Cities and Combating Racism:The View from ECRI

Nils Muižnieks Chair, ECRI

What is ECRI? Council of Europe’s independent anti-

racism monitoring body, established 1993

47 countries/experts + secretariat in Strasbourg

Broad, evolving mandate: “combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in greater Europe from the perspective of the protection of human rights”

ECRI’s Working Methods: Country Reports

Gathering information on: International and national legal framework Work of equality bodies Discrimination in various realms (labour market,

housing, access to goods/services, education, health, justice, etc.)

Racist expression and violence Work of police and law enforcement Climate of opinion and political discourse Situation of vulnerable groups

work on general themes General Policy Recommendations (12 so far,

most recently on combatting “anti-Gypsism”) Studies and conferences (e.g., “ethnic data”) Collecting best practices

Cooperation w/ civil society

ECRI’S Working Methods:

Contact Visits and Dialogue Contact visits of 3 days to 1 week every 5

years Dialogue with authorities during drafting

of reports Formulating recommendations and

identifying issues of priority concern Transmitting reports to authorities and

publication Interim follow-up 2 years after Occasionally – statements about urgent situations

ECRI’S Working Methods: Work on General Themes

Collecting best practices General Policy Recommendations (13

so far, latest on “anti-Gypsism”) Commissioned research (e.g., political

discourse, ethnic data, impact of crisis) Conferences (e.g., freedom of

expression) Regular seminars with “equality

bodies”

ECRI’s Working Methods: Cooperation with Civil Society

Organization of national roundtables Promoting dialogue between authorities

and other stakeholders Raising awareness of challenges to

address Regular exchange of information

with NGOs Active work with media

(Re-)Current ChallengesMost common target groups:

Roma Muslims Immigrants, asylum-seekers,

refugees Blacks and other visually distinct

groups Jews

Emerging Challenges (I) Impact of the crisis:

Direct: budget cuts affecting programmes for vulnerable groups, equality bodies

Indirect: toughening of migration debate, fertile ground for racist groups

Shift in immigrant integration debate: From “right” or “need” to “duty” or

“obligation” Key: non-discrimination, non-

stigmatization

Emerging Challenges (II) Right-wing populist parties =

fixtures How best to cope? Suppress public

funding, prosecute hate speech, self-regulation, political strategies (exclude, defuse, engage, adopt, etc.)

New media and racism How best to cope? Legal measures,

complaints mechanisms, self-regulation, international cooperation

ECRI & Cities: Overlap with ECCAR

We agree! Cities = main focus of mixing, try to visit cities beyond capital

ECRI’s recommendations addressed to govts., but action often required locally

ECCAR’s 10 point plan: similar to ECRI’s focus (e.g., discrimination, civil society involvement)

ECRI urges ratifying Convention on Participation in Public Life at Local Level

ECRI & Cities: Overlap with ECCAR Monitoring and data collection Employment: equal opportunities,

dialogue between social partners, work on GPR

Housing: research on exclusion, development of affordable social housing

Education: challenging exclusion (esp. Roma, newcomers), teacher training (GPR 10)

Hate crime: legislation, penalty enhancement, training

Intercultural Dialogue and Cooperation?

Key to overcoming social distance, which breeds prejudice and discrimination

ECCAR Action Plan #9: “Promoting cultural diversity”: audiovisual material, cultural projects, public space, “memory politics” – excellent!

ECRI’s work complements ECCAR

Two Council of Europe resources on intercultural dialogue with ECRI input:

White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue “Living Together as Equals in Dignity” (2008)

Report of the Group of Eminent Persons “Living Together: Combining Diversity and Freedom in 21st-Century Europe” (2011)

White Paper: Some Key Points Need to combat barriers to intercultural

dialogue: ignorance of language, discrimination, poverty, exclusion, racism, intolerance

Learning/teaching intercultural competences: democratic citizenship, language, history

Creating spaces for intercultural dialogue: town planning, cultural activities, museums/heritage sites, media, sport, workplace, etc.

Report “Living Together”: Some Key Points Extending citizenship and voting rights Key role of authorities, celebrities and those

with access to media Need for realistic picture of situation of

migrants, Europe’s current/future needs Specific needs of Roma Fair treatment and burden-sharing on asylum-

seekers

ECRI’s approach to Intercultural Dialogue Discrimination as barrier to dialogue Combat segregation in education, elsewhere

due to other reasons (e.g., settlement patterns) Change the climate of opinion

Penalise racist expression & ban racist organizations Suppress public financing for racist parties and

restrict their access to public broadcasters Training and awareness-raising Self-regulation in politics and media

Addressing barriers to dialogue through empowerment

Language training for migrants and minorities

Assistance in pass citizenship, integration tests

Promoting minority involvement, participation and representation

ECRI encourages integration: a two-way process of mutual recognition between majority population and minority groups

Integration ≠ assimilation Key elements: freedom from racism,

non-discrimination, equal opportunities for all, freedom of religious beliefs and cultural practices, diversity, respect for others

Intercultural dialogue in some ECRI GPRs: GPR 10 on education: policies to avoid

separation, minority staff recruitment, interpretation and/or language courses for parents, mediators, diversity in textbooks, teacher training;

GPR 12 on sports: policies to promote minority access/representation, sports outreach activities to bring people together, mechanisms for reporting/ dealing with racist behaviour, avoiding stereotyping in advertising

Cooperation between ECRI and ECCAR?

Please send us information/research on racism and measures to combat it in cities!

Please receive our delegations on contact visits!

Please participate in our roundtables! Possible cooperation on thematic work?

For further information contact:

Secretariat of ECRICouncil of Europe

E-mail: combat.racism@coe.intVisit our website: www.coe.int/ecri