NEW POLL: 'HUMAN RIGHTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WAR ON TERROR'(Norway)
25/7/2005- A new major survey indicates that a majority of Norwegians think freedom and human rights are more important than a war on terrorism. Young people questioned were most concerned that anti-terror campaigns threaten individual freedoms. Human rights mustn't be trampled on during any war on terror, responded 54 percent of Norwegians questioned in the survey, conducted by research firm Norsk Statistikk for the Norwegian Refugee Council (Flyktninghjelpen). "I'm glad that human rights stand so firm," said Raymond Johansen of Flyktninghjelpen, which describes itself as "a non-governmental, humanitarian organization." The survey was conducted just before bombs went off in London on July 7. The 3,000 Norwegians polled were asked the following question:
"It's said that the war on terrorism has weakened human rights. In your opinion, what's more important: To protect human rights or to fight terrorism?"

Fully 54 percent said protecting human rights was more important. Another 34 percent said it was more important to fight terrorism, while the remainder were unsure. Efforts to fight terrorism have led to murder, torture, arrests and heightened surveillance all over the world. Norwegian authorities also have boosted surveillance, from increased instances of telephone taps to a proliferation of security cameras. Highly educated persons with high incomes are showing more concerns over preservation of human rights. Erna Solberg of Norway's Conservative Party said basic principles of human rights must be protected, "but it's also a question of being able to get to work safely. The two issues must be balanced against each other."
©Aftenpost

MAJORITY WOULD CURB FREEDOM(Norway)
A vast majority of Norwegians say they'd like to see limits placed on the constitutional freedom of extremist groups, like neo-Nazis, to express themselves. They'd also favor a ban on public meetings of racist groups or Muslim or Christian fundamentalists.

29/7/2005- A survey conducted by TNS Gallup for Norwegian Social Science Data Services (Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste NSD) in Bergen showed eight out of 10 Norwegians supporting a change in current constitutional rights regarding freedom of expression, speech and assembly. The survey is part of an international effort to gauge public opinion on freedom of expression in 35 countries. It was conducted in Norway last autumn, but its results are only being made public now, reports newspaper Aftenposten. A questionnaire completed by 1,404 Norwegians aged 18 to 79 showed 76 percent wanting to deny neo-Nazi groups from holding public meetings. Another 25 percent favored a ban on meetings of communists as well. Only 20 percent supported allowing meetings and free expression by all groups, including, for example, racists, Muslim or Christian fundamentalists. communists or extreme right-wing groups. Men were shown to be more skeptical towards Muslim and Christian fundamentalists than women, while women were more skeptical towards racists. "This is very surprising, and shows that there's a certain anti-democratic current running through the population," said lawyer Cato Schi¯tz, one of the Norway's foremost experts on freedom of expression. The survey results also defy those in another survey taken more recently, where a majority of Norwegians said the war on terrorism must not damage individual human rights. (see link list). Schi¯tz linked the NSD survey results to "an element of common intolerance" lying under the surface of lofty claims to the contrary. "You only have to scrape the surface to find the undemocratic opinions," Schi¯tz told Aftenposten. "It's like racism. You don't have to scrape very deep with the average Norwegian before the clear racist interpretations emerge." He thinks most Norwegians are less liberal than they'd like to believe.
©Aftenpost

FRANCE MAY ORDER LANGUAGE TESTS FOR MIGRANTS
23/7/2005- Immigrants may have to pass a French language test if they want long-term residence rights in the country, a junior social affairs minister said yesterday. In a further tightening of already strict immigration laws, Catherine Vautrin, the state secretary for social cohesion and women's rights, said the French government aimed to create "a link" between linguistic competence and the granting of a 10-year residence permit. "We want to encourage as much as possible the integration of new arrivals," she said. "At present there is no language requirement, and I believe one is necessary. What interests us is successful immigration - and behind language lies employment, accommodation, everything." Few EU states require immigrants to master their language. Britain, Spain and Italy only demand an ID card and an employment contract before issuing a residence permit. But in Germany, applicants for permanent residence must pass a language and general culture test, and Austria and Denmark have introduced similar measures. Ms Vautrin was speaking at a centre in the south-western city of Lyon where some of the 110,00 to 120,000 legal immigrants who arrive in France each year - refugees, economic migrants and family members of existing residents - go for basic tuition in the laws and principles of the republic as well as to sign a "Welcome and Integration Contract". The contract, written in a dozen languages including Arab, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Hindi, was introduced three years ago to remind immigrants that France is an "indivisible, secular and social" state, that religion is a private matter and that men and women are equal. Officials say about 90% of immigrants who are granted a French residence permit have signed the document, which entitles them to 500 hours of non-compulsory French language teaching and a two-day civic education course. The programme is supposed to make it easier for immigrants to renew temporary residence permits and, eventually, acquire French nationality. It costs the government 60m (£41.7bn) a year. Some 8,000 immigrants signed the contract in 2003, and 37,000 last year. "Language is a problem," Ms Vautrin said. "Only 60% of new arrivals take lessons and it's not enough. For married women in particular it's important: to live their lives in France they have to be independent, and the first condition of independence is to be able to speak our language." The prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, last month asked an inter-ministerial committee to study ways to "ensure immigration is more closely tailored to France's economic needs" - seen by many critics as a hint that France was prepared to introduce quotas for legal immigration. But Paris also recently unveiled a package of tough new measures aimed at combating illicit immigration. Putting the number of illegal aliens in France at between 200,000 and 400,000, Mr de Villepin said it was "far, far too easy" for people to enter on a tourist visa and then stay on illegally. If caught they could claim to have no papers and to be unaware of their nationality, preventing any expulsion, he said. France aims to boost expulsions by up to 30% a year, the prime minister said, partly by creating a special 600-strong "immigration police" and an immigration control service to coordinate the activities of the police, gendarmerie, local authorities and government departments.

FRANCE CONDEMNED BY HUMAN RIGHTS COURT OVER DOMESTIC SLAVERY CASE
26/7/2005- The European Court of Human Rights unanimously condemned France Tuesday for being too lax in a case of domestic slavery involving a young Togolese woman who worked without pay for four years. The court condemned France under article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits "slavery or servitude" and said it regretted that these two specific crimes "as such were not punishable under French criminal law". The seven judges found that there was a gap in French law in that there was no "specific and effective protection" against modern-day slavery. The case involved Siwa-Akofa Siliadin, known as "Henriette", who was 15 years old when she arrived in France in 1994 and was "employed" until July 1998 by a wealthy Parisian couple who had promised that she would be educated and provided with a residence permit. For four years she was forced to work seven days a week, from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm looking after their four children and doing household chores. She slept on a mattress on the floor of one of the children's rooms. She eventually confided in a neighbour who alerted the Committee Against Modern Slavery (CCEM) which contacted the authorities. A French court convicted the couple of making a "dependent and vulnerable person" work without pay and sentenced them to five months in prison. But it found that the young woman's working and living conditions were not incompatible with human dignity as defined under the French criminal law. On appeal the prison sentence was quashed. The couple were eventually ordered to pay the woman 15,245 euros (18,318 dollars) in damages. The European court said states had a duty to make a criminal offence of slavery and servitude and punish any act tending to keep someone in such a situation. It said that while Henriette had not been a slave she had been kept in a state of servitude. "It is a very important advance in the battle we are fighting," said Benedicte Bourgeois of the CCEM. "This decision underlines that French legislation is too vague, not effective enough to repress this kind of activity. "What is also interesting is that the court, to talk of 'servitude', based its opinion on the fact that the victim was deprived of her liberty, had her passport confiscated, was subjected to threats," she said. "That is what slavery is and these are concepts that do not appear at all in French law at present." The CCEM says it receives about 300 reports a year of modern slavery, usually of African families. But the victims are reluctant to complain and only about 30 cases come before the courts.
©The Tocqueville Connection

UK-FRANCE FLIGHT TO RETURN REJECTED IMMIGRANTS
26/7/2005- Britain and France have organised a joint flight to repatriate Afghan illegal immigrants which is due to take off shortly, a British government source said Tuesday. "All those on board are single Afghan males," a Home Office source told AFP, adding: "I believe it is today". "The UK welcomes the opportunity to participate in the French charter operation to Afghanistan," a Home Office spokeswoman said. She added she could give no further details on the flight, notably on the departure details and the number of passengers on board. Interior ministers from the G5 group of the European Union's biggest countries (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) decided at a meeting in France earlier this month to run joint flights expelling illegal immigrants of the same origin. They pressed the idea on financial and political grounds. The Franco-British flight would be the first of its kind since the G5 meeting in Evian. In May 2003, Britain and France put in place a similar flight expelling 34 Afghans whose asylum applications had been rejected.
©Expatica News

OFFICERS 'DECIDE IN ADVANCE' TO REJECT ASYLUM SEEKERS(uk)
24/7/2005- Asylum seekers are being 'inappropriately' turned away amid a climate of political pressure and hostile media coverage, an official watchdog has warned. Mary Coussey is the independent race monitor appointed by the Home Office to oversee instances where the usual laws on discrimination are waived to allow the immigration service to do its job. That includes allowing immigration officers to treat nationals from 'priority countries' differently from everyone else at ports of entry. Coussey found evidence of immigration officers apparently deciding in advance to reject someone then 'looking for evidence to justify a refusal'. She was even told by a couple of officers that they 'liked refusals' - turning suspicious entrants back at ports - because they thought it was more interesting than just letting people in. Coussey's review of more than 40 asylum claims found evidence of 'inappropriate decision-making'. She said: 'Several refusal decisions were based on caseworkers' assumptions of what should have occurred, or on small discrepancies and inconsistencies in accounts of events, giving the impression that whatever the applicant's experience, some grounds for refusal would be found.' Asylum seekers were being rejected if they had not sought medical treatment after alleged brutalities, even if they lived in war zones where it was impossible to get medical help, she said. One applicant was told that an attack they had suffered, in which others had died, was so bad that 'it is not believed that you would have been able to survive'. Others were turned down on the basis of assumptions of what officers thought they might do themselves in the circumstances. Calling for a more balanced public debate, Coussey said that 'hostile, inaccurate and derogatory' press coverage of asylum and immigration, plus 'comments by a few politicians', were having an impact. 'I do not doubt that this negative atmosphere can affect decision-making on individual cases, as it makes caution and suspicion more likely,' she added. Repeated references to abuse of the system and reducing asylum applications - which Tony Blair and then Home Secretary David Blunkett promised to do before the election - 'tend to reinforce popular misconceptions that abuse is enormous in scale', when it was only a small proportion of entrants. Home Secretary Charles Clarke accepted 'many of the comments on inappropriate and speculative reasoning' by officials, but said the majority of decisions appeared to be correct. He rejected Coussey's calls for an independent element in decision-making. However, the Refugee Council warned that the report, which was published on the Home Office website on the day of the 7 July London bombings, said it helped to explain why so many rejected claimants appealed - thus delaying their removal from the country. 'The examples cited in the report of refusals made by Home Office caseworkers are jaw-dropping, but what is truly shocking is that the report contains so many of them,' said a spokeswoman. 'The report paints a picture of a system dominated by a "culture of disbelief", in which refusals are the norm and stories of persecution are only ever accepted grudgingly.' For some nationalities, such as Somalians and Eritreans, more than a third of those rejected have the decision overturned on appeal. The Refugee Council spokeswoman said that unless decisions were made clearly and fairly in the first place, the government would struggle to reduce delays in the system and speed up removals.
©The Observer

BOMBERS, RACISTS, THE LAW: THEY'RE AL OUT TO GET MUSLIMS'(uk)
Fear of faith-hate reprisals runs high
By Anushka Asthana, Dana Gornitzki, Lorna Martin, Tariq Panja, David Smith and Ned Temko

24/7/2005- Jimmy, a Muslim, pulled over his car a few hundred yards from the former home of suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer on Colwyn Road in Beeston, Leeds. He took out a DVD which explored a conspiracy theory about 9/11. 'It is the same with this,' he said. 'The moment a mother rang up about her son from West Yorkshire, they knew they had their fall-men.' Among Beeston's younger Muslims, it was an increasingly common view last week. On the street corners, inside the shops and in the local park, there were mutterings of conspiracy theories as rumours washed over the town. One was that Hasib Hussain - the 18-year-old bus bomber - had been seen alive, another that one bomber's family said he could not have been carrying identification as it was all at home. Ever since it had become clear that three of the men responsible for the 7 July atrocities were from the same tiny area, Beeston became a hub of activity as police and media descended. Over the past two weeks the mood has shifted from shock to disbelief. Last week things appeared to have calmed down, with the police lines gone and the cameras out of sight. In the park people walked dogs or played tennis. Near the courts, a group of men - whom Hussain and Tanweer had once hung out with every day - gathered as usual. After news of the further bombing attempts in London reached them last Thursday, they relaxed more and one said: 'That should take the attention off Beeston.' Any possibility that the new suspects could also be locals was not discussed. By Friday, as news of more extraordinary developments in the capital filtered through, the mood shifted again. 'London will be like Beirut, Belfast and Palestine now,' said one man. 'It will be a part of life because Bush and Blair can't keep their noses out of other people's business.' 'Bush is the real terrorist,' muttered another. A 30-year-old man who went to school with Mohammad Sidique Khan - the oldest of the London bombers - said many young Asians in the area suffered from a 'persecution complex'. He said: 'A lot of people had no idea who Osama bin Laden was before 9/11. Then they got this information and believed that Muslims were being persecuted.' He added: 'Many don't want to get addicted to drink, so they look for another outlet - for them religion is always there.' Blaming Bush and Blair to justify terrorism is not the majority view among Muslims across the country - but it is the passionate belief of a significant minority. Almost one in four British Muslims sympathise with the motives of suicide bombers, according to a YouGov poll published in yesterday's Daily Telegraph. More than half say that, whether they sympathise or not, they understand why some people behave in the way they do.

The research also showed that nearly one in three thinks that Western society is decadent and immoral and should be brought to an end. Sixteen per cent of British Muslims told the survey that they do not feel loyal towards Britain and 6 per cent went as far as saying the London bombings were justified. Findings like this produce complex reactions in young British Muslims like Fatema Dossa, 24, a pharmacy graduate from Eastcote, London. 'There is no doubt that the double standards of Western foreign policy have an effect on Muslim youth. You can understand the motives of suicide bombers, but to kill people is different. It is not going to achieve anything. 'If you go to university and see the youth - not just white British but Pakistani and Muslim youth - drinking and drug-taking, you do feel, where is society going? I'm sure the older white British generation would agree society is decadent. But I wouldn't go as far as to say "immoral".' Fears of an anti-Muslim backlash have been realised in a 500-per-cent rise in faith-hate crimes in the past two weeks. More than 1,000 race and faith hate incidents have been reported to police across the country since the London bombings, though community leaders believe the actual number of incidents is at least four times higher. Most of the reported crimes are 'low-level' attacks such as graffiti and verbal abuse. However, race monitoring groups across the UK have seen a significant increase in the number of reports of arson attacks on mosques and Muslim women being spat at in the street or not being allowed on buses because they were wearing headscarves. Police are investigating several serious assaults and one murder related to the backlash. Although most incidents have taken place in and around London, police or community groups across the country have reported a rise in Islamophobic-motivated attacks. On Friday, police arrested three people after an alleged arson attack at the Buckinghamshire home of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay. They have also received more than 200 reports of faith-hate incidents, up from 30 for the same period last year. A race body in Wales yesterday said the rate of abuse had increased from 10 incidents in a month to more than 30 in the two weeks following the 7 July attacks. In Glasgow, a woman sharing the same surname as one of the bombers said her children had been spat on. According to the Muslim Safety Forum (MSF), there was a sharp rise in Islamophobic crimes the day after the first London bombings. The rate decreased a few days later then increased again after the suspects were revealed to be British-born Muslims.

Since CCTV images were released of the suspects of Thursday's failed attacks, there has been a further rise in apparent reprisal attacks. Tahir Butt of the MSF said there were serious concerns about the backlash and, while he praised police for their efforts to protect Muslims, he raised questions about how prepared they were for the level of reprisal attacks. 'There are bigots out there who are reading some media reports and deciding to take the law into their own hands,' he said. 'The message from everyone is zero tolerance, but we need action. We need to hear about people being arrested for these attacks on Muslims who are threefold victims. They are targets of terrorists, targets of the Islamophobic backlash and they will be targets of anti-terror legislation.' Amar Singh, editor of the Eastern Eye newspaper, said Muslim communities were on tenterhooks. 'There is genuine fear. At worst it is assault and abuse, at best it is strange looks or people moving away from you on the train. After 11 September we looked at Americans and thought they were so ignorant ... They didn't know the difference between a Muslim and a Sikh. I can't believe parts of Britain are just as bad. Just as xenophobic.' Police had hoped an intense backlash could be avoided by responding quickly to hate crimes.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said apart from four arsons, or attempted arsons, and one murder, most incidents involved abuse in the street, minor criminal damage, graffiti, offensive literature, phone and internet threats and abuse, hoaxes and some assaults. The Met has passed the effort to counter hate crime to its most senior Muslim officer, assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who told The Observer he would be convening a special meeting of local community figures at Scotland Yard tomorrow. While positive discrimination is illegal, Ghaffur told an inter-faith meeting in Southall on Friday that he was determined to look for 'imaginative' ways to recruit more Asians and Muslims to the police. One of his ideas was the possibility of London business leaders funding a recruitment drive for Muslim officers. The tension was evident in east London yesterday on Brick Lane, where the stalls and restaurants are usually bustling on a Saturday. Oly Ahmed, 22, a staff member at Chillies restaurant, said: 'It's not normal, very quiet. Friday night was quite busy but the rest of the week was not even 10 per cent of normal business. It's incredible for Brick Lane. Our business depends on tourists and City workers. They are not coming this way because of problems with travelling. Lots of people are talking about it and everyone is scared of what will happen.' Aklis Ali, 39, who works at the Best 1 convenience store, said: 'There have been a lot of police on the streets since 7 July. There is tension when my family goes out. When my wife wears a hijab people think she's a terrorist. We don't feel safe - you never know if someone is going to attack you for being Muslim. My wife went to the hospital last week and someone swore at her.' He added: 'Just because of a few fanatics, you can't blame all Muslims. We all have the same feeling about 7 July. We're human beings.'
©The Observer

UK MUSLIMS FEEL 'UNDER SUSPICION'
25/7/2005- Senior members of the UK's Muslim community have voiced fears the London bombing hunt is making innocent people feel they are under suspicion. Labour peer Lord Ahmed said many Muslims in the north of England believed they could become victims of mistaken identity by armed police. And Azad Ali, chairman of the Muslim Safety Forum, said many young Muslims were reluctant to leave their homes. "They fear that they're all suspected bombers," he told BBC Radio Five Live. "We've received many emails, we've received telephone calls, about how young Muslims don't want to use the Tube now." Police have called on the whole community to be vigilant when travelling on public transport and report anything they think to be suspicious. But the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, has stressed no section of society should be singled out. The shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man police wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber, has heightened fears that innocent people could be caught up in the investigation. Lord Ahmed said some sections of the Muslim community were afraid they could also become a victim of mistaken identity. "I've been to Bradford, Birmingham and Sheffield during the weekend and people are very concerned," he said. They fear they could, like Mr Menezes, be victims of the shoot-to-kill policy or be mistakenly arrested as the police gather intelligence on the Muslim community. Lord Ahmed also said it was possible illegal immigrants would run if challenged by the police. "We know that there are many thousands or hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and if they're challenged by the police, they're not going to stand there and produce their ID, they obviously will try and run. "And whilst we need to catch those illegal immigrants or asylum seekers, nevertheless we can't shoot them because they're not terrorists." Anyone with dark skin who was running for a bus or Tube could be thought to be about to detonate a bomb, he said.
©BBC News

THE DISCOMFORT OF STRANGERS(uk)
It's a crowded train in central London, and I'm sitting opposite an Asian man carrying what looks like a large laptop bag.
By Sean Coughlan

26/7/2005- Is it a coincidence that no one else is sitting near us? Is it an accident that he's pushed out his corporate ID card so that it's clearly visible over his jacket, hanging like the open page of a passport? Public transport can be a world of unspoken signals and gestures - but am I right in thinking that he looks self-conscious, sometimes burying his face in his arms as though asleep? When that woman getting into the carriage half-turned towards us and then moved away, was that a deliberate decision, or was it a random commuter choice? How would it feel to have someone literally turning their back on you?

Mind-games
I change Tube lines and in the next train I'm sitting close to a woman wearing Islamic dress. But this time, all the seats are filled around her, and the atmosphere feels relaxed. What's going on in the thoughts of passengers? What judgements are they making? It's a mind-game being played out all over the Tube network, and indeed on many trains and buses throughout the country. It's performed in silence, with people unsure of their neighbours' motives and guilty about their own feelings of suspicion. Following the London bomb attacks, there have been stories swapped all over the capital of people switching seats because of "suspicious" passengers. And targets of that suspicion have talked about their sense of frustration at the unsubtle attention of other travellers. Even though people say little when they're travelling, there's plenty going on inside - fears of danger, changed routes, calculations to avoid risks, guilt at making stereotypical assumptions, anger at being unfairly distrusted.

Stopped carrying rucksacks
In the rather unreal atmosphere of familiar places facing unfamiliar threats, people are taking note of actions and appearances they wouldn't usually see. Hundreds of e-mails sent in to the BBC News website show how, in the uneasy mood on public transport, we're thinking all kinds of unspoken thoughts. There are flickers of bigotry and thinly-disguised racism, but there are also convincingly understated descriptions of people's edginess - and examples of how it is changing people's behaviour, including a number who say they have stopped taking Tube trains. Marcus, who says his family are Greek-Cypriot, has devised a strategy to avoid "odd looks" on the Tube (which he attributes to his Mediterranean appearance). To make himself seem non-threatening, he now wears a Make Poverty History wristband and makes a point of reading the Economist. "Whilst this sounds ridiculous it does reassure people around me. Of course, the whole thing is ridiculous but these are ridiculous times we are living in," he writes. An Asian reader says fears about what people are thinking have stopped him carrying a rucksack. "I do not take my rucksack to work anymore, which had my lunch and work shirt. I would rather wear a dirty shirt left at work than be looked at suspiciously. I also wear a T-shirt to work now, as I am afraid to wear too much, after the shooting," he writes. There are also people who have stopped wearing their MP3 players or iPods because of worries about trailing wires or not hearing orders from the police.

Empty seat
Being on the receiving end of such a hostile atmosphere has persuaded Leila, a white convert to Islam, to stop travelling by Tube altogether. "I sensed people's fear of me because of my Muslim dress. Sometimes people even preferred to stand rather than sit by me, leaving an empty seat next to me." Hindu and Sikh readers have also written to say they have experienced the same sense of rejection. "As I got on the tube with my rucksack, a fellow passenger saw me, waited a second then got up, to wait on the platform for the next train," writes Dev.

Violence
This distrust between travellers is a phenomenon that feeds on itself, says psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon, from the north London-based consultancy, Fitzgibbon Associates. "You've got a strange effect here. Everybody's awareness of a threat is raised - and everyone is looking round suspiciously. So they're looking at each other - and what they observe is people looking at them suspiciously, which immediately raises their awareness that this person might be a threat. "You can get very anxious situations arising - and in the extreme it could lead to violence." Mr Fitzgibbon says fear is a natural response to a threat - but the prolonged media coverage, and the way that people continue to talk about the bombings, can generate a response that is greater than the actual threat that exists. And amid such fears, he says that people can tend to seek people more like themselves and to avoid those who are different. Such a reaction, already witnessed by people sending in e-mails, would threaten what a worried reader described as the capital's "multi-cultural mini-world".
©BBC News

TWO-THIRDS OF MUSLIMS CONSIDER LEAVING UK
Download today's poll in full (pdf)

26/7/2005- Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have thought about leaving Britain after the London bombings, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll. The figure illustrates how widespread fears are of an anti-Muslim backlash following the July 7 bombings which were carried out by British born suicide bombers. The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks. Police have recorded more than 1,200 suspected Islamophobic incidents across the country ranging from verbal abuse to one murder in the past three weeks. The poll suggests the headline figure is a large underestimate. The poll came as British Islamic leaders and police met to try to boost recruitment of Muslim officers, improve efforts to protect Muslims from a backlash, and improve the flow of information from Muslims to the police about suspected terrorist activity.

WE MUST ALL PLAY A PART IN PROTECTING MULTI-RACIAL BRITAIN(uk, editorial)
24/7/2005- The second wave of attacks on London last Thursday did not, thankfully, have the devastating results we watched in horror on July 7. It would be untrue, however, to say they had little effect. If there was ever any real doubt that we have to live with the possibility of yet more attacks on London ñ and, presumably, on other British cities ñ last week's events swept them away. The message from the fanatics who brought terror to Egypt in the early hours yesterday was equally clear: nowhere is safe. That will have a profound effect over the coming years, and presents real dangers not just to our lives but to the values by which we live. There are already welcome signs of a determination not to let fear and paranoia divide communities. Yesterday, residents of Leeds ñ of many different races and creeds ñ took to the streets in a show of solidarity and a clear demonstration that they would not allow suspicion and hatred to take root. The political reaction has been more problematic. This newspaper remains convinced that Tony Blair is wrong when he insists that Iraq is not a factor in the dangers we now face. But the Prime Minister was right to be affirmative in his approach to the atrocities, as he was last Thursday when he said that the only way to deal with the menace of terrorism was "head-on". Any wavering, any doubts or hesitation, any sense of suggesting to the terrorists that London was on the back foot would have played into the terrorists' hands. This is a moment when the people of Britain cannot afford to do anything else but stand firm and face the challenge posed by the recent attacks. At the same time, they have to tackle another problem head on, namely the issue of Islamic extremism and why it has been fostered in this country. For far too long Britain has allowed militant Islamic preachers freedom of speech to spread their gospel of hatred of Western values. Three of the bombers in the first attack were not brainwashed into accepting extremist beliefs when they visited madrassas in Pakistan. The odds are that they learned their message of hate in their native Leeds from religious leaders in their own community. Many Muslims in this country feel disenfranchised from society and out of sympathy with what the West has to offer, and are prey to extremists who offer an alternative point of view.

Wider society may shoulder some of the blame for this sense of alienation, but some Muslim groups are also at fault. Many Muslim groups refuse to integrate, and they hang on to values that are often out of kilter with the modern world. This is understandable. People with their own beliefs and traditions do not always want to give them up for alien values. However, by turning their backs on the modern world they also give up the opportunity to become part of a wider multi-cultural and multi-faith society. For the younger members this is a challenge. Either they rebel against their parents' generation or, in the case of the extremists, they turn towards the conservatives who want to keep them within the tenets of a more extreme form of Islam. In both cases they are put in a terrible position. If they embrace the modern world with all its temptations, they stand in danger of cutting family links and damaging their own communities. If they fall into the clutches of those who advocate violence, they could find themselves with a one-way ticket and carrying a lethal rucksack. All this matters, and in the wake of the bombs it has serious implications for the country. So far there has been no serious backlash against the Islamic community and there is a general understanding that the attacks were carried out by criminals and not by people of any specific religion. But all that could change if there are further attacks. Britain is no stranger to the wilder reaches of the right, and racism is not so far below the surface that it has disappeared forever. Just look at the British National Party and its ideology. During the IRA bomb campaigns there was never any significant anti-Irish feeling, but these bomb attacks are different because they are carried out by suicide bombers and are aimed casually at innocent civilians from all backgrounds and all faiths.

That intensity and that element of impartiality make the bombers more difficult to comprehend and certainly more dangerous. Much more has to be done to integrate the Muslim community into mainstream British society. The Prime Minister has made a start by announcing a conference to address this issue, and this initiative deserves support and serious consideration. Unless we tackle this problem seriously, things will get worse before they get any better. And it will not just be about outreach schemes or focus groups or appointing highly paid tsars. What is needed is a serious investigation into why some young Muslims are so unhappy with their lot that they are prepared to blow themselves up and kill innocent people. It cannot just be about the promised delights of paradise; they are being impelled by much deeper and darker thoughts. The leaders of the Islamic community have to play their part too, not just by laying down the law but by listening to the younger people and trying to understand their concerns. There is no point either in trying to lay the blame at Pakistan's door. While the madrassas have played a role in politicising young people, there is no shortage of similar voices to be heard in mosques and meeting places in Britain. Wider society has a responsibility as well. It must guard against perfectly understandable fears turning against all Muslims and making them figures of hate. If racism takes root, the terrorists will have achieved at least one of their aims and dealt a blow to the whole notion of a tolerant society in which different races and religions can live together in peace. This is a battle which has to be won. Not only could our lives depend on it, but so could our hopes of creating and maintaining a vibrant, multi-racial Britain.
©Sunday Herald

BLACK MEN CAN'T RUN(uk, comment)
I have reason to fear the police's new shoot-to-kill policy
By Paul Myers

29/7/2005- I'm London-born to Jamaican parents, and like most people I want to stay alive while travelling around my home city. Easier said than done now that terrorists are blowing up buses and tubes, and police have killed a dark-skinned man they thought was on the verge of an atrocity. Up until Jean Charles de Menezes was shot in Stockwell, I was scared of the explosions. Now there's a double whammy. Do I worry about the Asian with the backpack or the nonchalant white guy?

"De Menezes acted suspiciously by running" is one line that's wheeled out to abrogate responsibility for a catastrophe. But if you're in an ethnic minority the errors seem to hit you thick and fast throughout your life. It really doesn't take that much for a police officer to be suspicious.

I remember Doreen Lawrence telling me that police initially treated her and her husband Neville like they were the criminals after their aspiring architect of a son had been stabbed to death by white racists at a bus stop in south-east London. In 1993 she had to grieve through the bigotry, but the bungled investigation into Stephen's murder forced the Macpherson report, which among other things highlighted the institutional racism within police forces. And to their credit the police have moved to eradicate that blight.

So far I've evaded the racist thugs at the bus stops, but I haven't eluded the institutionalised stupidity. Like countless other law-abiding black men in the capital, I've been stopped, questioned and searched by police professing to be doing their utmost to protect the community. When I owned a Golf convertible I'd be tailed or pulled over for driving what they suspected to be a stolen car.

While trying to catch the last bus home from the City a few years back I was stopped by an officer who told me that I was acting suspiciously by running through a high-risk burglary area with a holdall. He looked through the bag, asked me whether the shoes and clothes were mine, and then wanted to know where I'd come from. When I told him the Guardian in Farringdon Road, he asked if I could prove it. I showed him my press card and I thought that would be the end of it. Wrong. He asked where I lived, and even though the address tallied with the bus that I'd been running to catch, he still radioed my details through. When these were confirmed, the officer's explanation was that he had a job to do, and was sure I'd understand. I was livid because I had understood.

Now what frightens me is that, unlike the Lawrences, the grief of the De Menezes family seems not to be yielding anything positive. The Met commissioner apologises but says police may have to shoot other innocent people to protect the community. And their colour will be ... ? Giving apparent carte blanche to marksmen to unload bullets into dark-skinned people, while exhorting these targets to trust in the policy's effectiveness, may have pleased the old Special Patrol Group, but it leaves me queasy. Especially when some of the bobbies on the beat can't distinguish the most salient of differences. You see, the officer who stopped me in the City marked me down on his report sheet as Asian.
©The Guardian

POLICE FACE PROBE OVER TV EXPOSE ARREST(uk)
Two forces questioned over raid on BBC producer's home

24/7/2005- Detectives from two forces are to be investigated for perverting the course of justice in connection with a BBC documentary that exposed racism at a police training college. The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation could lead to criminal charges against officers from Greater Manchester and Cheshire police, who are said to have accused a BBC producer of murder in order to gain access to his journalistic files. The forces both sent recruits to Bruche police college, near Warrington, which featured in the documentary The Secret Policeman, broadcast in October 2003. In January 2004, police from Cheshire gained a warrant to search the house of Paul Atkinson, a former sergeant from Greater Manchester, who worked as a producer on the programme. The film used undercover reporter Mark Daly to film scenes of racist behaviour. One recruit dressed in a Ku Klux Klan-style hood and bragged of his plans to attack Asians. Charges of 'obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception' against Daly were dropped. The Observer has discovered that an assistant chief constable from West Yorkshire has been appointed to head the investigation into Atkinson's claims that officers falsely arrested him to gain access to his files. These allowed them to identify officers who had blown the whistle on the college and launch an internal inquiry into their conduct. The investigation will be the largest yet by the IPCC, which was established last year. Such is the seriousness of the claims that eight detectives will work on the case full time. They will examine whether Cheshire officers were acting in the full knowledge of their Greater Manchester colleagues when Atkinson's home was raided. Neither force now disputes they were working together to find out how the BBC had come to make the programme. Also under investigation is the decision to allow Greater Manchester police access to Atkinson's bank accounts just days before the programme was to be broadcast.

The criminal investigation could lead to charges against individual officers and cast doubt over convictions in the trial that followed the murder investigation. Atkinson was first questioned as a witness about the murder of drug dealer Brian Waters in September 2003. James Raven, who had once been a BBC consultant, was later convicted of involvement in the killing in which the victim was whipped, tortured and burnt to death. Atkinson's name had been found in Raven's notebook. Raven, serving a 24-year sentence in Full Sutton high secruity prison, continues to protest his innocence. The producer was eliminated from the police inquiry in April last year, but not before the police had stormed his house and kept him in custody for 15 hours. The officers who arrested Atkinson will be asked to justify why they did not check the verifiable alibi given by his girlfriend as he was dragged away. They would have discovered that the couple were in a hospital 250 miles away from the scene of the crime, being told they had lost their unborn child. An internal inquiry by Greater Manchester Police found that Chief Superintendent Don Brown had not adequately performed his duties in sending a letter telling Atkinson he was not under investigation over the The Secret Policeman. Disclosures under the Freedom of Information act showed that this was not true. Brown has since taken early retirement. The investigation will raise questions about the role of Michael Todd, chief constable of Greater Manchester. There is no suggestion Todd was aware of the raid, but it is clear from documents seen by The Observer that he believed Atkinson to be behind the BBC programme before it had been broadcast. In September 2003, he wrote to the then director-general, Greg Dyke, naming Atkinson. The trials of the men held responsible for the murder of Waters (Raven, John Wilson and Otis Mathews) cost an estimated £6 million. All three cases have been referred to the Court of Appeal. Atkinson told The Observer: 'My case raises serious questions about the tactics employed by GMP in investigating officers brave enough to step forward and be counted in speaking out against racism.'
©The Observer

REPORT BLASTS CITY RACE RELATIONS(uk)
25/7/2005- A damning assessment of race relations in Hull has emerged in a report commissioned by a race watchdog. Researchers found an "acceptance of racist behaviour" among a significant part of the population, which sometimes spilled over into violence. Agencies within the city are promoting change but have not put policy into action, the report, from the Hull Race Equality Group, concluded. Hull City Council said work was already under way to tackle race problems. Councillor Kath Lavery, of Hull City Council, said: "This report sadly confirms what we said in light of the horror of the recent attacks upon London - that too many of our residents, albeit a minority, are still struggling to cope with the presence of ethnic minorities in Hull. "We believe that the inherent tolerance of the people of this city will prevail, but the great majority of people must help by rising to the challenge of confronting the racism which blights all our lives." On Monday, the council revealed it would be attempting to reduce the number of single male asylum seekers in the city while helping more families. Anny Woods, of the Hull All Nations Alliance, said problems highlighted had existed in the city for years, but there is a determination to solve problems. Rama Banerjee, of Hull's Hindu Cultural Association, said "things had not always been good" during her 28 years in the city. But she added: "There is a buzz in the city now, things are changing. We are working together, and with the support of the city council, we know we are not alone, we feel part of the city." However, the problems could be holding back the city's much-heralded regeneration, the report's author said. "A city with a high risk of racial tension is not one to which economic and social investment is likely to be drawn, as other major towns and cities in the UK have found to their cost," said Professor Gary Craig.
©BBC News

ANGER AND TALK OF BETRAYAL AS TOWN BIDS TEARFUL FAREWELL TO DEPORTED FAMILY(uk)
27/7/2005- A red-eyed teenage boy with tearstained cheeks is a rare sight. Even more unusual is a tracksuited group of more than 20 white lads, all phone-flipping and arm-swinging attitude, weeping and hugging a family of black asylum seekers. The final day Verah Kachepa and her four children, Natasha, 20, Alex, 17, Tony, 16, and Upile, 11, were due to spend in Britain before they were deported to Malawi was full of strange and moving moments. For the family, it was their hardest 24 hours yet, harder than when their husband and father deserted them, harder than when they were snatched at dawn by immigration officials and taken to Yarl's Wood detention centre. And then their agony was prolonged further last night - when blunders by officials meant they missed their flight from Heathrow. For the town of Weymouth, their home for the last five years, it had been a day of tears mingled with a sharp sense of betrayal after the government turned a deaf ear on a passionate campaign to give the family refugee status, despite cross-party support from MPs including Ann Widdecombe and George Galloway. The family were, said one teenager, an "anchor" in the town. "You can see they've brought together the young and the old and all ethnicities," said Ed Follis, 18. "They are such bright, bubbly, loveable people. It doesn't seem right to see them go." "The kids have been so traumatised by this. If England wants to traumatise a whole community, they've done it," said Margaret Samuel, a family friend. After barely 12 hours' notice to pack and make their own way to Heathrow, the Kachepas were surrounded by 50 friends in their small flat off the seafront yesterday lunchtime. Teenage girls hugged the family in the cramped hallway. "You're like my mum," said one girl to Mrs Kachepa. In the stairwell, young girls held up camera phones and begged Alex to give them one final rap. "Oh-oh, oh-oh," boys and girls sang along when he obliged. One of his compositions has been recorded and is played in the town's clubs. Mrs Kachepa tearfully thanked the crowd. Their local priest gave a brief blessing and sprinkled them with water, which mingled with the drizzle and the tears.

The family arrived in Britain in 2001 to join Mr Kachepa, who was working legally as a pharmacist. Six months later, he deserted them and returned to Malawi, leaving behind a string of debts. Mrs Kachepa took on two jobs to pay them off. They learned that Mr Kachepa had moved in with a niece of Hastings Kamazu Banda, the dictator who ruled the African country for three decades. According to friends, a senior Malawian security source personally warned Mrs Kachepa not to return, echoing a threatening phone call from her ex-husband. Banda is now dead but according to independent experts his clan continues to wield a baleful influence. After Mrs Kachepa's brother and sister confronted her husband over abandoning his family they both lost their jobs. Fearing for their lives if returned, the family claimed asylum but were turned down. By now Mrs Kachepa had became a pillar of the local community, volunteering and joining church groups. Her children made friends and studied: deportation means Natasha has been forced to abandon a university place to study nursing. In March, they were woken in a dawn raid and taken by immigration officials to Yarl's Wood. Church groups, schools and residents cried out and the family were freed, allowing the children to complete their school year before their scheduled deportation. But the government would not overrule immigration officials' decision to send the Kachepas home, despite a US state department report on Malawi in February finding "instances of arbitrary arrest and detention" in the country. A Malawian-born academic described its putative democracy as an "elected oligarchy". In evidence submitted to the government, he concluded: "I am of the opinion that Mrs Kachepa would be at a serious risk of personal harassment and possible physical violence."

"I'm scared," said Alex, as the minibus headed to Heathrow with suitcases and a toy bear squashed against the rear window. "I'm scared for my family, I'm scared for my mum and I'm scared for me. I don't know what's waiting for me at the other end and I don't know how I'll adjust." For Natasha, being deported meant a tearful farewell to her boyfriend of three years, Tom Sanderson, 20, a soldier who was injured while serving in Iraq. Mr Sanderson vowed to join the family in Malawi. "I'm out of the army as soon as possible and I'm going over. What's the point of staying in a country that doesn't support their own citizens?" The family were due to depart on a scheduled flight at 8pm last night - but bureaucratic inefficiency dealt them one final blow. Despite turning up as instructed at 6pm, immigration officials failed to produce their confiscated passports and the Kachepas were unable to board their plane. Fifteen minutes before the flight was due to depart an immigration official turned up with their paperwork but Kenyan Airlines had closed the gates. The official left without explaining to the family what they should do next. It was left to their supporters to drive them back to Weymouth late last night. "This extra delay is putting the family through serious pain and grief," said Ralph Johnson, one of the family's supporters. "Here was a high-profile case and yet they were so incompetent they weren't ready for it. This is proof of our original claim that the family have been victims of maladministration." Locals feel betrayed by their Labour MP, Jim Knight, whose surprise re-election was widely put down to his pledge to help the family. Mr Knight said he was sorry he had lost the battle. "We've not been able to prove that they are in danger if they return to Malawi, which is a functioning democracy. I've been arguing there is an overwhelming compassionate case because the family are so well integrated but unfortunately the minister and his officials have chosen to stick to the rules." One supporter, Dr John Fannon, said: "Over the past few months they have been dragged off at dawn to Yarl's Wood, released after a public outcry, used as a political football to elect Jim Knight and now left high and dry."
©The Guardian

WHO WILL PROTECT THEM?(Slovakia)
Head of local UNHCR office calls for more personnel, funding for asylum system
By Beata Balogov·

25/7/2005- Terrorist attacks harm nations not only through taking human lives but also by increasing tensions within the society and fuelling fear of foreigners. These fears are sometimes also directed against those who are themselves victims of violence and terror, the refugees. Terrorist attacks often result in countries taking severe measures that might in fact lock out those in genuine need of help. "Refugees are victims of persecution and violence and they indeed seek protection. Somehow, we have a strong link with them. We are all like refugees when it comes to terrorism because we all feel persecuted by them and we want protection," says Pierfrancesco Maria Natta, the head of the local Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bratislava. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Natta about the challenges that Slovakia faces during these complicated times of EU integration and the fight against terrorism.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): An amendment to the asylum law that came into effect on February 1, 2005, is designed to prevent abuse of the system and harmonize asylum law with EU legislation. Has the legislation proved to be effective so far?
Pierfrancesco Maria Natta (PMN): Slovakia has been adopting the right legislation and amending it in a timely fashion. Yet, the problem is not with the legislation itself, but rather its implementation. This is not Slovakia's problem alone. All the EU countries have to transpose EU directives to their national legislation and then to implement the laws. Even countries that have much greater experience with refugees than Slovakia have problems with this process. The effective implementation is of course linked to the capacity of the administrative structure and in Slovakia these capacities are still very weak.

TSS: UNHCR will help Slovakia become a target country for refugees, said European head of the UNHCR Pirkko Kourula after meeting Justice Minister Daniel Lipöic earlier this month. How does UNHCR want to achieve that goal?
PMN: We have signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Ministry of Justice. We already have ongoing cooperation with the ministries of interior and foreign affairs. Based on this document, we will organize special trainings for the judges who are now fully involved in the asylum system. The UNHCR wants to assist the Justice Ministry in the process of the transposition of the asylum legislation. Not to influence the process, but rather to point out possible loopholes and ring the bell when we think that certain legislation might be against international standards. The ministry will inform the UNHCR about the preparations of asylum-related legislation in advance. The UNHCR also wants to assist the integration of people who are granted asylum, which can be a very difficult task. It is a good time for Slovakia to see what has been achieved in this sphere in other European countries and then to adapt these experiences to its local conditions. The task force unit, coordinated by the UNHCR, which involved the Interior Ministry and several NGOs and foreign embassies in Slovakia, concluded that more funds need to be poured into the system and that staffing needs to be improved. In Poland 600 people work at the immigration office. Here the Slovak Immigration Office has only 160 people. In Sweden there are 3,000 people working in their system. With limited staff you cannot expect people to perform in the same way as other countries perform.

TSS: The UNHCR warned that Slovakia still lags behind in granting asylum to people. This is a problem you have been pointing out for the past couple of years. Has there been any progress yet?
PMN: Statistics show a very sharp (80 percent) decrease in the number of people applying for asylum in Slovakia. Over the first six months of 2005, 1,410 people applied for asylum in Slovakia while last year 6,300 people applied in the same period. It means that right now the asylum system is not under pressure. Last year, we declared that the system was not able to cope with the increasing number of the refugees. You also see the recognition rate doubled this year, but it is still very low at 2.5 percent. [Last year it was 1.14 percent.] Only 10 people, compared with 431 in Poland and 2,264 in Austria. This is the lowest acceptance rate in Europe. We certainly believe that more decisions [on people's applications] are being taken but a major problem remains that almost the same number of people who are coming into the country are then disappearing and go further West. It in fact means that in 2004, about 9,000 people, excluding those with repeated application, moved further West.

TSS: What are the target countries for the "disappeared" people? Has the disappearance rate decreased over the first six months of 2005?
PMN: Compared with Slovakia's 80 percent decrease in the number of asylum seekers, Austria posted a 20-25 percent drop, which is a much milder decrease. While before, most of the people were applying for asylum in Slovakia before leaving the system and going to Austria, probably now many of them avoid registering in Slovakia and go directly to Austria. We cannot really prove this theory. Before, people used this system to legally cross through the country. Now they probably feel they don't have to use this system because, due to the Dublin protocol, after being registered in Slovakia, they might be returned to Slovakia after being tracked in other countries like Austria, Germany or Great Britain. It is quite a challenge for all of Europe to make Dublin effective; then there is the burden on the countries that are on the border. But if people do not register and can continue undetected, then Dublin has no purpose. This is something that needs to be analyzed most urgently.

TSS: What could be a possible solution to this problem?
PMN: The main goal should be to create a system that separates people who need international protection from those do not need such protection. The migrants simply need a different registration system to allow them to stay and be productive for the country. Or to be returned if they do find legal jobs. Currently, here there is still no effective system for separating migrants from asylum seekers. There are many people who are moving further west and are abusing the system and we agree with the Migration Office that not all of these people are refugees. But it is the system that allows them to move further West, and in the end it creates problems for those who in fact are in need of protection and want to apply for asylum in Slovakia. We would like to create a system that would speed up the procedure for those who have a good claim, instead of looking into all cases, including those who are obviously not refugees. We need to concentrate on the small number whose cases deserve to be heard. We need a system that would encourage these people to seek asylum in Slovakia and not go to other countries using smugglers. Such a system of course would need more trained staff with the appropriate language skills. The lack of English proficiency does create a problem and this knowledge would certainly speed up the procedures. I do not mean to say that the border police and other staff are not capable of dealing with the system, but if they had better salaries, better equipment and more colleagues, more interpreters, they would deal with it much more effectively. Then there is the Schengen regulation, which will put even more stress on border control. Recently, 50 million was given to Slovakia to control the border. Compare that with the budget of the Migration Office, whose resources are much less ( 7 million): the difference is too big. Countries tend to stick to the idea of having a strong border control instead of having an asylum system that can really be a tool to determine who comes into the country.

TSS: What impact do terrorist attacks have on the local perception of asylum seekers.
PMN: This is an issue, which needs to be addressed and explained. Refugees are victims of persecution and violence. They are the first ones who would like to be protected and we are all like refugees when it comes to terrorists because everybody feels persecuted by terrorists. The general reaction is often to call for the exclusion of incomers because we simply do not know who these people are. In Gabcikovo there are people of 31 nationalities asking Slovakia for protection. Again if you have an effective system that can detect who the people entering the country are, then you will also create the possibility for the local community to help the state, which has the right to protect citizens from certain groups, but certainly not from people who are coming here in hope of help. But I have not sensed any particular increase of tensions in Slovakia. A recent survey stated that 74 percent of Slovaks consider it necessary to help refugees: seven percentage points more than three years ago.

TSS: How successful is the process of integration of refugees into Slovak society?
PMN: We do not have many cases to integrate. But there is a big gap in that integration process. We have some housing units that have been built in cooperation with UNHCR, in Bratislava, Koöice, and Lucenec. However, the costs of the rent and electricity bills are often higher than the social benefits that the refugees get. The rent sometimes reaches Sk4,000 ( 100). We had a case of a woman with three children from Serbia-Montenegro. She has now delivered a new baby, so she cannot work. She is receiving social assistance that is below her electricity bill and rent. How can she live? There is a request for her eviction. We will talk to the authorities and tell them that it is not possible to evict a refugee on maternity leave and who is living in a house that UNHCR has co-funded. We need a policy in which you provide language and work training, which gives a person a chance to find a job and integrate into the society. If refugees have to pay more in rent than the social security they receive, then they will go to a different country and this for a country that will enter the Security Council is surely not a good "visit card".
©The Slovak Spectator

CIVILISATION STRIKES BACK (Netherlands)
Refugee centre in Witmarsum, a small village (1900 inhabitants) in the northern province Friesland, is defying Dutch minister of immigration and integration Rita Verdonk.
By Suzette Bronkhorst

25/7/2005- The announcement in 2004 that 26.000 refugees which haven't managed to get a legal status in the Netherlands are going to be forcibly removed has caused a lot of unrest and protest in Dutch society. Many of the refugees have been in this country for 5 years or longer, their children are born here, they go to school, speak fluent Dutch and are, for all intends and purposes, Dutch. The strongest protest came from the Dutch province Friesland, not only from its citizens but also from local authorities, who consider it their duty "to protect 'our' refugees, excuse me, we mean our citizens".

One of the measures Minister Verdonk is taking is withdrawing funding for refugee centres around the Netherlands, to force them into closure. This is what happened to Vluchtelingenzorg Wšnseradiel (Refugee aid Witmarsum foundation) where 125 asylum seekers are cared for. A small municipality like Witmarsum doesn't have the funds to carry the costs of keeping the centre open. To keep going for the next two years (until the next Dutch general elections) 200.000 euros had to be found.

In April of this year a few local and provincial organisations put their heads together to think of ways to keep the centre open. Witmarsum became the national symbol for resistance against the asylum policies of the government. By June, 170.000 euro had been collected, of which 80% came from people and organisations in Friesland itself. For the remaining 30.000 euro an email titled "Verdonk refuses to pay, we don't!" went out, asking a minimum of 333 people to donate 25 euro per month, over a period of 2 years. This mailing created once again publicity and interest, so on July 15 youngsters from the local youth club, who had donated the proceeds of a lottery (270 euro) to the cause, carried 7 'orange cakes', the symbol for hospitality in Friesland, into city hall with the figure 200.000 euro written on it. A spokesperson of centrum Tšmba, one of the organisers, told us that donations are still coming in.

It looks like this time civilisation and compassion won from politics!
©I CARE News

BELGIAN POLICE SEEKING TO RECRUIT WOMEN, IMMIGRANTS
26/7/2005- Belgian police are aiming to recruit a higher number of women and immigrants to boost the representation of both population groups in the federal and local police corps. Currently, 30 percent of new recruits are women and about 4 percent are people of immigrant ancestry, newspaper 'De Standaard' reported on Tuesday. But in a new campaign to recruit a 1,000 police agents at both the federal and local level, the police advertisement is devoid of tough-looking men in combat gear. Instead, the advertisement sketches a woman's features and emphasises skills such as listening and communication. Diversity is the key word in the recruitment text. The director-general of personnel, Alain Duchatelet, said diversity relates to the recruitment of both women and immigrants. "For the latter group, we will not apply positive discrimination, but we are entirely busy with specific recruitment actions in immigrant circles," he said. Police recruited 1,300 agents in 2003, 4.2 percent of which were of immigrant ancestry and 4.4 percent of the 1,000 people recruited last year were immigrants. Pre-training courses are offered to second and third generation migrants to build up their language skills. Immigrants must have the Belgian nationality in order to become a policeman or woman. Meanwhile, despite the new focus on recruiting female police, 28 to 30 percent of new recruits to the Belgian police corps are already women, one of the highest rates in Europe, Duchatelet said. He said the police corps has come a long way since the first women were recruited in 1981, pointing out that 45 to 50 percent of new recruits to the police officer training school are women. "The higher the level, the greater number of women," Duchatelet said. There are currently 35,000 people employed by the Belgian police force, 3,500 of them civilians. Women make up 15 percent of the total, 60 percent of the civilian department and just 10 percent of the actual police corps.
©Expatica News

SUSPECTED RIGHT-WING LINK IN MAYOR'S DEATH THREATS(Belgium)
29/7/2005- Sint-Niklaas Mayor Freddy Willockx has been under police protection for the past four weeks after being sent death threats in the mail. Police said Willockx received a death threat shortly after he exchanged harsh words with the extreme-right Flemish Interest party during a meeting of the Sint-Niklaas Council four weeks ago. "Because it was impossible to judge where the letter came from, we took the case very seriously. The mayor has since then been protected by our officers," town police commissioner Jack van Peer said. Another death threat was sent to the mayor in the weeks that followed. "With a bit of luck you will end up in a wheelchair, if you have bad luck then it will be coffin," the letter said. Willockx also received three letters with pornographic photos. Police decided against going public with the case until a colleague of Willockx opened up a letter containing white powder on Thursday, newspaper 'De Standaard' reported on Friday. Alarm bells were immediately triggered, but tests later revealed the white powder was simply powder sugar and not anything dangerous. Police commissioner Van Peer has refused to confirm a possible link between the death threats and Willockx' argument with the Flemish Interest. "But it is the only clue at the moment," he admitted. The argument was sparked after the Flemish Interest claimed immigrant youths were guilty of recently vandalsing graves at the Tereken cemetery. The party claimed police and politicians were trying to cover the fact up, but police inquiries actually revealed that native Belgian youth were the culprits. Willockx subsequently demanded an apology from the Flemish Interest, but the party refused to yield ground. He then lodged a complaint with the anti-racism bureau CGKR.
©Expatica News

GENDER WAGE GAP STARTING TO DECLINE(Belgium)
26/7/2005- Women earned on average 75 percent of the net salary Belgian men took home between 1998 and 2002, but the wage gap is starting to decline. Economist Jozef Konings also wrote in the Leuven Catholic University magazine 'Leuven Economic Viewpoint' more than 50 percent of the gap can be attributed to discrimination. Konings based his findings on an analysis of the results of a survey of 2,000 people conducted as part of a study into Belgian households, newspaper 'Het Laatste Nieuws' reported on Tuesday. The economist studied the affects of a range of objective criteria such as the type of job, the level of education, the industry sector and the number of hours worked While the average gap between the wages of men and women was 31.1 percent, the gap fell to 17.4 percent when taking in the aforementioned factors. "This remaining part of the wage gap can be put down to discrimination," the economist said. However, the research also revealed that wage gap between men and women is starting to decline. In 2002, the average wage women earned was 79 percent of that earned by men, compared with 75 percent for the period 1998-2002. Konings believes the narrowing of the wage gap can be attributed to the government's equal opportunities policy. A decline has also been detected in other countries. However, the amount of discrimination is higher among the lower-educated, with almost 70 percent of the wage gap in this group attributed to discrimination. Just 42 percent of the wage gap can be attributed to discrimination among the higher-educated working population. In highly competitive sectors, the level of discrimination is lower than in less competitive sectors, with 57 and 70 percent discrimination respectively.
©Expatica News

PROTESTS DISRUPT LATVIA GAY MARCH
23/7/2005- Latvian police have arrested protesters after they shouted insults and threw eggs at people taking part in the Baltic state's first gay pride march. The few dozen marchers were outnumbered by hundreds of protesters who blocked the narrow streets of the capital. Police were forced to alter the march route and to form a chain around the parade participants to protect them. The march had sparked outrage in Latvia and only went ahead after a court overturned a council ban on the event. Officials said that six of the protesters had been detained for their part in disrupting the march. Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis had opposed the event, saying Riga should "not promote things like that". "For sexual minorities to parade in the very heart of Riga, next to the Doma church, is unacceptable," he told LNT television on Wednesday. One of those who took part in Saturday's march, 61-year-old Lars-Peter Sjouberg, from Sweden, said he had been shocked by the offensive remarks made by protesters. "Protesters here were really aggressive [...] but it won't stop me from helping my Latvian friends fight for their rights."
©BBC News

SEXUALITY AT ISSUE IN POLICE CASE FILES(Germany)
Police departments in three federal states use a software program that records whether or not a person involved in a case is homosexual. One parliamentarian said it reminds him of the Nazis' notorious "Pink Lists."

25/7/2005- The computer programs used by the states of Bavaria, Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia to record cases and track their progress allow investigators to categorize suspects as homosexual or the scenes of crimes as "locations frequented by gays and lesbians." By entering the abbreviation *omosex*, personnel can call up all data files on cases in which homosexuals or gay locales are involved. Data protection officials and gay and lesbian advocates have been outraged by the discovery, noting that the so-called "homosexual paragraph" -- the law that once made homosexuality punishable by law -- was struck from the books in 1994. The data protection commissioner from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bettina Sokol, said the practice was "very questionable," telling the newsmagazine Der Spiegel that information about sexual orientation belongs to a category of data that should have the highest degree of protection and only be recorded in exceptional cases and under strict guidelines. According to the magazine, the departments of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia have now blocked the category "location frequented by homosexuals" from their digital case files, but the key word "homosexual" is still enabled. In a letter to the interior ministers of Thuringia and Bavaria, Volker Beck, a parliamentarian who often addresses gay and lesbian issues, said the police software in use "brings up unpleasant memories of old police practices such as the keeping of 'pink lists'." Those lists were records of gays that were kept during the Nazi era and used in the persecution of the minority group. The association that represents German gay and lesbian police employees, VelsPol, says it suspects that the practice of saving the category "homosexual" on case files is widespread. It notes on its Web site that one of the computer programs in question, IGVP, has designed its categorization system so that the key words "location frequented by homosexuals" is side by side with "peepshow," "brothel," and "prostitution area."
©Deutsche Welle

SINTI AND ROMA GAIN MINORITY STATUS(Germany)
Sinti and Roma in Europe have long been two ethnic groups persecuted by governments and those in the "majority" alike. Now, one German state is recognizing them as a national "minority."

26/7/2005- Rhineland-Palatinate is the first state in Germany to recognize as a national minority the roughly 8,000 Romas and Sintis who live there. In 1997, the federal government recognized the 50,000 Danish in the north and the 60,000 Sorbs who reside in the southeast as national minorities. Rhineland-Palatinate's premier, Kurt Beck, and the head of the state's Sinti and Roma association, Jacques Delfeld, signed the agreement on Monday. "We want to send a signal with this agreement against the discrimination and for the rights of Sinti and Roma in our society," Beck said after the signing. Recognition of European minorities on a continent-wide basis dates back only to the EU's Framework Agreement, passed in the 1990s. Germany ratified it in 1997. With it come certain responsibilities towards minorities. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the state will promote special support for Sinti and Roma in kindergartens, schools and colleges. This measure is supposed to level the playing field for the two groups in the educational system. The Central Committee of German Sinti and Roma, in Heidelberg, has been demanding for over a decade that an end be brought to what it believes to be discriminatory reporting against the people it represents. This comes primarily in the form of arrest warrants and reports. Police sometimes include the terms "Sinti," "Roma" or even "Gypsy" in their reports, which are frequently published in the media. The Central Committee says the procedure helps to propagate negative stereotypes. The new agreement in Rhineland-Palatinate will prohibit police from mentioning the ethnic identity of Sinti or Roma when publishing criminal reports in the state. The Sinti and Roma languages will also be promoted. Whether Berlin will take up the matter and put the recognition of the two groups on the legislative agenda remains to be seen. So far, the government describes the Sinti and Roma as an "ethnic group," which allow them some special protection. But the federal government has not yet taken the final step, saying that the Sinti and Roma do not meet one of the five criteria set up in the EU framework -- namely that they do not have a permanent region they reside in. Over 500,000 Sinti and Roma were killed by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. Countries around Europe still systematically persecute and discriminate against the ethnic group that many do not understand.
©Deutsche Welle

TURKEY REJECTS SWISS GENOCIDE-DENIAL INQUIRY
Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah G¸l, has criticised Switzerland for briefly detaining a Turkish politician on suspicion of violating Swiss anti-racism laws.

25/7/2005- Dogu PerinÁek, who is leader of Turkey's Workers' Party, has twice denied that the killings of Armenians around the time of the First World War amounted to genocide. He is the subject of two criminal investigations. Under Swiss law, any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism laws. "It is not possible for us to accept these things to be done to the leader of a political party in Turkey," G¸l was quoted in the H¸rriyet newspaper. "Do these actions suit a country like Switzerland?" he asked.

Questioned
The public prosecutor of Winterthur questioned PerinÁek on Saturday for more than two hours after a news conference he gave on Friday in Glattbrugg, near Zurich. In the speech honouring the 82nd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, which fixed the borders of modern-day Turkey, PerinÁek called claims of genocide against the Armenians an imperialist lie, authorities said. PerinÁek is also under investigation from authorities in canton Vaud after a complaint from a Swiss-Armenian Society over a speech he gave in Lausanne in May. G¸l described Saturday's questioning as "unacceptable" and "absolutely contrary to the principle of free speech". On Sunday, PerinÁek repeated his denial of the Armenian genocide at celebrations attended by about 2,000 Turks near the Beau-Rivage hotel, scene of the treaty negotiations.

Kurds
About 300 Kurds, who also marked the anniversary, demonstrated in front of the Palais de Rumine where the treaty was signed. Speakers criticised the treaty, which had "made a mockery of the hope for freedom" of Turkish minorities. Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923. They argue that this was a deliberate campaign of genocide by Turkey's rulers at that time. Turks say the death count is inflated and insist that Armenians were killed or displaced as the Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border with Russia and stop attacks by Armenian militants. Switzerland and Turkey have argued over the issue in the past. In June, a Turkish cabinet minister postponed a visit to Switzerland to protest against a Swiss investigation of a Turkish historian who made a similar speech denying that the mass killings of Armenians in the early 1900s amounted to genocide. Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey had been scheduled to travel to Turkey in 2003, but Ankara withdrew its invitation after the parliament of a western Swiss canton recognised the killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. Calmy-Rey visited Turkey in March.
©Swissinfo

SWISS-TURKISH RELATIONS HIT NEW LOW
Turkey should recognise the Armenian genocide and stop blackmailing Switzerland, says Swiss parliamentarian Erwin Jutzet.

28/7/2005- Meanwhile, the Swiss ambassador in Ankara has had to defend himself against a barrage of criticism concerning the Swiss investigation of a Turkish politician. "Turkey has to stop reacting so sensitively to such events," Jutzet, the president of the House of Representatives' foreign-policy commission, told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Wednesday. "It would do better to recognise once and for all the genocide of the Armenians." On Tuesday Turkey presented a protest note to the Swiss ambassador in Ankara and the Swiss foreign ministry in Bern. The note concerned the investigation of a Turkish politician on suspicion of violating Swiss anti-racism laws. Dogu PerinÁek, leader of Turkey's Workers' Party, has twice denied that the killings of Armenians around the time of the First World War amounted to genocide. He is the subject of two criminal investigations. Jutzet said it was up to Turkey to make a move "instead of always taking offence and resorting to blackmail". He added that the constant denial of genocide could have ramifications for Turkey's much sought-after entry into the European Union. "If Switzerland were to turn its back on Turkey, it would be a bad sign for EU entry," he said.

Ambassadors
On Wednesday the Swiss ambassador in Ankara, Walter Gyger, was told in no uncertain terms about Turkey's dissatisfaction concerning the PerinÁek investigation. Gyger countered by pointing to Switzerland's anti-racism laws and the strict separation of judicial and political powers. Under Swiss law any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism laws. The Turkish ambassador in Bern, Alev KiliÁ, was due to meet the relevant representatives from the Swiss foreign ministry on Thursday. The press attachÈ at the Turkish embassy in Bern, Sibel Gal, told swissinfo: "This has caused discomfort and disappointment in Turkey, and such a measure falls short of freedom of speech and expression which is one of the most fundamental human rights." "It's even more regrettable that this was launched by the authorities in a friendly country whose reputation for upholding human rights is well known." Gal added that PerinÁek's views "reflected historical facts based on scientific and academic findings of events during the First World War at the easterm front of the Ottoman empire".

Questioning
The public prosecutor in Winterthur questioned PerinÁek on Saturday for more than two hours after a news conference he gave on Friday in Glattbrugg, near Zurich. In the speech honouring the 82nd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, which fixed the borders of modern-day Turkey, PerinÁek called claims of genocide against the Armenians an imperialist lie, authorities said. Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah G¸l, described Saturday's questioning as "unacceptable" and "absolutely contrary to the principle of free speech". "Do these actions suit a country like Switzerland?" he asked. On Sunday PerinÁek repeated his denial of the Armenian genocide at celebrations attended by about 2,000 Turks near the Beau-Rivage hotel, scene of the treaty negotiations. The House of Representatives has recognised as genocide the expulsion and massacre of more than a million Armenians, but the government has not.
©Swissinfo

POLICE, JUDGES REGARD MIGRANTS SUSPICIOUSLY(Greece)
25/7/2005- Nine in 10 Greek judges and policemen believe that some of the approximately 1 million immigrants living in the country are to some degree responsible for the rise in crime over recent years, according to a study published yesterday. More than 88 percent of judges and over 93 percent of police officers believe that migrants are either totally or partially to blame for an increase in the crime rate over the last decade, according to a survey conducted by Evangelia Vagena-Paleologou, a doctor of criminology and a judicial official. Nine in 10 judges also describe the number of migrants living in Greece as "high" or "very high," while almost three-quarters of policemen say that the presence of foreigners in Greece has exacerbated unemployment. Some 1 million immigrants make up just over a 10th of the population in Greece. Of the 250 judges who took part in the survey, three-quarters felt that the public has a negative view of migrants. Half of the 412 policemen questioned said they believe that Greeks are racist and almost 14 percent said they thought immigrants should be treated more strictly than Greeks.
©Kathimerini

HIV-POSITIVE PEOPLE DEPORTED FROM SWEDEN
25/7/2005- HIV-positive immigrants in Sweden are being sent back to their homelands, despite the fact that they will not have access to treatment when there. Swedish government policy says that people with live-threatening illnesses who cannot get treatment in their homelands should be granted Swedish residency. But according to an article in Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish Migration Board does not take a person's ability to afford treatment in their home country into account when deciding whether to deport them. Inger Lindgren, at the HIV Clinic at the Karolinska University Hospital told DN that the rules required only "that there is one tablet in the whole country...it doesn't matter whether this costs a million kronor." According to a spokeswoman for the Alien Appeals Board, the rules are based on the principle that it would be too expensive for Sweden to give treatment to all who need it. But Lars M–berg, an infectious diseases specialist at the Karolinska University Hospital, said that he did not believe that there was a great risk of "medical tourism", as most HIV positive foreigners in Sweden are diagnosed here. "Testing is not widespread in Africa or Thailand," he said. ‰sa Kronberg, legal adviser at the Swedish Association for HIV-positive People, told DN that Sweden has an "ethical and moral responsibility" to continue treatment that has already started.
©The Local

FOREIGN TEACHERS LEARNING LESSONS IN BELARUS
25/7/2005- On July 19 the deportation from Belarus of American professor Terry Bosch was made public. This was the second deportation from Belarus in a week. On July 15, a report appeared that Andrzej Buczacki, an advisor to the Polish Embassy, would have to leave the country. But whereas the diplomat was given until July 21 to prepare, the professor was deported immediately. Terry Bosch taught international law at Belarus State University (BGU) and also organized charitable events for the country's educational institutions. Bosch's family, who had lived in Minsk for two years, was given only two hours to leave the country. "On Friday, July 15, I was warned that my two daughters, aged 10 and 13 years, and I were being expelled from Belarus. When I got back to our apartment, I immediately phoned the American Embassy, whose employees began calling the republic's Foreign Ministry. They were hoping we'd be given at least until Monday to leave the country," Bosch said. Bosch is certain that the approaching presidential elections planned for next year were the reason for his deportation. "I did everything I could to help the Belarusian people. I think I'm the last person from the West who tried to understand the Belarusian authorities and work with them to help this country. But now I'm convinced that their situation is hopeless. There's no turning back now. I really don't want to leave the wonderful people who live in this country. But today, before taking part once again in the 2006 presidential elections, Lukashenko has started a great purge against Western residents," Bosch wrote in a letter to the press center of the Belarusian website Khartiya-97.

There has been no official explanation of the reasons for the professor's expulsion from Belarus. In an interview with Kommersant, Maria Ivanshina, the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry's press service, would say only that "this was not a deportation; it's just that his visa was not extended by the competent authorities." The deportation of foreign citizens has been no surprise to anyone in Belarus for a long time, just like the closure of all non-state educational institutions, which, in President Lukashenko's opinion, were a breeding ground for the opposition. Last year, the Belarusian authorities closed the European Humanities University. More than a thousand students were thrown out as a result. The Yakub Kolas Belarusian Humanitarian Lycee [Yakub Kolas was a Belarusian poet] was disbanded even earlier. Today, this school continues to exist underground, operating in both Lithuania and Poland. A British professor who also taught at BGU was recently expelled from the country. Aleksandr Kozulin, the rector of BGU, was fired from his position and almost ended up in prison after state television accused him of financial irregularities. However, the prosecutor did not file the corresponding charge against him. Incidentally, the campaign against the rector began shortly after the 2001 presidential elections, when Lukashenko admitted that young people didn't support him. A couple of days ago, the Belarusian government announced it would no longer issue one-year Belarusian visas to humanitarian workers arriving from the West. And Aleksandr Radkov, Belarus' minister of education, issued an order according to which students observed taking part in opposition activities would be excluded from Belarus' higher educational institutions. Several students were expelled from BGU's faculty of journalism for cooperating with the non-state press.
©MosNews

POLAND RECALLS AMBASSADOR FROM BELARUS
28/7/2005- Poland has decided to recall its ambassador from Belarus after a series of scandals involving the Polish minority in the country. Poland's Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency said the ambassador will travel to Warsaw for consultations and "will not return to Minsk (capital of Belarus) till the situation in Belarus is settled." The ministry has already addressed the European Commission in order to take measures to support Poland and defend the rights of the Polish minority in Belarus. Earlier, external relations spokesperson for the European Commission, Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, called the incident "a bilateral matter between Belarus and Poland." He added, however, that the Commission is "concerned by the situation of all minorities and of civil society in Belarus. We will continue to monitor the situation closely." Relations between the two countries have deteriorated during the last months. One of the reasons was the situation around the Union of Poles in the Belarus city of Grodno. In March, the union elected its new leadership but Belarus found it illegitimate and insisted on the former leadership being reinstated. In April, the Belarus authorities stopped the edition of the union's periodical, Glos znad Niemna, and arrested its reporters. After that, the authorities started to release a new periodical under the same name but not authorized by the Union of Poles. Poland's Senate condemned this step stressing that the new periodical claims it is supported by the Polish Senate, although Poland stopped financing the magazine after the incident. On Wednesday, union activists were detained by Belarus police. They were all released overnight but the police have not let them back into their headquarters referring to an order by the Justice Ministry that states the former leadership of the union must be reinstated. Over the last three months, Belarus expelled three Polish diplomats, prompting Poland into tit-for-tat deportations of Belarusian diplomats. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said his country will not let Poland interfere with its interior affairs.
©MosNews

FAR RIGHT STORMS AHEAD IN BULGARIA
Ataka's extremist programme sounds barely credible, but it has already become parliament's fourth largest party.
By Albena Shkodrova, the Bulgaria director of the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, a localised IWPR project.

27/7/2005- On the first day Ataka took power Bulgaria would withdraw from NATO. On the second it would reconsider its agreement with the European Union, reopen the two oldest reactors of its Soviet-era nuclear power plant at Kozloduy and announce plans to double the size of the army. On the third day, Ataka would terminate its relationship with the World Bank and the IMF, ban ethnic minority parties and cut programmes in minority languages in the state media. This is how the first three working days of a government led by a popular new nationalist party in Bulgaria would pan out according to the pronouncements of its flamboyant and controversial leader, Volen Siderov. Ataka, which was founded in April, is a political phenomenon. Siderov is a former journalist who once edited a reformist newspaper, Demokratsia. He drifted into radical nationalism, publishing books that were attacked for alleged racism, and was expelled from his post as a commentator on a national daily newspaper. Over the last year, his cable television programme, Ataka, has drawn protests from most human rights organisations, often on account of its crude generalisations about the Roma or Turkish communities. Siderov claims that gypsies were guilty of committing "genocide against Bulgarians". In April, Siderov and a dozen other politicians registered a party named after his controversial TV programme. While the big centrist parties wrestled each other for votes in the June 25 parliamentary elections, Ataka slipped ahead of them. As a result, it emerged the fourth largest party in parliament, after the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, the former ruling National Movement Simeon The Second, NDSV, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS. Moreover, its success in the June 25 vote may mark only the beginning of the rise in Ataka's fortunes, as Bulgaria's political crisis continues to unravel. After the BSP failed to form a coalition government with the DPS earlier this week, there was widespread talk of a new round of parliamentary elections that could well see Ataka leapfrog even further ahead. A government espousing Ataka's policies would clearly stun the world. In reality, the shock tactics are deliberate. The party exists to reject the last government's policies and it has no intention of leaving the opposition ranks for now. "We are not going to form coalitions or participate in governments," one Ataka member of parliament explained to the local press. He compared his party's role to that a horse fly, which stings and torments the big beasts around it.

Bulgaria's politicians are uniformly hostile to the new group, and all the parties in parliament ruled out cooperation with Ataka, which many have accused of espousing Nazi-style policies. Party members furiously deny the charge. "We are tired of responding to ridiculous accusations about us being racist xenophobes or endangering minority rights," Pavel Shopov, a member of Ataka, told Balkans Crisis Report, BCR. However, Siderov has hardly allayed concerns with his most recent stunts. A day after the election, he repeated an earlier Ataka demand that minority language TV broadcasts be shut down and those who had allowed such programmes to start in the first place be prosecuted. "One of the first things we will do is shut down the hateful news in Turkish on national TV," Siderov declared on June 26. "We will demand punishment for those traitors who allowed the broadcasts." Ataka's programme is an equally colourful ragbag of populist, nationalist and socialist slogans. It calls for a ban on foreigners buying land in Bulgaria, the revision of major privatisation deals, the enlargement of the army, the return of the death penalty and a new all-encompassing law defining "national treason". Pavel Shopov, however, insists his party has been widely misunderstood and that its basic orientation is pacifist. "Which neo-Nazi party, as some wrongly define us, would advocate peace?" he asked. He defended the party's right to demand "a monolithic country, which is not subject to division on the basis of ethnic, religious or cultural differences". Tackling the question of minority rights, Shopov added bluntly, "We think there are no minorities in Bulgaria." Shopov would admit only that there exist certain ethnic and religious groupings, which should not be encouraged to isolate themselves from the mainstream through the use of different languages. Ataka's strong opposition to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which represents ethnic Turks, was based on a strict reading of the constitution that bans ethnic parties, he added. Siderov refused to answer BCR's questions on the party's identity and policies.

For all its loudly proclaimed moderation, there is little doubt that Ataka sees itself - and is seen - as a similar phenomenon to France's Front National and other far-right parties in Europe. After the Bulgarian elections, the Freedom Party in Austria, the Front National, the Polish Samoobrona and the Russian Rodina all indicated that they recognised Siderov's group as an ally. However, some observers say these relatively well-established parties may well draw back from forming explicit ties to such an overtly racist organisation. "No EU countries would allow a party with such a degree of explicit racism or xenophobia to enter parliament," said Krasimir Kunev, from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. Kunev's colleague, Yonko Grozev, alleges that some of Siderov's statements violate national laws and international agreements signed by Bulgaria. If that is the case, no one threatened Siderov with legal action. In fact, at this stage, he is the one who is publicly dismissing Bulgaria's politicians as criminals and claiming that their proper place - not his - is in jail.
©Institute for War & Peace Reporting

SOCIALISTS DEFEATED IN BULGARIA
28/7/2005- Bulgaria's Socialist Party (BSP) - the winner of last month's election - has failed to form a new government, its leader Sergei Stanishev says. He wanted to form a coalition with a small, mainly ethnic Turkish party, but MPs voted against the plan. The BSP won the elections with 31% of the vote, ahead of the ruling centrists led by ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg. Mr Saxe-Coburg might now get another chance to form a government - but analysts say that will be difficult. Bulgaria is due to become a member of the European Union in 2007, but must carry out a series of reforms to meet the entry requirements. The European Commission says it hopes "a strong and stable government will be formed as soon as possible and that the government will continue the preparations for accession". The country's bid might be delayed if the political deadlock forces Bulgarians to go back to the polls for new elections. "With the lack of a necessary majority in parliament, we have reached the conclusion that the Socialist party's mandate for forming a government has been exhausted," Mr Stanishev said. MPs narrowly rejected the cabinet list presented by the BSP and the liberal, mainly ethnic-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). They jointly account for only 116 of the 240 deputies elected in the 25 June polls. The ex-king's Simeon II National Movement (NMS) came second in the election with just under 20% of the vote, ahead of the MRF with 12.7%. A radical nationalist group called Ataka won 8% - enough to enter parliament. It challenges Bulgaria's tentative efforts to integrate its Turkish and Roma (Gypsy) minorities.
©BBC News

STRICTER GUIDELINES ON CHINESE STUDENT VISAS(Malta)
28/7/2004- The processing of visa applications from Chinese English-language students is to come under more rigorous guidelines. The move follows the drowning of six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants off the coast of Sicily in Easter, which had fueled suspicions that Chinese people were obtaining visas to study English here with the sole intention of using the island as a springboard to Europe. Last month, the police concluded an investigation into the way Maltese diplomats in China processed visas. Although they had found no irregularities, the Foreign Ministry had established that administrative procedures could have been followed more strictly by embassy staff. Feltom, the body representing English language schools, yesterday said agreement on the new guidelines had been reached in a meeting on July 18 between Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, Commissioner of Police John Rizzo and the president of Feltom, John Dimech. Under the guidelines, interviews at the Maltese Embassy in Beijing will be conducted by more than one person, Feltom said in a letter to its members released to the press yesterday. The vetting of the applicants by the police immigration branch will be carried out prior to the interview, so that interviews will not be meaningless, The immigration branch and the embassy will maintain records of Chinese agents and English language schools in Malta. Keeping a profile of agents and schools will enable them to take the necessary action and blacklist those who do not comply with the procedures and obligations. Feltom quoted Dr Borg as saying that language schools should be more selective and recruit students from preferred regions in China, since there was a problem with Chinese students coming to Malta to learn English and not returning to their country.

All language schools will be required to submit weekly reports to the immigration branch about students who absent themselves from studies. For this purpose, surprise inspection visits will be carried out by the immigration officers at language schools. Language schools will be required to inform the immigration branch of the students' departure details at least a week prior to the termination of their studies. Extensions will only be granted upon confirmation that students have attended their studies regularly and that students have sufficient funds for their stay in Malta. Mr Dimech expressed his satisfaction with the new guidelines and hoped that such measures would not just bring the situation back to normal but enhance it. He reminded the ministers that Feltom firmly believes Malta should introduce a student visa, as the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand have had for several years. The ministers agreed to look into this, Feltom said. Following the police investigation, all the diplomatic staff at the Beijing embassy were to be recalled because the credibility of visa processing has been "irreversibly prejudiced", the Foreign Ministry had said. The investigation had been launched following allegations about irregularities in the issuing of visas made in Parliament last year by Labour MP Leo Brincat and claims about the behaviour of a diplomat made in The Malta Independent on Sunday in March. Throughout their investigation, the police had refused visas to most Chinese nationals.
©Times of Malta

IMMIGRANT TALE OF ABUSIVE PRIEST RIVETS ITALY
26/7/2005- Like thousands of jobless and hopeless souls before him, Mohammed Ben Hsin set out from Tunisia for Italy in the fall of 2002 on an overcrowded, rickety boat that was intercepted by the coast guard before it could reach shore. He soon found himself behind locked doors and barbed wire in a "reception center" just outside this southern town on the heel of the Italian boot. The center was run by a celebrity priest, the Rev. Cesare Lodeserto, who had been praised by Italy's president, lionized in the news media, and blessed by Pope John Paul II for his work sheltering immigrants. But Ben Hsin and 15 other former inmates of the Regina Pacis facility tell a much different story, a dark tale of degradation and abuse that has divided city residents and highlighted Italians' deep misgivings about the waves of desperate newcomers sweeping across their borders. Lodeserto and 16 others are facing a host of criminal charges, the most shocking of which are based on the allegations of Ben Hsin and his fellow North Africans. Rounded up after they escaped from the facility in November 2002, the men were tortured and humiliated at the hands of the priest and the Italian paramilitary police who worked for him, according to the charges. First, Ben Hsin and several other inmates say, Lodeserto, known here as "Don Cesare," watched and participated while carabinieri guards and other staff members beat them with truncheons. Then, the inmates say, the guards forced them to eat pork, in a mockery of the Muslim ban on that meat, by shoving it into their mouths with the batons. "They pushed pork down my throat, and they left me outside with no clothes," Ben Hsin said in an interview, repeating his court testimony. "Don Cesare ordered it." Some of the inmates were severely bruised, allegedly from the beatings, and prosecutors have charged a doctor with filing a false report claiming that the bruises came from falls during the escape attempt. Lodeserto also has been charged with obstruction of justice over allegations that he tried to intimidate witnesses into changing their testimony. Prosecutors say he ordered a woman to falsely accuse a key witness of raping her. In a separate case, prosecutors have accused Lodeserto of illegally confining several Moldovan women in another part of the facility. The women had been brought to Italy as part of a sex-trafficking ring, and, having fled their captors, had been granted immigration permits that allowed them to move about freely.

Many years
In a third case, prosecutors have charged Lodeserto with misapplying what they say was more than two million euros (more than $2.3 million in today's dollars) in public money over three years that was supposed to pay for the upkeep of the immigrants. The allegations of witness-tampering led a judge to grant a prosecutor's request to jail Lodeserto in March. He later was granted house arrest and then freed after investigators secured sworn testimony from key witnesses, prosecutors said. Under the delay-prone, three-tier Italian justice system, it will be many years before his cases reach a final disposition. In addition to highlighting the plight of immigrants in Italy, the scandal has underscored the increasing willingness of a new generation of prosecutors to take on the Catholic Church. Prosecutors began investigating the center after they discovered what appeared to be a second set of accounting ledgers for it in an unrelated matter. They opened the other cases after the inmates complained to human-rights activists. "I am a Catholic. I know the value of Catholicism," said Carolina Elia, a lead prosecutor in the case. "There is very little Catholic in all of this."

'Like a strict father'
Through his attorney, Lodeserto denied the criminal charges and said he never beat inmates. After agreeing to a telephone interview, Lodeserto did not respond to calls. He and his defenders also have argued that it was sometimes necessary to be "tough" or "strict" with the inmates. "A few times I behaved like a strict father, but what could I do? These are young girls, easy prey for men looking to fool them," Lodeserto said in court earlier this year. "Some humanitarian work needs a little rigidity in behavior," said Lodeserto's attorney, Pasquale Corleto. "He may have engaged in severe behavior, as needed to be done to manage a community as diverse as that one." This "tough love" defense has resonance in Italy, where many people openly express suspicion and hostility toward migrants from the developing world. Although Lodeserto resigned as head of the center after his arrest, the Lecce archbishop and other prominent church figures have rallied to his defense. So have many residents of Lecce, to the chagrin of the authorities. "I think it's possible that Don Cesare may have been a little severe in his actions," said Lecce's center-right mayor, Adriana Poli Bortone. "But these are not very tranquil people. They have a disposition that is quite violent." Overall, she said of the prosecution: "I am very sad about it, and I feel personally that it's a great injustice." Antonio Buscicchio, 78, a pensioner speaking in Lecce's main square, used even blunter language. Immigrants "are like animals," he said. "They're dirty, and they live on top of one another. If it was up to me, we wouldn't let any more in."

But concerns over immigration do not stem solely from racism and xenophobia. Italy, once a rich source of migrants to the United States, Australia and Canada, is now one of the main gateways for poor, desperate refuge-seekers from North Africa and the Balkans to sneak illegally into European Union nations. Migrants pay smugglers hundreds or thousands of dollars for the stealth passage across the Mediterranean or the Adriatic Seas, and many often drown in the attempt. Those who are not captured by authorities can work only illegally, in a country with an anemic economy and high unemployment. Often, they become a burden on society. Just last month, 252 would-be migrants were rescued by Italian authorities off Sicily and placed in an overcrowded detention center on the island of Lampedusa. Italy's response to what some call an invasion has been a series of tough laws facilitating the detention and expulsion of immigrants. Last year, authorities flew more than 1,000 immigrants back to Libya without a hearing. In a report released last week, the human-rights group Amnesty International criticized Italy for not giving migrants a chance to seek political asylum in accordance with international human-rights standards. The report also questioned the system of reception centers such as the one in Lecce, citing allegations of abuse at the centers by lawyers, aid workers and journalists from across the country. What is striking about the tough stance is that Italy appears to need immigrants more than almost any country in the world. With a birthrate far below replacement level, Italy's population is aging rapidly, and the country is hurtling toward a pension crisis. "I always thought Italy was a great place, a place we could find a job," said Anis Loro, 29, a witness in the case against Lodeserto. "This has turned into a nightmare."
©Philadelphia Inquirer

ITALIAN PAPERS JOIN UK TABLOIDS IN SLANDER OF ROMA PEOPLE
25/7/2005- The hot, lazy days of summer send many people on holiday, and make interesting news more difficult to find. Perhaps this is why Italian and British papers are filling quite a few columns with slanderous and inflammatory stories against Roma. For almost two months, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, owned by the Italian Prime minister's brother Paolo Berlusconi, has given disproportionate attention to the situation of Roma in the regions surrounding Milan and Rome. This newspaper has extensively covered the situation of Roma evictions from via Capo Rizzuto in Milan their ongoing situation in charity housing provided by Casa della Carita. Almost daily updates of the political agreements and disagreements of local institutions surrounding the case are provided on the newspaper's website. Similarly, the papers have issued several reports describing demonstrations being held by local inhabitants of via di Castel di Guido in Rome against the displacement of a group of Roma from a camp site to a more developed residential site. The Il Giornale reports continually cast the Roma in a poor light, reinforcing stereotypes that the Roma are dirty and worthless. The paper reports quotes such as those on the demonstration signs addressed to the mayor of Rome, Mr. Veltroni: "Nomads Again! Thanks Mr Veltroni: You are Making this Area the Garbage Dump of Rome!". In addition the newspaper continues to use words such as ëterrorized' to describe the Italian families who will be affected by the Roma; or to refer to the Romany people as ëzingaros,' a term with a derogatory meaning similar to ëGippo' in English. These tactics are similar to the linguistic approach, reported earlier this summer by Dzeno, of two British tabloids who continue to promote racism against Roma through inflammatory language and stories. The Sun and The Daily Express demonstrated these tactics once again in three recent articles describing the efforts of non-Roma to evict Roma families from land near the town of Ilchester, Somerset (UK). The articles featured expressions such as ëterrorized villagers,' and ëthe invasion of Roma and referred to the Roma people as ëscum.' As horrifying as it is to see newspapers of any sort promote racist attitudes and beliefs, the British publications are only tabloids. It is far more disturbing to note these underhanded tactics being used by ërespectable' Italian newspapers.
©Dzeno Association

ANTI-GYPSY PERSECUTION IN RUSSIA
By Mara Vladimirova for Antifa-Net in Moscow

July 2005- Nobody knows exactly how many Gypsies live in the Russian Federation. Some estimates say 150,000 people while others other give an approximate figure of one million (Russia's population as a whole is 144 million). In both cases, the count is probably inaccurate because, traditionally, Gypsies are nomadic tribes that do not have a permanent place of residence and do not pay much attention to state census demands. Although, the Gypsies are nominally citizens of the Russian Federation, they remain social "outlaws" as in the past and opt not to conform to a society that oppresses them and discriminates against them. Russian Gypsies can be divided into two big groups, the Roma and Luli. Historically, the Roma first appeared in Russia in the 16th century but it was only at the beginning of the 19th century that they came to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Classic Russian literature of the 19th century painted a romantic image of Roma people as vivacious musicians, dancers and actors very popular with Russian aristocrats. This abstract idealised image still exists in heads of countless people but the sight of real Gypsies in the streets seems to provoke feelings of hostility, anger and fear of being robbed. The Roma are often regarded as "home Gypsies" with a more regular and fixed way of life but few have higher education and few are integrated in contemporary society. During the Soviet era, considerable energy was spent on spreading Communist ideas among the Gypsies to try to restrict their nomadic life and to involve them more in the process of collectivisation of society. During the Second World War, of course, Gypsies fought against Hitler fascism as soldiers of the Red Army. After the collapse of the USSR, however, the Gypsies returned to their traditional way of live as outsiders.

Though the economic and social situation of the Gypsies in Russia in general is poor, the worst situation is faced by the Luli. Luli is a common name for numerous groups of Gypsies from Tajikistan, or those associated with them, who came to Russia en masse after the economic crises and civil wars in the Asian Republics during the period from 1992 to 1997. Now, they are frequently seen, mothers with several children, sitting in the streets of the big cities and begging at the same time as enduring the rigours of the rainy Russian autumn and cold Russian winter. Many Russians mistake them for Tajiks because the Luli dress more like Asians and have an Asian appearance. Every facet of social, political and economic difficulty accompanies the life of Gypsies in Russia. According to research by the European Centre for the Rights of Roma People, Roma communities all over Russia live in deep poverty, deprived of the possibility of obtaining education, jobs, housing and medical help. In practice, this means, for example, that ordinary schools try to find ways not to accept Gypsy children. Even if they are accepted, their attendance is rarely encouraged or enforced. Prejudice is so widespread that Russian pupils refuse to share tables with Gypsy children and that a school textbook could contain a warning not to touch Gypsies because they "spread maladies". The educational problems are compounded by the fact that most Roma, and especially Luli, do not speak Russian. Nevertheless, there are no special classes, schools or textbooks for them in their own languages. Discrimination in the health sector is rampant. In one case a Gypsy woman had to give birth to a child in a field after being rejected by a hospital's emergency department.

Oleg Gusev, a candidate for major of Yekaterinburg, proposed to close down Roma settlements and recently, in the Archangel region, Gypsies were forced to take to court a city government that wanted to drive them out of the region. Gypsies have even threatened to burn themselves with their houses if the authorities try to destroy their buildings. The mass media plays a big part in inciting hostility to gypsies. A TV documentary about beggars in Moscow, for instance, stated that "it is Roma and Luli who control the begging business in the Russian capital and get much more money from this than those who run the petroleum business" before adding that, for the purpose of this business, "Gypsies steal children, buy people as slaves, mutilate them and kill them when they cannot work any more". One Russian person on the programme even suggested using napalm against Gypsy settlements The mass media also claims that Gypsies are heavily involved in drug trafficking. As a result, the words "Gypsy" and "drug dealer" have become virtually synonymous. The police can ñ and do ñ make round-the clock drugs raids on Roma and Luli settlements. If they are unable to find drugs, policemen demand money or arrest them on trumped-up charges for several days. When arrested, a Gypsy is generally detained longer than others arrested for the same crime. Arrested Gypsies are often badly beaten, and sometimes even killed, by the police. For example, in 2001 a Gypsy was killed in the police station at Khimki in the Moscow region. The resulting court case has been delayed six times.

In the list of those to whom Russians show xenophobic feelings, Gypsies come second place only to Caucasians but for Gypsies, and those who help them, it is quite difficult to defend their rights against the state. Many Gypsies are illiterate and have little legal knowledge. The easiest way for them deal with police is to give them cash. When extremists like nazi skinheads attack them or other discrimination occurs, the Gypsies rarely go to the court because they know they will not win and can easily be turned into the accused. According to official figures, Gypsies commit 3% of all crimes in Russia. Many Gypsies do not deny being involved in the drugs business as couriers nor that they practice thieving. However, so-called "civilized" society leaves them with few options. Without proper papers, Gypsies who want to start working conventionally and legally seldom get jobs. It is claimed that police officers are reluctant to provide proper papers because they might lose their "pocket money". Even with valid documents, Gypsies can hardly ever find jobs because prejudice against them is so strong. There are other forms of discrimination. Regional governments, for example, refuse to sell land or apartments to Gypsies who want a settled existence. More and more often, the newspapers and observers of human rights organisations publish information about pogroms at Gypsy settlements, like the one that happened in Iskitim in the Novosibirsk region in April. Several organizations, including the Union of Roma Social Organizations and the International Romani Union, monitor the situation of the Roma people in Russia and try to help them preserve their specific culture and language and to resist discrimination. The state envisages only two possibilities for the Gypsies: integrate into society and, effectively, stop being Gypsies or be constantly put into circumstances that are almost impossible to survive and, thus, disappear as an ethnic group. Faced with this arbitrary choice, Gypsies invariably choose to keep their freedom from the state and willingly take the risk of remaining outsiders. This leaves them in the position of outlawsÖ a large nation without a country of the their own, the last such nation in Europe.
©Searchlight

ROMANIA: TEACHERS TO BE TRAINED AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
26/7/2005- The delegation of the European Commission in Romania and the Education Ministry will launch a program to train teachers on how to treat each child without discrimination in schools, regardless of their ethnic origins, the area they live, financial status of family or health issues. The program, worth over 11 million euros, will be subsidized by EU Phare funds and will be initially introduced in 11 counties: Alba, Bacau, Braila, Covasna, Harghita, Ialomita, Mures, Maramures, Neamt, Sibiu and Valcea. It may later be extended to Botosani and Iasi. The program's main purpose is to support Roma people's access to education, as well as to help children with special educational needs or socio-economic disadvantages to have access to education without any kind of discrimination. The head of the European Commission's delegation, Jonathan Scheele, said the program aims to bring a relationship of trust to schools and improve communication between teachers, children and parents. The EU official said he hopes the authorities will get involved in this project so such problems can be solved and avoided in the future. "Unfortunately, not all the commitments made by the local authorities for supporting such activities were applied in all counties during this program," Scheele said. Education Minister Mircea Miclea said all children should have equal chances to education, despite all costs. General Manager in the Education Ministry, Liliana Preoteasa, said there are many situations in which teachers allow children with special needs or those who come from poor families to join their classes, but usually place them at the back of the class. Preoteasa said such habits have to be eliminated and asked all the population to say if they find out about such discrimination actions. "Teachers can not be punished for not allowing a child with HIV/AIDS to enter their classrooms; they have to be educated, as punishments do not change mentalities," said Education Ministry state secretary, Paloma Petrescu. This program is a continuation of the Phare project launched in 2002 whose purpose was to subsidize access to education for disadvantaged groups, especially Roma people.
©Mediafax

CZECH TOLERANCE CAMPAIGN TO FEATURE ROMA SUPERSTARS
28/7/2005- The Czech government is planning to feature popular young Roma figures in an upcoming public awareness campaign against racism. Andela Haluskova, a recent finalist in the 2005 Czech Miss competition, and Vlastimil Horvath, recent winner of the Czech Superstar competition will be featured in posters and billboards all around the city to promote tolerance towards Roma. The campaign will also feature photographs of prominant members of other minority groups as well as groups of recent immigrants such as the Vietnamese. Ms. Haluskova, 22, was the first openly Romany woman ever to reach the finals of a national Miss competition. By participating in this campaign, she is keeping her promise to help open doors for other Romany women in the larger Czech society. Just before the final competition on February 26, 2005, Haluskova stated "People are probably very concerned that I am the first Roma woman to get a position in a competition like this. I don't really mind that. I understand that my success can open the doors of success to other Roma women." Half Romany and half Cuban, Haluskova has lived the life of a normal Roma girl, before her modelling career became a reality, she was simply another cashier at a local supermarket. Vlasta Horvath also knows firsthand the media storm that can be created by successful Roma. After he won the television competition for ëCzech Superstar' early this summer, the national papers went mad trying to figure out the consequences of his win on racial sentiments in the Czech Republic. This year's government campaign against racism, entitled ëTolerance Against Racism' is only the latest effort by the Czech government to try and promote tolerance towards the nation's ethic minorities and foreigners. The government has been producing such campaigns against xenophobia and racism since 2000, but little is known about the effectiveness of such campaigns in actually changing people's perceptions and behavior about race.
©Dzeno Association

UK HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT FAILS TO DESCRIBE TRUE SITUATION ROMA IN EU
25/7/2005- The 8th Annual Human Rights Report issued by the United Kingdom was released last Friday, containing information on the human rights situation in the United Kingdom and abroad. Although the Report denounced anti-Roma discrimination throughout Europe, it omitted many important details, and failed to mention such major factors as the the tragic situation of Roma refugees in Kosovo, the problems of Roma in countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic, as well as the growing problem with evictions in the UK itself. Instead of looking in detail at the situation of Roma living in EU countries, the UK report focuses mainly on the activities that the UK Embassies have taken over the past year and the grants that they have provided to Roma NGOs. In many places, the report tends to understate the case, for example: the section on Roma states that while it "found no evidence of systematic or officially sanctioned discrimination against Roma within the EU," many individual Roma may still "experience prejudice and discrimination in their daily lives." The report specifically mentions incidents of individual discrimination against Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro, providing details of discrimination in each country in the fields of education, employment, health services, housing and political participation. While the report acknowledges that problems remain with the Roma populations in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it fails to discuss the details of the problem; focusing instead on the grants that the UK has supplied to assist Roma NGOs in these areas. (Full disclosure, Dzeno was not one of the grantees). The UK report speaks in glowing terms of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, and affirms its support for the Decade Initiatives. The UK will be contributing expertise and finances to the Decade, the report states, particularly to the Roma Education Fund. While any statements denouncing discrimination against Roma are welcome, this report seems to omit more details than it highlights. Perhaps because of its early release due to the timing of the UK's EU presidency, this Human Rights Report spends more time in self-congratulation than in description of the problem or recommendations for constructive solutions. It's true that this report isn't meant to be comprehensive, but it's disappointing that a country as respected as the UK cannot take the time to provide accurate and realistic information on the situation of Roma in Europe and in the UK.
©Dzeno Association

TRINITY(opinion)
By Ronald Eissens

29/7/2005- It's been a shile since I wrote something for the ICARE-news. The only thing I can say is that I was, as per usual, quite busy. Projects and other work comes flying in left, right and center all the time. Hardly any time to sit back and think what is happening, and a lot has been happening, most of it bad. Devastating moments like the murder of Theo van Gogh put their mark on us all and not only caused anger, fear and distrust, but also worsened the already hostile climate towards Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad. All the attacks on Mosques, Muslim schools and institutions after the murder led to more fear and antagonism, on which Dutch government is not picking up as well as they should. As program director of Human Rights First, Michael McClintock wrote: ëwe are quite concerned with the Netherlands thin veneer of civility peeling away after the murder of Van Gogh'.

In the meantime we can conclude that the main problems we face on all sides of the ocean are Muslim-hate, antisemitism and terrorism. A few days after the second London bombing I got a phone call in the evening from a colleague at another Dutch NGO. She was disturbed and had a profound question; what does terrorism really have to do with Human Rights and antiracism? I was not surprised by the question. I was in fact rather glad that somebody asked. Nobody really wants to ask this question, or, if they do, they will give you the answer right away: oppression and colonialism and occupation and capitalism all generate terrorism, we therefore need to fight against those, implying that if we as citizens get our government to do whatever terrorists want, they will leave us alone.

I must say that I find this way of thinking to be of an infuriation and disgusting stupidity. Oh sure, let's all be nice now so Mr. Terrorist will not blow us up, and in fact it is all our fault or our governments fault.

Anyway, I answered my colleague. It is quite simple. Why do we need to fight terrorism?
1. We do not want to be blown-up.
2. We don't want other people to be blown-up, whatever the reason.
3. Terrorism generates more hostility between groups in our societies.
4. It's the trinity, and using the trinity is a racist statement. No, I'm not bashing Catholicism here. I'm talking about another trinity; ëthe Western World, America & Israel'.

Look at the rhetoric of Islamists and other Islamic fundamentalists and extremists, look at the rhetoric of Al Quaida and her affiliated groups, look at their statements when they claim an attack. You will always find the trinity. The western world, those are the Zionists, which equals the United States, which is ruled by Jews, which is the International Zionist conspiracy, with Israel as the colonial lackey of the U.S. and the Western world. There you go.

Terrorists want all those gone, exterminated or converted to Islam. They want to conquer Europe and America to establish ëthe new caliphate'. They are dangerous crackpots that our out to get us, which means everyone of us that does not conform to their demands, be it Muslim, Christian, Jew, black or white or whatever color, shape or creed. So we need to do what we do; fight racism, discrimination, antisemitism and terrorism; we need to create coalitions between people who do not want extremism, people who want to live together in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and peaceful world. We need to keep on doing our work as NGOs, fighting Muslim Hate, fighting those who equate Islam or Muslims with terrorism, but we also need to fight injustice, war, oppression and poverty ñ because we are humans, not because of the nasty little ideologies of those who want to rule us by violence and fear.
©I CARE News

MULTICULTURALISM HAS FAILED BUT TOLERANCE CAN SAVE US(uk, comment)
By Michael Portillo

17/7/2005- Multiculturalism is of another era and should be scrapped. That conclusion, expressed last year by Trevor Phillips, caused a sensation. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), which he chairs, was founded to promote multiculturalism and governments of both parties pursued that policy since the 1960s. Phillips went further: "We need to assert there is a core of Britishness." He lamented the "loss" of Shakespeare. "That sort of thing is bad for immigrants," he said, who come here not just for jobs but because of Britain's tolerance and parliamentary democracy. Despite the CRE's retreat, immediately after the London bombings the prime minister referred to Britain as tolerant, multi-ethnic and multicultural. It's clear from the way he spoke that he regarded those three words as interchangeable. One reason why we in Britain have enjoyed a broad consensus on multiculturalism is that we have been so imprecise about what it means. Given that Britain has attracted waves of immigrants who in their new home still celebrate Passover, Ramadan or Diwali, to many it seemed to be just a statement of the obvious. In the 1960s Enoch Powell foresaw immigration leading to rivers foaming with blood and was sacked from the Conservative party's front bench for saying so. In 1990 Norman Tebbit talked of a cricket test, meaning that you doubted whether people were integrated into this country if they supported Pakistan or India when those teams played England. Those remarks embarrassed the Tories, too. With those exceptions the respectable British right has left multiculturalism unchallenged out of fear that it would be accused of racism. Phillips's remark indicates that multiculturalism has passed its high water mark. But that occurred because the left got cold feet, not because the right won the argument.

The American right has not been so passive. For example, the Ayn Rand Institute (which bears the name of the author of The Fountainhead, the bible of individualism) claims that: "Multiculturalism is the view that all cultures, from the spirits worshipping tribe to that of an advanced industrial civilisation, are equal in value." It continues: "A culture that values freedom, progress, reason and science is good; one that values oppression, mysticism and ignorance is not." The institute has battled against such terms as "black American" on the grounds that they invite us to categorise a person according to his ancestry rather than his qualities as an individual. The voters of California rejected the use of teaching in Spanish, which had become standard practice in state schools. Victory went to those who argued that American children who could not speak English would founder in later life.

A number of things have unsettled the British left and led to the dramatic U-turn. The Labour party has had to respond to its white working-class voters in urban seats such as David Blunkett's in Sheffield. The former home secretary introduced English language tests for those wishing to become British and town hall ceremonies at which successful applicants receive citizenship. More worrying was the issue of Muslim schools. The demand for them was difficult to resist given that Britain had Catholic, Church of England and Jewish schools. The authorities felt on the back foot when Muslim leaders argued that they would enforce higher moral standards than state schools. After September 11, 2001 the issue seemed less straightforward. Another problem for the left was that its belief in multiculturalism collided with its espousal of women's rights. Thinkers on the left struggled to accord equal respect to all cultures when they felt offended by the idea of some Muslim women living in Britain being shrouded in the burqa. Maybe the greatest blow to those who believed that all cultures were to be esteemed equally was dealt not by Islam but by some Christian sects in Africa. The two guardians of Victoria ClimbiÈ, the little girl whom they murdered in 2000, claimed that she was possessed by witchcraft. At the time of her death she was due to undergo a church exorcism ceremony. More recently three people were jailed for torturing another girl from Africa, claiming she was gripped by evil spirits. BBC reporters who tracked her family to Angola found a boy being beaten. He died before the authorities would intervene. British police investigating the discovery of a boy's torso declared that he had been the victim of a ritual killing and revealed that in a three-month period in 2001, 299 African boys living in Greater London had disappeared. Britain's failure to collect data on people leaving the country makes it impossible to prove that they did not simply return to Africa, but experts fear that human trafficking and abuse of such children are widespread. The ClimbiÈ case suggested that political correctness hampered local authorities in their duty to protect children, and social workers were afraid of appearing insensitive to legitimate cultural diversities.

Tolerance was clearly never meant to mean that Britain should allow those with roots outside the country to flout human rights and the laws of the land on the pretext that things were done differently where they came from. The Ayn Rand Institute is right to say that it is dangerous nonsense to pretend that all cultures are morally equivalent. Such sloppy thinking corrodes our ability to distinguish good from evil. It is tempting in a tolerant society to want to see other people's point of view. If Islam has thrown up its extremists, we can recall the excesses committed over centuries in the name of Christianity. We can understand that a devout Muslim might find western society licentious and irreligious. But the time for sophistry has passed. Our citizens and our society are under threat from those who believe that difference is a justification for terror and murder. Our country has the right to assert its values and require from everyone living here compliance with our laws and respect for our standards. Britain's woolly thinking about multiculturalism has helped to make us vulnerable. We were reluctant to heed warnings passed to us by the French about the dangers of Islamic extremists settling here. Last week the Conservatives were in no position to criticise the government because the last Conservative government was no more inclined to recognise the perils. The discovery that the young men who planted the London bombs were British is deeply worrying. It defies comprehension that people who have grown up enjoying our liberties should hate our society enough to engage in mass murder and to kill themselves. We cannot know whether tens or thousands of our fellow citizens have been perverted in that way and now pose a danger to us.

The impact on community relations is another worry. For all the concern that I and many others feel about the growing intrusion of the state in our lives, our security services will have to penetrate more deeply the places where some of our young people are being taught to hate Britain. We need to think more clearly than in the past. Politically correct commentators will want us to cast our security measures wide to avoid stigmatising the Muslim community. After the bombs Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, argued that the words "Islamic" and "terrorist" must not be linked. If he means that most Muslims abhor murder he is right. But most Irish people did not support the IRA. Nonetheless the security forces infiltrated Britain's Irish community to know what was going on and to disrupt the activities of individuals. Another lesson from the Irish Troubles is that the British showed themselves well able to distinguish between Irish terrorists and Irish people. British and Irish people feel an affection for each other that neither politics nor terror has diminished. I do not think that the bombings will produce a backlash among the majority of our non-Muslim population. Even if multiculturalism in Britain went perilously too far it had important successes. Britain has undergone enormous changes in the make-up of its population with little social unrest. There is understanding and respect between our diverse ethnic communities. Our signature national quality of tolerance has been strengthened, not diminished, by successive rounds of immigration.

Multiculturalism may, as Phillips says, belong to a bygone era. But magnanimity and understanding must shape our future.
©The Times Online

RACIST CRIME SUSPECTS WALK FREE(uk)
17/7/2005- Thousands charged with race hate crimes in Scotland are walking free, fueling accusations that the justice system is a "soft touch" for racists. Despite 10,173 people being charged in the past three years with a statutory racist crime or a crime aggravated by racism, only 4180 ñ fewer than half ñ have been convicted. More than 1500 suspects had their charges dropped before they came to court. The statistics highlight evidence of a "police lottery", revealing that in some police areas victims are twice as likely to see their alleged attacker in court as in others. Scottish Muslim leaders said last night the figures would reinforce the existing perception that racial abuse or harassment was not worth reporting because such crimes were not taken seriously. Asians and Muslims have reported increased abuse in the wake of the London bombings, and so, campaigners argue, there has never been a more crucial time to prosecute racists. Last Tuesday, a 16-year-old Asian boy was attacked in daylight in Edinburgh by a white skinhead. On July 7, the day of the London bombings, the Shah Jalal mosque and a Pakistani centre in Edinburgh were defaced with racist graffiti. Christine Grahame, the SNP's social justice spokes woman, who uncovered the Crown Office figures, said the bombings had brought a "heightened importance" to prosecuting race crimes. She was appalled by the "substantial failure rate" in securing convictions. Over the past three years, the Crown Office figures show a rise in race crime charges for all police areas. However, last year alone, around 900 people charged with race crimes did not go to court. Osama Saeed, the Scottish spokesman of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "We know there is still a reluctance to report these crimes because there is a perception that it won't be taken seriously." Aamer Anwar, a lawyer and race campaigner, said that, despite vocal commitments by politicians, race crimes were "almost grudgingly" dealt with. A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service spokeswoman said: "We are committed to using the full extent of the law to tackle this area of crime rob ustly. Any report of race crime is treated as a priority."
©Sunday Herald

POLICE OFFICERS SENT RACIST TEXTS(uk)
18/7/2005- Four officers from Greater Manchester Police have been sacked for exchanging racist text messages. All four admitted at a disciplinary hearing sending, receiving or showing a racist text message to colleagues. The force said they were made aware of the incident after a police inspector, who was shown the message, reported it. The men, aged 31, 38 and two aged 41, who were based in Salford and south Manchester, were dismissed at the hearing last Monday, a statement said. The incident happened on 16 September last year, and the hearing took place last week following a 10-month internal investigation. The Police Federation's Greater Manchester branch said at least two of the officers were off-duty when the text was sent. Police Federation secretary Gordon Johnson said: "The federation does not condone racism, sexism or homophobia of any kind. "The case is finished but they can still appeal. For them to comment in the process would jeopardise that. "The four officers have co-operated fully throughout the inquiry and fully admitted the allegations." The officers now have two weeks to request a review of the case with the Chief Constable Michael Todd. If he upholds the tribunal's decision, they can take the case to an independent police appeals tribunal.
©BBC News

ASYLUM CENTRES PLAGUED BY RACISM AND ABUSE, SAYS REPORT(uk)
22/7/2005- A sub-culture of racism, casual violence and abuse existed at the government's immigration detention centre at Oakington, near Cambridge, an official inquiry confirmed yesterday. It was published as ministers announced the introduction of compulsory pre-entry screening for tuberculosis for thousands of visitors to the UK from six countries. A government watchdog also revealed yesterday that the policy of deporting asylum seekers with "manifestly unfounded claims" before they could appeal had led to the wrong decision being made in at least 147 cases. The report by the prisons and probation ombudsman, Stephen Shaw, into allegations of racism and mistreatment at the detention centre concluded yesterday that if this "subculture of nastiness" could exist at Oakington - the most benign of the detention centres - it could happen anywhere. Mr Shaw's report made 54 recommendations, including a race relations audit of the entire immigration removal network of detention centres. At the same time the immigration minister, Tony McNulty, announced an "action plan" to minimise the risk of riots at immigration removal centres in response to a previous inquiry by Mr Shaw into the riot and fire that destroyed the Yarl's Wood detention centre, near Bedford. Ministers also faced criticism yesterday from the official monitor looking at the operation of the government's policy of deporting some asylum seekers before they can appeal in Britain. Sarah Woodhouse said that there had been 2,118 cases where the claims for asylum were certified as unfounded. However, in 147 cases this certificate was later withdrawn by the Home Office. "My concern is whether the system offers adequate procedural safeguards against errors in Home Office decision-making," Ms Woodhouse said. "In my view, the successful appeals and much larger number of successful judicial review applications indicate that it does not." A Home Office spokesman claimed that the change in decision could have been due to new information or a change in the conditions in the asylum seeker's home country. The Home Office also said yesterday that it was introducing the first phase of compulsory health screening tests for visitors and migrants coming to Britain for more than six months. "There is a greater risk to public health from those who come for a long time than from those who only make short stays in Britain. We don't think it would be practical to screen all visitors." Critics fear that the policy may lead to infected people "going underground" and try ing to enter Britain illegally without seeking treatment.
©The Guardian

MIGRANTS FORCED TO SEND CASH ABROAD(uk)
20/7/2005- Low-skilled migrants coming to Britain face having part of their wages compulsorily withheld until they return home under much tougher than expected proposals for a new immigration system put forward by the government yesterday. Employers would pay part of the wages of migrants on temporary work schemes into a bank account in their home country which the workers could only access once they returned home. Keith Best, of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS), last night branded the idea as "very intrusive" and said it was part of a package designed to ensure that businesses and colleges acted as unpaid immigration officers to tackle the problem of overstayers. Ministers also propose to introduce "green card"-style monthly auctions of work permits in non-shortage areas with companies that make the highest bids able to employ the migrant workers. The five-tier, points-based migration system proposed by the immigration minister, Tony McNulty, is intended to replace the current system of work permits that offer 50 different legal routes to work, train and study in Britain.

The proposed scheme, to be introduced next spring, would include:

A RACIST, VIOLENT NEO-NAZI TO THE END: BNP FOUNDER TYNDALL DIES(uk)
20/7/2005- One of the dominant figures of the British far right for the last 50 years has died two days before he was due to appear in court charged with inciting racial hatred. John Tyndall, 71, was found at his home in Hove, West Sussex, by his wife yesterday morning after he was believed to have had a heart attack. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances involved in his death. Tyndall, the founder of the modern British National party, was known among followers and observers of the far right for his jackboots, arrogance and dedication to Nazi racial ideals. After forming the BNP in 1982, he imposed his particular brand of doctrinaire leadership, holding marches, threatening violence and promoting openly racist policies such as the compulsory repatriation of all foreigners. "He was one of the two or three key players in the post-war era," said Gerry Gable, the anti-fascist campaigner who was Tyndall's foe for much of the last 40 years. "But essentially he was a loser who never managed to see a realisation of his national socialist ideals." In the last few years, under the leadership of a Cambridge graduate, Nick Griffin, the BNP has striven to present an electorally viable face. But Tyndall, who did little to dispel the view of it as a neo-nazi organisation, was a constant thorn in the side of the movement as it attempted to convince the public that it had moved away from its roots. In the run-up to the local elections last year Tyndall was banned from speaking at a meeting and told by the new leadership: "The many photographs of you in neo-nazi uniform ... are a public relations handicap for the party." Although he was expelled from the BNP twice, first in 2003 after criticising the new leadership and again earlier this year, Tyndall always remained an important figure. A spokesman for the BNP yesterday described him as a "great fellow who knew exactly what our movement was about" and an "excellent chap with a keen analytical mind". Phil Edwards, the party's spokesman, said: "It is fair to say that he was not able to carry that forward to electoral success. It is a pity he did not just stand down. He tried to criticise the current leadership, and he should not have done that." Mr Edwards praised Tyndall for his talent as an orator. "He was a marvellous speaker. He could hold a room and mesmerise them, but he did not have the answer to the problems."

It was his apparent gift for incendiary public speaking, however, that threatened to put Tyndall back into jail for the fourth time in his life. He was due in court in Leeds tomorrow charged with race hate crimes which carry a maximum sentence of seven years. Tyndall was charged together with Mr Griffin following a BBC documentary, The Secret Agent, in which an undercover reporter filmed him making a speech at a social club in Burnley. During the speech he was filmed saying: "The only thing the Africans have given us is voodoo, witchcraft and Aids." Tyndall first showed an interest in politics in the mid-1950s when he attended the Communist Moscow world youth festival. But a few years later he switched allegiances and joined the far-right League of Empire Loyalists, an anti-semitic organisation opposed to the end of Britain's global influence. He went on to become a leading figure in the National Front and then broke away to form the modern BNP. While many followers supported neo-nazi ideas, Tyndall was known for his dedication to them. Colleagues tell of an occasion in the 1960s when, after crossing the German border on the way to a nationalist meeting, he stopped at a shoe shop where he kept them waiting for an hour while he chose his first pair of genuine German jackboots. Observers of the far right said his death would have widespread implications. "He was someone that the more hardline nationalists from the party have always looked up to and rallied around," said Nick Lowles, from the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. "He still had a lot of support, particularly in the north-west and parts of south London. He was the one who appealed to the racist heart of the BNP and his death means that Griffin's grip on the party is a lot stronger." Tyndall's death could also hasten what many believe is an impending split in the BNP between Griffinites and followers of Tyndall's brand of racist nationalism. Mr Lowles said: "A new group called the National Alliance has emerged, based on disgruntled activists from Yorkshire and Burnley. It may signal the way forward for core Tyndallites in light of his death." While Searchlight prepares a final exploration of the views of Tyndall, his followers can turn to the latest edition of Spearhead, the magazine he had edited since 1964, for a reminder of his unsavoury extremism. Just weeks before he died, he penned a typical rant against immigrants and homosexuals and questioned whether the Serbs were really responsible for the Srebrenica massacre.

Tyndall: right and wrong

SCOTTISH POLICE STEP UP SECURITY MEASURES TO PROTECT MINORITIES(uk)
20/7/2005- Police have increased measures to protect Edinburgh's ethnic minorities after fears of a backlash following the London terror attacks. Officers have visited mosques and other places of worship to check on security arrangements since the July 7 atrocities. Patrolling police officers are paying extra visits to the mosques and vulnerable businesses, such as shops run by members of ethnic communities. A specially-created security liaison group of police and community leaders has been set up to ensure officers know immediately of any problems. All racist and other hate crimes are also being monitored on a daily basis so police can spot any worrying trends if they emerge. The high-profile "community reassurance" campaign has been widely welcomed by local Muslim representatives who attended a meeting of business, council and police leaders last night. Although there has been no significant rise in racist crimes in Edinburgh in the wake of the terror attacks - a total of 41 incidents from July 7 to yesterday, compared with 39 in the same period last year - there have been a number of verbal threats made and cases of racist graffiti daubed on mosques. Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Dickson addressed the meeting of community and business leaders, which included representatives from the Bangladeshi Consulate, the Pakistan Society Edinburgh and the Jewish Reform Synagogue. He said: "We felt it was vitally important following the bombings to pull together all the leaders of every community in the force area to discuss ways we can all help each other through this difficult time. "All these measures are designed to reassure not just the Muslim community but the wider community that we are taking steps to try to tackle the current issues facing everyone." Mr Dickson said monitoring trends of racist and hate crimes allowed the police to take swift and appropriate action. "My message is clear: we will not tolerate racism and we will pursue racists as a priority using all of the resources we have and using the full force of the laws."

Hours after the London bombings, which killed 56 and injured more than 700, a mosque in Annandale Street and a nearby Pakistani community centre were attacked with racist graffiti. Jalal Chaudry, the Edinburgh and East of Scotland representative on the Muslim Council of Britain, said the message from the police was "very positive". He said: "I am delighted with what the police have been doing. Each one of the five Edinburgh mosques have noticed an increased police presence, which shows that they are saying: 'We are with you and we will protect you'." Shami Khan, the Capital's only Asian councillor and a leading member of the city's Pakistani community, added: "It is vital that people realise that the bombers were individuals who were not representing the views of the Muslim community. "Islam is a peaceful religion and people here should not be being blamed for what those men did." Meanwhile, Mohammed Akram, president of the Scottish branch of the Council of British Pakistanis, said the community had to remain united at all costs. In a letter to the Evening News, he said: "Nothing stemming from atrocities in London should divide our multicultural society and set us against each other. In these difficult times we must refrain from actions which divide us. "This is why we particularly appreciate the supportive messages from Lothian and Borders Police, politicians and from the general public."
©The Scotsman

HATE CRIME STATISTICS JUST 'TIP OF THE ICEBERG'(N-Ireland)
20/7/2005- The Government today said that a new system for measuring hate crimes is needed after admitting that reported racist attacks in Northern Ireland are "only the tip of the iceberg". Equality Minister Lord Rooker has launched the province's first ever Racial Equality Strategy aimed at eliminating racism and hate crimes. The Minister said the launch of the report was "timely" in the wake of the terrorist bomb attacks on London. There were more than 800 hate crimes reported in Northern Ireland in the past year - a figure described in the new plan as "undoubtedly shocking". However, the document warns that the true extent of racism in the province is much higher with many incidents going unreported because of a lack of confidence among ethnic minorities in police. It suggests a new system to measure hate crimes be introduced which allows third party recording of incidents through a range of statutory bodies and voluntary groups to provide a "detailed evidence base and an early warning system". The report also recommends that the Government should look at ways of trying to encourage more people from ethnic minority groups to join the PSNI. It also recommends carrying out an audit of training arrangements within the PSNI to encourage more ethnic minority people to join. The report also recommends examining ways to increase applications from people of ethnic minority backgrounds to other public bodies. As the strategy was laid before MPs, Mr Rooker said the London attacks were an attack on everyone. He said: "The bombs did not discriminate and people of all faiths and all racial groups have been victims. "At this time, we should remember that communities in the United Kingdom have more that unites them than divides them and the Government is determined that the atrocities will not be allowed to create tension between our communities. "Our vision for Northern Ireland is of a society in which racial diversity is supported, understood, valued and respected - a society where racism in any of its forms is not tolerated and where we live together as a society and enjoy equality of opportunity and equal protection."
©Belfast Telegraph

ASYLUM SEEKERS' VOYAGES OF HELL(Italy)
Up to 1,000 exhausted, hungry, illegal immigrants arrive on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa each day, says Barbara McMahon

17/7/2005- The smell is awful. Sour and overpowering, it rises from two wooden boats and two rubber dinghies tied up in a far corner of the picturesque harbour on the Italian island of Lampedusa. In these small craft some 300 people arriving from North Africa in search of new lives in Europe have endured dangerous journeys at sea, crammed together for hours without adequate water, food, shelter or toilets. Still scattered on the decks is what was left behind by those who made it ashore: odd shoes, discarded clothes and empty water bottles sloshing about in dirty, oily water. According to local fishermen, the migrants in these boats were brought in by the coastguards 10 days previously. The terrible stench gives some idea of the ordeal they must have endured. 'When they arrive they are suffering from nausea, vomiting, sunburn, dehydration, hypoglycaemia, diarrhoea,' says Dr Claudia Codesani from the charity MÈdecins Sans FrontiËres. 'They have been at sea for 17 hours or for as long as five or six days and they are desperate to eat and drink. Everyone is shocked and frightened. Many of them say to me: "Where is the train station for Milan"?' This tiny island 205 kilometres (about 127 miles) off the coast of Sicily and 113 kilometres from Tunisia doesn't even have a taxi, far less a train station. The people-smugglers who make small for tunes out of these clandestini, charging between 1,000 (£687) and 1,500 per person, know full well that the boats will not reach mainland Italy. They crush in as many people as possible, give one of them a compass and direct him to steer due north. As they set off from Libya or Tunisia, the passengers are unaware they have only enough fuel to reach Lampedusa. Overcrowded and dangerously low in the water, these boats of misery limp along in the swelling waters of the Mediterranean until, if they are lucky, they are spotted by Italian coastguards.

At the headquarters of Lampedusa's Guardia di Finanza, the equivalent of Customs and Excise, Commander Cavallin and his men are enjoying a break from their daily routine of picking up survivors from the boats. 'When the sea consents, we can get 250 to 300 of these poveracci [pitiable people] a day,' he says. So far this year 4,500 migrants have landed at Lampedusa and the commander expects that the final tally for 2005 will be the same as last year - around 10,000. The record was 1,000 arriving in 48 hours. It must be difficult work, intercepting these boats and dealing with such wretchedness every day. 'Yes, but you become used to it,' replies Cavallin, pointing to a plaque on his office wall. It is a commendation signed by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi for a rescue a few years ago of a boatload of people in rough seas. 'There were a lot of dead people on that boat - 13 bodies,' the commander said. 'I found this girl and she was frozen, completely frozen, and near to death. I pulled her out and I warmed her with my own body to keep her alive.' She lived, but the officer and his men were quarantined for a month for fear of meningitis. 'You see the tears, the terror in their eyes - it is always a desperate situation,' he said. Once, he remembers, a woman and children were brought to the station to be questioned about their identity. 'My wife came by and brought some sweets and these children, six or seven years old, did not know how to open a sweet because they had never seen one before.' Lampedusa (population 5,500) with its volcanic landscape, turquoise seas and stunning coves and beaches, has always been a magnet for tourists, mostly Italians who come from cities seeking a few days of sea air. Bob Geldof enraged local people when he claimed on British television last month, before the Live8 concerts, that bodies of dead African children were washing up daily on Lampedusa's beaches. This upset business people struggling to maintain Lampedusa's reputation as a resort and angered the men of the Guardia di Finanza who risk their own lives to save those in danger.

An unknown number of craft have capsized, their occupants drowned, but bodies do not wash up on the shore, says Cavallin. 'It's not true to say we are under siege here. It is bad for our business to give this impression,' said one hotelier. Angela Maraventano, local secretary of the ultra-right Northern League party, says the impression that Lampedusa is bursting at the seams with illegal immigrants is wrong. She claims tourism is down 40 per cent this year because people believe the stories about bodies on the beaches. 'We are all frightened after what happened in London,' she says, referring to last week's bombings. 'We don't know who these people are and what their intentions are.' Despite the improbability of terrorists arriving by rickety boats, Maraventano insists the immigrants could be a danger to the Italian way of life: 'We don't want them here, we don't know who they are and what they believe in. They should go back to their own countries.' Once on dry land, the illegal immigrants are interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed. Prior to embarkation, they will have destroyed their documents and may claim to be from places such as Turkey, Kashmir or Palestine in the hope of improving their chances of gaining asylum. Some of the clandestini who arrive on Lampedusa this year will be sent back to their own countries, but many will remain illegally in Italy or move on to other countries in Europe. They will have to pay their debts to the people-smugglers, and have little hope of finding the bright new lives they have dreamed about.Those staying in Italy will probably be reduced to selling socks, scarfs and sponges from trolleys in supermarket car parks, or peddling fake fashion handbags on the streets of big cities and handing most of the money to someone else. Others will simply have to beg. One has to wonder if their terrible journeys were worth it.
©The Observer

ANTI-RACISM ORGANISATION WASTES 14 MILLION KRONOR(Sweden)
17/7/2005- The government's flagship organisation for fighting racism in society has been accused of wasting massive amounts of taxpayers' money and of achieving "absolutely nothing" since it was set up two years ago. The Centre Against Racism hit the headlines earlier this year with its controversial criticism of a Swedish ice cream called Nogger Black. But despite receiving 14 million kronor (= about 1.5.million Euro) in funding - half the government's annual budget for combatting racism - the organisation appears to have done little else. Instead, a Svenska Dagbladet investigation has revealed, the Centre has been riven by internal conflicts and a lack of financial control. According to the newspaper, the Centre Against Racism spent 330,000 kronor in 2004 renovating its 180 square metres of office space in central Stockholm. The organisation only has three employees. "It became so expensive because the head of the organisation, Amina Ek, bought new, very luxurious furniture," said several disgruntled former employees. "She threw out all the old stuff we had bought cheaply." This year's budget allowed for a further 140,000 kronor to be spent on renovations. But a far greater amount was spent on hotels and restaurants. In 2004 the three employees plus the eleven board members managed to rack up bills of almost 600,000 kronor in travel, luxury hotel charges, meals and booze. So what has the Swedish taxpayer, eager to fight the scourge of racism in society, got for his or her money? "We made some keyrings and erasers, but nothing more substantial," said a former board member. "There were no concrete ideas about what we should do." Indeed, in two years the Centre has not carried out one investigation or produced one report into racism, ethnic harassment or homophobia, according to SvD. And the figures on hate crimes which the Centre publishes on its web site are five years old. Nevertheless, the salary costs in 2004 amounted to 1.7 million kronor, while the expenses of board members, who are meant to be unpaid, came to 275,000 kronor. Benito Miguel was one of the people who helped to form the Centre Against Racism two years ago. "The Centre has done absolutely nothing. The campaign against Nogger Black was just to cover up the lack of work," he said. During 2003 and 2004 the organisation received 8.3 million kronor from the government. Over 40% is still sitting in a bank account. That didn't stop the Department for Integration, which provides the funding, from dishing out another 800,000 kronor to cover the costs of the Centre's taking over the running of a database on racism. As SvD pointed out, "normal organisations receive reduced funding when they don't use their money". But that has not happened with the Centre Against Racism - which has apparently not been required to provide any evidence of how it has spent the cash. "The failings are in how they use the money," said Gunno Gunnmo, an investigator at the Justice Department. "There is no strategy, no goal and no guidelines. They have no order." But the chairman of the Centre, Stig Wallin, rejected the criticism, telling SvD that the unspent money was "a buffer" in case the funding stopped in the future. "We are employers and have a responsibility to cover notice periods and rental contracts. We need the money as security."
©The Local

POLICE 'IGNORANT ABOUT HATE CRIME'(Sweden)
19/7/2005- Hate crime is increasing in Sweden but the police's ability to deal with it is limited by a lack of knowledge. That's the conclusion of an internal inquiry which, according to Dagens Nyheter, was covered up by the National Police Board. In 2003 there were 3,914 hate crimes, in which the attack was motivated by the victim's sexuality or ethnicity, in Sweden - an increase of 5% on the year before. The fastest rising area is crimes against homosexuals, which have doubled in eight years. In response, the National Police Board has organised a series of conferences and in February distributed among local police authorities guidelines on dealing with homophobic crimes. But after 4 months, none of the 20 police districts has used the guidelines. In a survey carried out by the Swedish National Police Academy, only three of the police districts were found to have sufficient knowledge of the guidelines. The interviewees were those responsible for prioritising hate crimes within their department and two thirds of them said that their bosses did not make it clear how important the issue is. They also reported a lack of knowledge of changes in the law and of racist networks. But in the National Police Board's annual report to the government, it described the progress in its work against hate crime as "good". That's a cover-up, said Dagens Nyheter. "I delivered the result to the National Police Board but I don't know why they chose to distance themselves from the research which they themselves had requested," said the man behind the survey, Christer Nyberg. Eva Br”nnmark, the head of the procedural department at the police board, told DN that the answers depended on who was asked. "Obviously it can be better than it is today," she said. "The need for knowledge is great and there are authorities which are evidently not clear on how they should work with hate crime."
©The Local

RIGHTWING EXTREMISTS FOUND GUILTY OF RACISM(Switzerland)
Four members of the extreme rightwing Party of Nationally Orientated Swiss (PNOS) have been found guilty of racial discrimination.

18/7/2005- PNOS has already been the subject of controversy after two of its members were recently elected to serve in local politics. The verdict, which was confirmed by officials on Monday, was handed down by a district court in canton Aarau. Party president Jonas Gysin was among those penalised. The court found that the four concerned had publicly disseminated an ideology which was aimed at belittling or slandering people of certain races, religions or ethnic origins. It also condemned the members for publishing the party manifesto which advocated collective abuse of foreigners and called for non-Swiss people to be repatriated. The four now have to pay fines ranging between SFr300 ($232) and SFr500. They have until the beginning of September to appeal. Heinz Kaiser, a project leader with World Citizens, an international peace organisation, filed a complaint against the rightwing group in 2003. In the same year PNOS had conducted a poster campaign during the federal parliamentary elections, taking material used by the Swiss National Socialists in the 1930s. The party, which was founded in summer 2000, has enjoyed some success as a political force in local politics after two of its members were elected to serve in local government. Dominic Bannholzer was elected to the government in the commune of G¸nsberg in northern Switzerland in May 2005. Six months earlier Tobias Hirschi gained a seat in the local parliament in the commune of Langenthal in canton Bern. PNOS is estimated to have between 100 and 130 members and is particularly active in central Switzerland and around Basel. This is not the first time that members of the party have been alleged to have racist views. The federal authorities' 2004 report on extremism found that the party programme, newspaper and other PNOS publications were characterised by "xenophobic, antidemocratic and rightwing extremist rhetoric".
©Swissinfo

FIRMS CLOSE RANKS OVER REJECTED ASYLUM SEEKERS(Switzerland)
Around 30 businesses in canton Vaud are refusing to comply with an order to sack hundreds of foreign workers who have had their asylum requests rejected.

22/7/2005- If they fail to do so by the end of the month, they could be hit with fines of up to SFr5,000 ($3,900) per illegal employee. In April this year the authorities in Vaud announced that all rejected asylum seekers facing expulsion would no longer be allowed to work in the canton, bringing it into line with the federal asylum law. Employers were recently informed that the ban would take effect from July 31. Campaigners estimate there are around 400 people affected by the move. But businesses, including hotels and cleaning companies, have now written to Vaud's seven-strong government saying they will not fire staff. (read related stories) "We are being forced to sack people who have been in Switzerland for several years, who have made great efforts to adapt to our customs and way of life even though they have experienced traumatic events in the past," they said in their letter. Employers also highlighted the time and effort invested in training staff, the arbitrary July 31 cut-off date, and the fact that workers would now have to rely on "paltry" welfare handouts to survive. The cantonal authorities told swissinfo that they were unable to comment on the contents of the letter since the government had yet to read it. But they said that there had been no change in the policy announced in April whereby rejected asylum seekers ordered to leave the country would no longer be allowed to work. The stand taken by businesses in favour of rejected asylum seekers comes shortly after the issue provoked a political crisis within the canton. At the beginning of the month Vaud's parliament voted narrowly in favour of a freeze on repatriations of a group of rejected asylum seekers. But 24 hours later the canton's government ruled that it would not consider the resolution until it met again in August. It said expulsions would go ahead as planned during the summer, adding that it had no option but to fall into line with federal law.
©Swissinfo

PREJUDICE AND PRIDE(Bulgaria)
Doctor Petar Beron, deputy leader of Ataka and the party's nominee for Deputy Speaker of Parliament, interviewed by The Sofia Echo Editor-in-Chief Clive Leviev-Sawyer.

18/7/2005- ATAKA, the political phenomenon led by Volen Siderov into winning 21 seats in Bulgaria's 40th National Assembly, has been described as ultra-nationalist, anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, anti-EU, anti-NATO, homophobic, and xenophobic. None of these descriptions is accurate, says Dr Petar Beron, deputy leader of Ataka.

"All of them are sheer slander. The only thing that is true is that this is a nationalist organisation, but this is not a bad name. It is something that we are proud of, because we want to be the same kind of nationalists as all the other noble countries ñ such nationalists as Chirac, Schroeder, as Bush. Bush is the biggest nationalist now because he wants the interests of the United States to be defended everywhere. "If we want to do this for the interests of Bulgaria, they call us ultra-nationalists, and I don't think that this is fair. We want to be measured with the same measure as anyone else."

Taking the descriptions one by one, he starts: "We are not anti-Roma at all".
"The problem with the gypsies, or now they call them Roma, is a European problem, not just a problem of Bulgaria. It is very difficult to solve, first because of the very conservative way of life of these people, which is very difficult to change." Secondly, he says, the approach to the issue of the Roma is very different from what would be appropriate. "They have some privileges which are unacceptable to us. They are poor, they live in misery, but they are privileged. They are privileged to not have to pay for electricity, they are privileged to have a lenient approach taken to them in court, because otherwise they accuse Bulgaria in court in Strasbourg of racism."

All Bulgarian citizens should be equal before the law, as the country's constitution says.
"Equal rights, equal obligations. Whoever is contributing to society may enjoy all these rights, but whoever is not contributing, who is destroying the cities, and stealing, is not entitled to these rights ñ they are entitled to go to court and be sentenced." "We think that rights are not something fallen from Heaven, they are part of the social contract."

The Roma need to change their behaviour and their lifestyle, including for their own sake.
"To teach their children not to steal, to go to school ñ we want them to be educated; to clean up their streets ñ what is wrong with this? We want them to refrain from organising groups that steal, for instance from the orchards." Beron says that Roma steal harvests in villages: "they act as parasites". "We want them to work for their bread. If they want cherries, if they want potatoes, let them plant them. The state should help them to do this, to give them land. But that social amenities are given to them, just because ëeverybody's entitled', does not solve the problem". All who can work, should work, if they want to be treated as decent, equal Bulgarian citizens, he says. He describes EuroRoma, which is probably the largest Roma political formation, as having been set up with European and foreign money, and says that it is an ethnic party, and as such represents a violation of article 11 of the Bulgarian constitution that forbids such parties.

As regards Bulgaria's community that is of ethnic Turkish descent, Beron says, "We are not anti-Turk".
But, he says, Ataka cannot accept the role being played by Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the party supported mainly by Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent. "Dogan is doing things that no other normal European country would accept. He is trying to make Bulgarians feel uncomfortable in their own country. Mr Dogan is trying to swallow the whole country, little by little, with his ethnic party." There were areas of the country where Turkish, not Bulgarian, must be spoken by Bulgarians in order to access services, Beron says. In the Agriculture Ministry, Nihat Kabil (the MRF-nominated minister at the close of the Simeon Saxe-Coburg government) introduced the use of Turkish, and addressed Bulgarian officials using a Turkish word meaning "infidel", says Beron. "We will not tolerate this in our own country. Try to do this in Greece and see what would be the consequences". "We don't have anything against the Turks ñ they are, contrary to the gypsies, people who are hard-working. They are not a nuisance to society, as most of the gypsies are. But we were under Turkish occupation for 500 years, and they want to perpetuate this now through other means." Should the ethnic Turkish population work for the interests of Bulgaria, this would be acceptable, "but when they work as a fifth column for Turkey, we cannot accept this".

Regarding Jewish people, Beron says that Bulgaria is the country in Europe where there is the least discrimination against Jews.
As an MP, he went to Israel in 1991 as part of a parliamentary delegation. "They were so thankful for the salvation of the Jews in Bulgaria in World War 2 that I felt uneasy because I personally did not contribute to this." In the war, 50 000 Bulgarian Jews were spared from transportation to Nazi death camps because of the courage of Bulgarians who stood up against the Reich. There has been little anti-Semitism in Bulgaria, he says. "We have many Jews in government now, in Parliament, some of them open, some of them hidden under Bulgarian names, but Jews all the same. You see that one of them is trying to be Speaker of Parliament (this interview was conducted at the time that it had emerged in media reports that the Bulgarian Socialist Party's George Pirinski, whose mother was of Jewish descent, was to be nominated as the National Assembly's presiding officer), the other one Prime Minister (BSP leader Sergei Stanishev's mother was also reported to be of Jewish descent). "We have nothing against them when they work for Bulgaria. When they get their orders from foreign Jewish institutions, we cannot accept this. It is very simple. We are against the activities of Mr (Solomon) Passi not because his father is a Jew, but because he is serving foreign interests and foreign forces."

Who are these foreign interests and foreign forces, Beron is asked.
"First of all, the overall project of the United States for world domination, which no one can deny. Second, the US-based Jewish organisations that are dictating to Mr Passi what to do and what not to do. This is our deep conviction." Beron says that his son is an American citizen, living in Washington DC, and his daughter-in-law is American. "So, I have nothing against this country (the US). But I cannot accept an ambassador here in Sofia who is calling the Bulgarian ministers and telling them what to do." Bulgaria, Beron says, is not a colony or a dominion. "We try to be an independent country, like Greece for example, with national dignity. We want to be equal among equals and to have more consideration from the foreign ambassadors". That US ambassador James Pardew makes statements about issues like judicial reform and military reform ñ "giving very blunt instructions" ñ affects the dignity of the Bulgarian people. That Ataka is labelled as "Nazi" is meaningless, he says, because the party has no ambitions to invade foreign countries ñ in fact, it wants to withdraw Bulgarian troops from foreign countries.

And yet, it is put to Beron, someone felt comfortable enough with their perception of Ataka to post an anti-Semitic document, purportedly listing 1500 influential Jews in Bulgaria, on Ataka's website forum?
"This was a provocation." The list, he says, contained the names of people who were not Jews. The list was concocted in 2002 and had been posted on several sites since then. "Ataka is not against people because of their ethnic origin." The party's appeal, he said, was based on its true aims, which included stopping corruption and thievery. "Forget about this list. Anybody can put such a list on anybody's website".

On the European Union, he dismisses the description of Ataka being anti-EU as "rubbish".
"We cannot stay outside the EU, but we don't like the way that the talks were carried out. This was done without any clarity. Chapters that were closed were not shown to anybody. The president of the Bulgarian Academy of Science asked that the chapter on science and technology be shown to him, to be told that it was ëtop secret'." He describes the agreement on the closure of units of Kozlodui nuclear power plant as "scandalous". There should be real negotiations, he says, rather than "yes-men and yes-women" simply accepting orders from Brussels, and European functionaries being treated as gods.

On NATO, Beron says the alliance is an aggressive organisation, not a defensive one.
"NATO has not defended anyone up to now. It was created by the West for defence against the Soviet Union. Now they are trying to impose a new role of NATO which is not written, as far as I know, in the statutes of NATO ñ to fulfill the global purposes of the US." NATO will be disbanded one day, he says, because it is outdated. There will be a new defensive organisation. But for the time being, it is not possible for Bulgaria to leave NATO. In the unstable Balkans, when Bulgaria's army has been purposefully destroyed, Bulgaria has no choice but to remain in NATO because it needs it should the need for defence arise. At the same time, US bases, like any foreign bases, should not be allowed in Bulgaria. "Bulgarian military bases should be open to NATO, but remain under Bulgarian military control."

That the party is xenophobic, he says, is "a nonsense".
"Half of my family is married to foreigners, including in Israel. I am chairman of the Association Friends of Africa, and of the association for friendship with Indonesia. I have been to many foreign countries. "We just want Bulgaria to be predominantly a country of Bulgarians, just like France is a country of the French and Germany of the Germans. You know the German anthem, ëDeutschland Ueber Alles?' If we asked for such an anthem in Bulgaria, they would call us nationalists. We do not want Bulgaria to be ëueber alles' but we want it to be respected. To be a country where Bulgarians are the predominant etnos. This is the national state of Bulgarians. This is not xenophobia."

His recruitment policy at the Museum of Natural History, he says, has always been to appoint on the basis of competence, not ethnic group or nationality.
"When we say that we do not want non-Bulgarians in the government, it doesn't mean that we are against somebody of another ethnic origin. We want people who are not acting for foreign interests. There are people of pure Bulgarian ethnic origin who are acting against Bulgarian interests, and these are also non-Bulgarians."

As to homophobia, he considers this a question of character, not sexuality.
"We do not want to be ruled by such people." "Things like the laws that have been accepted in Holland and Spain, on same-sex marriages, we do not want such laws. We are old-fashioned people. If they want to have such relationships, let them. These are weird people, let them be weird, let them be as they want to be, but let them not impose their weirdness on others. The normal situation is a heterosexual situation."
But, he says, such matters are not the core issue. The real issues are those like privatisation, and the real resentment of Ataka is not about its views, but that the party wants to see prosecutions for illegal acts during privatisations.

Has Ataka received threats, considering the controversy that surrounds it?
"The ordinary people are ringing, day and night, to express support. Support from everywhere. If you see the analysis of our vote, you'll see that most people were educated, middle-aged, intellectuals, with strong support too from young people. If elections were held now, we'd have 50 MPs, at least. The results would be crushing for the thieves. They think that entering Parliament, we shall become like them, but we shall not. We have decent people, lawyers, doctors, army officers ñ they are respected people in their constituencies. I don't think they will yield to the pressure to become like the others."

Interviewer's note: taxidermy and politics
Trapped forever in poses of rigid but futile aggression, the stuffed wild animals in Sofia's Natural History Museum provide a tempting analogy for the politics of Ataka. Petar Beron, before taking up his seat as an MP on July 11, was still director of the museum, and it was there that this interview was conducted. He came down from his office to meet me at the entrance of the museum (entrance fee: 50 stotinki for children, pensioners, and students, one lev for Bulgarians, two leva for foreigners) and, with impeccable courtesy, insisted on playing tour guide, showing off the exhibits, leading me through the atmosphere of perceptible humidity and a whiff of dustiness. In turn, I murmured and nodded politely at each point of pride, refraining from pointing out that, coming as I do from Africa, I had seen many of the animals on display live, vital and vigorous. A glass-eyed relic of past glory, sometimes with a tiny fold of sagging hide, is not quite the same. In his office, shared with a secretary, one wall is lined to the ceiling with books, including his own, the covers showing his face younger and firmer, the beard as bushy but much darker, taken at the time he was one of the leaders of the post-communist wave of democracy, when he was a key figure in the Union of Democratic Forces, and at one point came close to being Prime Minister. His staff, and his fellows from Ataka who came and went as the interview proceeded, defer to him with politeness and respect. The previous night, when I had been introduced to him to get this interview, the person who did so described me laughingly as a "Jewboy" (an ancestral claim, however objectionable the term, true of that person himself), but Beron received me not as the enemy, but as the conduit of what he hoped to clarify in the interview. This newspaper, he said, was vital to its audience of expatriates and foreigners finding out what Ataka really stands for. Throughout the interview, I found myself using one of time-honoured techniques of the interviewer, of nodding and murmuring at appropriate junctures in the flow of words. It is human nature for many interview subjects to be encouraged by this, by the way: to misread the real message, which is no more than "I'm listening", as "I agree with you".
©Sofia Echo

NATIONALISTS TURN TO CITY COURT(Russia)
20/7/2005- A group of nationalists has asked a Moscow court to order an investigation of Jewish leaders over an ancient text that the nationalists say incites hatred, Interfax reported Tuesday. The request was the latest move in a months-long campaign by the group to ban Jewish organizations in Russia, an effort that has raised fears of a resurgence of anti-Semitism and questions about the government's commitment to fighting racism. Interfax reported that members of the group asked the Basmanny District Court to order the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate Jewish leaders whom they accuse of imposing the principles of an ancient Jewish religious text. The group claims the text, a summary of religious laws called Kitsur Shulhan Arukh, foments hatred. The appeal came three weeks after Moscow prosecutors dropped an investigation into whether a Russian translation of the text incites ethnic and religious hatred. Interfax quoted one of the authors of the request as saying that 15,000 people have voiced support for banning Jewish religious organizations in Russia. Mikhail Nazarov, a historian and writer, said government and media officials who "support the principles" of the text should resign, Interfax reported. Nazarov and other authors could not immediately be reached for comment. The Basmanny District Court declined to comment or confirm that it had received the request. The Prosecutor General's Office said that it took at least several days for such appeals to be considered and, if approved, to reach the prosecutor's office. The campaign emerged in January, when 19 lawmakers signed a letter that accused Jews of fomenting ethnic and religious hatred, citing a Russian translation of Kitsur Shulhan Arukh. The letter asked prosecutors to conduct an investigation aimed at outlawing Jewish organizations. The letter was withdrawn amid a public outcry ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit to Auschwitz for ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nazi death camp's liberation. In May, Moscow prosecutors ruled that a criminal case was not warranted because the text did not inspire hatred. Prosecutors later opened another investigation meant to review the ruling, but dropped it in late June amid criticism from Jewish leaders who called the probe anti-Semitic. Jewish leaders praised that decision but said the Russian government was not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism. "If the state -- the judicial authorities -- does not place barriers to such actions, they will continue on a larger and larger scale," said Borukh Gorin, spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia. Gorin criticized authorities for rejecting a request from Jewish and human rights groups to prosecute the authors of the initial letter. He said the government should come down harder on "the propagandists of xenophobia, nationalism and Nazism."
©Associated Press

RUSSIA LAUNCHES PATRIOTISM DRIVE
19/7/2005- The Russia government has approved a plan to make people more patriotic. The $17m programme will urge youths to mark military victories, and will fund the re-introduction of military-style games in schools. There will also be healthy lessons in the curious subject of "correct reproductive behaviour" - Kremlin-speak for patriotic sex education. Boosting patriotism is one of President Vladimir Putin's priorities but it is unclear if the move will achieve that. The Soviet Union may have been short on freedom and democracy, but the one thing it had plenty of was patriotism. For decades, one-sixth of the world's land surface was adorned with hammers, sickles and busts of Lenin. The country echoed to the sound of spectacular military parades on Moscow's Red Square. It all went some way to make up for the sausage queues and the rusty Lada cars, and help persuade the population they were part of a superpower. Until, of course, the USSR fell apart, and the patriotic bubble burst. Now, though, the Russian government has decided to restore lost pride with something very Soviet - a five-year plan. Bearing the grand title The State Programme for the Patriotic Education of Citizens, it quadruples government spending on patriotic projects. There will be more flags, more CDs with the national anthem, more computer games celebrating the might of the Russian army.

'Spiritual backbone'
There are plans to organise patriotic song contests and competitions for Patriot of the Year. Soviet-style military training will be reintroduced into schools. And to improve the moral standing of the young generation, there will be lessons in "correct reproductive behaviour". The plan aims to make patriotism the "spiritual backbone" of Russia and is designed to "counter attempts in the media at discrediting patriotic ideas". The Kremlin sees the measures as vital for preserving national unity and state security. It is unclear, though, whether this particular programme will achieve that - after all, money alone can't buy love for the motherland.
©BBC News

SECOND 'MOTHERLAND' FACTION REGISTERED IN RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT
16/7/2005- A deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma, registered a new faction on Tuesday that is called Rodina (Motherland). It will be the second Duma faction with the name. Last week Sergei Baburin, a senior member of Motherland, was expelled from the faction led by Dmitry Rogozin. Baburin insisted that his faction should also be called Motherland. The head of the parliamentary regulations committee, Oleg Kovalev, quoted by the Ekho Moskvy radio station said Rogozin's faction could be named Motherland (Party of the Russian Regions) and Baburin's would be Motherland (People's Will). People's Will was the name of the party headed by Baburin that earlier joined the Motherland election bloc. Baburin was expelled due to his attempts to "split" the faction, it was declared officially. His new faction includes nine members. It is not the first time there has been a split in the nationalist Motherland faction. The bloc was established at the end of 2003, on the eve of parliamentary elections. Its leader then was Sergei Glazyev, but soon after the bloc entered the Duma with over nine percent of the vote Glazyev left the faction, and his co-chairman Rogozin took over the leadership. After the news of the new Motherland appeared, Rogozin decided to bring Glazyev back as the old faction leader, Interfax news agency reported. The old faction decided to restore Glazyev as the chairman for the fall parliamentary session and appoint Rogozin and the other top faction member, Valentin Varennikov, co-chairmen. One of the three will become chairman for the future sessions on a rotation principle.
©Rusnet

PUTIN AIDE SEES WESTERN PLOT BEHIND MINORITIES CHARGING DISCRIMINATION(Russia)
16/7/2005- A top aide to President Vladimir Putin made light of recent charges of discrimination by minorities who speak Finno-Ugric languages in Russia and suggested an international conspiracy behind the rise of Finno-Ugric ethnic consciousness. In a style recalling Stalinist paranoia, Vladislav Surkov told members of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) economic forum last week that Finland, Estonia, and the European Union - as well as the CIA - are engaged in "an obviously premeditated system of operations" against Russia. "Suddenly one discovers, that we [Russia] do oppress them somehow and they are discriminated against in our country," Surkov said according to the Radio Liberty web site on July 11 that published his apparently off-the-record speech. "And regions where these Finno-Ugrians constitute a majority of population do hold a strategic amount of our oil reserves." In taking such things into account, Surkov continued, "It is better to be enemies and not ambiguous friends as it is now!" Then he plunged into history he identified as a "psychological base." For 500 years, Russia was "a modern state," Surkov said, "it made history and was not made by history. After all, with respect to all those nations, we differ strongly from Slovaks, Baltic nations, and even Ukrainians. They had no state system. People, including Russian politicians of the past, drew them on maps. This explains why we will be those bad children who have disregarded everything."
©Bigotry Monitor

RUSSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS NGOs DEMAND GREATER ROLE IN RUSSIA-EU TALKS
19/7/2005- Russia's non-governmental human rights organizations have said they should be present at consultations between Russia and the European Union on human rights issues, the Interfax news agency reportd. Russian human rights activists stated their demands in an open letter to the governments of Russia and the EU countries, and the secretary-general of the EU Council. The letter was made public at a news conference in Moscow Tuesday. It was signed by representatives of 76 Russian non-governmental human rights organizations. "We are concerned that the first round of consultations, which was held in Luxembourg on March 1, was not sufficiently prepared and made no headway," the letter's authors noted. They recalled that preparations are currently under way for a new round of consultations to be held in Brussels in the fall. In view of this, the human rights organizations are proposing that they should be included in the negotiating process. For instance, as preliminary subjects for discussion, the Russian human rights activists suggest the problem of making law enforcers respect human rights, reforms in the Russian legal system, the problem of human rights and the fight against terrorism, and Russian citizens' electoral rights. The letter's authors stress that this is not the only area of public life where, in their view, human rights are violated. However, the letter's authors believe that these subjects should be made a priority. "We believe it is necessary to stress once again that dialogue between Russia and the EU can only be productive for our country if open discussion on the most acute and painful subjects is made the centre of dialogue and if the discussion remains within the public domain," the letter's authors stress. Commenting on the document during the news conference, the head of the Russian society Memorial, Sergei Kovalev, who also signed the letter, said: "We understand our mandate, we understand our responsibility." At the same time, he said: "We have something to do with this business, ladies and gentlemen, will you kindly pay heed to our opinion".
©MosNews

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND SON SHOT DEAD IN NORTH RUSSIA
22/7/2005- A human rights activist and her son were killed in the North Russian city of Vorkuta on Thursday. An unidentified person rang the doorbell of Lyudmila Zhorovlya's apartment. When she opened the door, she and her son were shot, Interfax news agency quoted the head of the regional department of the Memorial human rights organization, Igor Sazhin, as saying. Zhorovlya was well-known in Vorkuta for helping residents receive money back after having paid for public utilities illegally overpriced by the city administration. Zhorovlya had received numerous threats and demands to stop her activity. Vorkuta social organizations are currently preparing a joint address to the Russian Prosecutor General's office to send an operative group to the city to investigate the murder. Another well-known Russian human rights activist, Nikolai Girenko, was killed in St. Petersburg in June 2004. Girenko led a research group into national extremism. An unidentified person killed the activist in his apartment, and Girenko died at the scene.
©MosNews

MORE SUSPECTS DETAINED IN DEADLY SHOP FIRE(Russia)
22/7/2005- Police have detained a group of suspects believed to have been involved in causing a deadly blaze that spread through a shopping center in North Russia's city of Ukhta killing 25 people earlier this month, the Interfax news agency reported. "Detentions began on July 20," the acting interior minister in the Komi Republic, Vladimir Silayev, told a news conference in Syktyvkar on Friday. Five people including an Ukhta resident and four residents of Vorkuta were detained, he said. Firearms were seized from the detainees. "They may be viewed as accomplices in the Ukhta fire," the official said. Several more suspects were detained in Vorkuta. The detainees could be linked to those involved in the Ukhta events, Silayev said. Those who masterminded the attack did not expect such a response from law enforcers, Silayev noted. The fire broke out at the Passazh shopping center in Ukhta on July 11. Initially, investigators suggested the attack may have been racially motivated. Police said the fire was caused by arson and some officials say they would not rule out the attack could have been the result of a feud between local businessmen of Slavic origin and rivals from the North Caucasus. Other officials have blamed the incident on negligence. Russian media reported earlier that police detained two teenagers who had allegedly been seen throwing bottles with flammable liquid into the crowded building.
©MosNews

PRESIDENT CAUSES CONTROVERSY WITH COMMENTS ABOUT MULTICULTURALISM, TERROR(Czech Rep.)
President Vaclav Klaus is in hot water again after controversial comments about multiculturalism and terrorism. Mr Klaus was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying that there was a link between the mass influx of foreign cultures and terrorist attacks on the West.

18/7/2005- President Klaus made the comments in the newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes. He was quoted as saying that the openness of the West to immigrants from other cultures facilitated attacks by radical Islamists. He described multiculturalism as a "tragic mistake" of Western civilisation, for which Western society would pay dearly. He stopped short of saying multiculturalism was a direct cause of terrorism - rather that it was a breeding ground for terrorist attacks. Mr Klaus's political opponents reacted immediately to the remarks. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said he didn't understand the comments, pointing out that not all terrorists were immigrants. Deputy Prime Minister Zdenek Skromach described the comments as nonsense, saying it was impossible for countries to be closed when the world was being globalised. Mr Klaus, he said, was living in the last century. Some, however, supported the president's views. Mirek Topolanek, chairman of the centre-right opposition Civic Democrats, which was founded by Mr Klaus in the early 1990s, said Europe was suffering from multiculturalism, which was beginning to destroy its original culture from within. In London, he said, churches were being closed down and minarets were appearing in their place. This, he said, was not normal. Generally President Klaus is very in tune with Czech public opinion. He's one of the country's most respected and popular politicians, and is always careful to reflect the public mood. Czech society is sometimes described as rather closed and xenophobic, although some observers say that is beginning to change. Many people, particularly better-educated people living in cities with immigrant populations, will take issue with his comments, and many will be offended. However Mr Klaus probably wouldn't have made the comments if he didn't think a large slice of Czech society didn't agree with him.
©Prague Daily Monitor

PRESIDENT KLAUS THANKS NATIONALISTS FOR SUPPORT IN DISPUTE WITH EU(Czech Rep.)
20/7/2005- President Vaclav Klaus has thanked the far-right and nationalist National Unification party (NSJ) for its support in his dispute with members of the European Parliament (EP), Pravo wrote yesterday. The letter of thanks, written in Klaus's name by his secretary Ladislav Jakl, has been published on the NSJ website, the paper said. Klaus had a fierce dispute with EP Vice President Alejo Vidal-Quadras and EP constitutional committee head Jo Leinen in April. Klaus was enraged by the MEPs' criticism of his negative opinions on the draft of the European constitution. Jakl thanked the NSJ for its political statement in support of Klaus. "I have handed your statement over to the president and I thank you for your support on his behalf," Jakl wrote. Jakl added that Klaus is pleased that the party is not indifferent to events concerning the current political scene and that "it openly presents its stance." Klaus's spokesman Petr Hajek refused to comment on the letter. However, he admitted that the letter is authentic, Pravo said. According to the paper, the NSJ is a party combining the extreme right wing and Catholic fundamentalism. It plans to run joint candidates with the far-right nationalist Republican Party of Miroslav Sladek in the next general election in summer 2006. NSJ representatives state on the party's website that they want to re-introduce capital punishment and issue stricter sentences for drug dealers, and they are against abortions, euthanasia, the registered partnership of homosexuals and the country's EU membership.
©Prague Daily Monitor

CZECH SKINHEAD CONCERTS PART OF INTERNATIONAL HATE MOVEMENT
18/7/2005- Despite earlier calls by Czech officials to stop hate concerts in the Czech Republic, two large events were held last weekend, each attracting around 200 skinheads and neo-Nazis. Both concerts were monitored by the police. In Olomouc, a concert organized by the hate group Narodni Odpor (National Resistance) featured four bands known to have recorded songs with anti-semitic and racist lyrics. Although the police did not report any Nazi or nationalist activity at this concert, anti-hate activist Ondrej Cakl of Tolerance a obcanske spolechost (Tolerance and Open Society) reported that his hidden cameras at the event revealed concert goers quietly giving the Nazi Sieg Heil while police weren't looking. Similarly, songs with racist lyrics were only sung when police were absent. The concert started at 6:00 pm at the local pub Na Pile, and lasted until 3:00 am. Another concert took place in Libavske udoli, featuring Ukrainian nationalist band Sokira Peruna (Perun's Axe). Forewarned that the concert would feature a foreign band, the police brought along a translator, who confirmed that the band performed songs with racist lyrics, and talked of ëwinning white power.' The police shut down the concert after attendees started giving Nazi salutes and shouting Sieg Heil. The lead singer of Sokira Peruna was arrested, and questioned, but later released. Such concerts are part of the growing international hate movement, which has found a particularly strong medium through white power music. According to American anti-hate organization the Southern Poverty and Law Center, racist music is now found in every one of Europe's 30 countries, but it is especially widespread in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia. Interpol estimates reveal that the European neo-Nazi music industry is growing rapidly. Their report in 1999 placed the value of the industry at 3.4 million USD per year, and it has only grown since then. With the cost of producing a CD little more than , Interpol said profit margins were better than for selling hashish. It is estimated that there are now around 40 such hate concerts a year in the Czech Republic. The events are usually organized as private parties, to keep outsiders from attending, and are monitored by police officers. The police do not interfere in the events unless there are blatant signs of illegal Nazi propaganda or promotion.
©Dzeno Association

SIMFEROPOL STORIES: BENT COPS AND LANGUAGE WARS IN A DIVIDED TOWN(Ukraine)
By Mary Dejevsky

18/7/2005- If charm and elegance define your idea of a desirable city, Simferopol will not meet your requirements. It is almost as though this scruffily rambling conurbation has been called upon to balance the delights of the increasingly chic resorts just an hour's drive over mountains to the south. In so many ways, the capital of the Crimea has caught the short straw. It has the airport, railway station and road junction through which most holiday-makers must pass to reach the sea; at any one time a large number of those thronging its streets are just passing through. It was only lightly touched by Ukraine's Orange revolution. Lenin still lords it over the square in front of the government buildings. And, although capitalism has made its mark, with casinos, money-changing booths and cafes every few yards, the city is undisguisedly poor. Jewellery shops tempt customers inside with offers to exchange old baubles for new and a store has cornered the market in "second-hand European clothes". Its mixed identity falls short of feeling cosmopolitan. While the rest of Ukraine is divided relatively neatly, with Russian-speakers predominating in the east and Ukrainian-speakers in the West, in the Crimea there is a three-way split: Russians, Ukrainians and the Tatar population compete for public money, space and political power. After the Orange revolution, the Russians, at almost 60 per cent, feel displaced. The Ukrainians feel at once vindicated and apprehensive, while the Tatars, who started returning in the 1980s from the Central Asian exile into which they had been brutally forced by Stalin, are trying to reclaim their old land, or any land at all. All these tensions converge in Simferopol. Two blonde girls in their late teens sit at a card table on Rosa Luxembourg street, chatting and preening in the sunshine. The placard behind them explains that they are collecting signatures for a petition; 220,000 already collected in two weeks. Its purpose is to press for an amendment to the Ukrainian constitution that would enshrine Russian as joint official language with Ukrainian. To pass, an amendment needs the support of three-quarters of Ukraine's 400 MPs.

The petition is designed to put pressure on local MPs. "If they don't support it, we'll campaign to throw them out," says one girl. With parliamentary elections in March, and Ukraine still a simmering political cauldron, this is no idle threat. An elderly woman stops to sign. She complains that all prescription labels are now in Ukrainian and she cannot understand them. Russians have treated the Crimean resorts as their summer playground since the 19th century, and still do, even though they now have to cross a border, change their roubles into hryvny and pay Ukraine's higher prices. With car ownership now common, thousands of Russians make the long trek south at this time of year. Reading between the lines of the local newspaper, it seems that their passage through Simferopol and its environs has become a nice little earner for the local traffic police. After complaints from Russian drivers that they were being importuned by bent Ukrainian cops - accusations hotly denied by local police chiefs - encounters between police and drivers were secretly recorded. The result? More than 500 "breaches of discipline" registered across 365 encounters. The police authority is now appealing to holidaymakers not to "tempt" the cops or to break the law by "offering a bribe". If things don't improve, Ukraine's Interior Minister, Yuri Lutsenko, has threatened to drive around in a Russian-registered car to test the southern charm of his officers for himself. He says that if he comes across any rude or corrupt behaviour, he will withdraw all the traffic cops from Crimea for the summer. "Whoopee," says a local reporter, "then we really will have a ball."
©Rusnet

SYMBOLIC RECONCILIATION(Poland-Ukraine)
20/7/2005- A ceremony took place June 24 in Lviv, western Ukraine. The presidents of Poland and Ukraine attended the opening of the Eaglets' Cemetery, a place which for several decades was the focus of conflict between both countries. Despite decades of declarations concerning a strategic Polish-Ukraine partnership and countless manifestations of friendship between politicians from both countries, the issue of the Eaglets' Cemetery cast a shadow over good relations. The problem dated back to what might seem like the remote past, but is still much alive in the collective awareness of the two nations.

Brother vs. brother
In 1918 World War I was nearing an end. Countries which until recently had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire started to rise from the empire's ruins. Polish aspirations for independence started to materialize and take on real form. Still, the Poles were not the only nation which hoped to create an independent country at a time of immense European upheavalóthe Ukrainians also had their sights set on independence. The pursuit of an independent Ukraine and political concepts for the country's creation found support among some politicians of the collapsing Habsburg monarchy and Germany, devastated by the war. According to those concepts, the Ukrainian state would be formed on territories with diversified ethnicity, where the Polish and Ukrainian nations had coexisted for centuries. In the 18th century, the land in question had belonged to the First Republic of Poland, a multinational country governed by Poles. Consequently, in the early 20th century, both Poles and Ukrainians claimed the area. The two nations claimed links to and the right to possess the city of Lviv. While the territory had belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Lviv became an important academic, scientific and cultural center. The city had an enormous cultural and civilization heritage rooted in Polish influences dating back to the 14th century. Poles pursuing independence in 1918 had no doubt that Lviv was a Polish city and should be incorporated into the reborn Polish state. To Ukrainians, in turn, it was just as obvious that if an independent Ukraine emerged, Lviv had to remain within the borders of the new state and become an important intellectual and civilization center of the young state. The situation inevitably led to a conflict. The first sparks flew Nov. 1, 1918, when Ukraine's volunteer military formations attempted to take control of Lviv. Fights broke out at several sites in the city, as Polish military groups formed spontaneously to mirror the Ukrainian formations that had appeared in the city. The fight for Lviv continued through Nov. 22, 1918, when Polish flags eventually fluttered atop the city's most important buildings. On the Polish part, the fights primarily involved extremely patriotic youth from Lviv who could not imagine the city under Ukrainian control. It was those young people that the Poles later dubbed the Eaglets of Lviv. Naturally, as the conflict in Lviv unfolded, Polish military backup came to the rescue from Cracow and Poland gained control over the city. Hundreds of young Poles were killed in the November fighting. Initially they were buried at various spots in Lviv within provisional graveyards. In the summer of 1919, the Lviv City Board decided to build one cemetery as the final resting place for not only the bodies of the young defenders of Polish Lviv, but also soldiers and civilians who died in eastern Poland fighting the Soviet Army. The war, which historians later called the Polish-Bolshevik war, ended in 1920 with the defeat of the Soviet invaders. The Poles were aided by soldiers from France, the United States and other countries. Some of those who were killed were also buried in the Lviv cemetery.

History of the cemetery
A competition for the design of a mausoleum of the defenders of Lviv and Polish eastern territories was launched as early as 1921. The winner was Rudolf Indruch, an architecture student from the Lviv University of Technology. He designed a monumental cemetery complex comprising a domed chapel towering over the tombs below. Between the chapel and the tombs, Indruch placed catacombs where the exhumed remains of 72 fighters were laid to rest. Two monuments were erected to the French infantry and American pilots. Below, a Glory Monument was built in the form of a semi-circular colonnade with an inscription above reading "Mortui sunt ut liberi vivamus"ó"They died so we could live free." Two stone lions stood near a triumphal arch. The construction of the Eaglets' Cemetery, as the memorial was named, continued until the outbreak of World War II. The cemetery had almost 3,000 tombs, including 300 of the young defenders of Lviv from 1918. After World War II, western Ukraine, including Lviv, became part of the Soviet Union. The Eaglets' Cemetery deteriorated and was systematically devastated. The lions were taken away, the colonnade pulled down, as were the monuments to the French infantry and American pilots. There were attempts to crush the triumphal arch with tanks and in the 1970s, bulldozers razed most of the tombs. The catacombs became a stonemasons' shop. The Soviet authorities did their best to erase any traces of the Polish military cemetery in Lviv and consequently, the memory of the Polish presence in the city. The situation changed with the rise of independent Ukraine. Good Polish-Ukrainian relations resulted in the Ukrainian authorities' consenting to the reconstruction of the cemetery and restoration of its former splendor. Cleaning and renovation work was initiated by Polish companies operating in Ukraine. The workers received priceless assistance from Poles living in Ukraine. Later the Council for the Protection and Commemoration of Battle and Martyrdom Sites joined the project. The council is a Polish governmental agency whose tasks include caring for Polish military cemeteries outside Poland's borders. The main part of the Eaglets' Cemetery was already renovated a few years ago. However, over those years both parties failed agree on several, seemingly insignificant issues. The Ukrainians did not agree to the reconstruction of the monuments to the French infantry and American pilots, the colonnade, nor to the return of the stone lions. A fundamental controversy surrounded the future inscription on the centrally situated tomb of five unknown soldiers. Representatives of the Lviv City Council repeatedly said they would not permit the opening of a Polish cemetery which glorified the Polish army.

The recent change of the political situation in Ukraine and Poland's support for the Orange Revolution made Ukrainian politicians treat many controversial issues, including the Eaglets' Cemetery, more favorably. A dialogue became possible and ended in a compromise. The Poles had to give up some of their expectations and the Ukrainians withdrew some of their reservations. June 24 definitely marked the closure of yet another stage in the difficult process of Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation. Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko did not hesitate to say twice at the opening ceremony: "Without free Ukraine, there is no free Poland and without free Poland, there is no independent Ukraine." It seems an awareness of this truth is finally present not only among Polish and Ukrainian politicians, but within the general public in both countries as well. Commenting on the future, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski took the opportunity to remark: "We believe the moment will come when we can welcome you [Ukrainians] to the family of European Union states." It seems the ceremony in Lviv, so deeply rooted in history, was at the same time a signal concerning a future vision of Polish-Ukrainian relations. If it indeed indicates a new stage inPolish-Ukrainian reconciliation, its significance is invaluable.
©The Warsaw Voice

NUMBER OF ROMA STREET CHILDREN ON THE RISE(Spain)
18/7/2005- The number of Roma children begging for money in the streets of Spain is growing. Alicante Acoge, an NGO involved with problems of migrants and minority peoples in the South of Spain denounced this problem recently to newspaper El Pais, revealing that these children are both recent Romanian immigrants and native Spanish gitanos. In the article, Alicante Acoge called for the local social services system to intervene to help prevent this extreme situation for the children. The local government has replied, however, that they are already doing their best. Since 2001, there has been a collaborative project among several institutions working to keep the children off the streets. In addition, the government claimed that fining the parents is not a useful strategy because they usually have no resources. This problem is especially disturbing considering that Spain is often presented to other Central European countries as a model of social integration between Roma and non-Roma peoples. There are currently around 700,000 Roma in Spain; half of this population is under 16 years old. While 95% of Spanish Roma, or Gitanos, are settled, the majority are still living in slum housing on the outskirts of Spain's largest cities. The earliest mention of Roma peoples in Spain was in 1417. Since that time, they have constantly been persecuted and have been victims of institutional racism. This was especially true during the Franco regime, when databases were set up to monitor and control Roma. It was only after 1978 and the Spanish democratization process that Spain began to reform its policies. In 1986, the government introduced the first budget allocating money to Gitano communities and to programs against racial exclusion.
©Dzeno Association

CAUSE CELEBRE: HOW GAY MARRIAGE HAS SPLIT SPAIN
Spain's first gay wedding in Spain has finally happened, but the issue has infuriated the Church and conservative politicians. Ian Frewer explores how the issue might have repercussions not just for Spaniards.

July 2005- It can't be easy to provoke a newly-elected Pope to outrage, but Spain has managed to do it. The new 'gay marriage' laws brought in by Madrid prompted Pope Benedict XVI to accuse Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of "dismantling the family, brick by brick", and to call on all Catholic officials to refuse to officiate at gay weddings. Zapatero's unofficial comments are not known, but are unlikely to have been too complimentary about His Holiness. The precedent has already been set in both the Netherlands and Belgium, but neither of these countries have Spain's strong Roman Catholic tradition. When the vote was passed in the Cortes, by 183 to 136 ñ indicating that strong opposition still exists ñ it brought forth a storm of condemnation from all religious leaders, not just the Pope. But the law was passed and came into operation at the start of July, allowing gay people of either sex to formally and legally marry, and receive the same benefits as any married couple. Some gay people say there was little need for such a law as, in real life, relatively few actually want to marry, but cynics say that Zapatero needed a cause celebre to establish his liberal credentials. Since a ban of bullfighting or smoking in all public places might have resulted in an armed uprising, gay marriages it was. Not so, says Angel Valero, 31, of Puerto de Mazzaron; he has lived with his partner, Narcis Botella, 29, for three years, and they want to marry. "Why should we not have the same entitlements, the same standing in the community, as a straight couple?" he told us. "Narcis and I love each other, we want a stable union ñ isn't that what the government is asking people to do, to accept their responsibilities?" But the Pope's exhortation to what amounts to civil disobedience by local officials has not fallen on deaf ears. Some conservative mayors, who can carry out civil marriages, are very uneasy about the new law. Others are pragmatic about it; Pedro Hernandez Mateo, long-time Partido Popular mayor of Torrevieja, said: "It will be the law, and, as a public official, I am sworn to obey the law, that's all there is to it. "We'll marry gays, we'll even give them their statutory grant, to help them get on the housing ladder!" Others are playing a cannier game. They accept, like Hernandez Mateo, that they are obliged to follow the law, but will personally opt out of it. Miguel Angel Sequero, mayor of Molina de la Cruz, in Murcia province, told us: "My administration will carry out the ceremonies, but I, personally, will not; I have delegated it to a member of my staff who has no problems with this sort of thing."

For Pilar Codesal, 27, an accountant and a lesbian, these attitudes seem antediluvian. "This is the 21st century, for God's sake," she said. "Homosexuality is no big deal, these days. "When and if I meet a life-partner, why should I not legalise the relationship, as I would if I was straight, and had met the right man? "This discrimination against gays and lesbians in Spain is wrong, very wrong." But is there legal discrimination? Many say at least not officially. Spain's constitution forbids it, so does the EU constitution, to which Spain is signed up. Homosexuality was severely frowned upon under the Franco regime, but that is decades in the past. Senorita Codesal's current partner, Maria, agrees. "Actually, whatever the law says, the Spanish people are not bothered about homosexuality. "If Pilar and I kiss in the street, nobody objects." This slightly naÔve remark goes unchallenged; people, and the law, traditionally extend to lesbians a tolerance sometimes denied to male homosexuals. Does it affect expatriate gays? Mike Halle and Tom Aynsley are in their thirties, from Manchester, in the UK, and have lived openly together for several years, now running a restaurant together in Gandia. We asked for their views. "Well done, Spain," said Halle. "In some ways it's a disgrace that only three countries in Europe allow gays to legally marry." But surely other countries have civil contracts for gays wishing to formalise their relationships? "That's not the same thing at all ñ if gays want to make a commitment to one another, marriage is a statement, much more than just a contract. Would they take advantage of the new law? "You must be joking," laughed Aynsley. "Can you begin to imagine the bureaucracy that will be involved, for expats? No way, we're quite happy as we are!" We spoke to Father Diego Vicente, a 67-year-old parish priest. "Well, personally I agree with His Holiness," he told us. "It is against Scripture, and against the concept of the family as we regard it, as a bulwark of civilisation. "That said, if it becomes the law, well, I don't have to involve myself, the law does not compel priests to marry anyone, if they don't want to." But did it not surprise him, that a country renowned for its Catholicism would enact such a law? His reaction was highly cynical. "Oh, I know Spain is supposed to be a Catholic country," he laughed, "but whoever said it was Christian?" In fact, the law will soon become accepted, merely because few people feel very strongly about it. Expatriate gays will probably be put off by the horrendous complexities of foreigners marrying in Spain ñ as are many straight couples ñ and town halls will find a way round it, if the mayor strongly disagrees. But Prime Minister Zapatero is unlikely to meet a very amiable reception from Pope Benedict XVI, should he visit the Vatican in the near future.
©Expatica News

GAY FOREIGNERS FACE OBSTACLES TO MARRY IN SPAIN
21/7/2005- A major Spanish gay rights group claimed foreigners who wanted to take advantage of the new same-sex marriage law are already facing obstacles. In a statement, a Spanish organization of lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals, COLEGAS, said gay couples from abroad trying to get married in Spain are being asked to produce certificates from their countries stating such marriage would be legal there. COLEGAS said it does not make sense to demand a certificate of that kind as "only the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada allow such marriages". It said Article 50 of Spain's Civil Code says foreign citizens "may marry, and the regulations of either Spain or their respective countries may be applied". Spain legalized gay marriage and adoption last month. Two weeks ago, a homosexual couple residing in the north-eastern Spanish town of Canet de Mar were refused marriage because one of them was an Indian citizen. On Tuesday, a judge in the province of Alicante filed initial paperwork challenging the new law on constitutional grounds. COLEGAS said both were instances of "flagrant legal rebellion and disobedience of the law" by some judges and officials, and "a form of conscientious objection". The group also encouraged gays and lesbians to take appropriate measures to see the law is enforced and urged them to avail themselves "freely" of the Constitution's Article 14. That article says all Spaniards are equal under the law and may not be discriminated against on grounds of birthplace, race, sex, religion, opinion or any other personal or social status or circumstance.
©Expatica News

2500 GAY MARRIAGES IN BELGIUM
22/7/2005- Some 2,442 gay couples have married in Belgium since same-sex marriages were legalised on 1 September 2003, the Interior Ministry said Belgium was the second country in the world after the Netherlands to legalise gay marriage. Same-sex marriages are now also allowed in Spain and Canada. A total of 3 percent of all marriages in Belgium are now between partners of the same sex, Flemish broadcaster VRT reported. One possible reason for the popularity of gay marriage is that many same-sex couples have been living together for years. But it was not possible prior to September 2003 for them to marry. It is not yet certain whether the trend is permanent because some gay couples do not want to marry because it prevents them from adopting children. However, the Belgian Parliament has been discussing adoption rights for gay couples in recent months. A vote is expected after the summer recess.
©Expatica News

DESPERATE REFUGEE MARRIED HIS MOTHER(Norway)
19/7/2005- An Iraqi refugee with residence permission in Norway married his own mother, in a desperate attempt to bring the rest of his family to the country. It worked, inititally, but now both he and his mother face two years in prison. The bizarre story, reported in newspaper Romerikes Blad, started to unfold last winter when local police began investigating the case, several years after the man first came to Norway as an asylum seeker. The man in question initially had been granted permanent residence permission in Norway for humanitarian reasons.He settled in Lillestr¯m, northeast of Oslo, and then quickly filed an application with the immigration agency UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) to bring the rest of his family to Norway under terms of the country's family reunification policy. He told the authorities that he had a wife in Iraq, and that she had two children from an earlier marriage. The authorities accepted the man's claims and the documentation he provided, and granted all three permanent residence permission as well. They came to Norway, and all four lived in a flat in Lillestr¯m for several years before local police began to be suspicious, mostly because of the apparent age difference between the man and woman. "It just didn't seem right," inspector Jan Eirik Thomassen of the Romerike Police District told Romerikes Blad. The man had said he was 33, and his wife was 44. Police went to court to get permission for DNA testing. Results showed that the couple actually were mother and son. Her two other children were the man's siblings. The man ended up making a full confession when confronted with the DNA results. Both he and his mother have now been charged with giving false information to the authorities, which can result in two years in prison and deportation.
©Aftenpost

MAJORITY OF REFUGEES LACK ID(Norway)
Fully 94 percent of would-be refugees arriving in Norway lack valid identification papers. The acting chief of the Norwegian police unit in charge of national security calls that a threat.

19/7/2005- Signe Kathrine Aaling, who heads the police security unit PST (Politiets sikkerhets tjeneste), thinks that foreigners whose identities can't be confirmed constitute "a considerable security risk for our entire society." That's because asylum seekers without identification can be granted temporary residence and working permission in Norway while their case is being processed. That in turn gives them Norwegian identification papers. Aaling worries that those papers, and the system itself, can be exploited by terrorists. PST has sent a report to the government department responsible for immigration issues, warning of potential abuse and exploitation of the system. Aaling notes that the relatively easy process of obtaining work permission, and thereby a Norwegian bank account and credit card, also can be exploited by organized crime. "We don't know how widespread this may be, but want to point out that it's cause for unease," she told newspaper Aftenposten. PST officials are urging more comprehensive means of trying to confirm an asylum-seeker's identity as soon as they arrive in Norway. Terror researcher Brynjar Lia at the military research organization FFI (Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt) notes that most active terror cells in Europe are multi-national, and that the need for identification papers is huge. Both false and legitimate identification papers are important resources for international terrorist groups, so their members can get past border controls, Lia said.
©Aftenpost

POLITICIANS PLAYED AT SHOOTING MUSLIMS(Norway)
20/7/2005- Politicians from one of Norway's small parties played at shooting Muslims when they gathered for a summer meeting on the Hurum Peninsula. The event has drawn fire from anti-racists. It all started when members of The Democrats (Demokratene), along with some of their supporters, held a paintball competition at what they called an "informal" summer meeting. The politicians divided themselves into two groups, one of them dressed up like Muslim terrorists. "This was both fun and useful, and we hope to have more competitions like this in the future," John Arntsen, leader of the Hurum chapter of the Democrats, told Aftenposten.no. When asked what he meant by "useful," Arntsen said that "if the world keeps developing like it is now, with terrorism especially in Muslim circles, people can quickly have a need for knowledge about self-defense." He claims it wasn't planned in advance that one of the teams in the paintball competition would be Muslim. "It just happened that the one team dressed up like terrorists," he said. "This was innocent stuff." Svein Otto Nilsen, deputy leader of The Democrats, stressed to Aftenposten.no that the party isn't racist. "Everyone is welcome to join and we'll help everyone, also Muslims," he said. The Hurum chapter of the party, however, continues to have a note on its web site that it's a "Muslim-free zone." And when asked why he thinks The Democrats of Hurum chose to let their terrorist team be Muslims, Nilsen said: "Most terrorists are Muslims today." Reaction was swift to news of the paintball shooting against Muslims. "When it becomes sport to shoot Muslims, it's going way too far," said Tor Bach of the anti-fascist magazine Monitor. Nadeem Butt, leader of Oslo's Anti-racist Center, said he was "shocked" by The Democrats' paintball war. He thinks Norway's national security police should keep an eye on party members. "They call themselves politicians, but this case shows just what kind of party we're dealing with," he said. The party, which is represented in the Norwegian parliament, says it builds its program around "Christian values... based on Norwegian culture and tradition."
©Aftenpost

UDI CALLS FOR MORE IMMIGRANTS(Norway)
The agency that handles immigration to Norway, UDI, thinks the country must make it more attractive for both skilled and unskilled workers to move to Norway. "We need more immigrants," claims UDI chief Trygve Nordby.

22/7/2005- That may come as a surprise to all those who have been through the immigration process in Norway, and learned first-hand that it's tough to gain residence and work permission in the country. It takes at least three years to gain permanent documents, and the rules are strict. Nordby admits that current laws have left UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) enforcing restrictive policies. He told newspaper Aftenposten Friday that he wants to move away from the debate between "restrictive" and "liberal" policies, and instead focus on pro-active immigration rules that clearly address the country's labour needs. "We need to tailor immigration in the future to suit our needs, even though we also must take care of our obligation to protect refugees," Nordby said. Drafts of new immigration regulations are currently under evaluation, and Nordby wants a new "more dynamic" law that will address future labour market needs, especially given the immigration pressure on Europe. Today's rules aim at protecting Norwegian workers and contain largely negative criteria. "We need to change that way of thinking," Nordby said, claiming that Norway should invite "exactly the sort of competence we need." That can involve everyone from highly skilled and highly educated high-tech workers, to unskilled labourers. "Too few dare to say that we have a large need for non-professional workers as well," he said. UDI, in turn, should be able to have more flexibility in deciding cases, and process cases more quickly and efficiently. "Even though we don't face as large a population reduction as some other European countries, we need more immigrants to maintain population levels and competence," he said.
©Aftenpost

NATIONAL GAY HELPLINE IS ONE YEAR OLD(Malta)
19/7/2005- The National Gay Helpline (NGH) marks its first anniversary on Tuesday, 19th July 2005. During the past 12 months the service, which is provided by the Malta Gay Rights Movement, has dealt with 121 genuine calls. In a press release, the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) stated that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) and questioning individuals who need support can call 21-430006 and find trained volunteers who listen to them and offer them help. The issues dealt with in this first year ranged from support for individuals during their coming out process to relationship difficulties, referrals to professionals, as well as requests for information related to sexual health and LGBT social activities. The NGH lines are open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 1800 CET to 2100 CET. Normal Maltacom rates apply. The Helpline volunteers have undergone professional training with Agenzija Appogg, and some of them even have had a hand on experience as Supportline 179 volunteers. The NGH guarantees total confidentiality to its callers.
©Malta Media

ERNST ZUNDEL CHARGED WITH INCITEMENT IN GERMANY
19/7/2005- German prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged white supremacist Ernst Zundel with inciting racial hatred, four months after he was deported from Canada. German authorities accuse Zundel of decades of anti-Semitic activities, including repeated denials of the Holocaust -- a crime in Germany -- in documents and on the Internet. Zundel is "known internationally as a leader of the right-wing scene,'' prosecutors in the southwestern city of Mannheim said Tuesday in a statement listing 14 examples of alleged incitement. It was unclear when he might face a trial, which Jewish leaders hope will spread awareness of the Holocaust. Zundel was arrested in March on his arrival in Germany after a long legal battle, and remains in jail. He had been detained in Toronto since 2003 under anti-terrorism laws and deported after a Canadian judge ruled his activities a threat to national and international security. Born in Germany in 1939, Zundel emigrated to Canada in 1958 and lived in Toronto and Montreal until 2001. Canadian officials rejected his attempts to obtain citizenship in 1966 and 1994. He moved to Pigeon Forge, Tenn., until he was deported to Canada in 2003 for alleged immigration violations. German prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Zundel in 2003. Because Zundel's Holocaust-denying website was available in Germany, he is considered to have been spreading his message to Germans.
©Associated Press

POLES INVESTIGATE FAR-RIGHT PAPER PRAISING NAZIS(Germany)
20/7/2005- Polish prosecutors have found illegal words of praise for Nazis in a newspaper published by Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) but printed in Poland, Polish Radio (PR) reported Wednesday. The NPD contracted "Lubpress" a Polish print-shop in Zielona Gora, western Poland, to print their Deutsche Stimme (German Voice) newspaper. Because Polish law prohibits public praise for totalitarian ideologies such as fascism or Stalinism, justice officials confiscated the print-run. But as the paper was not publicly distributed in Poland, prosecutors are having difficulty pressing criminal charges against the NPD or Lubpress. "Everything depends on further developments in the investigation," State Prosecutor Kazimierz Rubaszewski told PR. "We must be completely certain the printers were fully aware of the meaning of the texts in the newspaper they were printing - this could be very difficult," he said. Lubpress officials claim they were completely unaware of Deutsche Stimme's contents. Lubpress cancelled its contract with the NPD after Polish justice officials took an interest in the newspaper, which PR reported is now printed in Lithuania.
©Expatica News

YIHR DEMANDS THAT THE STATE ACTS AGAINST RACISM IN NEW BELGRADE(Serbia & Montenegro)
20/7/2005- The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) demanded yesterday, July 19, from the state institutions to take action and prevent the expansion of racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance shown at a protest meeting organized by the inhabitants of Doctor Ivan Ribar Street in New Belgrade. Moreover, we demand the Public Prosecutor start proceedings to find out who is responsible for the expansion of racism in New Belgrade. In the block 45 in New Belgrade the inhabitants of the Doctor Ivan Ribar Street block traffic every day and protest against a decision of city authorities to set containers for a temporary accommodation of Roma people in this part of New Belgrade. YIHR express concern, for there is no official reaction to racial slogans heard at meetings of inhabitants who are against the development of a new part of the settlement. At the protest meeting held on July 15, 2005, a YIHR researcher noted a call to lynch of the Chinese and Romany. One of the speakers at the meeting said: "The Chinese in this block urinate in building entrances, staircases, and corners as well as those coming at their places to have a bath. Imagine all that dirt and you will know what troubles our neighbours have to face". Youth Initiative for Human Rights also noted open calls to lynch of Radmila Hrustanovic, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade. Some of the present were exclaiming slogans such as "Let her return to Sarajevo where she came from" and "She came from Sarajevo to direct our city", as well as an open humiliation of the Romany by messages such as "Come to the sun to get a tan like the Gypsies" and "We don't want the Gypsies". "We are not racists, we just oppose to dumps, rubbish-heaps and spread of infections they will bring along". Youth Initiative for Human Rights thinks that state institutions shall prevent the expansion of racism in New Belgrade and start adequate proceedings against those who violated the law. It seems as if non-punishing committers of the acts that provoke racial intolerance and hate speech has become a practice.
OneWorld

LATVIA: CONTROVERSIES AROUND HUMAN RIGHTS
New Era stands against Muiznieks

20/7/2005- Officials from New Era, the ruling right-wing party, said they would not support the candidacy of Nils Muiznieks, former integration minister, as head of the state's human rights department because he was unqualified and biased. Muiznieks is a member of Latvia's First Party, a coalition partner, and New Era's opposition is another reminder that the four-party coalition is an untenable one. He won the competition over Liga Bikseniece, a lawyer with the State Human Rights Office. The Cabinet now must decide how to move forward. The step by New Era will put the vote off for another week. In order to secure the position, Muiznieks will most likely have to gain support from opposition members - a development that cannot be excluded, considering the opposition's notorious dislike of New Era. Muiznieks himself admitted that the position should be held by someone who was neutral, offering to resign from his political party should he get the job. Meanwhile, New Era and Latvia's First Party are antagonistic. Indeed it was friction between them that brought down the New Era-led government in early 2004. Muiznieks, who originally belonged to no party when taking the post of integration minister, was forced to join Latvia's First Party after New Era called for his removal in the summer of 2003. "New Era has a blood feud with me and my party," Muiznieks said, adding that the Foreign Ministry had nominated him to take over the top human rights job in the Council of Europe, while New Era claims he lacks the experience for human rights work back home. New Era, however, insists that their opposition is based entirely on professional bases and is not personal. In a press release signed by the party's board, MPs stressed that Muiznieks was a party loyalist and lacked work experience in the area of human rights. The letter also said that his work as integration minister produced no obvious results, and that was the reason a vote of confidence was called to remove him. The nationalist For Fatherland and Freedom party also said they would oppose Muiznieks, since his work on integration issues were against the state's interests. Current Integration Minister Ainars Latkovskis, also of New Era, accused Latvia's First Party of playing politics when it called for a time of prayer and asked for the Gay Pride Parade, scheduled for June 23, to be cancelled. Before his work as integration minister, Muiznieks headed the Latvian Human Rights and Ethnic Studies Centre for years. He is also candidate to head the European Commission's delegation to Latvia.
©The Baltic Times

CITY RAINS ON GAY PRIDE PARADE(Latvia)
20/7/2005- After Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis expressed concern over possible public disorder during the gay, lesbian and bisexual parade scheduled for July 23, Riga City Executive Director Eriks Skapars promised to revoke the permit granted to march, the Riga City Council said. Defending their decision, City Council officials said it was necessary to take all measures to prevent any public disorder and protect the population. The permit to organize a gay parade was issued earlier this summer after passing all necessary approvals. However, Riga officials have decided to revoke the permit since the event has already agitated the public and various radical organizations have threatened to take action against it. The City Council spokesman mentioned Klubs 415 as one such organization, since the club announced plans to organize a demonstration protesting the gay parade. When asked to specify if the City Council had received any information about possible disorder, spokesperson Ugis Vidauskis said that the decision was made on the basis of concerns expressed by the prime minister. "We are to a great extent relying on our prime minister -- if he does have such information," he said. The decision has also been influenced by recent "racist attacks by extremists" on foreign citizens. "Tolerance of sexual minorities is also very low in Latvia," the spokesman said. Officials have asked the Riga municipal police to make sure that all possible signs of intolerance to ethnic, racial, sexual or other minorities are eradicated. Skapars asked that his decision be viewed as a security concern and not as discrimination against sexual minorities. The radical organization National Power Unity also intends to block the gay parade. This would have been the first gay parade in Latvia. As part of the event, a conference on homosexuality, human rights and religion, a church service and shows in popular Latvian gay clubs have been scheduled and will most likely continue. Representatives from neighboring countries -- Sweden, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland -- are also expected to come to the festival in Riga.
©The Baltic Times

THE SPECTRE OF HOMOPHOBIA HANGS OVER EASTERN EUROPE
By Rafal Pankowski

22/7/2005- Warsaw, Bucharest, Chisinau, and now ñ Riga. These Eastern European capitals have witnessed a vigorous debate over the last months and weeks. Gay rights organisations tried to organise public demonstrations which have been banned by city authorities. The reason for the bans was mostly the campaign from the extreme right in each of the countries, including threats of violence against the marchers by fascist thugs. Instead of protecting the citizens' right to peaceful demonstration the authorities bow to the extremists' pressure and homophobic arguments about "public morality".

It may be wrong to put the blame entirely on the shoulders of the national governements, though. They are of course responsible in one way or another for everything that is happening in the country, but it has to be said that in the past cases (Warsaw, Chisinau, Bucharest) the homophobic bans were announced by city government, dominated by the nationalist opposition to the generally progressive government on the national level. Let's see how the political situation over the gay pride ban unfolds in Latvia.

Isn't it ironic that the same authorities in Eastern Europe allow the public distribution of racist literature, activities of neofascist organisations and marches of fascists (including Waffen SS veterans in Latvia), all in the name of freedom of speech?
©I CARE News

EUROPE AND HOSTILITY TOWARD ISLAM(Comment)
By Ekrem Dumanli

17/7/2005- At the latest Council of Europe summit which was held on May 16-17, 2005 and attended by 46 countries, a decision was made to fight hostility toward Islam. Turkey played a significant role in that Warsaw summit decision. One day before the decision was made, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a speech in which he pointed out the rapid spread of hostility toward Islam in the West and warned of the likely damages it would bring.

The Council of Europe declaration includes several important details. For instance, the concept of 'hostility toward Islam' is addressed in the declaration in this way: "We fiercely condemn Islamophobia and anti-Semitism particularly under the blanket of any form of intolerance and discrimination based on gender, race and religious beliefs..."

It is a significant detail that Islamophobia is mentioned along with anti-Semitism. According to the outcome of the meeting, hostility toward Islam is to be monitored just as anti-Semitism is and anti-Islam activities are to be included in the Council's reports. The unit that monitors crimes based on racism and discrimination, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), is to report on countries where anti-Islamism is on the rise. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is to assist relevant units of the Council of Europe in preparing these reports...

For the Council of Europe to encourage efforts to build dialogue among religions and cultures carries a great deal of significance. Inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue does not mean the annihilation or transformation of one culture or religion by another as some ignorant agitators believe. On the contrary, the sort of dialogue that occurs among followers of different faiths allows participants to appreciate the richness of their own culture and religion while working to understand the "other's." Bigots that do not appreciate the richness of their own culture and religion always prefer fighting and disputes...

The Council of Europe's decision to fight anti-Islamism and to activate its internal units for implementation of the sanctions is an effort to remove a danger that has gradually come to be felt quite deeply in recent years. The September 11th terrorist attacks poisoned the lives of all Muslims like a nightmare. Such an atmosphere has emerged that every Muslim was accepted to be a terrorist. But, Islam just even as a word means peace and well-being in itself. It was an historic mistake to link a religion, which in its essence contains love for Allah, and corollary love and mercy for mankind, with global violence. Despite the reality that marginal groups exerting violence have not seen a general acceptance in any Islamic countries, and even met with hatred in most of them, Muslims all over the world are treated like criminals. In fact, these violent groups harm Muslims the most...

Negative Western generalizations about Muslims based on prejudice unfortunately only managed to force some Muslims into radicalism. In general, Muslims already believed that the West was applying double standards to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Adding to this common belief were the September 11th disaster and the subsequent occupation of Iraq as well as the publication of photos and images that truly disturbed Muslims there, all of which paved (and continue to pave) the way for deepening rage in the Islamic world...

The Council of Europe made the right decision at the right time, because following the end of the Cold War, the most serious threat facing the world is a clash of civilizations (or, one could say, a clash of religions). The first signs of this threat have been seen. These signs prove what a big disaster waits on our doorstep if action is not taken. It is best to rebuild cultural bridges as a precaution. Europe has grabbed at the chance to change its anti-Islamic image among Muslims by signing such a decision. This is also important, because the more negative judgments there are regarding Islam's image in the West, the worse the West's image becomes in the Islamic world. Well-intended steps toward world peace cannot be one-sided. In this regard as well, the decision by the Council of Europe is of historic importance.
©Zaman

NEW HUMAN RIGHT AGENCY IN THE PIPELINE(European Union)
Europe is always ready to preach good practice. But violations of every kind are a regular occurrence even on its own territory. This is why Brussels is preparing to launch a brand new agency in 2007.

18/7/2005- Ever since the 1957 Treaty of Rome ñ and even more so since 2000 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights ñ human rights have been a frontline issue for the EU in its relations with other countries and regions. From the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht onwards, the violation of human rights by a non-EU country can lead to the suspension of commercial relations and a reduction in assistance programmes. Fine words. But what does the Union actually do in concrete terms to guarantee the respect of human rights?

Keeping up with the latest on the human rights scene
Attention is turned most often to the case of asylum seekers and immigrants. The EU is keen to combat racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination against minorities, in particular via the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). The primary mission of the Centre is to provide member states with objective factual information on these issues, with the ultimate aim of encouraging action or at least defining actions that could eventually combat the violation of human rights. Based on the gathered data, the EUMC studies the extent and evolution of the problems by analysing causes, consequences and effects. The Centre endeavours to make known examples of good practice in the integration of immigrants and ethnic or religious minorities. Endowed with funds of some 100 million euros for the period 2001-2006, the EUMC also finances the comprehensive monitoring of the situation across the EU and carries out analyses of actions member state by member state.

An agency that goes beyond fact collection
However, the EUMC's scope is somewhat limited. Indeed, this is why a new agency which deals more generally with fundamental rights is going to be set up. Last November, President of the European Commission, JosÈ Manuel Barroso, delegated a group with the responsibility of guaranteeing the consistency of the Commission's initiatives in the area of fundamental rights, the fight against discrimination, equal opportunities and the integration of minorities into society. According to Vice President of the European Commission, Franco Frattini (also European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security), the new EU human rights agency should be operative from January 2007. In promoting the agency's creation, the Commission has made sure to keep in mind the results of a consultation launched in October 2004 aiming to understand the opinion of civil society, the European Parliament and EU member states. Almost 90% of respondents declared themselves in favour of strong measures against cases of discrimination, also voicing disappointment regarding the reluctant uptake by certain member states of guidelines that are already in place. But according to representatives of NGOs, an agency for fundamental human rights would only be effective if the Commission nominates a Commissioner to deal exclusively with human rights issues. They say the agency must also be ensured political independence and should not be limited simply to the provision of information. The real challenge will be translating words into actions and ñ in cases of human rights violation ñ being in a position to intervene with appropriate sanctions.
©Babel International

IMMIGRANTS FACE ABUSE IN EU(Opinion)
By Miranda Hearn

18/7/2005- Despite the signature of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000, the conduct of several member states as regards immigrants, both legal or otherwise, is less than satisfactory. Immigrants entering a country illegally are the most vulnerable group in society in terms of the protection of their human rights, which should be respected despite their clandestine status. Since the only alternative to suffering repression and exploitation is likely deportation, the abuse of illegal immigrants' rights is rife throughout Europe. The Morecambe Bay tragedy of 5 February 2004, in which 23 Chinese workers drowned harvesting cockles on the Lancashire coast, made public the stark realities of migrant worker exploitation in Europe. The cockle-pickers were earning £1 a day working for an industry worth millions of pounds per year to that region of England alone. The incident caused outrage in Britain, and yet by June of the same year, more Chinese illegal immigrants were found cockle-picking on the same mudflat, thereby doubly exposing the UK's failure to meet its human rights obligations.

Anti- or pro-terror laws?
The UK has also faced criticism over its recent Prevention of Terrorism Act which allows for "control orders", which include tagging suspects and house arrest, to limit the activities of suspected terrorists. The law also controversially allows an elected politician (rather than a judge) to restrict the freedom of a British citizen ñ arguably an infringement of civil liberties. Although this legislation is not specifically aimed at immigrants, it is undoubtedly immigrants, particularly of Muslim faith, which will bear the brunt of the government's wrath. Now that London itself has been attacked apparently by an Al-Qaeda related cell, further degradation of Muslim immigrants' personal liberty is likely and the government's proposal for ID cards is likely to gain ground. As the Daily Mail put it the day after the bombings, "Britain will almost certainly have to sacrifice some of our ancient legal rights if we wish to protect our citizens." But this kind of mentality cannot be allowed to prevail if human rights are to be respected.

The headscarf debate
But it is not just in the UK where the rights of Muslim immigrants are not respected. All EU member states are united in their desire to culturally and socially integrate immigrants into society in the hope of preventing ethnic minority groups from becoming marginalised. But sometimes attempts to wipe out differences can go too far. The September 2004 introduction of a French law banning all religious symbols in state schools presented many French Muslims with a dilemma. Should Muslim girls comply with the law, and thereby disobey their religion, or continue wearing headscarves and compromise their education by facing potential expulsion from school? The French government's line was that the new law reinforces the Republic's secularist tradition and is vital for the successful social integration of France's 5 million Muslims. However, in terms of its legality, the French ban was widely considered a violation of both the 1951 Geneva Convention, which demands that "freedom to practise (one's) religion" be granted to all exiles and immigrants, and of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that all immigrants should have the freedom to manifest their religion. Let's hope that Europe will manage to embrace the culturally diverse future it faces via the sensitive treatment of immigrant persons, and that it does not instead turn its back on human rights and become an intolerant private members club.
©Babel International

ANTI-IMMIGRATION GROUPS HEAD TO INTERIOR(usa)
17/7/2005- A volunteer movement that vows to guard America from a wave of illegal immigration has spread from the dusty U.S.-Mexican border to the verdant hollows of Appalachia. At least 40 anti-immigration groups have popped up nationally, inspired by the Minuteman Project that rallied hundreds this year to patrol the Mexican border in Arizona. ``It's like O'Leary's cow has kicked over the lantern. The fire has just started now,'' said Carl ``Two Feathers'' Whitaker, an American Indian activist and perennial gubernatorial candidate who runs the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen, aimed at exposing those who employ illegals. Critics call the movement vigilantism, and some hear in the words of the Minutemen a vitriol similar to what hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan used against Southern blacks in the 1960s. The Minuteman Project has generated chapters in 18 states - from California to states far from Mexico, like Utah, Minnesota and Maine. The Tennessee group and others like it have no direct affiliation, but share a common goal. ``I struck the mother lode of patriotism or nationalism or whatever you want to call it,'' said Jim Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran and retired CPA who co-founded the Minuteman Project 10 months ago. ``That common nerve that was bothering a lot of people, but due to politically correct paralysis ... everyone was afraid to bring up - the lack of law enforcement.'' At the Department of Homeland Security, whose authority includes patrolling borders and enforcing immigration laws, response to Minuteman-type activism is guarded. ``Homeland security is a shared responsibility, and the department believes the American public plays a critical role in helping to defend the homeland,'' agency spokesman Jarrod Agen said from Washington. ``But as far doing an investigation or anything beyond giving us a heads-up, that should be handled by trained law enforcement.'' A group leading patrols of the California border raised concerns from the U.S. Border Patrol last week when they urged volunteers to bring baseball bats, mace, pepper spray and machetes to patrol the border. They backed off the recommendation, but insisted on another weapon when they started patrols Saturday: guns. ``The guns are for one reason - to keep my people alive,'' said Jim Chase, a former Arizona Minuteman volunteer who is leading the effort. Gilchrist said people from across the country have been sending him dirt on companies that hire illegal immigrants. ``It is a rampant problem. It is happening in Chicago and Portland, Maine. And Milwaukee and Montana and Idaho. And these people want the government to do something,'' he said.

The Southeast has the nation's fastest-growing Hispanic population. In Tennessee, the Hispanic population nearly tripled in the last decade. The Tennessee Minutemen, which plans rallies in Memphis and Nashville and reputedly has heard from at least 120 potential members statewide, insist they are not vigilantes or racists. ``We don't want to project it as a hate group. We don't hate anybody or anything. But there are legal immigrants and illegal,'' Whitaker said. In Morristown, a Southern industrial town of 25,000 with a small but burgeoning population of Latinos, some see the Volunteer Minutemen's spiel as race baiting. ``The same sort of dogmatism that racists used against blacks in lower Alabama and across the South, I am seeing the same patterns here,'' said Thom Robinson, who heads the area's Chamber of Commerce. ``They are using it as a racially divisive thing.'' Santos Aguilar, executive director with Alianza del Pueblo, a regional Hispanic support group in Knoxville, said he fears the volunteers are ``spreading a lot of misinformation and are terrorizing the ethnic community in the area.'' Members of the Hamblen County Commission recently suggested that Hispanic immigrants were to blame if property taxes have to be raised next year - though commissioners insisted they were talking only about illegal immigrants. County Commissioner Tom Lowe, who says ``we do not want (all) Hispanics stereotyped as illegal,'' estimates as many as 85 percent of Hamblen's Hispanics are - and he fears they carry drug-resistant disease. ``We could be two or three aliens away from an epidemic that would sweep through our county and state,'' the retired pharmacist said. Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey said, like Lowe, he supports immigration laws, but finds such comments disturbing. ``I think you have to be careful when you are expressing your opinion on that, that you don't appear as if you are against diversity as a whole,'' he said. Guatemala native Noel Montepeque, who owns a company that provides a variety of blue-collar jobs to Hispanics, said the tone has changed since the first migrant farm workers passed through the area in the 1990s. ``Now they are getting afraid of the many Hispanic folks coming in,'' Montepeque said. ``And we are coming to stay.''
©Associated Press

GEORGIA: MINORITIES TESTED TO THE LIMIT
Changes to university entrance exam system are driving talented students abroad, complain ethnic minorities.
By Fati Mamiashvili in Tbilisi

14/7/2005- Thousands of Georgian school-leavers are in the middle of university entrance exams, but some are finding it a sterner test than others. As part of new education reforms, all school leavers wishing to go to university in Georgia are being forced to take the same four examinations. But one of the exams, Georgian language and literature, is being seen as a stumbling block to many from the country's ethnic minorities getting a place in higher education. Around a third of the population of Georgia is ethnically non-Georgian. The innovation is the first manifestation of a comprehensive education reform programme, which is being implemented throughout Georgia this year. The root-and-branch reform has been discussed for three years but intensive work began only this year. Children will start to have a 12-year school education instead of the current 11 years. There will be three terms a year instead of two. And instead of the current five-point marking system there will now be a ten-point one. By far the most controversial aspect of the reforms is the new compulsory Georgian language examination. The entrance examinations began on July 11 and will last until July 22. Thirty-two thousand school leavers are taking the tests and there are places for 17,400 of them in Georgia's 110 registered institutes of higher education. There are now four compulsory subjects: Georgian language and literature, a foreign language, general knowledge and mathematics. When he or she receives a mark, the student can then apply to any faculty in any college or university which will then decide whether the score is high enough for the student to be accepted. "We have brought in a rule of the same exams for all mainly to rid the system of corruption," Deputy Education Minister Bella Tsipuria told IWPR. "The university entrants will take their maths and general knowledge exams in either Georgian or Russian, depending on what their future language of tuition will be. "As for the compulsory Georgian language exam, that requirement stems from the fact that Georgian is the state language and knowledge of it is compulsory for all residents of the country. Georgian language and literature is also taught in non-Georgian schools." The minister added, "But we take into account the real situation and so non-Georgian school leavers will take Georgian language and literature exams according to an easier programme which corresponds to their school course." This assurance is not enough to pacify worried ethnic minorities, especially the approximately 100,000 Armenians who live in Samtskhe-Javakheti in south-western Georgia and the 300,000 or so Azerbaijanis in Kvemo Kartli in the south of the country. They say that most of the population here does not speak Georgian and the new rules effectively close the doors of higher education to thousands of pupils.

Gulnaz, an Azerbaijani who works as a trader in Tbilisi, said she was worried for her own family. "None of us speaks Georgian," she said. "I learned Georgian because I often have to come to Tbilisi. My son is going to study in Baku this year. Even the teachers in his school do not know Georgian so how can the pupils take an exam in that language?" Sofia Ohanesian, headmistress of an Armenian-Russian school, said, "I don't think there are any problems with knowledge of Georgian in Tbilisi. But in the regions, where practically no one speaks Georgian the level of knowledge is very low." Many ethnic Georgians share these concerns. "I support education reform, but it worries me that it is being brought in at unjustifiable speed," said Tsitso Nutsubidze, a teacher. "Maybe in the education ministry they've forgotten that the objects of the reforms are children, they are just entering adulthood. It's true, Georgian language and literature are taught in non-Georgian schools, but the level of the teaching is very low. "The school-leavers had very little time to prepare ñ the model tests were published only in October last year. Parents were forced to hire tutors for their children and that is of course very expensive. Many talented and promising school-leavers from the non-Georgian population will not go to university this year or will go and study in Russia. And we don't know if they will come home again."The education ministry says the reforms have been approved by international experts and that free courses were offered to prepare pupils in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli for the Georgian language exams.However, the ministry conceded that the courses began only on May 16 ñ less than two months before the exam season ñ and that it had spent just 1778 lari (976 US dollars) on preparing the teachers for them.Mikheil Kurdiani, a well-known Georgian literary scholar, said that the reforms were hasty and ill-prepared and they should be urgently corrected. "The state could not guarantee equal conditions of education, it was in a hurry, so it demanded that everyone should take the same exam under the same conditions," he said. "It's very good when citizens of your country get educated abroad but very bad when it happens en masse. That is not in the interests of our country."

Fati Mamiashvili is a correspondent with the magazine Sakartvelos Ekonomika in Tbilisi.
©Institute for War & Peace Reporting

SREBRENICA REMEMBERS MASSACRE
Thousands recall Srebrenica pain

11/7/2005- Tens of thousands of people are attending ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. About 8,000 men and boys were killed by Serbian forces in 1995, in Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. UK, French and Dutch ministers, and US officials are taking part in a memorial at the Potocari cemetery, where many of the dead are buried. The remains of 610 newly identified dead will be buried at the same time. Security is tight after two unexploded bombs were found nearby last week. Over 1,500 policemen have been deployed to patrol the area. A Serbian delegation led by President Boris Tadic is at the memorial for the first time. Also attending Monday's ceremonies are former US Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke and the president of the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Theodor Meron. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw apologised on behalf of the international community for not doing enough to prevent what he described as one of the darkest chapters of European history since 1945. "For it is to the shame of the international community that this evil took place under our noses and we did nothing like enough. I bitterly regret this and I am deeply sorry for it," he said. He said that it was "sickening" that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander Gen Radko Mladic, who are accused of the slaughter, had not yet been brought to justice. The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, has boycotted the occasion in protest against the failure to arrest the two.

Denial
Muslim prayers echoed through the valley as hundreds of relatives of those killed walked slowly and thoughtfully around the cemetery. Piles of soil stand next to the 610 freshly-dug graves - the latest victims to be found and identified, who are to be buried at the ceremony. Women in white headscarves were seen weeping by the coffins. Bosnian police are providing security for the event, which takes place in the Serb-controlled part of the country, but international peacekeepers and police officers are keeping watch from a distance. The attendance by Serbian officials has been condemned by Serbian hardliners but welcomed by the chief international representative in Bosnia, Lord Ashdown. "The Serb authorities and people are now moving from denial to recognition, and beyond that lies reconciliation," he told the BBC. In Serbia, many still believe the mass killings never took place. But a new video showing the execution of Muslim civilians sparked national soul-searching among Serbs last month. Dutch peacekeepers who were guarding the Srebrenica enclave at the time of the massacre, have accepted partial responsibility for what happened. Mr Karadzic and Gen Mladic have been indicted for genocide but are still at large. Mr Tadic told the Bosnian Serb newspaper Nezavisne Novine that he hoped Gen Mladic would be arrested in the next few days. Many of the widows attending the ceremony are still waiting to see justice done, says the BBC's Nick Hawton in Srebrenica. "They killed my entire life and the only thing I want now is to see the guilty ones pay for it," Fatima Budic, whose 14-year-old son Velija was one of the victims, told AP news agency. Her husband and another son are among the missing.

Srebrenica Indictments

WHY 'NEVER AGAIN' RECURRED(Bosnia)
Ten years later, many survivors are eager to remind the world that Srebrenica was not an isolated horror.

14/7/2005- The genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica started, but did not end, on July 11, 1995. It took eight days. On July 13, for example, Serbian forces deported 20,000 thirsty and dazed women and children. On July 16, Drazen Erdemovic of the 10th Sabotage Unit was ordered at 10 a.m. to shoot unarmed Muslim men brought by truck to a farm in Branjevo. His squad shot a dozen at a time until 3 p.m., leaving 1,100 dead. So far, Mr. Erdemovic is the only foot soldier to plead guilty for his action at the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal here. Now 10 years later, many witnesses and survivors are eager to remind the world that Srebrenica was not, as it is sometimes presented, an isolated horror conducted by a clutch of crazy hillbillies - nor simply the worst slaughter in Europe in 50 years. Rather, they see it as an extension of a racial superiority campaign, and sparked by sophisticated Serb hate propaganda in Belgrade that acted like a blowtorch on a bale of hay in the Balkans. The killing fields of Bosnia, they say, represent an "again" - on a continent that swore "never again." Video evidence at the war crimes tribunal here shows Milan Jolovic, a Serb "Wolf" brigade commander, after the Dutch UN peacekeepers have left on July 14, saying into his radio set, "Get on with it. There is nothing anyone can do to us now." In Srebrenica, according to the tribunal indictment, Gen. Ratko Mladic finished a job begun in 1992 - to rid the Drina river valley of non-Serbs, and to do so unchecked by any great power. "Srebrenica was a fusion of all the elements of the war in a concentrated time and space," says Emir Suljagic, who lived in the "safe haven" for three years and is one of few young Muslim males to survive. "You had deportation, selection, random killings, executions, organized burial, peacekeepers thwarted - in a small area, in a week." The meaning of Srebrenica transcends the grisly crimes. It was a crucial turning point, analysts say: The genocide exposed the failure of a British- and French-led policy that appeased Serb forces, and it brought the US and NATO in to stop the war. It led to an "abetting genocide" sentence at the international tribunal in 2000 for Bosnian Gen. Radislav Kristic - and contributed to the arrest of Serb President Slobodan Milosevic, considered the architect of the Balkan wars. "It was the culmination of the failed British-French policy from 1992," says Quentin Hoare of the Bosnian Institute in London. "After Srebrenica, it became impossible for the US Congress and the Clinton administration not to do something." Ed Vulliamy, author of "Seasons in Hell," one of the earliest firsthand accounts of the war, argues that "Srebrenica was iconic - since for three years there were little Srebrenicas happening all over Bosnia." And "it was iconic of the brutality of men like [former Serb leader] Radovan Karadzic and General Mladic, and iconic of the [diplomats] who did deals with these men, and eagerly shook their hands under the chandeliers of Europe."

Serbian acknowledgment
On Monday, a 10th anniversary event in Srebrenica ("place of silver") amid light rains brought signals and statements of regret from UN and British diplomats, and the presence of Serb president Boris Tadic, seen as a rare Serbian acknowledgment of the crimes, amid the reburial of 610 persons. Still, the event took place as Mladic and Karadzic, indicted as engineers of the genocide, remain at large. Mladic, particularly, is remembered in a scene captured by TV cameras near Srebrenica. He was standing in front of a large crowd of unarmed civilians as UN forces withdrew, patting the head of a young boy, and saying, "Don't be afraid. Take it easy. Thirty buses are coming ... to deliver you.... No one will hurt you." Later that day a heavily breathing Mladic stated on Belgrade TV, "... we are giving this town to the Serbian people. The moment has finally come for us after the 19th century rebellion against the Turks, to take our revenge on them..." One concern among survivors is that Srebrenica not become such an "exceptional" icon that it detracts from the reckoning, lessons, and truth-telling that remains before genuine reconciliation is possible. "I worry that Srebrenica may become a smokescreen to hide all the other crimes and atrocities. Take Foca [a village in Bosnia]," says Kemal Pervanic, a blue-eyed Muslim intellectual with a blond pony tail who survived the Serb-run Omarska torture camp. "Who talks about Foca? Thousands of us were murdered there. "I am passionate about reconciliation. But we need truth first." Nor has the international community finished its reckoning. Very few UN or Western officials whose policies aided the Serb ethnic cleansing project have yet faced history, analysts say. "Was there ever a more inept, less effective and positively counterproductive organization than...the UN protection force in Bosnia?" asks William Montgomery, former US ambassador to Croatia and Serbia, respectively. "Where are the leaders of the international community who ... helped bring events in the Balkans about? ... We are rightly looking for full accountability from the parties in the region. I am sorry that we are not doing the same for ourselves." The tribunal in The Hague, which has indicted 146 persons for war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia, has become the center of gravity for dealing with the war - and it is where most of the facts about the war have come to light. [Editor's note: The number of indictments in the original version was incorrect.]

Mr. Suljagic, a UN interpreter whose biographical account "Postcards from the Grave" was released last week, says there are two main myths about Srebrenica. One is that it was only a brief bloodletting, when it was planned for many months. Second, that it was carried out only by a few thugs. "To kill 8,000 people in three days you have to have logistics," he says. "There have to be truck drivers, people to tie hands, put on blindfolds, bulldozers." In Srebrenica, one group that carried out much of the carnage was the 65th Protection Regiment, the tribunal has found, a group that took care of Mladic's own safety, and could be compared to a Nazi Waffen SS force in terms of its brutality. Last month, a video of Serb paramilitary "Scorpions" who filmed themselves executing Muslims provided a literal "smoking gun" at the tribunal, and has caused a stir in Serbia. Yet denial remains stubborn. At a forum on the war in Belgrade this spring, a balcony of young Serbs made a three-finger national salute and shouted the name "Radovan Karadzic" approvingly. A retired Serb military expert also stated it was a "heinous lie that anyone planned" the Srebrenica genocide. Rather, he said, it was due to "chaos." General Kristic's defense lawyer in the tribunal stated the massacre of 8,000 men in Srebrenica may have been the work of "French intelligence" agents. The same point was picked up by Mr. Milosevic, who told the court in 2002, that the slaughter was the result of renegade Serbs directed by French agents. His trial is currently in the defense phase.

Serbian denial
Even with photographic evidence, many Serbs at the tribunal have denied involvement. One Dusko Jevic-Stadja, shown in uniform in a videotape standing next to Mladic in July, 1995, denies any harmful action. An exchange with prosecutor Peter McCloskey goes like this:

ON THE OCCASION OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SREBRENICA MASSACRE(Press release)
11/7/2005- The Humanitarian Law Center calls on the public and on the political parties of democratic orientation in Serbia to sincerely mark 11 July as a day of remembrance of the sufferings of the other human beings; as a day devoted to facing the consequences of those sufferings; and as a day for reflection on the course of our history. The denial of the Srebrenica massacre has stopped in Serbia. Under the pressure of visual records displaying the perpetrators from Serbia and the victims from Srebrenica, the public in Serbia went silent and demonstrated its capacity for compassion and solidarity for victims of the other party. The statement of the President of Serbia Boris Tadic, on the eve of his departure to the commemoration in Potocare, is quite clear in its admission of responsibility and in its obligation to the truth. For the first time, the radical right-wingers have, in the context of the condemnation of the crimes against the Serbian people, mentioned the crimes against the others. All this indicates that the issue of war crimes has for the first time been addressed in its political, legal, and moral aspects in Serbia. It is unrealistic to expect that the defendants of the Milosevic regime shall withdraw from the political stage or assist in revealing the complete truth about war crimes committed against others, but an individual and collective re-assessment of the past has definitely begun, and this is a precondition for breaking the still existent links with the Milosevic epoch.
Humanitarian Law Center

SREBRENICA ANNIVERSARY: YOUNG MAN'S CHILDHOOD ENDED WHEN FAMILY MASSACRED
Remember Elvis' story
By Diana Sehic and Fedra Idzakovic, staff attorneys in the Bosnia office of Global Rights, an international human rights advocacy organization that partners with advocates around the world to challenge injustice. It has operated in Bosnia since 1997.

11/7/2005- Elvis is in many ways an ordinary 22-year-old. He likes music and soccer, and writes his own blog. Today is his birthday. But Elvis did not celebrate this year ó or the year before. In fact, the last birthday Elvis celebrated was his 12th. Ten years ago, Elvis lived in Srebrenica, a United Nations-designated "safe area" in eastern Bosnia As war engulfed their country, Elvis' family and tens of thousands of others took refuge in that enclave, guarded by several hundred lightly armed United Nations forces. Because food had not been brought in for months, residents were forced to eat oats and grass to survive. But on Elvis' birthday, a U.N. soldier gave the boy a can of Coca-Cola and two Snickers bars. Elvis felt that the gift had come from another world. The next day, on July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, killing Elvis' father, several of his male family members and approximately 8,000 others. Now, each year, instead of celebrating his birthday, Elvis commemorates the fall of Srebrenica and the end of his childhood. Unfortunately, Elvis' story is all too familiar to the men, women and children of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and elsewhere who have hidden ó and are still hiding ó in basements, forests and deserts, waiting to be rescued. How many more of these innocents will be raped, tortured and massacred just because their attackers see them as different? Are we powerless to stop these wars and genocides, or to punish the perpetrators of horrific acts? Does the international community see human rights as mere symbols, and lack the will or the ability to enforce them? Have we become silent accomplices of evil?

Elvis' story reminds us that we must remember the individual destinies that are shaped in the course of massive tragedies. It reminds us that what is at stake in the current debate about United Nations reform is ensuring the world body is equipped to prevent such atrocities. And it reminds us that large-scale abuses such as those at Srebrenica are not happenstance, but instead are built upon the foundations of long-standing wrongs. It is only by acting on these underlying human rights issues that we can hope to prevent massive tragedies from erupting in the future. These thoughts motivate us as we work to make human rights real for the people of Bosnia ó where war has ended but peace has not yet come. With Elvis in mind, we work to stamp out ethnic, religious and gender discrimination, and to ensure that all can participate equally in the state's affairs. We work to ensure that no person lives in fear because he or she is different, and that every individual is guaranteed the right to a peaceful childhood, to family, to home, to choice, to education, to employment and to life. This year Elvis will join the 10-year commemoration of Srebrenica's fall by attending the burial of approximately 600 of his former neighbors, all killed during the city's occupation but only recently identified, at the Potocari memorial cemetery. Elvis hopes that in their burial, the dead will find the peace they were brutally deprived of in life. He hopes their killers ó including Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who remain at large ó will finally be brought to justice before a court of law. He hopes the United Nations and the international community will one day be able to protect those who live in fear of their oppressors. And he hopes that Bosnia will soon start down a new path in which individual differences are respected and no one is killed simply because he is born a certain ethnicity or faith, because he is dark-skinned, poor, homosexual, disabled or a foreigner. We are working to make his hope a reality.
©Dayton Daily News

SREBRENICA MASSACRE
Monday, July 11, 2005, marks the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, in which approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serbs in this Bosnian town. A ceremony was organized by victims' families. Members of the EU peacekeeping force in Bosnia had also found explosives located in the area near where the memorial was to take place. A spokesman for the Bosnian Serb police announced that his force was taking steps necessary to remove the explosives. As part of the ceremony, an additional 570 victims of the massacre are expected to be buried at the cemetery adjoining the memorial, where more than 1,300 other victims are already buried. As of the massacre's tenth anniversary, only six of the 19 individuals indicted for playing a role in the massacre have been charged by international authorities at The Hague. Most noticeably on the list of individuals responsible for the massacre who have not faced the tribunal are military commander Ratko Mladic and former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic. Recent events have suggested that Mladic may be near arrest; reports suggest he is offering to either surrender himself over to Serb authorities in exchange for money for his family or to commit suicide. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica had reportedly promised the United States that Mladic would be in The Hague by July 11. Also at large is Zdravko Tolimir, believed responsible for organizing the mass transfer and deportation of parts of the population of Srebrenica. EU leaders called for Serbian and Bosnian efforts to capture war criminals responsible for the massacre to be stepped up. German legislator Doris Pack implored the two countries to recognize their guilt, implying that as a German, she understood the need of guilt recognition as a part of the process of reconciliation. Other European leaders have also further encouraged the revision of the flawed Bosnian constitution, created at the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.
©Balkan Watch

KOSOVO: THE RUSH TO REPATRIATE
By Karin Waringo, independent journalist and researcher on Romani affairs.

11/7/2005- Germany and other host countries up the pressure on Kosovo refugees to go home, despite abundant signs that they are still not welcome there. No mercy. On 24 June, the interior ministers of the German L?nder rebuffed a proposal to remove the threat of forced return from at least a few of the thousands who fled the conflicts in Kosovo. Federal Interior Minister Otto Schily had simply asked that children who had been in Germany for several years, along with their families, not risk deportation. The refusal of the states' ministers to consider Schily's proposal means that up to 54,000 people face the risk of being forcibly sent back to Kosovo. Most are Roma, Ashkali, and Kosovo Egyptians; a minority comprises ethnic Serbs and Albanians.

Defining away a threat
Kosovo is entering a new phase of insecurity. In February, the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group warned that violence might escalate in Kosovo if the Albanian-speaking majority's expectations of achieving independence soon are frustrated. In March 2004, a sudden and unexpected outbreak of violence led to the deaths of 19 people and the displacement of more than 4,000 Serbs, Roma, and Ashkali, chased from their homes by angry Albanian rioters. NATO is making contingency plans as the province enters "the sensitive period," as Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it recently, when the international community is to assess the province's readiness to begin multiparty talks on its future status. The coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, Erhard Busek, acknowledged in a recent newspaper interview that, six years after the end of the war, Kosovo Serbs and Roma still face problems being accepted by the Albanian-speakers who make up the vast majority of Kosovo's population. He nevertheless defended the German government's repatriation plans as part of a normalization process. Voluntary returns to Kosovo have been slow to take place. By the end of last year, the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, reported 12,000 "minority returns," defined as the return of people to places where their community is not dominant. About 10,000 forced returns were registered in 2003 and 2004, the majority of them ethnic Albanians, followed by Bosniaks and Ashkali. Until this spring, UNHCR defended the position that people belonging to minority communities in Kosovo continued to face threats and should therefore not be forcibly returned. But in March the agency changed its position regarding the Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians, stating that their situations should be assessed on a case by case basis. (The Ashkali and so-called Egyptians of Kosovo are Albanian speakers, unlike the Roma, who typically speak Serbian.) On 26 April, the German federal government struck a new agreement with the UN civil administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, enabling Germany to propose the names of up to 500 Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians monthly for forced repatriation, although it is thought that only about a fifth of these will actually be sent back after going through a screening process. The agreement excludes members of the Roma ethnic group from forced repatriation for now, except for up to 20 (from September 2005 up to 30) Romani convicts serving jail sentences of two years or more. In September new negotiations are set to take place. The optimistic forecast by UNMIK and Berlin is that all restrictions on forced repatriations can be lifted as of 2006.

Secret protocols for 'voluntary' returns
From a right defined in UN Security Council Resolution 1244 in 1999 ("the right of all refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes [in Kosovo] in safety"), the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to Kosovo has turned into a threat. The present deportations are hardly compatible with UNMIK's principles for sustainable return, defined as a free and informed choice, nor with the principles enacted in the UN-authored "implementation plan" for Kosovo: "All refugees and displaced persons who wish to return to Kosovo must be able to do so in safety and dignity." Over recent months, representatives of the elected Kosovo government have multiplied their appeals to the communities in exile to return to Kosovo. A Kosovo Serb has been appointed as minister for returns. Several municipalities have established return commissions. Officials visited neighboring countries and received visits from their counterparts in turn. As a result, Macedonia and Montenegro signed protocols on refugee returns with the government and UNMIK. In high contrast with the German agreement, these protocols concern only voluntary returns, but the wording of the agreements is not public and the refugee communities fear that they may face the same destiny as their fellows in Germany and other West European countries. Moreover, representatives of the Macedonian government have already announced that they will put pressure on the refugees to go home. The situation in Kosovo remains volatile. The UN administration has recently shown a tendency to downplay the security concerns of the refugees, noting for instance that no serious act of "ethnically motivated crime" has been reported since the mob violence of March 2004. The UN refugee agency makes similar claims in its position paper released in March 2005, concluding however that the absence of serious violence against members of minority communities may be linked to their newly restricted freedom of movement. UNMIK, however, has also in effect admitted that the terms of the repatriation agreement with Germany are hardly practicable. In an appearance before the U.S. government's American Helsinki Commission in May, UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen acknowledged that Kosovo lacks the capacity to absorb large numbers of returnees. He repeated this in response to a letter from the Kosovo Ombudsperson, Marek Nowicki, in June, adding that UNMIK had not agreed to and he did not expect any massive returns of Kosovo Roma from Germany or other countries, not mentioning, however, whether he was also referring to Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians.

Refugees at home
What is often overlooked is that Kosovo also is burdened with a large number of internal refugees, or internally displaced persons. In late June the UN special envoy on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter K?lin, visited Kosovo. By the end of his visit he was deploring the situation of many IDPs who are forced to continue their miserable lives in camps and elsewhere because there is no donor money available to implement their return to their homes, which may be just a few kilometers away but in many cases were destroyed in the 1998-1999 conflicts or occupied by members of more powerful groups. He added that the lack of attention to this problem particularly affects the non-Serbian minorities ñ Roma, Ashkali, Kosovo Egyptians, and other smaller groups who feel caught between the two main ethnic communities. At the end of April, the disastrous living conditions of the Roma living in camps at Zitkovac, Cesmin Lug, and Kabalare briefly caught the attention of international media. Blood tests conducted by the World Health Organization revealed above-normal levels of lead in 40 percent of the people tested. Twenty-seven people, the latest a 26-year-old man, have already died from what their relatives see as the consequences of the lead contamination in the soil of the camps. The people living in these camps are the former inhabitants of the Fabricka Mahala, the old Romani quarter, in Kosovska Mitrovica. In April, UNMIK, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other international organizations proudly announced an agreement with the municipal council on the reconstruction of the mahala, which burned down in June 1999 under the eyes of French KFOR troops. At a donor meeting in May, however, no international sponsor came forward with funding. UNMIK has released only scant details about returns and forced repatriations under the new agreement with Germany. From the exchange of letters between UNMIK and Nowicki it emerged that 14 Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians were repatriated in the first weeks after the agreement came into force. Jessen-Petersen has also acknowledged that Germany is not the only country that is currently exerting political pressure for the return of refugees. Soon, the Kosovo government, Serbia, and the international community will open talks on the final status of Kosovo. Because refugee return is one of the preconditions for talks to begin, a window of opportunity is opening for host governments to send refugees back. Resistance is building slowly. The world seems to have forgotten that the Romani refugees, never welcome guests wherever they went, left their country under violence and threats. In one of his regular columns in the Kosovo press, Ombudsperson Nowicki reminded the host countries that the "home" to which their governments wish to return refugees may hold negative memories and in many cases not even exist anymore. While the refugees abroad are often crippled by fears that any act of resistance might aggravate their case and make deportation more likely, their cause is being taken up by their communities in Kosovo. Members of the Kosovo Roma and Ashkali Forum have started to speak out against what they call an open experiment on undefended communities. In a call to the high representatives of the international community they demanded an immediate end to the deportations and asked to be included in the negotiations on Kosovo's future.
©Transitions Online

KOSOVO: EXPLOSIVE TENSIONS
Explosions continue to rock Kosovo as the international community prepares to assess the province's progress on security, human rights, and governance standards.
By Fatmire Terdevci

15/7/2005- Two weeks after three blasts rocked Kosovo's capital Pristina, nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack. The simultaneous explosions took place in the evening of 2 July. One bomb targeted the offices of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), while the other two were detonated near Kosovo's government building and the Kosovo headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Three UN vehicles were set ablaze, but there were no injuries. Police have been unable to name any suspects. "The case is still under investigation and according to the information I have there are no suspects yet," the Kosovo Police Service spokesperson, Refki Morina, told TOL earlier this week. The explosions were almost simultaneous. They were targeted against the three most important institutions in today's Kosovo. UNMIK has been in charge of administering and policing the province since 1999, when NATO expelled Serbian institutions from Kosovo. The OSCE has organized all Kosovo's elections since and has been specifically tasked to monitor human rights and the rule of law. Both organizations aim to enable Kosovo's own institutions, which still have limited powers, to function on their own once the provinces status is determined. Status talks may begin as early as September if the international community judges that Kosovo has made significant progress in meeting a set of UN-approved standards on security, human rights, and governance. The bombs were either discovered immediately before they detonated or there was a warning. "I was on the balcony of my apartment and could see three police vehicles blocking the road between the OSCE and the cinema. Police officers very rapidly evacuated people and shortly after there were explosions," a local newspaper quoted a witness who wanted to remain anonymous. A local television channel interviewed an eyewitness, who claimed to have seen a couple leaving a bag near the OSCE building. But the police spokesperson could not say how the police got the information about the bomb. "I don't have information about this," Morina said. The blasts were condemned by local and international officials "Such acts, which are not supported by the Kosovar people, will not be allowed to damage the democratic process in Kosovo," said the head of UN Mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen. He said that the violence will not influence UNMIK's determination to support Kosovo's institutions and people in building a peaceful, democratic, and multiethnic Kosovo. For the head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, Werner Wendt, it is very worrisome that such explosions are taking place in the heart of the capital, but as he said, "it is one reason for more for us to convince the Kosovars that the future of Kosovo can only be determined in a political way." For local officials, the explosions are dangerous acts aimed at destabilizing the province. "They took place at a time when it is expected that there will be a positive assessment of the standards, at a time of progress in Kosovo which will bring closer the recognition of Kosovo's independence," said Kosovo's president, Ibrahim Rugova.

More bombs
Another bomb exploded on 4 July near the premises of the Ministry for Returns and Communities, which also houses the offices of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDP). The Returns and Communities Minister is the only ethnic Serb in the Kosovo government, Slavisa Petkovic, who is also the chairman of the SDP. No one was injured, but the building was damaged. Police have no suspects yet in this case either, but in a press conference in Pristina two days after the blast Petkovic publicly accused the Serbian National Council (SNV) and one of its leaders, Marko Jaksic, of being behind the bombing. Petkovic also demanded that UN police proclaim the SNV a terrorist organization. The SNV is a hard-line Serbian party based in the northern part of the divided city of Mitrovica. The motive of the attack, according to Petkovic, was the drop in the level of support for the SNV, while his party, the SDP, was growing each day. "Another motive is related to my statements that the [Kosovo] Serbs should seek their future here and not somewhere else," said Petkovic in a reference to the SNV's close links with the government in Belgrade. The SNV boycotts Kosovo's institutions. In the same press conference, Petkovic did not spare UNMIK chief Jessen-Petersen, whom he blamed for not communicating with his party, but with Belgrade instead. Some observers related the explosions to the recent visits of Serbian officials in Kosovo. Vuk Draskovic and Prvoslav Davinic, the foreign and defense ministers of Serbia and Montenegro, visited the province recently and met with UNMIK representatives, as did Serbian President Boris Tadic. The Kosovo Action Network, a student organization, held protests during Draskovic's visit. Twenty-two people were detained for throwing eggs at the convoy of vehicles escorting Draskovic.

Last month, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide as his special envoy to Kosovo. Eide is to evaluate the implementation of the UN-approved standards and report his findings by the end of summer. Talks to determine Kosovo's future will start later this year if the standards are met. There has been much anxiety among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority about the outcome of this exercise. According to reports published in the local media, in his second visit to Kosovo earlier in July, Eide was much more focused on the Serbian minority than on the ethnic Albanian majority. His agenda included visits to Serbian enclaves to establish if there has been enough progress on the freedom of movement of the Serbian community. Meantime, foreign diplomats keep calling on the Albanian majority to work on fulfilling the standards. One of them, former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, visited the province in early July. In the late 1990s, Albright was perhaps the highest profile international official supporting Kosovo Albanians. She and her close aides masterminded the 1999 Rambouillet peace accord, which Belgrade then rejected, paving the way for the 1999 NATO intervention against Serbia. Addressing the parliament of Kosovo, Albright said that Kosovo should become a society guided by the rule of law and providing equal opportunities for all its citizens. "This year 2005 is crucial for Kosovo. There are many things which need to be done," Albright told the lawmakers. She called on them to do everything in their power to ensure the return of all internally displaced persons, regardless of their ethnicity. The lack of return of Serbs and other minority groups who fled the province since 1999, as well as problems related to their freedom of movement, have been major impediments to handing over more powers to Kosovo's own authorities.

Bomb threats, often targeting UNMIK, have intensified, especially after the resignation of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj in March and his surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to face war crimes charges. On 15 March, a bomb exploded in the vicinity of the vehicle carrying President Rugova and on 17 April a heavy explosion devastated the premises of the youngest Kosovo Albanian party, Ora. Another explosion took place in May in the heart of Pristina, near UNMIK headquarters. Police have so far failed to find the perpetrators. Despite the frequency of the explosions, there has been no panic among the people of Kosovo. "People have come to see the attacks as part of the local scenery," the director of International Crisis Group, Alex Anderson, told TOL. According to him, extremist elements are likely to repeat such acts. "The following months will be uncertain in Kosovo," said Anderson. Observers think that in the run-up to possible status talks the very different expectations of the ethnic Albanians, who advocate full independence, and the Serbs, who prefer Kosovo to remain part of Serbia, are at the core of rising tensions.
©Transitions Online

NEW COMMITTEE TO RE-EVALUATE IMMIGRATION NEEDS(France)
11/7/2005- French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday announced the creation of an inter-ministerial committee tasked with re-evaluating the country's immigration needs and its visa procedures. Sarkozy said during a visit to the southern port of Marseille that the committee would begin work in September and deliver its conclusions in March 2006. Saying he wanted to "profoundly transform" France's immigration policy, Sarkozy said his goal was to move beyond a so-called "inflicted immigration, where everyone loses, to select immigration, where everyone will be a winner". The minister, who also leads President Jacques Chirac's ruling centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, recommended the implementation of a "points system that would allow us to welcome the foreigners that we want". Points would be given to visa candidates based on "age, education, knowledge of languages and professional experience," Sarkozy said. The tough-talking interior minister, who has made no secret of his presidential ambitions ahead of the 2007 election, pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and marriages of convenience. French consulates will be instructed to refuse tourist visas to those candidates who present a "migratory risk", he said. Sarkozy called for the creation of a central government agency tasked with handling immigration issues and asylum requests, and for better data sharing between police stations at home and French consulates abroad. Last week, the European Union's five biggest countries -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- agreed at a meeting in Evian, France to establish joint naval patrols in the Mediterranean to stem the tide of illegal migrants. They also agreed to set up joint flights to repatriate would-be immigrants. About 70 percent of France's immigrants come from North Africa and French-speaking west Africa, but since 2000, more and more immigrants have come from China, the former Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
©Expatica News

ANTISEMITISM IN RUSSIA: LOST IN AN IDEOLOGICAL WILDERNESS
By Alexei Bayer, a regular contributor to Vedomosti, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.

11/7/2005- One day in February, Maxim Kononenko's satirical web site ran a story about General Albert Makashov, a Communist State Duma deputy who had acquired notoriety for his anti-Jewish comments. In the story, President Vladimir Putin and his deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov are watching Makashov expounding his ideas on television. Makashov's greatest fear, explains Surkov, is to be accosted by a gang of skinheads. Is he Jewish, asks Vladimir Vladimirovich in surprise. Of course, confirms Surkov, he is a "mason." How does he know? Why, because of the general's first name, Albert. With characteristic brilliance, Kononenko put his finger on two basic things about Jews in Russia. First, although in real life Makashov is probably not Jewish, his first name is unusual enough for an ethnic Russian, and many people in Russia -- mostly Jews and anti-Semites -- watch for such signs. Second, while anti-Semitism is a strange phenomenon everywhere, in today's Russia it takes particularly twisted forms. It wasn't always like that. In tsarist Russia anti-Semitism was straightforward: the Pale of Settlement, the Black Hundred and periodic pogroms. The fall of the Russian Empire was seen by many Jews not only as liberation but also as an opportunity to assimilate. The atheism and internationalism of the communist creed raised hopes that Jews could seamlessly merge into the Soviet people.

The Donskoi Cemetery in Moscow is a memorial to that first stab at Jewish assimilation and its subsequent failure. In the Soviet days, it was the city's crematorium and unofficial Jewish cemetery. Of those buried there, an extraordinary number --including my grandparents and some three dozen of their relatives and friends -- hail from the Pale and from Yiddish-speaking, observant households. Yet, you would need a keen eye to identify them as Jews, since many Russified their Jewish-sounding names. Fortunately, Russian headstones are highly informative, supplying not just first and last names, patronymics and pictures, but sometimes even a brief summary of accomplishments. As Kononenko's vignette implies, if you are practiced in this kind of detection, you can always tell who is a Jew. Stalin's Soviet Union was a repressive place, and plenty of Jews perished in the massive purges of the 1930s. However, as University of California at Berkeley historian Yuri Slezkine asserts in his recent book "The Jewish Century," they were persecuted for political reasons, not as Jews. Although anti-Semitism existed in the streets, it could be dismissed as a leftover from the tsarist past. It all changed in the late 1940s, when Jews began to be regularly accused of double loyalty and cosmopolitanism. Stalin died in the midst of the Doctors' Plot trials, before his murderous plans for Soviet Jewry could be carried out. However, state anti-Semitism never really went away. Jews remained an alien presence, viewed by the authorities with intense suspicion as the Fifth Column of the Cold War. When in the twilight years of communism, Jews were allowed to emigrate, hundreds of thousands availed themselves of the opportunity. Today, many headstones at Donskoi are neglected. A chatty caretaker would readily tell you whose widow has recently visited from Tel Aviv, whose daughter has been back from Sydney and whose grandchildren have not been heard from since moving to Brooklyn.

Nevertheless, when the Soviet Union collapsed, there was still a surprising number of Jews left in Russia. Ironically, they welcomed the fall of communism just as they had its establishment some 75 years earlier. Jews became successful in business once private enterprise was permitted, not only as highly visible oligarchs but also in small and medium-size operations. Jews quickly rose to prominence in the professions and the arts in the first post -Soviet decade. In 2002, I attended a series of cultural and artistic events showcasing Jewish artists and highlighting the life of the Jewish community. Hopefully, and a little ominously, Moscow began to look like the heir to early 20th-century Vienna, Berlin, Budapest and Prague. The once shambolic Moscow Synagogue became a place of wealth and social prominence. The Soviet about-face on the Jews confused Russian anti-Semites. Or rather, it made it possible to espouse anti-Semitic views regardless of one's ideological hue. If you want, you can blame the Jews for the Bolshevik coup and hold them accountable for all the crimes the Soviet regime committed against Russia's national, religious and cultural heritage. Alternatively, you can accuse the Jews of destroying the Soviet Union on orders from global Zionism and imperialism.

Today, the varieties of Russian anti-Semitism run the gamut from the now -banned National Bolshevik Party to the fascist Russian National Unity organization. Between those extremes are found the four established parties in the current State Duma, all of which are strongly, moderately or somewhat anti -Semitic. At one end of the ideological spectrum, Putin is accused of perpetuating a Jewish stranglehold on Mother Russia. At the other, he is hailed as a patriot standing up to greedy Jewish oligarchs. You might think that anti-Semitism in Russia is the only sphere of national life where genuine pluralism has been achieved. However, on closer inspection, anti-Jewish ideologies left and right share a common foundation. They believe in Russia's special place in history and particular destiny. They differ greatly on what this destiny should be -- the Orthodox faith and monarchy, communism, or the vertical of power and state-controlled economy -- but they certainly do not want Russia to emulate the West. On the contrary, they see the outside world as a whole, and the West in particular, as an enemy bent on subjugating Russia and taking control of its rich natural resources.

Russian Jews are not a true religious minority. Few belong to a temple, observe religious laws and give their kids a Jewish upbringing. Their Russian names are no longer indicative of an urge to assimilate but are usually the result of mixed marriages. Indeed, Jews for today's anti-Semites are a symbol, just as they were for Stalin and Brezhnev. Jews still stand for modernity, democracy and openness to the West. By virtue of being outsiders, they are a living embodiment of a modern, inclusive Russia --Rossiyania, as some nationalist movements dismissively call it -- rather than "a Russia for the Russians" or an ethnocentric empire. In this regard, Russian Jews are no different from other assimilated minorities, be they Georgians, Armenians or Tatars. Or, for that matter, from educated ethnic Russians. Not surprisingly, in the Soviet Union leading dissidents were often portrayed as Jews. Alexander Solzhenitsin's real name, it was comically asserted, was Solzhenitzer, and physicist Andrei Sakharov's was Zuckerman. Or else, the father of the Russian hydrogen bomb was represented as a political naive controlled by his Jewish wife. This is why the anti-Semitic outburst in Putin's Russia is frightening not just to Russian Jews but also to other ethnic groups in the country and, even more so, to the Westernized Russian intelligentsia. It should also be a cause for serious concern for the rest of the world. It is indicative of a much larger strategic shift within post-communist Russia. It is a litmus test for the direction in which the Putin administration is taking the county -- to the community of nations or back to communist-era isolation.
©FSU Monitor

RUSSIA'S JEWISH LEADERS SAY AUTHORITIES FAIL TO RESPOND TO ANTISEMITISM, XENOPHOBIA
12/7/2005- Jewish leaders in Russia said Tuesday that anti-Semitism and xenophobia were persistent in Russian society and they criticized law enforcement officials for not doing more to punish nationalist crimes. Borukh Gorin, spokesman for the Federation of Russia's Jewish Organizations, said an investigation by prosecutors into whether an ancient Jewish religious text was inciting religious hatred "was a sign of a serious illness of our society." Last week, prosecutors dropped the inquiry into whether the Russian translation of a 19th century summary of Jewish religious laws called Kitsur Shulhan Arukh provoked religious hatred. The inquiry had been prompted by a complaint by two nationalist activists. The issue of the translation arose in January, when 19 lawmakers signed a letter that accused Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred and anti-Semitism and asked prosecutors to conduct an investigation aimed at outlawing Jewish organizations. Prosecutors later, on behalf of activists, investigated whether the letter itself incited ethnic hatred, but concluded it did not. Gorin said that xenophobia in Russia was directed not only against Jews, but also against non-Slavic people, especially those from Central Asian countries and other dark-skinned migrants, who face severe discrimination. "This is not just a wave of anti-Semitism. There are very dangerous xenophobic tendencies in Russia," Gorin said. "National hatred is high in Russian society." Many experts believe the rise in xenophobia has its roots in Russia's economic problems, which resulted in high unemployment, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, which sent large numbers of job-seeking migrants from poorer former Soviet republics to Russia. Alexandr Boroda, chairman of Federation of Russia's Jewish Organizations, said law enforcement officials should do more to combat nationalist crimes. "Until there is a clear-cut connection between action and punishment and until others see what such actions can lead to, I am afraid we will be seeing similar phenomena," Boroda said. Many rights groups accuse Russian leaders of remaining silent in the face of rising xenophobia and anti-Semitism, pointing to the occasional desecration of Jewish cemeteries and the growing frequency of skinhead attacks against dark-skinned foreigners.
©Associated Press

ABUSES OVER HIV 'RIFE' IN RUSSIA
HIV-positive Russian women and their children face widespread discrimination and abuse, Human Rights Watch reports.

15/7/2005- Children born to HIV-positive women are often segregated in Russia for no medical reason, the rights group says. According to official figures cited in the report, nearly 10,000 HIV-positive Russian women have given birth since 1997. Up to 20% abandoned their babies. The report criticises "the very real discrimination" the women and children face - often from healthcare providers. "The stigma of HIV/Aids is with them everywhere: in the workplace, at school, at the neighbourhood clinic, even in their own homes," said Lois Whitman, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch. HIV-positive women interviewed by the group's researchers reported being verbally abused by doctors and nurses, or even being denied treatment altogether. A health ministry official quoted in the report admitted that segregating children with HIV was a violation of their rights and "enforces the stigma society attaches to the disease". Human Rights Watch urged the Russian government to prioritise measures to end such discrimination and address the issue publicly. It complained that so far the "meagre" resources put into the battle against HIV/Aids had done little to educate the public or halt the spread of the epidemic. Russia has some 300,000 HIV-positive people, according to government data. But Russian and foreign experts estimate the true number to be closer to one million.
©BBC News

FOREIGN MINISTRY: 'ANTI-SEMITISM WILL NEVER BE TOLERATED IN ROMANIA'
11/7/2004- "Anti-Semitism will never be tolerated in Romania, we must establish a society ensuring equal rights for all its citizens no matter the origin, language, color of the skin or religion", stated Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, on the occasion of a conference held at the Hebraic University in Jerusalem. During the conference ''Fata in fata cu istoria. Romania si Holocaustul'' (Face to face with history. Romania and Holocaust), the chief of the diplomacy in Bucharest reminded though the historiography during the communist period shadowed the tragedy suffered during the second World War by the Romanian Jewish people, the youngsters in our country are presently presented the size of the systematic crimes they were subjected to by the Romanian authorities at that time in order to prevent the apparition of such discriminatory actions. He reviewed the activity of the International Commission to Study the Holocaust in Romania (Wiesel Commission), concluded at the end of 2004 with presenting a report published and distributed in libraries and on the Internet. In addition, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs reminded the Government in Bucharest decided that by October 9, when it is commemorated the Day of Holocaust in Romania, a memorial monument is built in Romania, and Ministry of Culture is currently working at a project to establish a Museum of the Holocaust. Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu also talked about the activity of the centers of Judaic studies in Romania that will soon be enabled to collaborate with a national institute to study the Holocaust and made a detailed description on teaching the history of the Holocaust in the Romanian schools. He stated that in 25% of the Romanian high-schools it is being taught the optional course on this phenomenon and in the history program for the 8th, 10th and 11th classes, pages about the Holocaust were inserted. Altogether, there were also reminded the training of the Romanian history teachers to teach this chapter, effort developed by Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Institute of Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the printing this year's fall of a new manual on the optional course History of the Holocaust.
©Mediafax

THE SMALLEST MINORITY: ASYLUM SEEKERS(Czech Republic)
14/7/2005- Asylum seekers have found themselves at the center of European controversy in recent years, provoking a variety of reactions, including sympathy, hostility and even outright racism, often thinly disguised in the painted face of hijacked patriotism. Nations across Europe have grappled with the question of how to balance humanitarian interests for asylum seekers with the national interests of the country's citizens. Except in the Czech Republic, where a response to the question of asylum seekers seems almost nonexistent. According to nongovernmental organizations that advocate refugee rights, the Czech asylum system is so labyrinthine, so fraught with bureaucratic peril and so draconian in its requirements that, for all its complexity, it usually might as well not exist at all. Consider this: From 1990 to 2004, more than 75,000 foreigners applied for asylum in the Czech Republic. Only about 2,500 emerged from the other end of the maze. That's less than 167 a year, or just over 3 percent. Last year, the nation's record was even worse, granting asylum to only 142 foreigners ó just 2.6 percent of those who applied. So how does that compare to other European nations? To look at that, it's instructive to see exactly how certain nationalities receive treatment, since it's through those disparities that obvious biases emerge. For Ukrainians, as an example, the prospects for asylum in the Czech Republic remain particularly bleak. In 2003, only five individual Ukrainians ó just 0.3 percent of that nationality's applicants ó received approval; contrast that with France, which approved 11.5 percent of its Ukrainian applicants that same year, a portion that is 38 times higher.

Bela Hejn· from the Counseling Centre for Refugees told the Czech News Agency that "the number of asylums granted does not really correspond to the number of people who rightfully apply for international legal protection in our country, and who should receive asylum." And Jaroslav Vetrovsk› from the Organization for Aid to Refugees said that even in rejection, the system abuses its applicants: The stated reasons for refusals are sometimes "so confused," he told the Czech media, that many applicants can't even figure out why they were turned down. In all of this, several questions naturally occur: Doesn't the Czech Republic have the right to decide whom it allows permanent entry into its territory? Why would these people be entitled to come here in the first place? The answers, however, speak to deeper questions in the Czech identity. Does the Czech Republic really want to be a nation friendly to humanitarian interests, one of the cornerstones of European foreign policy? Has it really forgotten the countless number of Czechs granted asylum in the West during the dark decades of the Cold War ó only to submit to the current flavor of transitory nationalism? For certain, not every applicant in any system would be entitled to asylum, and it may even be true that most applicants, upon fair review, still wouldn't qualify. Immigration officials also note that many asylum applicants come from nations like Russia, Romania and Ukraine, where oppression is not so astringent as in places like Sudan, the Palestinian territories and other flashpoints of political violence. Ultimately, however, Czech politicians know they must answer to their electorate, which collectively has taken a dim view of the prospect of welcoming foreigners into society. The mark of true leadership, however, is not to simply hold a finger to the wind and then follow the whim of the masses ó it's not to do what's popular; it's to do what's right. If the politicians are not motivated to follow the example of other European nations, then we would hope, at the very least, they would try to answer to their conscience.
©The Prague Post

OMBUDSMAN: FORCED ROMANY STERILISATION NOT SYSTEMATIC(Czech Republic)
11/7/2005- The forced sterilisation of Romany women was an isolated phenomenon in the Czech Republic in recent years, Ombudsman Otakar Motejl told CTK Friday. A total of 78 women have turned to the Ombudsman's Office so far, complaining about forced sterilisation. "The complaints concern a 30-year-long period. The number of such cases is relatively low, given that up to thousands of sterilisations have been performed in the country every year," Motejl said. Representatives of the League of Human Rights said that they disagreed with Motejl. They said that sterilisation of Romanies under the Communist regime was conducted on a planned basis. "Romany women were motivated by a financial contribution, which differed in individual towns. In Slovakia, these were thousands of crowns," the lawyer for the League of Human Rights Jiri Kopal told CTK Friday. He said that hundreds of Romany women had been persuaded to undergo sterilisation in this way. "In the Chanov neighbourhood in Most, North Bohemia, alone, one social worker persuaded one hundred of them," he said. Motejl admitted that the number of women who involuntarily underwent sterilisation could be higher. "However, I don't have any evidence to prove that Romany women were subjected to systematic sterilisation in the Czech Republic," he said. He said the reported cases spread evenly across the Czech Republic's territory. The problem started to be discussed last autumn when the European Centre for Romany Rights published its suspicion of forced sterilisation of Romanies. The Centre said that in some cases, Romany women had not consented to the operation, did so in extreme circumstances, or were under threat of losing social benefits. Motejl received the first ten complaints from north Moravia last September. His office initiated criminal proceedings. At present, however, he said his office wants to proceed very cautiously, as the court proceedings could cause many women to be discouraged for fear of others' reactions. At Motejl's request, the Health Ministry has also been checking for cases of forced sterilisation. For this purpose, it has established an independent commission of experts. Motejl originally planned to disclose his inquiry's results by the end of June. "However, I haven't yet received the results from the last meeting of the expert commission, which dealt with almost a half of the cases," he said Friday, in explaining his failure to complete the report.
©Prague Daily Monitor

EUROPEAN HR COURT MOVES TO REDRESS ROMANIAN POGROM(Press release)
Racial Discrimination and Other Humiliations Amount to "Degrading Treatment" Seven Victims Awarded Damages Totaling 238,000 Euro
Second Finding of Racial Discrimination in Relation to Roma within One Week

13/7/2005- The European Court of Human Rights yesterday ruled that Romania violated multiple provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights for failing to provide justice in connection with a 1993 pogrom and its aftermath. The case involves the killing by a mob of three Romani men and the subsequent destruction of fourteen Romani houses in the village of Hadareni in Mures County, northwestern Romania, as well as the degrading circumstances in which the victims were forced to live after the event. The Court held that there had been a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 6(1) (right to a fair hearing) on account of the length of the proceedings, Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) taken in conjunction with Articles 6(1) and 8.

Speaking on the occasion of the ruling, ERRC Legal Director Dianne Post said, "This ruling cannot undo the crimes of the past. It will not bring back to life people killed by mobs for the basest motives of racial hatred. It importantly however finally brings recognition of the extreme harms to which the families of the deceased have been subjected, and compels the Romanian government to pay them for its failures. We call on the Romanian government to take this opportunity publicly to express regret for this dark chapter of post-1989 Romanian history, during which Romani communities throughout the country were hounded from their homes by organised racist mobs."

The facts of the case are as follows:
Following an altercation in which a non-Romani youth was killed, a mob of non-Romani villagers hunted down the alleged perpetrators and set fire to the house in which they were hiding. Two were brutally murdered when they tried to escape, and the third burned to death in the house. The mob, including members of the local police force, went on to destroy 14 additional houses of Romani families Ten months later, three individuals were charged with the murders but later released and their arrest warrants cancelled by the General Prosecutor. The complaints against the police were referred to the Military Prosecutor's Office, which issued a decision not to prosecute. That decision was upheld on appeal. Nearly four years after the incidents, the Public Prosecutor in Mures County finally issued an indictment against 11 civilians suspected of committing the crimes, later expanded to include others. In a judgment issued in July 1998, twelve individuals were convicted of destruction of property and disturbance, including the Deputy Mayor of Hadareni, and five were convicted of murder. The sentences, ranging from one to seven years were later shortened on appeal. The Supreme Court later acquitted two of the defendants and those remaining in custody were pardoned by the Romanian president in June 2000. A civil court awarded limited pecuniary damages to some of the victims, while rejecting all requests for non-pecuniary damages. That decision was made final by the Court of Cassation (the former Supreme Court) in February 2005.

Following the events of 1993, the applicants were forced to live in hen houses, pigsties, windowless cellars, in extremely cold and overcrowded conditions. These conditions lasted for several years and in some cases are still continuing. As a result, many applicants and their families fell ill. Diseases contracted by the victims included hepatitis, a heart condition (ultimately leading to fatal heart attack), diabetes, and meningitis.

With regard to Article 3 of the Convention, the Court applied an approach it first developed in the 1970s, namely that the racial discrimination to which the applicants have been subjected constitutes a factor giving rise to "degrading treatment" within the meaning of Article 3. The Court noted that remarks concerning the applicants' honesty and way of life made by some authorities dealing with the applicants' grievances appeared to be, in the absence of any substantiation on behalf of those authorities, "purely discriminatory", and as such were regarded as an aggravating factor. The Court went on to explain that the applicants' living conditions in the ten years following ratification of the Convention by Romania, in particular the severely overcrowded and unsanitary environment and its detrimental effect on the applicants' health and well-being, combined with the length of the period during which the applicants have had to live in such conditions also contributed to the finding of a inhuman treatment.

With regard to Article 8, the Court condemned the general attitude of the Romanian authorities prosecutors, criminal and civil courts, Government and local authorities which perpetuated the applicants' feelings of insecurity and constituted in itself a hindrance to the applicants' rights to respect for their private and family life and their homes. In order to arrive at this conclusion, the Court relied on a number of factors, such as:

ROMA PARTY FALTERS IN BULGARIA, NATIONALISTS COME IN FOURTH
14/7/2005- Around 3.6 million Bulgarians went to vote this weekend, but only 1.6% of them voted for the Roma focused EuroRoma party according to Alpha Research polls. That is far from the 4% needed to enter Parliament. The leftest Socialist Party won the majority of the votes, but still lacked enough votes to form a government. They will now need to form a coalition government with the two parties who came in second and third place: the governing Liberal Party of former King Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha and the Movement for Freedoms and Rights, a party representing mainly the ethnic Turkish minority. All the main parties have distanced themselves from the nationalist Attack party, who came in fourth place, receiving 8% of the vote and earning themselves 22 to 24 seats in the Parliament. Attack leader Volen Siderov attributed their success to their nationalist platform of one national language, and programs for a sole-ethnic country. Attack also won votes for their stance against the Bulgarian troops in Iraq, the sale of Bulgarian troops to foreigners and the building of US military bases on Bulgarian soil. Some rumours existed before the election that many of the campaigning parties were attempting to manipulate Roma voters with offers of free food or money. Els de Groen, a European Member of Parliament from the Netherlands, stated that these attempts, and the growing anti-Roma sentiment voiced by many parties during the campaign, were unacceptable. "Such facts are directly breaching the European Parliament's resolution on the Roma, which specifically talks about taking action to empower the political representation of Roma in the EU and candidate countries," she added. "Also, when the Parliament calls on member states and candidate countries to develop a strategy to increase the participation of Roma in elections as voters and candidates, Bulgaria should cooperate in that too." These election results raise serious questions about the future for Roma in Bulgaria. Although the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union is likely to take place in 2007, which will assure some minimal social protections to Roma, it will be hard for the new Bulgarian government to take the Roma population seriously when their party has been so soundly defeated.
©Dzeno Association

BULGARIAN NATIONALIST PARTY ATTACK: WE'LL ASSIMILATE THE MINORITIES
14/7/2005- Bulgaria's militant nationalist (if not racist) Attack party said on Sunday its surprise election success meant Bulgarians had finally woken up to what it called a betrayal of their national interests and invited other parties to join it. Attack Party (AP) Leader says that they will change the Turks' names as done in the past. Siderov says if they can come to power, they will add ëov' to the Turkish names. AP's main aim is to assimilate the minorities in Bulgaria.

"Give Bulgaria back to Bulgarians"
"Bulgarians have been pushed into the gutter and now they see Attack can help them change that," Volen Siderov said. "If political parties share our views and principles, they are more than welcome to be our partners." Siderov stormed out of his first post-election news conference when a journalist asked him how recently he had visited a psychiatrist. Although scrambling to form a coalition after the inconclusive vote, all parties that passed the threshold to parliament ruled out any cooperation with Attack, whose main slogan is "Give Bulgaria back to Bulgarians". Running on a xenophobic ticket, Attack emerged from obscurity as recently as two months ago to win about 8 percent of Saturday's vote and 21-22 seats in the 240-seat parliament, shocking the ethnically tolerant Balkan nation of 8 million. Attack is now the fourth biggest party in the impoverished EU candidate country whose Slav, Turkish, Muslim and Roma people have avoided the ethnic tensions that caused bloody wars in other Balkan countries following the 1989 fall of communism. Siderov seeks Bulgaria to pull out of NATO, end relations with the IMF and the World Bank, and drop the Turkish language from state television. The party's Web site features a map of the Balkan country covered with Turkish and Israeli flags and Siderov has launched vitriolic attacks against the country's Roma and ethnic Turks. Analysts say the AP should not be underestimated. Sedat Laciner from ISRO says the party is one of the biggest parties in the country. "The Turkish and other minorities suffered a lot under the racist Bulgarian rule in the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands of them poured into Turkey to save their life. Many were tortured in the Bulgarian prisons. The ultra-nationalist Bulgarians made ethnic cleansing. However not only the minorities, but also Bulgaria lost a lot. Now Bulgarians and Turks need each other. They need stability and integration with the rest of Europe. Turkey and Bulgaria are both allies and have close relations. If Bulgarian extremist nationalism continue to increase Bulgaria's relations with the EU and neighbors will be damaged. If the Turkish immigrants remained in Bulgaria in the 1980s, Bulgraia would have been richer and more democratic now" added Dr. Laciner. Mehmet Ozcan from ISRO claims that the EU must support Bulgaria's and other candidates' EU perspective. "If the Brussels cut the relations, the extremist currents will be nourished in the Balkans, Caucasia, and other regions".
©Dzeno Association

FIRST GAY MARRIAGE HELD IN SPAIN
11/7/2005- Two Spanish men have become the first gay couple to be married since a new law allowing same-sex marriages. Emilio Menendez, a Spaniard, and Carlos Baturin German, from the US, tied the knot at a ceremony just outside Madrid. The couple have been together for 30 years. After the event, Mr German said: "Today we are even more a family." Spain is the third European nation, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to legalise same-sex marriages. The law allows gay couples to adopt children. The wedding ceremony in the town of Tres Cantos was attended by family friends and journalists - as well as Pedro Zerolo, the governing Socialist Party's top official for social issues. State television showed footage of the couple smiling and displaying their wedding rings. "The happiest day of our lives was when we fell in love with each other. We have been together for 30 years, there have been many wonderful days, today is yet another wonderful day," said Mr Menendez. Mr Zerolo said a dream had become reality, as the dignity of homosexuals had been recognised. Spain's lower house of parliament voted in favour of the bill on 30 June, overruling its rejection by the upper house, the Senate. Polls suggest most Spaniards back the move, although thousands joined a Madrid rally against the bill before it was passed. A Roman Catholic group had presented MPs with a 600,000-signature petition opposing the legislation and were lobbying hard for a referendum on the issue. And some of Spain's local mayors have said they will not officiate at gay marriages.
©BBC News

POLICE RACISM REVIEW SETS TARGETS(uk)
14/7/2005- A review into racism in Scotland's police forces has issued 63 recommendations on how to improve race relations. It said many of the current policies were to be commended but that did not mean they were working on the ground. The very low numbers of black and ethnic minority officers was also a major problem forces must overcome, according to the review. The report followed a BBC documentary which revealed force racism in England. The Secret Policeman exposed discrimination among police recruits at Greater Manchester Police. The Commission for Racial Equality said that Scotland's forces were ahead of counterparts in England in dealing with race relations. However, major problems were still found to remain in recruiting and retaining officers from black and ethnic minority communities. The report, published on Friday, said senior management were trying to stamp out racism but that policies were not always carried out in practice. It added that forces needed to look at whether the training given to officers actually made a difference to the way they dealt with people on the ground.
©BBC News

ATTACKS PUT BRITISH MULTI-CULTURALISM UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
14/7/2005- The radicalisation of some younger members of Britain's 1.5 million-strong Muslim community has led to often heated debate. Now questions are being asked about whether British-style multi-culturalism is succeeding or failing. Muslims have lived in Britain for centuries, but only relatively recently have they become the focus of controversy. Three big crises over the last decade and a half have heightened tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims:

ON THE ELECTION TRAIL IN BECONTREE(uk)
The BNP sparked controversy with its leaflet exploiting the attacks on London. But what do the locals think? Jo Adetunji and HÈlËne Mulholland went to Barking and Dagenham to find out

14/7/2005- It's rare to find a British National party member agreeing with a Labour opinion, but Peter Hudson is the first to admit that the local BNP's decision to exploit last week's bombings in a bid to win a byelection was rather "stupid". "There is no need to put that right in people's faces," says the minicab driver, who lives and works in the sleepy ward of Becontree in Barking and Dagenham. Though he will be voting for his party in today's council byelection, he still thinks the BNP's campaigning material of choice "was a stupid decision". The BNP received heavy censure this week after publishing an election leaflet showing an aerial photograph of the devastated number 30 bus with the headline: "Maybe now it's time to start listening to the BNP." The BNP is delivering the leaflet across the Becontree ward where the party hopes to gain a council seat in today's byelection following the death of Labour councillor John Wainwright. London police confirmed it is investigating the leaflets following local complaints. A police spokeswoman said of the BNP leaflet: "We do now have a copy in our possession and are considering it. However, no offences have been disclosed at this stage." Tensions flared over the weekend and police were called to an incident involving local Labour activist and councillor Jeff Porter, who was reportedly hounded by a man distributing BNP leaflets. Less than 48 hours before the incident took place, Mr Porter, who is also a London Underground train operator, had been driving a tube to Edgware Road station as one of last Thursday's bombs ripped through a train 10 feet away. The BNP has not denied that local activists were heckling people over the weekend, but claim that the party's wrath was saved for the anti-racist organisation Searchlight, which is seeking to counter the BNP's campaign claims. Essex is not the only area of concern. West Yorkshire police are promising local residents extra security after rumours that BNP supporters are touring the Dewsbury area to whip up local concern. Though Labour has a strong majority in the Essex authority, it is aware that its main threat today is not from the Tory or Ukip candidates, but from BNP rival John Luisis. The party is keen to get a foothold in the council after losing its only London seat to Labour in another byelection held last month, after BNP councillor Daniel Kelley quit the Goresbrook seat on Barking and Dagenham he had won just nine months before.

Becontree's Labour candidate, Alok Agrawal, and his election agent, Val Rush, prepared for their last day of canvassing in the backroom of the newsagent's shop he has run for 21 years, nestled between the Jasmine Court Restaurant and the Chair Centre. They have had 1,700 firm pledges of support after knocking on 2,300 doors, says Ms Rush. "We should win by a large majority," says Mr Agrawal. "A lot of people know me personally and people are not that bad that they can go along with these silly things." Ms Rush, also a Labour councillor, is concerned at the coincidence of two attacks on Mr Agrawal's shop over the past week by gangs of youths. "This is not normal," she says. SocietyGuardian.co.uk's efforts to reach Mr Luisis failed. His election agent, Richard Barn-Brook, admitted that the BNP candidate "is not very good at talking to camera or radio" and has asked not to be interviewed until the election. Mr Barn-Brook stands by the decision to use the controversial photo last week, which he says was a local issue for Londoners. He adds that leafleting has been the party's only activity since the atrocities took place last week. "We stopped canvassing on Thursday out of respect for the bombing victims." Mr Barn-Brook insists that Mr Luisis has received support from African and Asian residents upset by last week's tragedy who agree that lax immigration laws were to blame. Will Martindale, who has come to Essex from the Labour's London regional office to help with canvassing, says the tone of the BNP campaign has changed since the last byelection in June. "They were coming across as a more serious political party," he says. "Now they are not. It is different BNP activists who seem to be out on the streets. the people here seem to be far more aggressive."

Tory candidate Tony Chytry agrees that the leaflet could prove a political own goal, but believes the wider message will have some resonance with the electorate. The Conservatives have only a small presence in the council, numbering three councillors in all. "I don't think it's gone down well with the voters," says Mr Chytry. "A lot of people are worried about uncontrolled immigration. Those people are normally Labour voters and were planning to vote BNP as a protest vote ... I haven't heard people say they are voting BNP just because of racism." Ukip candidate John Bolton was busy canvassing, but his agent, Terry Smith, paused to confirm that the "ghoulish" leaflet had been badly received by the electorate. "All they're going after is their hardcore supporters," says Mr Smith. He notes that the BNP campaign really kicked off after Thursday. "Before that it was very low key." Out on the streets of Becontree, few in a ward populated by around 8,000 residents are even aware that their vote is being sought today. Over at Cafe Corner just across from Mr Agrawal's shop, Sharon Broomfield recounts how she only became aware of the election in her backyard while watching the news on Wednesday night and seeing her newsagent on the telly. "I hadn't heard about it until now," she says. She isn't alone. A straw poll of 16 people found not one had heard that a ward seat was being fought. Mr McKillop, a retired seaman who lives in an elderly people's residence close by, is upset that no one has bothered to leaflet his block. He admits he wouldn't rule out giving the BNP vote, but this time it looks unlikely. "There is something about the BNP," he says. "They get their teeth into something and they take a bite out of it, and then they will do nothing. They are full of promises, like every party. That is why I just look at what promises they intend to break". Ronald Davies, a retired lorry driver who has lived in area for 30 years, is a Labour supporter and has every intention of casting his vote. "This is a nice area with a mixed community. Overall it's quite good. We've had a bit of trouble here but not much," he says. "People have been coming into the area, they have young families. At the end of the day we've all got to live together."
©The Guardian

FAR RIGHT AND FOOTBALL GANGS PLOT 'REVENGE'(uk)
Anti-Muslim websites monitored

15/7/2005- Plans by an alliance of rightwing extremists and football hooligans to exact "revenge" on Muslims after last week's bomb attacks are being monitored by police. The Guardian has learned that extremists are keen to cause widespread fear and injury with attacks on mosques and high-profile "anti-Muslim" events in the capital. Football hooligans communicating over the internet have spoken of the need to put aside partisan support for teams and unite against Muslims. Hooligans from West Ham, Millwall, Crystal Palace and Arsenal are among those seeking to establish common cause. As part of wider plans to generate a backlash, rightwing groups such as the Nationalist Alliance and the National Front are said to be planning marches. Extremists hope to hold a march along Victoria Embankment in London tomorrow. It is also known that many mosques have received bomb threats since the attacks. Attempts by the right to make capital out of the tragedy have created a powderkeg. Already extremist Islamist websites have told Muslims to be ready to retaliate. The BNP sought to capitalise on last week's atrocities in its byelection literature in Barking, Essex, by reproducing a picture of the bombed No 30 bus with the headline Maybe Now it's Time to Listen to the BNP. But the tactic backfired last night when Labour trounced the BNP, winning the Becontree byelection with 1,171 votes. The BNP received 378. The BNP's tactic prompted cross-party condemnation. Though it was designed to increase support for the far-right, many believe the message may have been too crass and too badly timed to work. The party does, however, enjoy some support in the area. Gerry Gable, of the anti- fascist organisation Searchlight, said: "There is no doubt that the far-right are playing this for all they think it is worth. "If you look at the BNP website there's Nick Griffin saying 'be calm' and other material saying 'don't get angry, get even!'" He added: "These things should be taken seriously. One site, Blood and Honour, had a posting about a mosque in the Wirral and soon after the mosque was hit. Soon after, the posting was taken down." The police have pledged to crack down on any attempts to provoke division in the aftermath of the bombs. Members of Scotland Yard's independent advisory group have been asked to liaise with borough commanders in the capital to reassure the public and make sure the police carry out their pledges. The Met has said from the outset that the bombs were an attack on all communities and that none should be scapegoated. The synergy between rightwing extremists and football hooligans is not new. Throughout the 1980s, some of the biggest clubs in Britain were plagued by notoriously violent and racist followers. Though virtually all clubs have since challenged the behaviour of extremist fans, and almost all now belong to the Kick Racism Out of Football initiative, violent followers continue to communicate with each other and supporters from other clubs to engineer confrontations. The prospect of the opening day Championship fixture between Leeds and Millwall in August is already causing concern.
©The Guardian

IT'S PARANOIA, NOT ISLAMOPHOBIA(uk, comment)
Britain has done much to help integrate Muslims. Now they must rise above their grievance culture
By David Goodhart, the editor of Prospect magazine

15/7/2005- Britain can take pride in how it has been trying to make a reality of political and legal equality for its 1.6 million Muslim citizens over recent years. Some Muslims still face forms of discrimination not faced by most other Britons, but many doors have swung open, especially since 1997. Under Labour the first Muslims were elected to the House of Commons and appointed to the Lords. Muslim organisations lobbied for and won state funds for Muslim schools, a question in the census on religious faith, and criminalisation of religious hate crimes. The huge rise in public spending and focus on improving delivery in the poorest areas will have particularly benefited Muslims alongside other disadvantaged groups. And since 9/11 the government has sought out bright young Muslims for senior civil-service jobs and introduced innovations such as the hajj information unit for those making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Privately, Muslim leaders will acknowledge this progress. But the overwhelming theme of public comment, even after the recent bombings, is one of Muslim grievance. Britain's Muslims are among the richest and freest in the world and most of them are groping successfully towards a hybrid British Muslim identity, but when did you last hear a Muslim leader say so? Iqbal Sacranie is a capable leader who has helped to turn the Muslim Council of Britain into an effective lobbying body, but his organisation's default position remains grievance. Here he is in the introduction to a recent booklet for British Muslims: "The unleashing of a virulent strain of Islamophobia, inflammatory media reporting and the misconceived wars against Afghanistan and Iraq have all contributed to the undoubted increase in prejudice we face."

There will, regrettably, be some backlash after the London bombs. But to glorify this with the term Islamophobia is silly. The respected science writer Kenan Malik has elsewhere (see Prospect, February 2005) examined the claims made in the name of Islamophobia (over stop and search, racist attacks and so on) and found them wanting. As for inflammatory media reporting - after 9/11 and even more so after 7/7 - all politicians and mainstream media voices have stressed the unrepresentativeness of the terrorists, and increasingly it is Muslim voices making this point, such as the hijab-wearing Sun columnist Anila Baig. An undifferentiated rhetoric of grievance contributes to alienation, lack of integration and even indirectly to extremism. If you are constantly being told by even moderate Muslim leaders that Britain is a cesspit of Islamophobia and is running a colonial anti-Muslim foreign policy, you might well conclude, like one young Muslim quoted after the bombs: "I would like to give blood but they probably won't want mine." According to an ICM poll in the Guardian last year, 13% of British Muslims thought the 9/11 attacks were justified, and according to other polls as many as 25% do not identify with Britain in any way. It is part of the job of moderate Muslim leaders to help to reduce those numbers as much as possible. To do that requires a change in rhetoric in at least three areas.

First, the relatively poor socioeconomic position of most British Muslims has little to do with Islamophobia or racism and a great deal to do with the fact that nearly two-thirds of British Muslims come from Pakistan and Bangladesh, often from these countries' poor, rural areas. (Indian and Arab Muslims do better.) The starting point in terms of education, skills and traditional cultural attitudes is worse for most Muslims than it is for, say, the Hindu or Chinese minorities, both of which outperform white Britons. To expect Muslims to rise to the average level in terms of education and jobs within a generation or two is not realistic, although progress is being made. Second, the economic and political failure of many Muslim states - and subsequent western interventions - poses a challenge to all Muslims living in the west. But the crude "war against Islam" rhetoric of many British Muslims is just a feelgood rallying cry. How often do Muslim leaders point out that Tony Blair favoured ground-troop intervention on behalf of European Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo? And as the Muslim peer Kishwer Falkner points out: "When Muslims are pressed to say what should have been done with a Taliban-run, al-Qaida-embracing Afghanistan, one is met with silence." Finally, how often is it pointed out that many of Britain's Shia Muslims welcomed the overthrow of Saddam, which has replaced secular dictatorship with Islamic democracy. Third, the terrorist threat that Britain faces comes overwhelmingly from British or foreign Muslims; it does not come from Welsh hill farmers or US investment bankers. So it follows that most terror-related investigations will focus on Muslim communities. This isn't picking on Muslims; it is simply a fact of life. A more open acknowledgment of these three points could help to move Muslim debate beyond the paranoia that often seems to characterise it and send an important signal to the rest of Britain that Muslims have risen above their grievance culture.
©The Guardian

STABBED SIKH IS BLAMED FOR ATTACKS(uk)
15/7/2005- A young Sikh man, who was stabbed, racially abused and blamed for the London bombings, said yesterday his attackers were trying to kill him. Hardip Singh suffered serious wounds to his hands and arms after being attacked by two men outside a house in the midlands. He has no doubt they thought he was a Muslim. The 23-year-old, originally from the Punjab in India, but studying business in Dublin for the past four years, described last night how the two men called him "bin Laden" and "a terrorist", and blamed him for the London bombings and directed racial abuse at him. The incident happened earlier this week in Athlone, Co Westmeath, where Mr Singh was staying with friends. After the abuse "one of them then produced a knife from his right hand side pocket and attacked," said Mr Singh. "He was trying to kill me. I tried to stop him, put my hands in front. The wounds were defensive. He cut my hand and I needed 10 stitches," he said. When the pair ran away (they were aged 20 to 24), Mr Singh called an ambulance and was taken to hospital. He was released that day and is now back in Dublin. However, he said he could not leave his house for two or three days after the incident. He has suffered racial abuse before. The Irish Sikh Council is seeking a meeting with the gardaÌ following the attack on the youth in Athlone. The council has no doubt the attack was a backlash to the bomb attacks in London last week, as Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims despite their distinctive beards and turbans. This is the first attack on a Sikh since the London bombings but it mirrors similar incidents that followed the 9/11 attacks on the United States. In the US, two Sikhs were shot dead by a gunman who believed they were Muslim. No one has ever been charged with any of the attacks here despite them being reported to gardaÌ, the Irish Sikh Council's Kirpa Singh said. That is one of the reasons they are seeking a meeting. "This incident and many such similar ones in the past have become a common occurrence in the lives of practising Sikhs living in the European Union and USA as Sikhs keep fully-grown beards and wear turbans," added the council's Harpreet Singh. "The Metropolitan Police in London have also admitted that the Sikh community is particularly vulnerable to backlash crimes in the aftermath of the London bombings because of their visibility and that this is a police concern." One Dublin-based Sikh, Sarabjit Singh, relocated to Britain following repeated harassment, including an attack by three teenagers on Dublin's South Circular Road.
©Irish Examiner

ANTI-RACISM GROUPS SLAM GERMAN ADS
Racism in Germany is usually associated with far-right groups and neo-Nazis. But anti-racist campaigners say the country's advertising industry is also guilty of rampant insensitivity towards ethnic minorities.

15/7/2005- Plans to stage an African cultural festival in a zoo in the southern German town of Augsburg last month sparked condemnation among the country's anti-racist groups. The incident was given wide coverage in Germany's mainstream media. But apart from such one-off controversial events, what hardly receives any attention, according to campaigners, is long-running insensitivity towards ethnic minorities in the country's advertising industry. A case in point is a poster (photo, above) created for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden last year to advertise German composer Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" performed by acclaimed US conductor Kent Nagano, currently creative head of the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin. It showed a famous portrait of Wagner, given a pair of arms with the help of a computer, making slanted eyes in an obvious reference to Nagano's Japanese origins. The poster, "Kent Nagano Conducts Wagner," didn't even raise an eyebrow in mainstream Germany. But it did catch the attention of advertising industry insiders -- they awarded it a top prize in Berlin earlier this year. "I think it's tasteless and racist," said Dagmar Yu-Dembski, chairwoman of the German-Chinese friendship society in Berlin, who documents examples of racial stereotypes in the media and advertising. "Highlighting the physical features of Asians in this way is just a cheap ploy to grab attention. The crass reference to Nagano's ethnicity has nothing to do with a classical music concert." Aki Takase, a well-known Japanese pianist and composer based in Berlin agreed. "It is shameful that his origins seem to be so much more important in this case than his immense musical talent," Takase said. Kent Nagano was unavailable for a comment.

Ethnic cliches
Insensitivity to issues of ethnicity is widespread in German advertising, according to campaigners. Noah So, a prominent black German radio presenter and singer (photo), who founded the group "Der braune Mob," which monitors race issues in the media and advertising, said most Germans think it's perfectly normal to make fun of certain racial minorities. "In commercials or advertising posters, Asians and blacks are usually used to either give Germans something to laugh about or they're reduced to ethnic clichÈs," So said. She referred to a current commercial on MTV Germany for an online music download platform, in which an Asian teenager never manages to buy music by his favorite band, as he can't utter the letter "r" and keeps saying "Lamones" instead of "Ramones." Such stereotypes are frequently played upon in German ads. "Asians are usually depicted as small, giggly people who can't pronounce the letter "r" and constantly take photographs, while blacks are shown either as victims in need of donations or as hip DJs," So said. Norbert Finzsch, a history professor at the University of Cologne, agreed. "The way Africans and African Americans in Germany are perceived and discussed, the way they are presented on billboards and in TV ads proves that the colonialist and racist gaze is still very much alive in Germany," he said in an open letter last month calling for the African cultural festival in the Augsburg zoo not to open.

Selective political correctness?
The allegations might seem surprising given that Germany is known to be particularly careful about relations with its 6.8 million-strong immigrant population, in view of its past. But anti-racist campaigners suggest that many Germans have a selective concept of political correctness -- an attitude which is perpetuated by advertising, they say. "Naturally, you won't find any racist or offensive portrayals of Jews or Sinti and Roma people in German advertising, because most Germans are acutely aware that that's off-limits," So said. Yu-Dembski added that given Germany's large Turkish population of some 1.9 million, the stereotyping of Muslims in commercials is also taboo. "The Asian community, in comparison, is small and almost invisible. There's almost this unspoken agreement that the Asians are the laughing stock in German advertising," she said.

Ad industry denies accusations
The German advertising industry denies accusations of being racially insensitive. Michael Preiswerk, company board spokesman for the Art Directors Club (ADC), a Berlin-based advertising group that awarded the gold prize to the Wagner poster earlier this year, defended the move. "It's an excellent poster that goes beyond cultures to form a great work and that very strikingly and succinctly shows Asian culture." He denied it was meant to cause offense. "It's charming and funny and shows openness and multiculturalism," Preiswerk said. He admitted, however, when asked, that had Nagano been a black American, it would have been "more complicated" to come up with a creative concept. Volker Nickel, press spokesman of the Deutscher Werberat, an advertising watchdog, also saw the Wagner poster as acceptable. "People who feel directly affected naturally feel upset about such things, but you have to see the advertisement in its entirety," he said. Though the watchdog has drawn up a list of fundamental rules against discrimination of people in advertising on the basis of ethnicity, race, language and origins among others, it has rarely asked a company to drop an advertisement on those grounds. Nickel underlined that there had not been any "racist advertisements" in Germany over the 33 years of the industry watchdog's existence, only "questionable" ones and that the country enjoyed high advertising standards. "There's a great deal of sensitivity in German society and even among companies and people towards other ethnicities -- we really don't need to worry about that," he said. He added that the Werberat received only between one and three cases a year amid some 400-600 complaints about "racist" ads. "It really is a fringe phenomenon," he said.

German reality not just white
Anti-racism groups aren't convinced. There's agreement that lack of awareness is a big part of the problem -- a sign that the country still needs to make huge strides to become truly multicultural. A further stumbling block is presented by the fact that unlike in the UK and US -- which admittedly also have their own share of racism -- there's no central body or forum in Germany where members of racial minorities can turn when they have a complaint. Others say that average Germans are also to blame. "In Germany, it's very important for people not to seem racist. But they're more worried about how the British press is referring to them and about Nazi comparisons abroad than about how racial minorities are portrayed in their own country," So said. She added that, since white people are rarely the target of racial stereotyping, it's almost impossible for white Germans to understand how people of color feel when their ethnicity is ridiculed or portrayed disrespectfully. "German reality isn't only white," So said, pointing out that there are some 300,000 black Germans living in Germany today. "But to hear and see the mainstream public sphere in Germany, you'd think that all Germans are white."
©Deutsche Welle

BERLIN CAFE ACCUSED OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION(Germany)
15/7/2005- A popular cafe in Berlin's fashionable Prenzlauer Berg district is under fire from anti-racism activists for banning young black people from the premises. The newly-formed protest group 'Nie wieder Sonntag' plans an "action day against racism" on Sunday 17 July outside the Kastanienallee cafe 'An einem Sonntag im August', to protest against what they claim are the cafÈ's discriminatory practices. According to press reports, the manager of 'An einem Sonntag im August', Claudia Humeniuk, required cafÈ employees to sign an internal memorandum with instructions on how to deal with suspected drug dealers. The 12 April 2005 memorandum, which was obtained and published by 'Nie wieder Sonntag', begins "Today we threw three black people (probably dealers) and one white person (probably a buyer) out of the cafÈ and banned them. From now on we will ban everyone belonging to this group from the premises." It goes on to give advice on how to recognise people who belong to the banned drug dealing group, specifying "young black people up to the age of 25". Excluded are "black students with clever eyes, black tourists, older black people, black men with girlfriends." According to 'Nie wieder Sonntag', who are encouraging a boycott of the cafÈ, employees who did not sign the memo were forced to leave the cafÈ. In an open letter, Humeniuk, clearly aware of the damage caused to the cafÈ's reputation by the negative publicity, says "I expressed myself in a very stupid way," adding "I would never write this kind of memo again." She claims she wanted to take measures against the dealer gang because the local authorities had threatened to take away the cafÈ's license - a claim which is however disputed by the authorities, who say they never made such a threat. Humeniuk has tried to meet 'Nie wieder Sonntag' for a face-to-face discussion, but has had her requests to meet turned down by the group, who only communicate with the cafÈ's manager via open letters. The group's spokesperson Roman Schneider told the Taz newspaper that "the owners are racist and shouldn't have any space in our neighbourhood." The 17 July action day takes place from 10am until 10pm at U-Bahn Eberswalder Straþe, next to the cafÈ, and features live music, DJs, and food. A demonstration will take place at 4 pm.

MALTA CALLS FOR EU HELP ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
11/7/2005- The Maltese foreign affairs minister Michael Frendo has called on the EU for assistance in dealing with illegal immigration on the island. The minister has presented a 17-point document to explain in which fields Malta needs the most help in addressing illegal immigration, and why it has become an issue for the island, according to Maltese Di-Ve news. "Malta is the smallest and most densely populated country in the European Union and the second most densely populated country in the world", Mr Frendo has said, adding that "the 3,000 illegal immigrants that landed in Malta since 2002, are equivalent to 420,000 landing in Italy over the same short period of time". This is why the minister has asked for EU help in, for example, the repatriation of people who have not been granted refugee status, and the settlement of those who have. Malta also needs assistance in providing facilities to receive immigrants, the paper says, and suggests further cooperation in the field of maritime security as well. Currently, Malta grants the highest rate of refugee status to irregular immigrants, but risks adversely affecting it both socially and economically, the minister has written. Tackling illegal immigration is under the spotlight in the EU at the moment, with interior ministers from France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain recently agreeing to organise joint charter flights to deport illegal immigrants. On top of that, the European Commission has announced that it will soon propose a new directive for common standards for illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers, hoping that it can be adopted rapidly
©EUobserver

CHARTER FLIGHTS TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS(European Union)
6/7/2005- Interior ministers from France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain agreed to organise joint charter flights to deport illegal immigrants, during their meeting in Evian, France on Tuesday (5 July). Under the scheme, a charter airline, dubbed "Asylum Airways" by the UK daily the Times, and "Migrant-air" by the Guardian, will fly from country to country picking up illegal migrants. "We think that foreigners with no right or entitlement to be in our countries should not stay. They are in breach of our laws", French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said after the meeting, according to Le Monde. The solution is to then send these people back home, he added. This will contribute to cutting deportation costs, as sending the deported home on commercial airlines costs more than using a charter. Mr Sarkozy had already made the fight against illegal immigration his priority during his previous term as interior minister from 2002 to 2004. And he recently announced that he aimed to increase the deportation of illegal immigrants from France by 50 percent in 2005 compared to last year. Mr Sarkozy suggested that the charter flights could begin within a few weeks, and the Italian interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu has even said that "it is a matter of days", according to the European press. Brussels commented on the five countries' initiative, underlying that "it is the policy of these five countries, not of the EU". "It fits in" with an EU framework position however, and justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini welcomed the move, his spokesperson indicated. The commission had already suggested the idea of joint flights, and "in the next few weeks", commissioner Frattini will propose a new directive for common standards for illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers, hoping that "this can be adopted very rapidly", the spokesperson added.

Europe needs a stronger "engine"
During the meeting of the so-called group of five (G5), Mr Sarkozy also suggested extending the group and adding Poland to form a G6, as the Franco-German "engine" was not sufficient to druive the EU anymore."In a Europe of six members, the engine was obviously Franco-German. A Europe of 25 needs an engine of five at first and probably six, with Poland", he told French radio Europe 1.
©EUobserver

CANADA SIGNS PROTOCOL AGAINST WEB RACISM
9/7/2005- Canada has joined an international crackdown on Internet racism and its links to terrorism, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler says. He was in Strasbourg, France, yesterday as Canada became the first non-European country to sign a protocol to fight hatred on the Web. "We're talking about a faceless, anonymous, borderless, predatory racism," he said in a telephone interview. "And we've got to find the ways and means to combat it. "No country standing alone can do that. It can only be done through international co-operation." Mr. Cotler was in England a day earlier at Cambridge University when four bombs ripped through London, killing at least 50 people and injuring 700 others. Officials are investigating an Internet claim by a little-known group calling itself The Secret Organization of al-Qaeda in Europe that it staged the attacks. Mr. Cotler says the new protocol means law enforcers can pool efforts internationally to prosecute Internet racists and shut down their sites. He cites a connection between terrorist attacks and an increase in the past decade of sites used to swap tips on everything from exterminating whole ethnic groups to building bombs. "Incitement to hatred can itself be a connecting link to terrorism," he said. "And in some instances, it's the most proximate cause of terrorism itself." Canada, which signed the Convention on Cybercrime in November of 2001, joins 28 other countries in supporting its first additional protocol to fight Internet racism. The number of websites promoting violence against specific groups has rocketed in the past decade to 5,000 from a single neo-Nazi site in 1995, says Leo Adler, a spokesman for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel is the best example of why international action is needed, he said. Mr. Zundel, prohibited from spreading his Internet message from Canadian-based sites, simply switched to a server in Tennessee, Mr. Adler said. Mr. Zundel was deported to Germany in March. Anyone convicted under the Criminal Code of promoting hatred against a specific group faces up to two years in jail.
©Globe and Mail

A MISINTERPRETATION OF ISLAM INCREASES IN THE WEST
By James Brandon, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

11/7/2005- Thursday's coordinated terrorist attacks that killed at least 49 people have underscored competing forces within Britain's Muslim community: a minority that advocates violence against Western targets, and those who want to coexist peacefully with Britain's multifaith, multiethnic society. Since the bombings, the media and Muslims have been at pains to explain that most of the country's 2 million Muslims are peaceful. "The Muslim community in Britain has a long history and is enormously diverse," says Anas al-Tikriti, a member of the Muslim Association of Britain. But the attacks are turning attention to the increasing numbers of young British Muslims who are rejecting their parents' traditional culture in favor of a radical and expansionist Islam. This strikingly Western version of Islam combines an independence of thought with a contempt for established traditional scholarship and a theme of teenage rebellion. "Getting involved in radical Islam is an emotional thing rather than a rational decision," says Abdul-Rahman al-Helbawi, a Muslim prayer leader. "And it's not a matter of intelligence or education - a lot of these radicals in Britain are very well-educated." In Dalston market in north-east London on Thursday, "Abdullah," a Muslim watch-mender and evangelist, was in a pugnacious mood. "We don't need to fight. We are taking over!" he said. "We are here to bring civilization to the West. England does not belong to the English people, it belongs to God." Two days later in a prosperous West London cafe, Mr. Helbawi pondered the attacks. "It's not a surprise but I am still shocked," he said. "How can they do this? London is a city for all the world. This is not Islam." Hours after the bombings, Helbawi logged onto an Internet chat room run by British Muslim extremists. "They were all congratulating each other on the attacks," he said. "It was crazy. They were talking about how they had won a great victory over the infidels, as if they had just come back from a battle." Although so far, there is no evidence that British Muslims were involved in the bombs, there is little doubt that many British Muslims feel that Britain "deserved" the attacks for supporting the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. "Because Muslims explain the conflicts in Iraq, Kashmir, and Israel through Islam, every Muslim feels involved," said Helbawi. "People watch television and see Palestinian women being hit and pushed around by Israeli soldiers, and get angry and feel that they have to do something." But beyond anger, a sense of alienation often drives radical Islam. Many second- and third-generation immigrants find themselves cut off not only from their parents' cultures but also from a British one that includes alcohol and looser sexual mores. "If you don't drink, it really cuts you off from English society," says Ummul Choudhury, a London-based Middle East analyst for the Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies. "The view of the older generation is also that you do not integrate. If you do, you are told you are betraying your culture and religion." The resulting isolation makes it easier for young Muslims to develop a contempt for British society.

"There is also a lot of racism toward white British people," says Ms. Choudhury. "It's not really something that people want to talk about, but there are definitely some things that Muslims say between themselves that they would never say in front of white people." For frustrated and isolated young Muslims, radical Islam is not difficult to find. Girls in particular are often prevented from going out at night and can be easily drawn into online Muslim communities where they come into contact with other disillusioned Muslims from across Europe. One leading analyst of the Islamic diaspora even compares the lure of extremist Islam to 1950s teens listening to Elvis in an attempt to shock their parents. "The son of a Pentecostal preacher in Brixton was recruited by the radical Muslims," says Nadhim Shehadi, acting head of the Middle East program at Chatham House. "This young man initially tried to upset his parents by becoming a rapper," says Shehadi. "But when his parents stopped objecting, he became a jihadi instead." The antiestablishment nature of this new Islam and its apparent status as an alternative to capitalism and secularism is also winning converts among native Britons. "People come to Islam from all walks of life. It's not just middle-class people but also electricians, judges, and taxi drivers," says Sara Joseph, the editor of "Emel," a lifestyle magazine for Muslim women, who converted to Islam at age 17. "The main catalyst for conversion is often going out with a Muslim, although the primary factor is usually a search for spirituality." While the estimated 1,000 British Christians, atheists, and members of other faiths who convert to Islam every year are often attracted by Islam's clearly defined teachings, this minor trend is overshadowed by Muslims' highbirth and immigration rates, which toma

Last month, Muslim groups in Glasgow petitioned the City Council to ban an Italian restaurant from serving alcohol to diners seated at outside tables. Hospitals in Leicester considered banning Bibles from hospital wards to avoid offending Muslim patients. In Birmingham, a group called Muslims Against Advertising began a campaign of painting over billboards that they deemed offensive to Islam - targeting ads for Levi's jeans, perfume, and lingerie. But these small campaigns are polarizing public opinion along ethnic and religious lines - and creating support for Britain's far-right groups, who present themselves as defenders of Britain's hard-won freedoms.
Egypt Election Daily News