European NGOs Welcomes Criticism From UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson About 'Fortress Europe'
Press Release

The United Nations European Preparatory meeting on Racism invited over 200 European NGOs to participate in a dialogue and make preparations for the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa, August 2001.

In the revised draft report submitted by the Forum of NGOs to the Council of Europe Ministers who will attend the official conference on the 13.10.2000. NGOs have formulated a series of recommendations they would like the Ministerial delegates to adopt.

· The High Commissioner Mary Robinson reflected the views of European NGO delegations by saying "How come in countries with such good economic development, xenophobic tendencies are still paramount in Europe and how this is reflected by the development of a 'Fortress Europe'."

· The NGOs strongly urged European governments to undertake a series of reviews regarding institutionalised discrimination especially suffered by "third country nationals" in Europe, in particular laws and policies that create and perpetuate discrimination on the basis of nationality.

· The NGOs demanded that European governments condemn unequivocally and refrain from collaboration with governments, which include political parties promoting racist and xenophobic ideology. The NGOs deplore the recent electoral success in Europe of Extreme Right political parties.

· The NGOs recognise that the legacy of the Slave trade and colonialism remains the root of some acts of racism. Therefore, the NGOs Forum demands that the moral duty of the governments involved in slavery and colonialism grant reparation for the prejudice caused through slave trade and colonialism, so that society can be reconciled with its own history.

· The NGOs recognise that the relationship between the North and South are clearly discriminatory and therefore, as one measure support the call for the cancellations of third world debt.
For further information and updates on the European Preparatory Conference on Racism, please contact:

European Network Against Racism (ENAR)
43, rue de la Charitè
B-1210 Bruxelles
Email : hoslo@enar-eu.org
Hoslo Jiwa, Communications and Information
+32 495 233067