Report from the plenary meeting on Friday, 13 Oct 2000
Red cards to racism

The session was chaired by Piero FASSINO, Minister of Justice, Italy.

Alvaro GIL-ROBLES, Commissioner for Human Rights, as the General Rapporteur of the European Conference against Racism, summed up various problems in this field such as the rise of extreme right and nationalism, racist attacks and persistent discrimination and draw up their possible solutions. In general terms, he stressed the necessity to prioritise prevention over repression, sanctions coming up in the second line. As such possible solutions and methods he mentioned ia. anti-discriminatory legislation, good practices and examples, education for human rights, intercultural learning and media, especially the Internet. Co-operation with the civil society was seen by him as an important tool.

Claude BARTOLONE, French Minister for Towns, said that there would be no progress unless words are followed by action. He reported about the fight with institutional racism and discrimination in France.

Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Indulis BERZINS, said that the Holocaust shall never happen again.

The Luxemburgian Minister of Co-operation and Humanitarian Action Charles GOERENS mentioned the need for special pedagogical tools. The goal can not be simply reduced to coexistence of diverse communities.

Roger VAN BOXTEL, the Dutch Minister for Urban Policy and Integration of Ethnic Minorities, explained the important role of the public management, independent bodies and civil society, especially at the local level. He condemned the free dissemination of racist and fascist materials on the Internet and proposed to add to European legal instruments a binding protocol that defines a distribution of racism, hate speech and racial discrimination as a crime.

The Danish Minister for the Interior Karen JESPERSEN meant that prevention by integration was better than a cure of ethnic conflicts.

Sergey ORDJONIKIDZE, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, told that it was not enough to condemn racism verbally or to pass anti-discriminatory laws. It is also necessary to educate people. He was concerned about growing anti-Russian feelings in some Member States of the Council of Europe which hit Russian-speaking minorities in those countries.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia, Pál CSÁKY (himself a member of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia), spoke about the activities of the Slovak government against racism.

Prof. Hikmet Sami TÜRK, the Minister of Justice of Turkey, complained that Turkish citizens living abroad experienced exclusion and discrimination. He concluded that racism and intolerance pose a major threat to social peace and harmony, particularly in Western Europe. However, he has never used the term "minorities" in his speech.

Peter HAIN, MP, British Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, announced that nine new racist offences were implemented into the criminal law of the United Kingdom.

During the speech of the Austrian State Secretary for Art and Media, some 40 NGO delegates present in the meeting hall were holding red cards with the slogan "No coalition with racism!" in protest.

The Czech Deputy Minister of Justice Alois CIHLÁR admitted the fact of the recent wave of racism and intolerance in post-communist countries. He explained the efforts of the Czech government to combat these negative phenomena.


Reporter: Mirek PROKES, I CARE