identity. The courts, however, failed to react adequately in
order to convict the producers of that music.
On
23 March 2000, in its report on Denmark, the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed its concern about
activities of organizations promoting racial hatred and
discrimination, particularly in relation to a radio station owned by a
neo-Nazi association whose license was renewed by the Ministry of
Culture. The radio station also benefited from government financing.
On
25 August 2000, the same Committee considered a report of Finland.
It reiterated its concern over the absence of a law prohibiting
and punishing organizations that promoted and incited racial
discrimination and a provision in the penal code declaring any
dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred
punishable by law. There are concerns about the fact that Roma are
clearly subjected to discrimination, and that the question of land
ownership of the Sami is still not resolved. Racist attacks are
increasing.
Xenophobia
and racism appear to be on the rise in Germany. In proportion
to the population, by far the largest number of violent incidents have
been recorded in the so-called new federal states of
the former East Germany. Between January and the end of June
1999, the
German NGO Antifaschistische
Aktion recorded over 70 racially-motivated violent attacks alone
against individuals in Brandenburg. This figure was three times higher
than the number published by the Ministry of Interior. The police
appear to play down the problem, often claiming that the attacks are
not racially motivated. The
police in Berlin have systematically refused to report such incidents
to the press – with the exception of the most spectacular cases –
although the city is a center for right-wing violence.
Recently,
a Viennese shop had a sign on the door saying that they would not
serve French, Belgian and others who supported EU sanctions. Austria still has no legal provisions of redress for
discriminatory acts or behavior that are based on racial, gender,
ethnic or religious motives, making it impossible to punish such acts.
Also,
public officials who abuse their authority are rarely disciplined. The
European Roma Rights Center, an IHF Cooperating organization, stated
that Austrian courts have been reluctant to rule police officers
guilty of racially motivated crimes. It is feared that the Austrian
police itself are infected by racism on a systematic basis. Also,
numerous cases of alleged police misconduct against black-skinned
persons have taken place this year. In many cases the victims have
been insulted with discriminatory vocabulary, and some of them
ill-treated so badly that they have been hospitalized.
In
Spain, the IHF is concerned about the recent incidents of
violence against persons of Moroccan nationality in El Ejido, in the
region of Almería. A commission of inquiries consisting of,
among others, representatives of the French Helsinki Committee and SOS
Racism Spain visited El Ejido following the above-mentioned incidents.
It concluded that the aggression was not a spontaneous act, but
planned and well organized (see IHF Report for this Meeting for more
details). 693 complaints were presented to the tribunal in El Ejido
fllowing these events. However, only 21 complaints have been accepted.
In
Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other
Central European countries in the region, the situation of the Roma
minority continues to be a serious social problem. The living
conditions of the Roma population in Slovakia are appalling. Many Roma
live in deplorable slums, which often lack drinking water. They are
virtually racially segregated particularly in the areas of employment
and education. Also the attitude of authorities remains inadequate. In
general, the police and courts are still reluctant to admit that
physical attacks by skinheads against the Roma and foreigners are
racially motivated.
In
Ukraine, people of African, Asian and “Caucasian” origin, Tatars
and Roma are regular targets of police abuse. Police have the right to
stop them for identity checks, and, if their documents are suspicious,
to detain them. In
addition to harassment by the police, Africans often fall victim to
ultra-rightist racist aggression. As a rule, such cases are not
investigated by the police. Since the beginning of the war in
Chechnya, the police and security services have targeted Chechens
staying in Ukraine temporarily. They are regularly detained and their
homes are searched – allegedly because of suspected terrorism.
I
order to address the rampant racism in Europe, the IHF appeals to OSCE
States that have not yet done so to adopt a comprehensive
anti-discriminatory legislation, and to adopt provisions aiming at
increasing sentences for racially motivated crimes. Measures should be
taken both on national and municipal levels to improve the situation
of the Roma minority, that suffers discrimination and falls to racial
attacks everywhere in Europe.
Thank
you Mr. Chairman.
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