I CARE - News Archive December 1999

REFUGEES GET NO PRESENTS FROM DEPARTMENT(Ireland)
They have Santa in Africa too. Naturally, he's black, but they try and make him look as much like the real thing as possible. In Dublin city, Ireland, yesterday, black Santa made sure that every child who attended the African Refugee Network's Christmas party went home with a present. Santa's resources were stretched. He got no official funding for the party, and the organisations which were approached to help him pay for elves were less than forthcoming. But they do not give expensive gifts in Africa. As the man said `There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas'. In fact, Christmas in Africa is very much an outdoor affair. Families get together and there are picnics on the beach. The Irish weather won't be the only thing that will depress our African refugees this Christmas. The fact that most of them live in undesirable rented accomodation won't help. The fact that they are forced to live on social welfare doesn't help either. Many of the people who attended yesterday's party came from the higher echelons of African society. Well off, educated black people pose the greatest threat to oppressive regimes and they are the people who are most likely to have to leave their homelands. They will at least enjoy freedom of speech this Christmas, but we have offered them little by way of more tangible benefits. The greatest gift we could give these people would be a letter to potential employers saying that they are eligible to work. John Tamewe, who organised yesterday's party, has been in the country a year now and has yet to get such a letter. He doesn't know anyone else who has got one either, despite repeated promises. John is a business graduate who also happens to be a Hutu from Rwanda. Both his parents were killed in the early stages of the ethnic cleansing of Rwandan Hutus. He is just learning to cope with that, but we have added insult to the injury of this man by denying him his rightful place in our society. One can only-imagine how this upper-class man feels about ringing around begging for a few quid to try and give his compatriots a bit of a Christmas and being turned down repeatedly. He is reluctant to say as much, but he is clearly baffled by an Ireland of the welcomes where black Santa gets no help with making toys. We celebrate this Christmas by insulting John Tamewe's dignity. This year we have repeatedly insulted the dignity of people like John. As we tuck into our Celtic Turkey on Christmas Day, most of us will not spare a thought for the holy families in B&B's throughout Ireland, trying to scrape through a black and brown Christmas in a cold white alien country. When we insult them we insult the memory of Christ, the most infamous Christmas refugee. Happy birthday, Jesus; now go back to where you came from. No room at the injustice this year
©Irish Independent

TURKEY MAY EXTEND RIGHTS TO KURDS
For years, Western nations, human rights groups and Kurdish activists have pressed Turkey to grant its 12 million Kurds the same cultural rights that other minorities enjoy. Now, as it gets closer to its goal of winning entry into the European Union, Turkey has launched a debate over whether to lift a military-imposed ban on the Kurdish language in broadcasts and education. "Every citizen in Turkey, in every television broadcast, should be able to speak his own mother tongue," Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said a few days after the EU made Turkey a formal candidate for membership earlier this month. "This is our belief, and this is an issue to which the European Union attaches importance," said Cem, who is from the Democratic Left Party, the largest party in Parliament. The party has not officially commented on the issue. Eight years ago, Parliament partially lifted a 1983 military ban on the use of Kurdish. Its use is now allowed in informal settings, but it remains outlawed in schools and cannot be used in political settings or in broadcasts other than music. The issue is extremely sensitive in Turkey, where the government for years has claimed that expressions of Kurdish identity were veiled attempts to break up the state — even though Turkey's officially recognized Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities are allowed schools in their own languages. A newspaper report on Sunday clearly demonstrated the divisions within the government on the issue. The daily Milliyet quoted President Suleyman Demirel as saying that lifting the language ban would pose a threat to Turkey. "Protecting the official language is one of the musts of being a unitary state," Demirel was quoted as saying. "For this reason, it would not be the right decision to have broadcasts or education in another language." In the Kurdish-dominated southeast, the educational system is poor and the language of instruction is Turkish, even though many children speak it as a foreign language. Kurdish rebels have killed more than 150 school teachers who were seen as cooperating with Turkey's program to deny Kurdish ethnic identity. Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was sentenced to death in June for treason, has warned that Turkey's failure to grant cultural rights to Kurds could "cause further Kurdish uprisings." The government's coalition partner, the Nationalist Movement Party, has strongly declared its opposition to lifting the language ban. The final decision on whether to allow Kurdish broadcasts rests with the Parliament, should the Cabinet draw up a draft law to lift the ban. In light of all the high-ranking opposition, however, it seems unlikely the Cabinet will draft a bill to annul the ban. Still, the only legal pro-Kurdish opposition party welcomed the dialogue. "We're pleased with the debates and want them to be realized," said Ahmet Turan Demir, leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party. "It is a universal right."
© Associated Press

GERMAN NEO-NAZI DEATH LIST FOUND
A new hit list is circulating among militant neo-Nazis in Germany. The dossier, named Wehrwolf, is a collection of about 150 names and addresses of "enemies of the people" sorted into categories such as "parliamentarians", "disseminators of democratic propaganda" and "Hebrews". Wehrwolf is a play on the German words for Werewolf and Defence. Werwolf (Werewolf) was also the name given to bands of German youths at the end of World War II who fought as guerrillas against Soviet and allied forces in Germany. The authors of the neo-Nazi list - they represent the Anti-Antifa Saarpfalz - list Jewish institutions: the office addresses of all Jewish communities in Germany, several restaurants in Berlin and even two marriage agencies in Frankfurt and Munich. Memorials for victims of the Nazis are marked on a map of Berlin. A total of 40 Bundestag deputies of all parties are listed. In compiling the list, the neo Nazis clearly used an out-of-date handbook: in one example, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a member of the Green party, is not even listed as a member of the government, as he has been since late 1998. Berlin Bundestag deputy Siegrun Klemmer, a member of the Social Democrats, discovered that her photograph, private address and telephone number were on the list. On Wednesday, she told the Frankfurter Rundschau she was critical of the way the security authorities had been dealing with the list: "I have not been informed by the police that I was among the targets." The Verfassungsschutz counter-intelligence agency said Wednesday it had not registered any incident of violence in connection with the death list. But the danger existed in the fact that the list could be regarded as a basis for action, it said. The authors make no secret of their support for violence. Under the headline "Martyrs of the White Aryan Resistance", they declare their solidarity with Kay Diesner who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a policeman. In the style of ideological models from the extreme-right scnenes in the USA and in Scandinavia, the battle cry is directed in the first instance no longer against immigrants and refugees but against state authorities, left-wing groups and representatives of democratic institutions. In September this year, Anti-Antifa Saarpfalz had a list of 40 names and addresses of Berlin parliamentarians, journalists and political opponents. At the time, people on the list were informed by Infoblatt, an anti-fascist sheet, and charges were entered. In the meantime, the Berlin state prosecutor is investigating a dozen neo-Nazis on suspicion of "forming a criminal organisation". The dozen became conspicuous because of the intensive manner they went about assembling data. But police raids in October when material was impounded did not have the desired effect. The Anti-Antifa Saarpfalz works in secret. The group uses a post-office box in the Netherlands for contact.
©Frankfurter Rundschau

ASYLUM APPLICANT SHOT AND KILLED (Germany)
The Refugees' Council of the German state of Lower Saxony has filed charges against the head of the aliens department in the city of Braunschweig following the death of a political asylum applicant.The official is accused of grievous bodily harm with fatal consequences, wrongful deprivation of personal liberty, and perversion of the course of justice. His actions were allegedly partly to blame for a rejected asylum applicant's death. The man, a 36-year-old Bulgarian scientist, was shot by a special police squad sent to take him into custody in Braunschweig on December 10. He died of his injuries on Tuesday. The public prosecutor's department in Braunschweig said he was to have been taken into custody prior to deportation. Eckehard Niestroj, a spokesman for the Braunschweig authorities, said the man had threatened to commit suicide, so the police had alerted the special squad. The squad went into action because police officers with psychological training said his suicide threat was serious. The lethal shots were fired because the Bulgarian attacked police officers with a knife, the public prosecutor's department said. "There are many indications that the shots may have been fired in self-defence," said Niestroj, but the officer who fired the shots was still under investigation. The Refugees' Council believes that the Bulgarian might still be alive if medical advice had been heeded. He was known to have been a suicide risk in view of traumatic experiences in his own country. For many observers, the case makes clear the dubious nature of the German way of dealing with asylum applicants. Sepp Graessner, of a Berlin treatment centre for torture victims, confirmed that the Bulgarian's problematic mental state had been known for months. Graessner checked him in August and confirmed that he was a serious suicide risk and ran a risk of being retraumatised. Graessner said he believed that reports that the Bulgarian was tortured in his own country were credible. The killer shot could easily have been avoided if the man had been given psychiatric treatment rather than threatened with deportation. A spokesman for the city of Braunschweig rejected the allegations against the head of its aliens department. First, he had not fired the shots; they had been fired by a policeman. Second, the aliens department had asked the police not to go ahead and take him into custody. The public prosecutor's department confirmed that this was indeed the case. The police special squad had acted on the basis of legislation empowering it to act to avert a threat to law and order.
©Frankfurter Rundschau

ANTI-RACIST ACTIVIST ARRESTED - BUILDING RAIDED BY POLICE(Germany)
On 19 December the Mehringhof, a self-organised alternative building in Berlin, was raided by the police. At the same time one of the co-workers of Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration (FFM) was arrested in his appartment. Monday, the 20th of October Harald Glöde was brought before a judge in Karlsruhe (where the federal court is located),afterwards he was transfered to a prison in Düsseldorf. A partial insight into the files during the review of remand in custody revealed that accusations of one man in Berlin led to the arrest order. The accusations of the public prosecutor are all about activities of the "Revolutionäre Zellen" (revolutionary cells) and the "Rote Zora" during the years 1986-87, against the racist official refugee politics - (all passed the statute of limitations) - and with the membership of these groups. Harald (co-founder of FFM) has made a significant contribution building up FFM's public relations and research since its start five years ago. The working field of FFM is critical research, documentation and publication about Fortress Europe and its consequences for the situation of refugees especially in the border regions. Harald contributed to the documentation of violations of human rights along the border, and was engaged against the criminalisation of taxi-drivers. (Along the German Eastern border taxi drivers have been convicted to severe jail sentences because they have transported illegal refugees without the knowing that they were illegal. This had the effect that everyone who looked "foreign" could not get a taxi anymore in the border regions) Harald contributed substantially to make this known to the public. Recently he took part as observer in a court case against young neo-nazis who chased a young Algerian to death in the small town of Guben. Although this kind of political work is of enormous relevance, hardly anybody is engaged in those themes. The arrest of Harald not only creates a big gap in the difficult situation (lack of personnel and money) of FFM but also in refugee-supporting networks like Flüchtlingsrat Brandenburg in which Harald also is a member.
Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration

ITALIAN NEO-FASCIST MINISTER QUITS GOVERNMENT
Romano Misserville, a far-right Italian named as state secretary of defense, resigned Friday from Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema's new government after coalition deputies called for his removal. The MPs had called for the 65-year-old Misserville to be removed a day after parliament voted its confidence in the new government, objecting to his unrepentant neo-fascist positions. "I was a fascist and I don't deny it. I remain a man of the right," said Misserville in an interview published earlier Friday by the daily La Repubblica. He also said he was proud to have a picture of Mussolini on his desk, and intended to take it with him to the defense ministry. Clemente Mastella, the president of the conservative Udeur party to which the minister belongs said Misserville had resigned because he did not want his case to be "used politically". Misserville joined the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) at age 15, and was vice-president of the Senate between 1994 and 1996. But he was excluded from the National Alliance, MSI's successor, after adhering to the extremist "Peoples' Rights" movement. Misserville justified his participation in the government by saying that D'Alema was "conducting policies of the right."
©AFP

FIRST INDEPENDENT REVIEW RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION IN FINLAND
A presentation of NEON material, 1998-1999
The report deals with various experiences of discrimination and racism in Finland on the basis of a material gathered by the non-governmental organisation, National Equal Opportunities Network (NEON). The focus is on the victim's description of the case and on the individual experience of discrimination or racism. What should be noted, however, is that the gathered material is not statistically representative in any way and it does not show all forms of discrimination and racism. The cases of discrimination have not been gathered in the whole country and information about the possibility to report a case has not reached all victims of racism and discrimination. In spite of these problems the material on cases of experienced discrimination and racism provided interesting information. The material showed that people belonging to minority groups face various kinds of discrimination and racism. Many instances of discrimination and racism are experienced in public, in the street. The victims feel that they do not get support from people passing by. Still, the cases that appear in public, in the street, easy for everyone to notice are just one part of all the cases of experienced discrimination and racism. A majority of the experiences reported are caused by treatment in the public sector. These experiences concern application of rules, disputed treatment or refusal of good service. This indicates that in many cases an officer in the public sector might not be aware of the actual effect of the way services are provided. An authority might be using rules in a correct way, but the effect of the rules is experienced as discriminating. Cases of discrimination in the labour market did not constitute a big part of the material. One reason for this might be that many immigrants in Finland have just recently arrived in the country. They are still dependent on the services of the public sector and unemployment is still high among immigrants. The report shows some information about experiences of discrimination and racism in Finland, but to cover a wider range of cases a more comprehensive monitoring system is needed. The report is written by Silka Koskimies from the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relation and Nationalism (CEREN) at the Swedish School of Social Sciences.
NEON full report

MOVE TO END FREE LEGAL AID TO ASYLUM SEEKERS(Norway)
All asylum seekers entering Norway today have the right to free legal aid. The authorities are now considering to limit this to those who are actually granted asylum. This is revealed in a classified report, following a meeting between the Ministry of Justice and the Aliens' Directorate earlier this month, according to Aftenposten. The report shows that Norway is the only country in Europe where asylum seekers have a legal right to a lawyer at no cost. (not true, in the Netherlands also, red.) To remove this would save the state 20 million Nkr a year. Under the proposed system, the asylum seekers will automatically have the right to free legal aid after the aylum has been granted. The exception would be unaccompanied minors who would have the right to free legal aid from the day of entry also in the future.
©Norway Post

NO NEW CROATIAN ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN GREAT BRITAIN LAST 2 MONTHS
Croatia's Government Office for National Minorities paid a three-day visit to Great Britain in order to learn about British experiences and to study the possibility of incorporating their achievements into the Croatian system concerning the protection of minorities. Office head Mila Šimiæ and her deputy Milena Klajner visited the British Foreign Office, which in turn prepared an extensive program for their guests. The Croatian delegation first visited the Home-Office and the headquarters of the London Police Department where the Croats learned about measures undertaken to subdue racism and involve minorities in these services. The visit to the Refugee Council, which is the main reception center that aids new refugees, revealed that in the past two months the center had registered no new asylum seekers from Croatia (Serbs from eastern Slavonia), while 15,000 Albanians have been registered this year so far. This fact questions the real reasons behind the British government's introduction of visas for Croatian citizens. During their visit to the Foreign Office, the delegation was received by the head of the East Adriatic Department Stephen Wordsworth. Here they learned that the office, as almost all of the other state institutions in Great Britain, take care of "ethnic diversity" in the country, with racism being the major problem as far as national minorities are concerned.
©Croatia Weekly on-line

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP LISTS CHECHNYA ATROCITIES(Russia)
New York-based Human Rights Watch this week called upon Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to grant access to Chechnya in general, and to the village of Alkhan-Yurt in particular, to independent investigators from international bodies and nongovernmental groups. At the moment, Russian authorities deny most international monitors and media representatives such access. Allegations of looting and extrajudicial killings by Russian troops - such as those surrounding the first two weeks of December in Alkhan-Yurt, where apparently 41 civilians were summarily executed - are brought by human rights groups and journalists largely on the basis of the testimony of fleeing refugees. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a partial list of persons believed to have been killed by Russian forces in Alkhan-Yurt. The group said it had more information on more civilian victims, but would not release further details until its research was complete.
©The Moscow Times

CZECH FAR RIGHT PARTY MEMBER CHARGED BY POLICE
Police in the northern Bohemian city of Decin on 28 December charged a member of the far-right Republican Party with racial defamation and incitement to ethnic hatred. Last week, anti-Semitic propaganda describing dozens of Czech politicians as Jewish or partly Jewish was displayed on panels at an exhibition organized in the city by the Republicans. President Havel, parliament chairman Klaus, and Prime Minister Zeman topped the list, which included about 100 names. The chairman of the local Jewish community has launched a complaint against the organizers of the exhibition.
©RFE/RL

SLOVAKS FAVOR SEGREGATION OF ROMA
More than three out of five Slovaks (60.4 percent) say they favor separating the country's Romany minority from the majority population and support the idea of creating different schools for Romany children, the Czech daily "Hospodarske noviny" reported on 28 December, citing a public opinion poll conducted by the TNS polling institute. Ondrej Srebala, head of the Slovak National Center for Human Rights, on 27 December told SITA the poll's findings are "alarming," CTK reported on 28 December.
©RFE/RL

PLEDGE TO FIGHT RACISM(Greece)
Labour and Social Security Minister Miltiadis Papaioannou, who is seen here at a Christmas event organised on Tuesday by the Workers' Home for the children of immigrants, asserted that the government is striving to cast xenophobia and racism out of Greece, and that its initiative to grant legal status to economic migrants had been successful. He announced that 81,513 Green Cards had been issued up until the end of November, out of the 220,000 valid applications received so far, and predicted that the process of legalisation would be completed by the end of March. In addition, Papaioannou said that the government and the European Social Fund are jointly financing funding programmes worth a total of 20 billion drachmas targeting immigrants of Greek and foreign origin. Today, children from Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Albania and Poland will sing carols to Papaioannou. Tomorrow, it will be President Costis Stephanopoulos' turn to hear them perform.
©Athens News

PARLIAMENT APPROVES LAW AGAINST RACISM(Liechtenstein)
In spite of new discussions about explicit terms, the so called racism norm was introduced into the penal code in the December session of parliament. At the parliamentary session in May of this year, various questions had emerged in connection with the racism norm. As a consequence, government revised its draft and made it more explicit in certain points. Even though, new caveats surfaced, especially some terms and definitions still seemed to be unclear. The spokesman of the VU fraction criticised, as in the first reading, that the government draft contained too many unclear terms. For this reason, he forwarded various applications for alterations, which were also supported by VU representative Walter Hartmann. Following lengthy discussions, it was the task of the Minister of Justice Heinz Frommelt to end the "clarifying debate": "The right against racial discrimination is a question of human rights. It is a fact that the reduction of human dignity can and must not be right. Human dignity is the foundation which allows liberty." Minister of Justice Heinz Frommelt made it clear: "The reduction of human rights can and must not be right."
© Liechtensteiner Vaterland

INTERNET RACISM PUNISHED(Belgium)
After the conviction, a few month ago, of two extreme-right Dutch politicians for putting racist cartoons on the Internet now the court in Brussels has convicted a civil servant of the judicial police to 6 month in jail and a fine for making racist remarks in newsgroups. The man also has to pay the symbolic sum of 1 Belgium Franc to the Centre for Equal opportunity and anti-racism.

RACIST GRAFFITI DONE BY 'BALD MEN'(Netherlands)
Racist symbols spray painted on monuments and walls in The Hague are, according to the police, possibly the work of a group of men with shaved heads. The police comes to this conclusion after speaking to witnesses, but refuses to speak about a group of skinheads. In November, monuments and the auditorium and several graves of the Jewish cemetery of The Hague were desecrated with red and orange paint. (See also I CARE News 16 November) Last Saturday a red ‘white power' sign was discovered on the side wall of a house in neighbouring Scheveningen.

MEMBERSHIP OF SKINHEAD GROUPS CAN BRING HARD TIME(Finland)
Following demands from the EU that member-countries should tighten up their legislation on membership of criminal organisations, it seems likely that belonging to a skinhead grouping or to a hard-line animal rights faction could lead in future to prison sentences of up to 12 months. Finland has a draft proposal readied after pressure from Brussels, and it will be passed to Parliament on Thursday. The proposal would criminalise the active involvement in the operations of any organisation whose objectives include the committing of crimes for which the maximum sentence is no less than four years' imprisonment. It would also be against the law to belong to any organisation that sought to incite racial or ethnic hatred. Punishment for such membership would require that a crime of this sort had indeed been committed by the group. The concept of an "organisation" is left deliberately vague, but involves anything from three persons upwards who remain in some form of alliance over a given time period. Skinheads have been charged with and found guilty of inciting racial hatred, ALF members have received sentences for aggravated damage to property, for example at furfarms, and one cannot open a newspaper these days without reading of some crimes perpetuated by the rival biker gangs, even though they are no longer actually shooting things out on the streets of Helsinki.
©Helsingin Sanomat

ATTACKS AGAINST MINORITIES CONTINUE(Kosovo)
Attacks against ethnic minorities continue to give cause for concern, according to the UN Secretary-General's monthly report to the Security Council on the international security presence in Kosovo. "The security situation for the various minorities in Kosovo remains precarious, and the protection of minorities remains one of the highest priorities of KFOR, " the 20 December report says. According to the report, the overall level of violence within the province continued to fall although it increased again towards the end of the reporting period. However, ethnically motivated violence has increased in intensity and arson, particularly of houses belonging to Serbs, has also continued. As a result, the potential exists for tension to escalate in areas of confrontation between the Albanian and Serb communities, such as Mitrovica. At the end of November, KFOR had approximately 48,000 troops in place. However, the deployment of Russian troops in the town of Orahovac continues to be hampered, despite the removal of roadblocks surrounding the town. Four countries -Jordan, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Ukraine- have all completed their deployments, he reports.
©UN Kosovo news

POPULAR FRONT LEADERS RELEASED(Belarus)
On December 17, Yury Khodyko, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), and Ales Belyatsky, secretary of the BPF Board and leader of the Vesna '96 (Spring '96) human rights centre, were released from the Minsk detention centre after 10 days' "administrative" arrest. At a news conference given the same day, Khodyko and Belyatsky stressed that by prosecuting participants in the demonstration staged in Minsk on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Belarusian authorities showed their real attitude towards human rights. According to the BPF leaders, the Minsk City Executive Committee had authorised the demonstration but banned the organisers from demonstrating where they planned. The organisers of the demonstration have filed a lawsuit against the city government.
©Minsk News

RESTRICTIONS ON IRANIANS INTO SWEDEN
Sweden is not quite closing its door to Iranians, but the Immigration Board is making it harder for Iranians to stay here. Following a summer influx of asylum applications escaping student demonstrations and police violence in Iran, the Board has decided that Iranians must have business, studies, or sports exchanges in Sweden in order to stay.
©Sveriges Radio

AMONG THE BELIEVERS(Czechia)
Czech Muslims, celebrating the prayerful holy month of Ramadan, look to new legislation in effort to regain legal status lost under communism. On a bright but chilly Monday morning on the outskirts of Prague, a young man silently enters a large, unfurnished room, bows his head and begins whispering. He then drops to his knees, pushes himself forward in a gesture of supplication and begins to pray. He is a Muslim, and his prayers in the Czech Republic's biggest "mosque" are especially significant because he is practising his faith during Ramadan, a month long period of fasting and intense devotion marking the time the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have had the Koran, Islam's holiest book, revealed to him by Allah. Some of his prayers might also be for the future of his religion in the Czech Republic. Although there are some 20,000 Muslims here, Islam, the most widely held faith on earth, has not been legally recognised for half a century. Its followers must face the painful reality that structures they revere as places of worship are known by law only as Islamic "cultural centres." That will remain the case at least through next summer, when draft legislation relaxing conditions for legal recognition of "new" religions is presented to Parliament. "If there is a law which recognises our religion, that is good news," says Khaled Ahmed, one of two part-time Imams, or prayer leaders, who lead invocations at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Prague 9. Under current law, any "new" religion requires 10,000 signatures by adult permanent residents to register as a legal entity. "That is not possible for us," says the cultural centre's co-ordinator, Vladimir Sanka, pointing out that a large proportion of Muslims in the Czech Republic are here on a temporary basis as university students. On the face of it, the draft bill on religious registry offers everything Czech Muslims could hope for. Fresh applicants would need only 300 signatures to win official recognition. The Culture Ministry, which based the draft on recommendations by a commission of representatives from a number of legally acknowledged religions, says the proposals are designed to enable Muslims, Buddhists and smaller unregistered groups to exist at least in the form of a civic society. But there's a catch. According to the bill's preliminary language, Islam would immediately receive legal status, placing it on par with non-profit organisations. Yet it must wait a decade for full government subsidies, including teaching funds. After this initial waiting period, the religion needs to provide 20,000 signatures to complete the recognition process. These steps do not apply to the 21 groups, including Catholics and Jehovah's Witnesses, that already enjoy government sanction. For now, Muslims in the Czech Republic finance their own cultural centres, which include libraries and dining facilities, largely through donations from local followers. But they argue that the issue of registration is not about money, but rather is a matter of justice."It's the principle," says the Czech born Sanka, a former geologist who converted to the faith six years ago. "Registration also means we have the right to own our own land as a religious organisation and found our own Muslim schools." Ironically, it is a case of re-registering for the Muslims. Islam was officially recognised in 1935 in then Czechoslovakia. But the status lapsed after World War II under a communist regime that viewed religion as an undesirable relic. A more recent attempt to re-register in the wake of the 1989 Velvet Revolution also faltered when Islamic representatives, including retired university professor Mohammed Ali Silhavy, were told by the state that they had to produce 10,000 signatures. "I did not like the request for all these signatures because I am old enough to know that such lists could be abused, as they were during fascism and communism," says Silhavy, now 82. Others are more o ©The Prague Post

KURDS FACE BLEAK WINTER WITHOUT FUEL OR FOOD(Greece)
The Pendeli camp, run by Doctors of the World, has found itself overshadowed by other recent crises. One of the biggest problems at the Pendeli camp is the sheer number of children. As man and nature continue their relentless pursuit of victims -whether in the form of earthquakes, wars, political or economic repression- each new group takes its place on the front pages of the world's newspapers, pushing aside others whose problems have by no means been solved, but are no longer "news." Kurds are still fleeing Iraq, many of them heading for Europe via Greece, where they wait for a visa and/or a passage on a ship, usually risking their lives. This was demonstrated all too brutally in last month's fire on the Superfast III ferry leaving Patras, in which 14 Kurdish stowaways died. Two of the victims had previously stayed at the refugee camp on Mt. Pendeli, where the humanitarian organisation Doctors of the World feeds about 250 people. An initial burst of corporate and individual philanthropy in the wake of extensive media coverage has petered out since other more pressing disasters have occurred. "We deeply appreciate the donations from people and companies that have been coming in since we opened," said Susan Morucci, who, along with fellow volunteer Stefanos Sofoglou, runs the camp for Doctors of the World. "We understand why the donations have fallen off since the Kosovo refugee crisis and then the earthquakes. But we are almost out of heating fuel (paraffin) and there isn't enough money to buy enough to last us through the winter. We also do not have enough heaters for each of the 25 tents and 15 container homes. This is our biggest problem at the moment, as there are now 140 young children here, more than we have ever had," she said. Another major problem is a lack of space. Some tents are housing four or five families. "Two families left yesterday, but another three groups have turned up today. And we don't know whether those who left will be back. What can you do when a woman arrives at the gate carrying a baby and with a sick child crying at her side?" said Morucci. "We only have permission to care for 250 people, and they must all be asylum seekers." Since August, less than 20 percent of the residents have been able to leave for Europe, where most of them are headed, because of tighter border controls and the increased dangers of the journey. Two of the camp's current residents are landmine victims, seriously injured while crossing over the Evros River border from Turkey. The two men, who are cousins, have been living in a tent without heat. Doctors of the World have managed to get the youngest, only 16, into the Sismanoglio Hospital for a vital operation. His cousin, 30, is also awaiting surgery to remove shrapnel from his abdomen. "We hope the hospital can keep them until they have recovered completely, as they have nowhere else to go. If they stay here they will die," said Morucci. "The hospitals in the area have been wonderful, always ready to help." Doctors of the World pays the municipality 500,000 drachmas per year to remove garbage and empty the cesspit. Cooking is not such a problem since Shell Corp. installed a huge gas tank. But what to put in the pots soon will be a problem. There is a shortage of cooking oil, sugar, meat (apart from pork, which Muslims do not eat), fruit and vegetables, rice and tomato paste. The army delivers bread twice a week, but donations of the other items would be greatly appreciated, as well as money to buy fuel.
The Mt. Pendeli refugee camp is at 9 Aghios Tryfonos, just beyond the large square at the top of the hill in Palia Pendeli, Tel 803.5996, (0932) 610.484. Office hours are 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Doctors of the World's Athens office is at 207 Alexandras, Tel 644.0300; fax 44.0310
©Kathimerini

REFUGEES SCRAPE BY AT FORGOTTEN CAMP(Russia)
The hollow eyes of the children follow all newcomers, as they wonder whether they have brought food. The sick and old go without medical attention. To feed themselves, residents rummage through local garbage bins, hoping to find rotten potatoes for soup. The water, drawn from a fire reservoir, is brown and full of insects, and even after boiling smells bad. Food deliveries are intermittent. Fatima Aliyeva, one of the residents of the refugee camp, said bread was brought in the day before "for the first time in 10 days - half a loaf per person." This is life for the more than 260 people inhabiting an abandoned pig farm near the village of Troitskoye in Ingushetia - unsanitary conditions, little food, no clean water, and precious little attention from the Russian authorities. More than 200,000 people have been left homeless by the fighting in Chechnya and have flooded into Ingushetia, where efforts to help have lagged behind the burden of the influx. This is one of the camps where conditions are poorest. There have been no visits from officials, residents say, adding that Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu should see this place. The refugees say they are tired of talking to journalists because no one helps them afterwards. Most have been there for two months, some for more. They have spent all their money, sold most of the possessions they brought with them. More people arrive every day at the ruined farm because there is no room at the better camps. They head for the waste dump, scavenge wood and put the scraps over the floor grates so they can sleep. At least the buildings still have electricity and gas for heating. But the smell of pigs is still very strong. Aliyeva, a nurse, is living with her children in quarters shared with three other families - 23 people in all. What worries her most is the water. Other refugee camps under the care of the Emergency Situations Ministry get water deliveries, she said, but not this one. Pig bones are occasionally found in the water, which was not even used to water the livestock when the farm was running. Many people in the camp have non-stop diarrhea, and there are no medicines to help them, she said, when they come to her with stomach pains. Rozat Zubaryeva, 34, came with her family after sitting on the foundations of their ruined home in Grozny for a week. "My youngest daughter was born three months before the first war. What has she seen? Only poverty and hunger," she said. Her husband, Shaban, said the immigration service refuses to give them a certificate showing they are forced migrants, which would make it easier for them to move on. "I am a builder. I could work. I could support my family," he said "Could someone help us get a job somewhere in Russia or Ukraine? I am sick and tired of these wars in Chechnya."
©The Moscow Times

AUSTRIAN MINISTER WANTS AID FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO TELL ON OTHERS (Austria)
Vienna, 23 December. -- Austrian Interior Minister Karl Schloegl proposed Thursday offering aid to illegal immigrants who inform police on those who helped them travel illegally, state radio reported. He notably said such immigrants could receive help during their stay in Austria and financial aid to return to their home country, although there was no question of offering residence permits. According to state radio, the justice ministry expressed "skepticism" over the proposal. Austria, a key transit country for illegal immigrants from central Europe and Asia heading for Western Europe, arrested 38,000 such immigrants in 1999, and 2,700 organizers of illict travel.

AEGEAN STILL DEVIDE NEIGHBOURS(Greece)
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Greece in a preliminary judgment to pay a Muslim resident of Rodopi 2.7 million drachmas in damages for a violation of article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, regarding freedom of religion. Ibraim Serif was awarded the 700,000 drachma fine imposed on him by a Greek court in 1990 and 2 million drachmas in "non-pecuniary damages". A Thessaloniki appellate court had upheld Serif's eight-month suspended prison sentence in 1994 - but commuted it to a fine - for having discharged the function of the mufti (Muslim religious leader) of Rodopi. He was convicted according to articles 175 and 176 of the Greek criminal code for having usurped the functions of a minister of a "known religion" and for having publicly worn the uniform of a minister without the right to do so. The court found that he had unlawfully officiated at religious ceremonies, issued religious messages to fellow Muslims and exercised other administrative functions of the mufti. Serif was elected mufti on December 28, 1990, in a ballot organised by two Greek Muslim MPs and held at local mosques five days after the issuance of a presidential decree providing that the mufti will be appointed by presidential decree, following consultation with the local prefect and Muslim dignitaries chosen by the state. Serif argued that his conviction amounted to interference with his right to the free exercise of religion with those who turned to him for spiritual guidance. The European court accepted Greece's argument that the "interference" in question could in principle serve the legitimate aim of protecting public order, as Serif was not the only person claiming to be religious leader of the local Muslim community, but that Greece failed to prove the "pressing social need" to do so. Greece asserted it had to convict the spurious mufti to avoid tensions between local Muslims, Muslims and Christians, and between Greece and Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights opined that "punishing a person for the mere fact that he acted as a religious leader of a group that willingly followed him can hardly be considered compatible with the demands of religious pluralism in a democratic society". It found that Serif had not tried to exercise the "judicial and administrative" functions of the mufti, and that Greece failed to prove the disturbances that the existence of two muftis would create.
©Athens News

UNHCR LIFTS CHECHENS FROM BORDER (Georgia)
UNHCR today said it has airlifted some 1,200 Chechen refugees away from Georgia's border with the separatist Russian republic, reports AP. The group was evacuated by helicopter from the remote mountain village of Shatili to Georgia's northeastern Pankisi Gorge region over the past week, said spokesman Kris Janowski. They will join some 3,800 other Chechen refugees. Janowski said the latest flow of refugees into Georgia was "a fairly limited movement,'' but the airlift may resume if more arrive. The group evacuated this week "were predominantly women and children, exhausted and frightened,'' but also included 50 unarmed men with war wounds, he said. Itar-Tass reports Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday said aid to displaced Chechens should not be seen as an affront to Russia or as helping terrorists. His government heard a report from the Akhmetsky district where ethnic Kistin Chechens have sheltered Chechen refugees. Delegate Badri Khatidze said there were some 5,000 refugees in the district, nearly half of them Georgian citizens. He said aid – food and warm clothing – was delivered to the Chechens, who are mostly women, children and elderly. He stressed the refugees are ready to return to Chechnya at the first opportunity
©Refugees Daily

PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION REJECTS DRAFT HR GROUPS(Bulgaria)
On November, 17th the Parliamentary Human Rights and Religion Commission rejected the Draft Denomination Act that was proposed on November, 9th by four members of the Parliament, who belong to the opposition Union for National Rescue. Ten days ago, the motivation of this decision became known. It is written in the motives of the decision that ‘the Draft is unbalanced and incomplete, also it is discrepant both to the Constitution and to the religious situation in the country now'. Furthermore, in the motives is written that 11 members of the Parliamentary Human Rights and Religion took part in the meeting and 9 voted ‘against' while 2 voted with ‘abstain from voting'. There were no members of this Parliamentary Commission who voted ‘for' the Draft. As it is well known, the above mentioned Draft has created by Mr. Plamen Bogoev by request of Tolerance Foundation and Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. He is a distinguished lawyer as well as a former legal adviser of the previous President of the Republic Dr. Jellio Zjelev. On October 11th, it was discussed at special conference organized by Tolerance Foundation. At this meeting 22 leaders of different religious communities (among the many others the two biggest religious minorities – the Catholics and the Muslims were presented at the meeting and they supported the Draft) in the country expressed in special statement their strong support for the Draft. Because of the lobbing of the Tolerance Foundation and Bulgarian Helsinki Committee among the members of the National Assembly, four deputies have agreed to propose the Draft into the Parliament but the Commission rejected their proposal. The rejecting does not stop the moving of the Draft to the Plenary Hall of the Parliament. All four drafts will be presented to the members of the Parliament for first reading. However, it is obviously that our Draft has no chances to become Law on Religion. In contrary, the other three drafts, that have received a positive assessment by the specialized Commission most probably will be combined and they will establish the essence of the future Denomination Act.
Greek Helsinki Monitor

SLOVAKS IN HUNGARY CAN COUNT ON SLOVAKIA'S HELP
Slovak deputy Speaker of Parliament Igor Presperín met with Jan Fúzik, the chairman of the All-Republic Slovak self-government in Hungary, on December 8, the same day that Janos Ader, the Hungarian Speaker of Parliament, visited Slovakia. Presperin announced after the meeting that the Slovak Republic would support the tiny Slovak minority living in Hungary and offer assistance in any way possible. The two men discussed the status of the Slovak minority in Hungary and the representation of national minorities in the Budapest Parliament. Presperín said that the development of mutual co-operation between Slovak and Hungarian municipalities at cultural, political and economic levels would be aided by Slovakia. Fúzik said that the Slovak self-government would need Slovakia`s aid, mainly in education where the Slovak minority would like to acquire Slovak textbooks. Fúzik also said the Slovak Research Institute in Hungary urgently needed help from the Hungarian Government to resume activities which have been stalled for two years because of the lack of finances.
©The Slovak Spectator

LITHUANIA NOTE 'CONTROVERSIES' OVER MINORITIES(Poland)
Polish Premier Jerzy Buzek said after a 16 December meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Andrius Kubilius, that the problem of national minorities is provoking "controversies" in bilateral relations, PAP reported. Buzek said that the two sides will set up a commission to examine whether "appropriate rights and the freedom of action" are ensured for the Polish minority in Lithuania and the Lithuanian minority in Poland. According to Buzek, Vilnius says Lithuanian children in Poland face greater difficulties in obtaining education in their mother tongue since the educational reform introduced this year. Buzek denied that such is the case, adding that subsidies for Lithuanian schools are 20 percent higher than those for Polish schools. "We expect the application of the same principles with regard to the Polish minority in Lithuania," he said.
©RFE/RL

RESEARCHER CALLS FOR NEW DEBATE ON POLICE AND RACE(UK)
The debate on policing and race had never been raised above crude and misleading statistics, said Dr Marian FitzGerald, who has spent more than 20 years studying ethnic communities in Britain. She called for a more mature debate yesterday on why black and Asian people were "disproportionately" subjected to police powers. In essence, she said there was an irreducible, disproportionate number of black men in victims' crime reports and police searches which had to be acknowledged. Home Office figures last week showed that black people were six times more likely to be stopped by police than whites. That was cited by critics of police as clear evidence of disproportionate, meaning unfair, police attention. It was just such simplistic statistics - which took no account of factors such as the age of those stopped or where they lived - that had bedevilled the issue. The 53-year-old former further education teacher, who spent more than 20 years studying ethnic communities, including 11 in the Home Office, said: "There's been a polarised argument for a long time between on the one hand'It's all police racism' and on the other 'It's all black criminality'. "Neither of those views can be right. The problem is that people thought producing ethnic statistics was going to resolve the argument. All it has meant is that both sides have the same statistics which they interpret in opposite ways and throw them back at each other.
©Electronic Telegraph

PRESCOTT UNDER FIRE OVER CIVIL SERVICE RACISM(UK)
The Commission for Racial Equality is investigating John Prescott's department after the Deputy Prime Minister allegedly "washed his hands" of allegations of race discrimination. Mr Prescott, already in hot water over his handling of the transport portfolio, is now under fire for refusing to intervene over alleged racial prejudice within his department. White staff at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions are receiving substantially higher job performance ratings than colleagues from ethnic minorities, according to the department's own statistics. The marks awarded are used to determine pay, and also affect job applications and promotion. The Deputy Prime Minister has been warned by unions that the system of rating employees could be unlawful and that it would therefore be "unwise" to continue to use it. Under the marking system five white secretaries in London – 10 % of the total of white staff in the grade – were said to be excellent", giving them a 4.7 % pay rise, but not one of the 35 non-white staff was so graded. Eleven white administrative officers in the capital, 6 % of the total, achieved "excellence", but not one of the 122 non-white staff at that grade did so. Eleven white executive officers (4 %) got an excellent rating and just one from an ethnic minority (2 %). There were also substantial disparities in the number of staff being graded "very good". Employees' representatives say that, despite months of negotiations, the department has insisted on retaining the system. "We sought a meeting with John Prescott, but it was refused," said Geoff Lewtas, a national officer at the civil service union PCS. "Effectively the Deputy Prime Minister has washed his hands of the problem, allowing his officials to deal with it. The accountability however is at his door," said Mr Lewtas. On Wednesday the union met the CRE, which has agreed to look into the allegations. An investigation into alleged race discrimination in performance appraisal throughout the civil service is being conducted by the Cabinet Office and the civil service unions. However the report is not due for more than a year. In a statement the DETR said: "The department reviewed its systems when similar effects were seen last year and the system was considered by independent consultants to be fair." It added that any study of appraisal systems should be conducted across Whitehall.
©The Independent

SACKED TORY ATTACKS HAGUE ‘INTOLERANCE'(UK)
Shaun Woodward, the Tories' spokesman on London who was sacked by pager for opposing legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality, has accused William Hague of intolerance. In a lecture to the Social Market Foundation, Mr Woodward yesterday condemned Section 28, which the Conservative leader has pledged to try to save, as "wrong and bad". He said that Tories "should feel uncomfortable with its homophobic message". Mr Woodward, in his first formal speech since being forced from the front bench, said that Section 28 perpetuated a "climate of fear and intolerance". Since his sacking he had received hundreds of letters from the public backing his stance, he said. The Government plans to repeal Section 28 but Mr Hague has instructed his MPs to vote against this. Mr Woodward said: "The law on this issue does nothing to help teachers and pupils. It does not help to build a stronger society. We are all weaker for this nasty, insidious and discriminatory clause. Society should be angry about the legislation as it stands. Section 28 should be repealed. We, as individuals in society, should feel uncomfortable with its homophobic message." Public attitudes on tolerating homosexuals and other minorities had shifted throughout the last decade. "I do not think it was by chance that the public so readily took to John Major, when he proclaimed on the steps of Downing Street in 1990, that he wanted to create a society at ease with itself". Mr Woodward, a father of four who is a director of ChildLine, the charity helpline, said that he had not had any contact with Mr Hague since he received the pager message. In his speech he said that he was opposed to Section 28 because it restricted help for young pupils being bullied at school.He said: "Why should the health education and guidance about relationships that young gay people need be prohibited by the current status quo until they reach the age of 18? The current law doesn't protect. It hurts. It discriminates. And the consequences of the discrimination is to perpetuate a climate of fear and intolerance."
©Electronic Telegraph

ASYLUM SEEKERS UNKNOWN BUT UNWANTED(Netherlands)
A survey among 1000 Dutch people, representative for the whole country, shows the ever dwindling support for taking in refugees in the Netherlands.

Do you think we should allow more political and economic ASYLUM SEEKERS to come here?
Yes - 5%; Yes, only political asylum seekers - 58%; No - 28%

Would you mind having a refugee centre in your neighbourhood?
Yes - 48%; No - 45%

Should refugees be allowed to work?
Yes - 74% A total of 53% thought refugees should be forced to work.

Do you think refugees are causing a nuisance?
Yes - 51%; No - 35%

Furthermore the majority of the people thought that refugees are more likely to be involved in criminal activities, while figures from the justice department show that is not the case.
Finally to the question if they ever met a refugee, 79% answered this was not the case.

GOVERNMENT FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS(Norway)
The Norwegian Government presented a Report to the Storting yesterday featuring a plan of action targeting human rights. The Report addresses a long list of issues associated with human rights in Norway. One of the dominant issues is the matter of incorporating four UN conventions into Norwegian law dealing with children' rights, women, racial discrimination and torture.
©The Norway Post

HAIDERS FPÖ NOW FAVORITE IN POLLS (Austria)
The right-wing Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) has risen in popularity and is now number one in the polls. The Viennese magazine Format reported yesterday that Jörg Haider's FPÖ can count on 31 % of the votes if national elections would be held right now in Austria. The Social Democrats fell back to 30 % of the votes in this poll. The conservative People's party (ÖVP) fell to 26%. Political Scientist Fritz Plasser said he saw the gain of the FPÖ as a signal that the displeasure of the Austrian people about the performance of the ruling parties is ever increasing.

ALLEGING RACIAL BIAS, U.S.A. SUES HOTELS
The Justice Department has filed suit against the Adam's Mark hotel chain, alleging a broad pattern of racial discrimination in which black hotel guests were overcharged, turned away or segregated into inferior rooms. A federal investigation found that in upscale Adam's Mark hotels nationwide, black patrons were forced to pay more than white patrons for comparable accommodations, and were kept out of hotel restaurants and lounges because the chain had an overall corporate strategy that too high a percentage of blacks in those settings was bad for business. Justice Department officials said the suit represents the first time the department has gone to court against a hotel chain for discrimination. Similar investigations have ended in consent decrees in which corporate officials agreed to needed reforms, but in the case of the St. Louis-based Adam's Mark, settlement talks with a mediator collapsed. The violations were so widespread and so egregious, officials said, that the department took the unusual step of filing suit. ''More than 30 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the sad fact is that some Americans are still treated differently because of their race,'' Attorney General Janet Reno told a press conference Thursday. ''This isn't right. This isn't fair. And it's against the law.'' The Justice Department investigation was triggered by a class-action suit filed in May by five black patrons of the Daytona Beach Adam's Mark hotel, who alleged racial discrimination during their stay at the 437-room hotel during the Black College Reunion in April. The suit alleged that the hotel required black guests to wear orange wristbands, denied access to black visitors and charged higher room rates for black guests. Further, it charged that the rooms rented to black guests lacked such basic amenities as telephones and maid service and that pictures had been removed from the walls and locks placed on the minibars.
©International Herald Tribune

LATVIA DOESN'T INTEND TO RATIFY FRAMEWORK CONVENTION
Five MPs from the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in Integrated Latvia" submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Indulis Berzinsh, asking about the Ministry's view on the possibility to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The answer was given on November 30. The Foreign Ministry considers that initiating the ratification process would be "premature", it can be discussed only after adoption of the State Language Law (adopted on December 9) and the Framework Document of Integration of the Society of Latvia (also adopted in early December with some amendments - will be covered in the next issue of "Minority issues in Latvia"). The Framework Convention was signed by Latvia in May 1995, but since then no attempt to ratify it was ever made.
The Latvian Human Rights Committee

CONFERENCE ON ILLEGAL RESIDENTS ISSUE IN ESTONIA
On 15 October 1999, at the Institute of Economy and Management, a round-table conference of non-governmental organizations was convened within the framework of the project with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee. The conference was devoted to the issues concerning the legal standing of the persons without the legal status necessary for their stay in Estonia (illegal residents), and also the problems existing in that sphere and the ways to solve them. The main reason of this conference was a wish to discuss the most urgent issues of the above-mentioned problem. The participants of the discussion were going to work out certain proposals to make some legislative amendments and hand them over to the governmental bodies, which have the right of legislative initiative. Besides the non-governmental organizations, Minister for Internal Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Minister of Population, as well as representatives of the Constitutional Committee of the Estonian Parliament, OSCE Mission, Citizenship and Migration Board and bodies of local self-governments were invited. One of the main aims of the round-table discussion was searching for real and quick ways to solve the problem of illegal residents. Another aim was a wish to make working contacts with corresponding state institutions in order to make the authorities aware of the point of view of non-governmental organizations concerning this problem and try to solve it on the basis of mutual cooperation. As a result, the participants of the round-table conference supported the recommendations of the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights on making amendments to the law. Moreover, some of the participants made suggestions how to change and supplement the draft. The final list of the recommendations as well as report on the round-table conference are available on the web page of the
Legal Information Centre for Human Rights

THE ROMA OF OBILIC (Kosovo)
In Obilic, a small town some 20 kilometers north of Prishtina, some 850 Roma have built a makeshift camp where they will remain throughout the winter. Living 10 or 12 to a tent, the Roma of Obilic spend their days cooking, sleeping, or roaming aimlessly through the rows of muddy tents. They say they are trapped in this small field at the end of a long, tree-lined road. No one ever leaves and there are few visitors. The Roma of Obilic are a disparate group. Before the war they lived in different villages in Kosova as Albanian or Serbian Roma. But now even those Roma who called themselves Ashkalija and spoke Albanian say they face intimidation and violence from ethnic Albanians. They say their own sense of nationality or their actions during the war have no significance whatsoever. They are judged now, they say, by the color of their skin alone. Protected by Norwegian KFOR troops and provided with humanitarian assistance by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Roma say they have no choice but to remain in Obilic. Most have lived there for five months. Some of Kosova's Roma admit they collaborated with Serbs. They say they often had no choice and were forced to do the "dirty work" for Serbian paramilitaries--to bury the bodies of Albanians, dig trenches for the military, and pillage and destroy ethnic Albanian property. In one interview with the Prishtina-based Humanitarian Law Center, an unnamed Prishtina Rom described how he and nine others were forced by Serbian police to bury the bodies of massacred Kosovar Albanians. He said there were some 40 bodies, all men aged between 25 and 50. Some of the bodies were still warm. He said the bodies were buried one by one in the village's Muslim graveyard. Following the signing of the peace settlement between NATO and Belgrade, the Roma and members of other minority groups who were involved in more violent acts left Kosova with retreating Serbian forces. Most of the minorities who remained after the arrival of KFOR troops last June have since left the province in large numbers. Estimates vary as to the number of non-Albanians now living in Kosova. But it is believed that well under half of the some 200,000 Serbs who lived in the province at the start of this year remain. Among the Roma, only some 6,000 out of some 30,000 are still there. And their numbers continue to dwindle. Serbs, Turks, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats--all these groups contend with harassment and violence from ethnic Albanians. They are isolated in their small ethnic enclaves, unable to gain access to education, health care, or work. Most depend on humanitarian aid for food and shelter. Almost all depend on the protection of KFOR troops.
©RFE/RL

AGREEMENT REACHED ON FUND FOR NAZI SLAVES (Germany)
After months of bitter negotiations, German industry and government officials agreed Tuesday to establish a fund of roughly 10 billion Deutsche marks, or $5.1 billion, to compensate slave laborers during the Nazi regime. Though some details remained fuzzy this evening, German negotiators reluctantly agreed to increase what they had insisted was their final offer from 8 billion to 10 billion DM. The deal was reached after marathon bargaining over the telephone between Jewish groups, American class-action lawyers and German industry. It was mediated by Stuart Eizenstat, the United States deputy Treasury secretary, and Otto Graf Lambsdorff of Germany. Under the agreement, German companies that employed slave laborers or forced laborers during World War II will win immunity from the threat of future lawsuits over the issue. All companies will contribute to a common humanitarian fund set up by an independent German foundation, which will then transfer money to designated organizations representing surviving workers in the United States as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.
©The International Herald Tribune

BOSNIAN SERB GETS 40 YEARS FOR WAR CRIMES
Goran Jelisic, a ruthless Bosnian Serb executioner who proudly called himself ''Adolf,'' was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday by the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The sentence was the stiffest imposed on any of the eight people thus far convicted for Balkans war crimes by the UN tribunal in The Hague. Mr. Jelisic, 31, stood silently in the courtroom as Claude Jorda, the new presiding judge of the tribunal, read the names of his victims and decried the ''repugnant, bestial, sadistic nature'' of the crimes. Mr. Jelisic was convicted two months ago. Prosecutors called Mr. Jelisic ''the face of genocide'' in the 1992-95 wartime ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Croats. But they failed to persuade Mr. Jorda and two fellow judges that the young camp guard understood his beating, torturing and killing of Muslims to be part of a campaign of ethnically targeted genocide. A former farm mechanic, Mr. Jelisic materialized as a henchman for Bosnian Serb military forces that swept into Brcko, a Muslim-majority town in northern Bosnia, in May 1992. He became a shift commander at the Bosnian Serbs' Luka detention camp, where hundreds of local Muslims and some Croats were detained. A swaggering, cold-blooded man of just 23, he adopted the name ''Adolf'' in tribute to his role model, Adolf Hitler. According to testimony, he was feared by his mostly Muslim detainees for his capricious morning choices of victims selected for violent interrogations and worse.
©The International Herald Tribune

IHD WARNS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN PRISONS(Turkey)
The Ankara branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) warned about human rights violations in prisons at a press conference in front of Ulucanlar Prison. Members of the branch said that even government officials have accepted that they have lost control in prisons. Turkey has seen number of riots by different groups in prisons all over the country in recent months. According to the IHD members, the government was responsible for the deaths of 10 people in Diyarbakir Prison in 1996, and the deaths of 10 people from torture in Ulucanlar Prison on Sept. 26, 1999. The members claimed that the government is responsible for arbitrary prisoner transfers and that it is therefore not possible for it to say that it has lost authority in the prisons. They said that the government's answer is "cell-type prisons" but that the simple solution is human rights in prisons. The IHD stated that human rights must be the dominant force in prisons, not the government, and that prisoners have rights like everyone else. The members said: "On the eve of the new millennium, during Human Rights Week, all of us here are either in prison or in front of it. So we are asking everyone not to forget the people, lives and hopes behind the walls. Don't forget that these people must have human rights; otherwise, forget about your own humanity."
©Turkish Daily News

IND FORCES LOCAL AUTHORITY TO STOP SUPPORT ASYLUM SEEKERS(UK)
The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns has had a number of phone calls today from Social Services workers around the UK, that they had received phone calls from the The Immigration and Nationality Directorate(IND) telling them to suspend services to named individuals. NCADC Received the following from George House Trust This PM. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate has recently issued a draconian directive. This forces local authority social service departments to stop supporting named asylum seekers who the Directorate claims are not seeking asylum (when in fact we know from our own experience that some at least of these named people are seeking asylum). The hardship this will cause, at this time of year, is immense. There is also a threat that this Directorate will use the information from Local Authorities to take steps themselves. And from the Local Authority point of view, there is a loss of revenue (Government taking back money it was giving to support the asylum seekers in the first place). Denise McDowell, George House Trust Below was received today Thursday 16 December 1999 by all Directors of Social Services.:

Immigration and Nationality Directorate Director Bob Eagle
Asylum Seekers Support Project Team

Date: 30 November 1999

If you have any enquiries about this letter please contact Joe Heatley

Dear (SSD Director)

ASYLUM SUPPORT : DATA MATCHING EXERCISE
You will recall that all local authorities were invited to let us have information about asylum seekers being supported by local authorities under the terms of the National Assistance Act 1948 (ie single adults or groups without children under the age of 18). I was very grateful for the responses which we received from your authority. We have conducted checks of records in the IND of all those asylum seekers to whom you are providing support. The attached list [we are not attaching these names, for obvious reasons] highlights those for whom we can either find no record of an asylum claim or, according to our records, the asylum claim has already been determined.

If this information is correct, then from the time the statutory interim arrangements are implemented (probably 6 December, although the date is yet to be confirmed) local authorities will no longer have a power nor duty to provide support for failed asylum seekers.

May I suggest that you contact the individuals concerned to establish whether they believe they have an outstanding asylum application. This means that they have an outstanding application to IND for asylum, or that having received a negative decision, they have made an appeal to the IAA or tribunal.

I should be grateful if you could let us know if the individuals concerned can demonstrate that they continue to have an outstanding asylum application and are thus eligible to continue to be supported. Where that is not the case, you may wish to point out to them that you will not have a power or a duty to support them after the interim arrangements are implemented and that they would be expected, where it is possible to do so, to leave the country. You may also wish to point out that this information has been passed to the Immigration Service Enforcement Directorate, who may take steps to ensure removal of the individuals concerned.

However it will only be lawful to terminate support where it is clear that the asylum seeker has received a final decision on their claim. It would therefore be very helpful if you could establish whether those you are currently supporting, who on the face of it have already had a final negative decision, do have any just cause to consider themselves ongoing asylum seekers.

Yours sincerely
Bob Eagle
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)

BIASED-LOOKING DEPORTATION BLOCKED(UK)
British Home Secretary Jack Straw suffered a rare legal defeat in the High Court yesterday when his decision to deport an asylum seeker was overturned, reports Reuters. A judge held the Home Secretary had "misdirected'' himself. The case centred on 34-year-old John Quaquah, an asylum seeker from Ghana who, with a group of other asylum seekers from West Africa, is suing the Home Secretary and security company Group 4 for damages after an alleged malicious prosecution. This follows the collapse at Oxford Crown Court last year of criminal proceedings against them on riot and disorder charges. Judge Michael Turner ruled that the Home Secretary, in ordering Quaquah out of the country might, have given the impression that he was putting difficulties in the way of Quaquah being able to proceed with his case. The Guardian also reports a businessman has been banned from bidding to house 1,000 more asylum seekers under the new national dispersal policy after allegations of physical assaults, racism, overcrowding, inadequate food, mismanagement of the asylum voucher system and children left at risk.
©Refugees Daily

POLICY AT CROSSROADS (Ireland)
Asylum-seekers next year are likely to be met with a very different welcome to the 17,000 or so who have sought refuge in Ireland to date, reported the Irish Times yesterday. Instead of getting cash social welfare payments, they will receive payments in kind, such as food vouchers or debit cards. Instead of staying initially in hotels, hostels or even city parks, they will be temporarily housed in a Dublin reception centre before being moved on to longer-stay accommodation, most likely outside the capital. These are the government's main planned changes to the reception process for asylum-seekers. Dispersal and direct provision are the latest buzz-words in asylum-seeker reception policy, with a special inter-departmental directorate set up to co-ordinate and plan for their formal implementation early next year. Separately, UNHCR representative Hope Hanlon says receiving refugees has proved a challenge to Ireland, which has produced so many in the past. With UNHCR's support and guidance, Ireland's asylum system has undergone significant developments. But recent proposals to disperse asylum-seekers and provide direct assistance have provoked a rash of emotional debate. Ireland's asylum policy now stands at a crossroads. Ireland can either embrace its international obligations and provide a fair and humane system of protection for refugees and asylum-seekers, benefiting from the diversity and richness they bring. Or it can turn away from good international citizenship and spawn a marginalised underclass.
©Refugees Daily

NO PROSECUTION FORMER DUTCHBAT TROOPERS (Netherlands)
After over a year the Public Prosecution office (PPO) in Arnhem has closed it's investigation on possible criminal behavior by former Dutchbat soldiers in the Muslim enclave Srebrenica in 1995. According to the Dutch NOS-Journaal(TV news) no soldiers will be prosecuted for criminal offences like bringing the Nazi salute, driving into a group of Muslims, separating Bosnian men and women, antisocial behaviour towards the population van de bevolking and inciting prostitution in the Muslim enclave. Public Prosecution office (PPO) won't "confirm or comment on anything". Neither will the ministry of Defence or the Justice department. All 476 statements made by ex-Dutchbatters during their debriefing in Assen, were made availaible to the PPO in August 1998. In 1996 the Justice department only had a brief summary and didn't see occasion for a criminal investigation. The complete, anonymised version however, did offer clues for such an investigation. Earlyer on the PPO "perhaps could have been more energetic", acknowledged spokesmen of the Justice department in August of last year.

SWISS CABINET CHOSEN: NO EXTRA SEAT FOR SVP
Billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, failed Wednesday to enter the Cabinet at the expense of the left-wing Social Democrats. Switzerland's lawmakers re-elected all seven outgoing ministers, upholding the country's 40-year-old power sharing accord, known as the "magic formula." In last October's election the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) , which is against immigration and wants to keep Switzerland out of the European Union, gained 15 seats to make it the third party in the ruling four-party coalition. Some 4.6 million Swiss voted for 200 members of the House of Representatives and 40 of the 46 members of the Senate. The chambers do not necessarily affect the make-up of the seven-member government, composed since 1959 according to a formula which gives two seats to the Radicals, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, and one to the Swiss People's Party. The outcome of the elections gave the SVP 23 % of the vote for the 200-seat lower house, up from 14.9 % in 1995, the Social Democrats (SP) 21 %, down from 21.8 % four years ago, the Liberal Radical Democrats (FDP) 20 % and the Christian Democrats (CVP) 15 %.

WOMEN TO GET TOP EC JOBS UNDER NEW BIAS RULES(European Union)
Women are to be given precedence over men when applying for jobs as Eurocrats in Brussels, Neil Kinnock, vice-President of the European Commission, announced yesterday. The five-year programme of positive discrimination means that if male and female applicants are equally well-qualified for a high-ranking post, the woman will get the job. The bias in favour of women will last until the current European Commission ends its term in January 2005. Mr Kinnock's aim is to double the proportion of senior posts taken by women in the upper echelons of the Commission. At present, out of the 55 so-called A1 posts in Brussels - directors general, deputy directors general and chefs de cabinet in a commissioner's private office - only two are filled by women. For the next rank down - A2 posts - just 19 of 192 positions are filled by women. This means that just over 90 per cent of the most senior and powerful posts in the Commission are occupied by men. Announcing the move in Strasbourg, Mr Kinnock said it was "positive action to improve the career prospects of women civil servants". The plans are contained in a paper entitled "Merit, Equal Opportunities and Geographical Balance", a central plank of Mr Kinnock's programme of internal reform in the EU civil service. Another objective of the programme is to achieve a "spread of all nationalities of the European Union at all levels of the hierarchy", thereby ending national fiefdoms and the tendency for certain posts to be regarded as the preserve of one country. A spokesman for Mr Kinnock said: "A public institution should be representative of all sections of the public it serves." Achieving a better balance between men and women in the Commission is one of the main aims of Romano Prodi, its Italian president. He was disappointed only to be able to appoint five women to his team of 20 commissioners in September. At the Helsinki summit last weekend, Mr Prodi also bemoaned the lack of women heads of EU governments round the negotiating table.
©Electronic Telegraph

NEW HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT IS OUT
The report includes an overview on Human Rights Developments in Europe and Central Asia and by country reports.
Human Rights Watch World Report 2000

LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE BOOKSHOP ASSAULTED(France)
On Saturday December 4th, Le Monde Libertaire bookshop was assaulted by two people who threw in tear-gas and padlocked the main door. This happened at a rush hour, main people inside were attending a discussion with Jean-Jacques Gandini about his book "Papon's case". Everybody could go out using the emergency exit, and a passer-by in the street removed the padlock. At 7 p.m., a so-called "Jew People Front" claimed by phone to be the author of the action. This obviously looks like a antisemitic fake and will not mislead anybody. We just can remember that recently antifascist activists were violently assaulted during demonstrations behind a Paris extreme right-wing bookshop (details in Monde Libertaire issue #1182, 11/25/99). The Monde Libertaire bookshop -- as well as the Plume Noire bookshop in Lyon three years ago -- will know how to reply with appropriate means, so that freedom of speech stops being threatened.
Federation Anarchiste

CHARITY FUNDS FROZEN IN NEO-NAZI LINK PROBE(UK)
The Charity Commission has been forced today to refreeze the funds of two London-based charities and reopen its investigation into international neo-Nazi links. The move follows months of pressure by the Evening Standard during which evidence has been uncovered that unsuspecting Londoners are being duped into financing a secret fascist village in Spain run by the Trust of St Michael the Archangel and the St George's Educational Trust. The Commission, having given the two charities a clean bill of health after a year-long investigation, has finally decided to re-examine their links with the sinister International Third Position (ITP), an underground organisation advocating the destruction of Israel, the repatriation of ethnic minorities and the persecution of homosexuals. The Evening Standard has established that at least four bogus St Michael's "charity" shops in the capital and the St George's Educational Trust are fronts for this neo-Nazi group. It has also found that their main trustees are leading ITP activists, including its founder Roberto Fiore, who has been living in London since been convicted of associating with Right-wing subversives and jailed in his absence by an Italian court in the Eighties. The Standard also discovered that profits from the "charity" shops in Maida Vale and the Old Street area are used to finance neo-fascist propaganda and an indoctrination programme aimed specifically at children in Britain and across Europe. Accounts for St Michael's, submitted to the Commission, showed that last year it had an income of £43,349. Some of that money is being channelled to an ITP village project in Spain, advertised on the Internet as a haven where "nationalists" from all over Europe can live as part of "a new order". (See also UK NEONAZI'S BUY SPANISH VILLAGE, I CARE News November 15)
©Evening Standard

ANGER OVER UK RESIDENCIES BEING SOLD FOR 1 MILLION POUNDS
The Government is facing fierce criticism over its failure to stop foreign entrepreneurs from buying residence in Britain for £1m. When the Tories introduced the immigration rule in 1994, Labour promised to abolish it if it came into power. Now, Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, has demanded to know why the Government has cut benefits to asylum-seekers while giving foreign investors the right to residence here in exchange for cash. The rules introduced a new "investor" category for non-EU citizens who want to make a permanent home in Britain. They do not affect the Conservative treasurer, Michael Ashcroft, because he holds a UK passport. Under the change, anyone wishing to live in Britain can gain entry if they can show they will bring at least £1m with them and will invest no less than £750,000 of it in UK government bonds or an active, trading UK company. The only restriction is that the money cannot be invested in a property company. After four years, if they can show they have made the UK their main home and neither they nor their dependents have had recourse to public funds or to working as an employee, they are granted the right to remain here permanently.
©Independent on-line

SLUR ON PM DAD'S NAZI PAST(Denmark)
After revelations made by a political opponent, the PM went on TV to reveal he did not know his father supported Hitler. An acrimonious political power struggle between Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Danish People's Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard reached a new level of personal animosity last week when it was revealed that Kjærsgaard had used unpublished information that the PM's father had been a member of the Nazi party, during a parliamentary debate. Recent opinion polls indicate that the right-wing Danish People's Party (DPP) has gained considerable support over recent weeks, and would currently receive around 15 per cent of all votes if an election were held today. The DPP's upsurge in popularity with voters is primarily due to a firm anti-immigration and anti-EU membership stance at a time when immigration and EU membership are the main two items on the domestic political agenda.
©Copenhagen post

SHIP OF THE DAMNED LIES TO PREVEZA(Greece)
The cargo ship Vodolei 1, carrying a reported 350 Iraqi Kurd migrants refused entry to Greek territorial waters since last Saturday, was sailing off the coast of the Ionian island of Lefkada yesterday and was believed to be heading for Italy. The ship had attempted to dock in several Greek ports. According to the Athens News Agency, the Preveza coast guard asked the ship's Bulgarian captain to lie at anchor offshore yesterday afternoon.
(Also see MIGRANTS DESPERATE ON SHIP, I CARE News December 10)
©Kathimerin English Edition

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM SITED IN DISTRICT IX (Hungary)
The Hungarian Jewish community will get a permanent home for its Holocaust museum, but not the one it had hoped for. The Ministry of National Cultural Heritage and the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) have agreed that the permanent Holocaust memorial collection and documentation center will open in the derelict synagogue of District IX's Páva utca rather than in the larger and more central synagogue on Rumbach Sebestyén utca, as was previously planned. The Government of Hungary, from where some 600,000 Jews were sent to death camps during the Second World War, promised in New York last year that it would find a worthy home for the Holocaust Museum, said Tamás Ács, head of the Investment and Assets Handling Department of the Ministry. "We are happy and sad about the decision. Jewish values will be preserved but Páva utca is not the best place, as it is out of the city center and the historic Jewish district," said Péter Tordai, head of Mazsihisz. "It will be difficult to get there both for elderly survivors of the Holocaust and tourists. We have been lobbying for the Rumbach Sebestyén utca synagogue because it would have made a unique location. "There is no Holocaust museum in the territory of the former ghetto anywhere else in the world. The Government said that there is a possibility to reconstruct the Páva utca synagogue and we accepted it," Tordai said. He added that the ideal opening time would be March 19, 2001, the anniversary of the German invasion of Hungary in1944.
©The Budapest Sun

AMNESTY DEMANDED FOR 1,500 REFUGEES (Norway)
A growing number of individuals and organizations are demanding that Norway show common decency and grant residency permits to the 1,500 foreign nationals in hiding here in Norway. The Ministry of Justice responded yesterday by granting church sanctuary refugees three days' Christmas amnesty. 59 people have claimed sanctuary in Norwegian churches. "Amnesty 2000" demands full residency permits for these people, but all they were given was a three-day amnesty.
©The Norway Post

TURKEY DETERMINED TO OVERCOME HUMAN RIGHTS DEFICIENCIES
Yesterday marked the anniversary of the 51st anniversary of the United Nations' acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Turkey President Suleyman Demirel, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and the various human rights organizations around the country all celebrated the day. Although none of these seem able to make significant strides in human rights issue, they are undoubtedly able to speak eloquently on the subject. The general emphasis was on Turkey's awareness of its own deficiencies in the area of human rights and its determination to overcome them by persisting to address the issue until Turkey had reached the zenith of international standards. In a statement issued on the occasion President Demirel said: "As we enter a new century we are beginning to reach a consensus at a global level on the universal nature of human rights and freedoms. Today's globalized world is one in which people, property, capital and ideas are able to cross borders with ever-increasing ease. In this world international public opinion is becoming ever more nfluential, and the mechanisms that secure international supervision of human rights are gaining trength. In his own statement to mark the Declaration Prime Minister Ecevit said, "As a modern society we are determined to add new reforms to those we have already made in this field thus far." "As we celebrate the last Human Rights Day of the 20th century we take great pleasure in seeing that a consensus is being reached at a global level concerning the universality and indispensability of human rights and freedom," he said. In a press conference held at the FP headquarters to mark the same occasion, Virtue Party (FP) Chairman Recai Kutan condemned the human rights situation in Turkey. Stating that there was no real freedom of expression in Turkey, Kutan said: "'Republic' is the name we give to the regime in this country. However, because we have been unable to crown our Republic fully with the democratic principals, we cannot, unfortunately, say that human rights are being fully observed." Referring to the decision made on Thursday by the Council of State that the wearing of the headscarf was not a democratic right, Kutan insisted that the headscarf issue should be dealt with within the framework of freedom of belief and religion.
©Turkish Daily News

LAST MINUTE CHANGES IMMIGRATION BILL (Spain)
Last-minute changes tightening a proposed immigration bill in Spain aroused the fury of opposition and immigrant groups on Friday. Angry immigrant associations announced they would no longer participate in the government's immigration forum after Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's centre-right Popular Party (PP) rushed through 112 amendments to the legislation, which has been under debate for 18 months. But the PP has the support of nationalist Catalonian coalition CiU for the bill, which means it is likely to be adopted by the Senate next week. The changes to the bill, which initially set out to make life for immigrants living illegally in Spain easier, have significantly cut back on their rights. While the original text, voted on November 25, said illegal immigrants who had been living in the country for at least two years could be granted visas, the new text says visas will only be given to immigrants who have at some time held a visa for at least nine months, which was not renewed. Illegal immigrants will no longer have the right to move around freely, strike and hold meetings, as laid down in the original text. The government has said the changes have been made to bring legislation into line with European law on immigration, fixed during a summit meeting in Finland in October. The Senate is to vote on the bill on December 17. The bill will then go for a second reading before the Congress of Deputies on December 21 or 22. Around 700,000 immigrants -- two percent of the population -- live legally in Spain, according to interior ministry figures. Non-governmental organisations estimate there are up to 200,000 illegal immigrants.
©AFP

POLICE RAID LEAVES ROMA CHILD INJURED(Slovakia)
A 14 year-old Romany boy was hospitalised after being shot in the leg by police with plastic bullets fired from a shot-gun during a December 2 police raid in the Romany village of ehra and Dobrá Vola near Krompachy. Romany organisations publicly condemned the shooting as another case of Roma persecution, and said they would now consider joining many of their compatriots in leaving the country to seek asylum in western Europe. The raid targeted a group of Romanies accused of injuring patrons at an all night motorway restaurant called Non-Stop Dravèe on November 19. A Roma against Roma gang-fight involving baseball bats, sticks and chains erupted in which three people were injured and one is still missing. The police used a special commando force for the raid because they believed the suspects were armed, said Police spokeswoman Jana Demjanovièová. The injured boy, identified as J.M., was taken to hospital in Krompachy. The police shot the rubber bullets to keep stray dogs away, but in J.M.`s case they opened fire because he refused to obey police orders. Pipta said the raid began at 18:00 and lasted till 21:00. It was monitored by the director of the Slovak Criminal Police Department, who said that no citizen`s rights were violated. Pipta added that reports on the private TV Markíza stating that personal belongings had been thrown out windows and furniture upended by police were false.
©The Slovak Spectator

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON NEO-NAZIS TRANSLATED(Sweden)
Four of Sweden's larget daily newspapers collaborated to print an investigative article on the Swedish nazi movement on the 30th of november 1999. (See I CARE News December 1 NEWSPAPERS PUBLISH NAMES AND PHOTOS NEO-NAZIS) This article has been translated into English, Spanish and Serbo-Croatian and can be found at the following three links.
Espanol
English
Serbo-Croation

LESS WOMEN VOTE FOR EXTREEM RIGHT(Belgium)
For the first time, at the latest parliamentary elections in Belgium, the female vote for the ‘Vlaams Blok' was significantly lower than the male vote. The extreem right party did get 18,1% of men and 11% of women votes. The amount of women voting for this party stayed at the same level as compared to the 1995 elections, therefore the growth of the party is due to the increase of men voting for them, according to sociologist Jaak Billiet (Royal University of Leuven).

ADRESS BY MAX V/D STOEL, HC ON NATIONAL MINORITIES
The following is an address delivered by Max van der Stoel, High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), at the International Conference on Human Rights of the Visegrad 4 Countries, Bratislava, December 10, 1999.
"We are three weeks away from the turn of the millenium. Three weeks away from the end of one of the most dynamic yet destructive centuries in the history of mankind. It is perhaps too early to look back at the last 100 years with measured objectivity. But I think that it is fair to say that one of the defining characteristics of the 20th century was the impact of excessive nationalism and the clash between the principles of sovereignty and self-determination. Wars have been fought in defence of these principles; states have been created and broken up in their name; ideologies have been driven by them; and millions of people have been expelled or killed either fighting for, or being victimized by, nationalistic or ethnically-based ideals. These events have had a disproportionate impact on central Europe. A century that began with most of this region as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, was ravaged by two world wars, experienced the rise and fall of Communism, was defined by the creation and break-up of states, and now ends with closer integration into Western Europe. Many of these events stemmed from the multi-ethnic nature of the region. But there is nothing inevitable about inter-ethnic conflict. It is man-made and can be prevented by mankind. Nationalism may have primordial elements but people are not somehow predisposed to fight each other because of differences in language and culture. The idea of the nation-State protecting the so-called "State-forming nation" is losing its relevance in an increasingly inter-dependent world. We still see spasms of nationalistic excess in Europe from people who promote or defend an ethnic rather than a civic view of the state. This is dangerous for, as we have seen too often in this century, appeals to ethnic nationalism come at the expense of the equals rights of individuals, especially those in the minority. The negative impact of malign nationalism and the inability to satisfy the aspirations of minorities without violently breaking up States will be with us well into the next century unless we come up with new ways of accommodating and integrating diversity within the political order of the State and developing more effective means of protecting the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. On the national level, the onus is on the state to create an environment where all citizens can enjoy their identity and reach their full potential. As few modern societies are ethnically homogeneous, this means integrating minorities into society. Integration can not occur if whole groups of persons remain excluded from being a legitimate and recognized part of the community in which they live, and on which they must depend for the enjoyment of their rights. The need for integrating diversity should therefore be one of the main lessons that we take from the 20th century. Attempts to peacefully or violently create ethnically "pure" nation-states have largely failed. Those that have been successful have still had to come to terms with minorities in their midst. In short, multi-ethnic society is a reality which one can not "solve". Diversity and pluralism must be accepted and seen as potential sources of strength rather than as weaknesses or threats.
For complete text go here

DENMARK IMPOSES VISA REQUIREMENT ON SLOVAKIA
The Danish Interior Ministry announced on November 29 that Denmark had temporarily suspended the visa exemption agreement between the two countries because of the growing number of Romany asylum seekers in Denmark. Ministry officials added, however, that the Romany claims of being discriminated against in Slovakia may not be justified. The visa requirement does not concern diplomatic and business passport holders. Among European countries earlier this year, Finland recorded the highest number of asylum seekers from Slovakia (1150), followed by Belgium (224), Denmark (215), Sweden (124), Switzerland (85), Norway (68), the Netherlands (44), Austria (11), and Ireland (7). After the installation of the visa duty by Great Britain, no Slovak citizen has attempted to gain British asylum. On July 7, Finland imposed a visa requirement on Slovakia, followed by Norway on July 27. Both governments announced that they believed Slovakia to be a democratic European country despite the difficult living conditions endured by the Roma community.
©The Slovak Spectator

MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETY(Denmark)
Every tenth child born in the country is born to a non-Danish mother, according to latest statistics released Wednesday. In Copenhagen the number of children born to foreign mothers is the highest, at almost 20%, while in some provincial districts there is no record of any non-Danish mothers giving birth at all. 7.4% of all new-born children have a Third World ethnic background. Somalian women living in Denmark are the most productive and have an average 5.5 children, Lebanese mothers 5 children, and Iraqi mothers 4.5 children. The statistics only include mothers who are foreign nationals, but resident in Denmark, and do not include the approximately 115,000 people with foreign backgrounds who have become Danes.
©Copenhagen post

TV TAKEN TO TASK FOR ETHNIC ERRORS (UK)
Ethnic minorities are being portrayed as two-dimensional characters in soap operas and other television shows, a study claimed yesterday. The Broadcasting Standards Commission said black and Asian characters were often included in television plots simply to make a point rather than as an integral part of the drama. The report said broadcasters made little attempt to show how ethnic minorities fit into the community. Ethnic groups still suffer stereotyping on television, according to the report, Include Me In. In an episode of Coronation Street, a black character was immediately involved in a crime. Another common complaint concerned the Asian couple Gita and Sanjay in EastEnders. People interviewed said the pair were portrayed as different only because of their skin colour. "Gita and Sanjay are Asians," said one viewer. "But they don't show any religious ceremonies or relatives." The report, by Annabelle Sreberny, of the University of Leicester, also claimed that minorities were too often shown representing or fitting into their own ethnic group, rather than mixing with other sections of society. Channel 4 and BBC2 were seen as the stations which were more likely to represent minorities properly, said the report. The BBC2 comedy Goodness Gracious Me was judged to have made great strides in representing the Asian community and crossing over to a mainstream audience.
©Electronic Telegraph

CPS FACING INQUIRY ON RACISM ALLEGATIONS(UK)
The Crown Prosecution Service is facing an inquiry by the Commission for Racial Equality into alleged racism in its recruitment and promotion of staff. Unless the CPS can satisfy the commission by next month that it is taking steps to address the problem, a formal investigation will begin. Senior CPS staff could be required to disclose files or give evidence. It could lead to the commission recommending changes to promote equal opportunity or issuing "non discrimination notices" to stop perceived breaches of the Race Relations Act. It will be only the fourth "formal investigation" launched by the commission in the past five years, the others being into the Household Cavalry, Hackney Council in London and a computer maintenance company. The commission's decision follows complaints of racial bias in recruitment and promotion in the CPS, going back several years, and frustration that it is not addressing the problem fast enough. Industrial tribunal cases found that two Asian prosecutors had been discriminated against in being denied promotion. There was also concern that none of the 42 chief prosecutors appointed under recent reorganisation is from an ethnic minority. Bob Purkiss, a senior CRE commissioner, said he hoped that early next month the CPS would come forward with an "action plan" that offered the basis for "a binding agreement on transforming the organisation" and meeting CRE concerns. Mark Addison, the CPS chief executive, said it was determined to make sure that the CPS "meets the needs of a multi-racial society" and it was sure that it could "convince the CRE that we mean business". Peter Herbert, chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers, said that the CPS had "significantly failed to address the racist culture among its senior managers".
©Electronic Telegraph

KOSOVARS REFUSE TO LEAVE CAMP (Macedonia)
UNHCR withdrew its staff yesterday from the last camp in the FYR of Macedonia housing Kosovo refugees, reports AP. Staff left the Stenkovec II camp at 5pm yesterday, officials said. The move followed a decision to close all of the nine refugee camps, which once sheltered tens of thousands of Kosovo refugees. Still remaining in the camp yesterday were some 1,200 refugees, mostly Kosovo Roma, or Gypsies, who had adamantly refused to accept shelter within other Macedonian centres, hoping to be granted resettlement in third countries. As of today, UNHCR will no longer provide these refugees with daily supplies of food and medicine. The camp, however, will still have access to water and electricity. The remaining Stenkovec refugees face potential deportation under Macedonian law after a 60-day grace period. The withdrawal of UNHCR from the camp is seen as a way to pressure the last Kosovo refugees to accept alternative shelter. But AFP reports the 1,250 refugees still living in Stenkovec II are mostly ethnic Albanian.
UNHCR Refugees Daily

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE PRESS DISCUSSES MIGRANT ISSUES(Greece)
Foreign-language newspapers in Greece play a significant role in informing migrants about issues that affect them. On Tuesday, publishers and editors of several such publications met to discuss some of these burning issues and to voice migrants' concerns to Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis. The lunch proved a unique opportunity for both parties to exchange views on immigration policy. Chrysohoidis was able to take heed of various problems faced by Greece's migrants. The minister admitted that Greek society was rather slow in responding to the migration flow and expressed concern over the possibility of the emergence of a far-right movement based on a racist anti-migrant platform which will grow in popularity - a common phenomenon in other European countries - if society and the government do not take the necessary measures. Chrysohoidis said he feels he is a "progressive" politician who is fully aware that Greek society is moving in the direction of multiculturalism. Çowever, he did stress that the local community is one with "particularities" that must be taken into account. The meeting was well-timed as the interior ministry, in cooperation with the public order and other ministries is currently drafting new immigration legislation. Chrysohoidis expressed his confidence that this draft legislation will encourage migrants to enter Greece legally with special work contracts. He also stressed that securing the borders against illegal migration is a priority for his ministry. The minister emphatically ruled out, at least in the short term, the possibility of a second amnesty which countless of undocumented migrants are hoping for. Chrysohoidis, fully aware that other European countries faced with a similar immigration problem have carried out several legalisation procedures, said the government wants first to gain a clear picture of the situation in Greece. A first priority is to regulate seasonal workers from neighbouring countries. Chrysohoidis also announced his ministry's plans to relocate the aliens' bureau currently at the Athens police headquarters on Alexandras Avenue to a building across the street. He aims at tapering the bureaucratic paper chase involved in applying and renewing residence and work permits - to make these procedures almost automatic - saying this would be more effective and objective. Romolo Gandolfo, the editor of the English-language daily Athens News, said it would have been helpful for migrants if posters and other media material outlining the legalisation process were printed in different languages. He drew from the experience of other European countries where this has led to society being more open to foreigners. The publisher of the Arabic-language weekly Al Ta'awon, Massoud Ghandour, raised the issue that Greek society as a whole must be willing to embrace foreigners and to encourage them to hold onto their cultural and religious identity. He said that for the Muslim community in Greece the opening of a mosque in Athens is vital if migrants are to keep their culture and identity alive and to prevent the possibility of fundamentalist groups from gaining influence. Pointing to the front page of her Bulgarian-langauge daily Lampsi, Pontida Rositsa referred to recent rumours that those who have applied for the Green Card but have not yet obtained it will not be able to visit their homelands over the holiday period and return to Greece after the New Year. Chrysohoidis reassured that this is not true and said that migrants who hold the relevant document (veveosi) are free to travel and celebrate the New Year in their homelands. Theodoros Benakis, the publisher of the Polish weekly Kurier Atenski, who was instrumental in organising the meeting, said that an open dialogue between migrants and the ministry is vital to correctly informing foreign readers about governmental policies. Chrysohoidis agreed and suggested that a second meeting should be arranged as soon as the new bill is announced, so that his ministry can take into consideration the experience in migrant issues of foreign-language editors and reporters.
©ATHENS NEWS - Electronic Edition

MIGRANTS DESPERATE ON SHIP(Greece)
The Greek coastguard was playing cat and mouse yesterday with a shipload of 380 increasingly desperate illegal migrants seeking some way to land on European Union territory while Bulgarian officials said food on the ship was short, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. It was the fifth day that the Bulgarian freighter Vodoley 1 had been cruising the stormy Aegean Sea looking for a landfall. The Greeks estimated about 250 refugees from the Middle East were aboard the vessel, but the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said it understood 380 were aboard. It said some had fallen sick. With food short, the Bulgarian embassy in Athens was standing by to help, Sofia said. The migrants were in dispute among themselves about whether to keep trying to land in Greece or to risk moving on to Italy. Bulgarian newspapers reported there had been hysteria and fistfights aboard. The migrants, most of whom did not appear to be political refugees, were demanding the crew of eight refund the smuggling fees.
UNHCR Refugees Daily

EQUAL RIGHTS: RIGHT OF COMPLAINT RECOGNISED(Liechtenstein)
In its session on 30 November, government signed the supplementary protocol to the agreement for removing all forms of discrimination of women. Since 21 January 1996 Liechtenstein has been a contractual partner of the agreement of 18 December 1979 on the removal of all forms of discrimination of women. In the past four years, the United Nations devised a supplementary protocol to this agreement. Its main aim is to improve the translation into action of the agreement in the contractual states. To this end, an appellate procedure for individual persons and groups, who think that their state of domicile violates rights which are anchored in the agreement, is introduced. These persons or groups are able to file a complaint with the committee of experts which is in charge of auditing the translation of the agreement.
©Liechtensteiner Vaterland

POLISH COURT ACQUITS HISTORIAN ACCUSED OF 'AUSCHWITZ LIE.'
The Opole district court on 7 December acquitted historian Dariusz Ratajczak of charges of disseminating the so-called "Auschwitz lie" in a book published earlier this year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 November 1999), PAP reported. In his book, Ratajczak had presented the opinions of historians who deny that Zyklon B gas was used to kill Jews in Nazi death camps. He argued that he does not consider himself guilty, noting that he had merely summarized the opinions of "history revisionists." The court said Ratajczak did not commit a crime because the "social threat" posed by his book, published in only 230 copies, was of a "low degree." The court added that in the book's second edition and in public appearances, Ratajczak criticized the views of the "history revisionists."
©RFE/RL

POLISH PREMIER VOWS TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM
Speaking to Holocaust survivors in an Israeli kibbutz on 8 December, Jerzy Buzek pledged to fight anti-Semitism in Poland, dpa reported. "On the eve of the 21st century, nationalism, racism, and anti-Semitism are resurfacing in Europe. I must say with regret that Poland is not free from them either," Buzek noted.
©RFE/RL

RUSSIA AND CHINA UNITE AGAINST NEW WORLD ORDER
The presidents of Russia and China declared yesterday that human rights should never overrule national sovereignty, denouncing the rise of a new world order based on Western values. At the end of a two-day informal summit in Beijing, Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin issued a joint statement condemning the growing trend of using "pretexts such as human rights and humanitarian intervention to destroy the sovereignty of independent states". China repeated its support for Russia's military campaign in Chechnya, which world leaders including President Clinton have criticised for its brutality. In return, Mr Yelstin offered his backing for Beijing's "principled stand" in demanding that Taiwan must be reunited with China.There were bear hugs and toasts for the cameras and talk of a "strategic partnership" between China and Russia, once bitter Cold War foes. Harsh words were aimed at powers said to be trying to split Kosovo fromYugoslavia. The unnamed countries were condemned for seeking "excuses" to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
©Electronic Telegraph

SOUTH AFRICA TO HOST WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM
The United Nations intends holding a major international conference against racism and racial discrimination in South Africa - the country whose policy of apartheid once symbolised the very evils of racism and intolerance. The UN's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee unanimously adopted a resolution last week requesting the High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to undertake preparatory activities for a ''World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.'' The resolution is expected to be formally approved by the 188-member General Assembly in mid-December. The conference will take place in mid-2001 and will adopt a document containing specific goals, objectives and timetables to fight racism worldwide.
For complete text go to here

WHITE IS BETTER WHEN SEEKING ASYLUM(Netherlands)
The first conversation between contact- civilservant and asylumseeker should be taped. The prejudice of the civil servant has to much influence on his written report, which plays a big part in the rest of the procedure. This is the opinion of T.Spijkerboer who will obtain his doctorate with his thesis on the influence of stereotyping on request for asylum by women. Spijkerboer compared 252 dossiers with jurisprudence in other western countries. Over 80% of Bosnian women who fled their country were admitted to the asylum procedure, no questions asked. "That was because they are white from a country with which the Netherlands feels very involved and also hears a lot about". Stories about rape from Zairian women on the other hand are heartly ever considered credible. "The civil servant expects to hear nonsense, because in general, it's assumed that these stories are lies.

GERMAN NEO-NAZI SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS
A well-known German neo-Nazi was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison without parole for denying the Holocaust. Manfred Roeder, 70, was given the sentence for referring to the Holocaust as "humbug" during an August 1998 election rally in the eastern German city of Stralsund. In Germany, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. The rally was part of his unsuccessful parliamentary campaign as a candidate for the extreme-right National Party of Germany. During the trial, Roeder said a tape of his speech had been "manipulated and falsified," claiming statements that would have cleared him were edited out. But the judge agreed with three witnesses who said the tape was genuine. Roeder has spent time in prison before. In 1982, he was convicted in Stuttgart of incitement to murder and other charges related to arson attacks that killed two foreigners. He was released in 1990 after serving eight years of a 13-year sentence.
©The Associated Press.

SLOWER INCREASE ASYLUM SEEKERS TO NORWAY
The increase in the number of asylum seekers to Norway this year is 13,7 per cent. The increase is lower in this country than in most countries in Western and Central Europe. According to a comparison between 22 countries made by Aftenposten, Denmark has an increase of 17,2 per cent, Poland 35,6, Switzerland 54,1 and Finland 138,9 per cent. Germany, on the other hand had an increase of only 5,8 per cent, while the Netherlands and Sweden have had a decrease of 12,8 and 16,4 per cent respectively. Altogether 320 000 people have sought asylum in the 22 countries this year, an increase of 31,4 per cent from last year. Up until the end of September, 7150 persons had sought asylum in Norway this year.
©The Norway Post

ILL TREATMENT OF ROMA BY POLICE (Greece)
Amnesty International is concerned about allegations that members of the Roma community are being subjected to ill-treatment from the police forces on the ground of their ethnic identity. "These things happen sometimes", was the answer of a police officer to questions raised by Greek Helsinki Monitor about the ill-treatment of 23-year-old Rom Nikos Katsaris and his relatives, including two boys aged 16 and 17, by police in Nafplio on 12 September 1999. "Ill-treatment should never happen", is the answer from human rights organizations, Greek Helsinki Monitor, Network DROM for the Social Rights of Roma and Amnesty International who are calling on the Greek authorities to investigate promptly and impartially the ill-treatment allegations, bring to justice any police officer found responsible and ensure that adequate compensation is paid to the victims. The Greek Constitution and national law specifically prohibit the use of ill-treatment or torture. Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Greek Constitution states that: "Torture, any bodily maltreatment, impairment of health or the use of psychological violence, as well as any other offence against human dignity, are prohibited and punished as provided by law". Under Article 137 of the Greek Penal Code, the prescribed penalty, in principle, for someone found guilty of torture is between three years' to life imprisonment. The penalty is of at least 10 years in the most serious cases and life imprisonment if the victim dies. A prison sentence of three to five years applies in less serious cases. Persons convicted of torture are automatically deprived of their political rights and dismissed from their jobs.
Amnesty International Greece
Greek Helsinki Monitor

NO MORE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO IRISH (Ireland)
A government sponsored commission recommends scrapping the preferential treatment given to Irish. In a report to be launched tomorrow, the commission recommends that bonus marks should no longer be awarded for answering Leaving Cert questions in Irish. The report also calls for 5% of all college places to be set aside for disadvantaged students. Approximately 3,000 students sit their exams in Irish every year. Eoghan O´ Laoghaire of the patronage body for all Irish schools said scrapping bonus marks awarded for answering in Irish was a further blow to our native language. "I see this proposal as dreadfully retrogressive and pointless. Even less than 5% of all exam students answer in Irish as it is," said the Foras Patrúnachta na Scoileanna lán Ghaeilge official. Mr O´ Laoghaire said all who have worked hard to promote the language would be demanding to know why the proposal was made. "The bonus marks are already on a graded scale and not everyone gets a 10% bonus across the board. This is another sad day for everyone who works so hard to promote our native language,'' he added.
The Points Commission, set up by Education Minister Micheál Martin to examine the selection procedure for third level, also suggests:
• Additional financial support, above the current maintenance grant level, to be given to disadvantaged students going to college.
• That every pupil should have access to a comprehensive guidance and counselling service.
• That by 2005, each institution should set aside a quota of at least 15% of places for students aged 23 and over.
• That the Department of Education and Science and the Higher Education Authority develop a fund to support part time undergraduate courses.
• That the hardship fund in each college be increased to help the less well off meet the cost of their education.
© The Examiner

RUMBLING ON THE RIGHT BREEDS UNEASE (Austria)
The scene was a classic late-autumn afternoon in one of Europe's most unchanging capitals - women wearing hats at round marble tables, aging men in green loden coats bidding each other stiff hellos, a waitress of iron formality serving coffee and cakes. But even the undying rituals of a once-imperial city could not mask the unease rippling through Vienna about the seemingly unstoppable rise of Jörg Haider, the right-wing populist who captured the No. 2 spot in national elections in October. His showing has paralyzed national politics while the two parties that have dominated Austria since World War II try to figure out their future, and it has galvanized what Mr. Haider's opponents view as worryingly weak resistance. ''This is one of the most unpolitical countries in Europe,'' railed Harald Posch, a theater director. Mr. Haider is popular, he said, ''because he has the only party which really still operates with faith, with a belief - the others have lost their identity because they are just running things, managing affairs.'' ''Haider opens his mouth and says, 'No,' and to unpolitical people it feels good, as if finally somebody is against all this,'' he said. ''All this'' is code for the cozy decades in which the two dominant parties simply divided the spoils of power in a system that parceled out control of everything from schools to banks along party lines. It is a system that helped heal the deep political wounds of prewar politics that had facilitated the rise of Hitler. Austrians may blame globalization in the abstract; in life, they often take out their frustration on the hundreds of thousands of foreigners living among them who were allowed entry over decades to do the menial jobs that few Austrians want. Mr. Haider's party did well in Vienna with a simple slogan, ''Stop the Ueberfremdung,'' an appeal against ''overforeignization'' that, to a German speaker, carries connotations of Goebbels, as indeed do other aspects of Mr.Haider's speeches. He now disowns the slogan and says it was dreamed up by the Vienna branch of his Freedom Party. Foreign furor over Mr. Haider's ascent has often focused on his statements in praise of Nazi labor policies and the steadfastness of former members of the Waffen SS. Since the election, he has set out to dispel suggestions of neo-Nazism, embarking on a kind of goodwill tour to various Western European countries and to the United States, where he competed in the New York City marathon and told Austrian journalists about reconciliatory meetings with American Jewish groups. In November, he summoned his Vienna faithful to the old imperial palace, the Hofburg, to deliver what he framed as an apology to anybody he might have unintentionally offended with his remarks. He has, he insisted, ''not even a trace of sympathy for racist and totalitarian goals,'' and he pledged, using the local color-code shorthand for Nazism: ''I will unequivocally explain my relationship to the dark past. And I won't tolerate any brown shadows.'' On the same day, the speaker of Parliament, Heinz Fischer, promised that the legislature would pass a resolution against xenophobia. That evening, about 25,000 people rallied in Vienna against racism. Since Austria's multiethnic empire disintegrated in World War I, Austrians have largely seemed to feel more at ease unter sich, among themselves, an attitude at odds with their Cold War generosity to waves of refugees from Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, with the country's membership, since 1996, in the European Union and with tentative moves, first given voice almost a decade ago by Mr. Haider, toward NATO.
©The International Herald Tribune

ROMA FORCED TO FLEE AFTER VIOLENCE SKINHEADS (Czechia)
According to the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny, twelve Roma families from the town of Ceske Budejovice in the south of the Czech Republic have left the country in the past few weeks after an attack by skinheads. Complaints for racist violence against 23 skinheads have been filed. Earlier, on November the 23rd, RomNews reported that "On Sunday evening in Budwar (Czech Republic) 30 Skinheads attacked approximately 60 Roma during their private celebration, injuring six Roma. On Monday the police arrested two men who participated in the attack. Two days later, 600 Roma left the country to the United Kingdom."
RomNews

HUGE FIGHT AT CONCERT NEO-NAZI'S (Denmark)
A rock concert for neo-nazi's last weekend in the town of Torup ended in a massive fight. 4 right extremists were arrested for possession of illegal arms. Besides that, also 3 people demonstrating against the presence of the neo-nazi's were picked up. A few hundred neo-nazi's attended the concert. As a precaution a cordon of policemen surrounded the concert hall to prevent protesters to enter the building. After this local anti-fascist demonstrators threw bottles and chunks of wood at the policemen.

POLICE IN UN RACE SCRUTINY (Denmark)
The UN's Race Discrimination Committee is investigating a charge against the Danish police force. Danish authorities have come into conflict with the UN again this week, this time following allegations of racism. The UN's Race Discrimination Committee is investigating claims from a man that he was a victim of racism at the hands of bank staff, police and a public prosecutor. According to the complainant, both police authorities and the public prosecutor in Viborg refused to investigate his claim that personnel in Sparbank Vest in Skive had subjected him to racial discrimination. The UN's Convention on Race Discrimination states that police are duty bound to investigate cases where citizens claim to have been treated differently because of race or skin colour. However, according to both the Documentation and Advice Centre for Race Discrimination (DACRC) and Lawyer Karl Nielsen, who brought the case to the UN, the police failed to investigate the case thoroughly and therefore failed in their duty.
© The Copenhagen Post

EXTREME RIGHT MEMBER OF NOBEL COMMITTEE (Norway)
The Norwegian parliament has chosen Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, MP for the extreme right Progress party, as a member for the committee that awards the Nobel peace prize. Appointments to the committee are related to the distribution of seats in parliament. Since the 1997 elections the Progress party is the second biggest party in Norwegian parliament

DUTCH MINISTER EMPHASIZES KURDISH QUESTION DURING TURKEY VISIT
During a meeting with Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem, Dutch foreign minister Jozias van Aartsen expressed concern over Turkey's treatment of minorities, the Istanbul-based Marmara newspaper reported Wednesday. According to the newspaper, van Artsen's comments have angered his Turkish counterpart. The Dutch official has also said that the matter of ill-treatment of minorities in Turkey must be addressed immediately after the upcoming European Union summit, scheduled to convene this month in Helsinki. The Turkish press echoed concerns over the Netherland's decision to focus its attention on Turkey's minority issues. The Dutch minister also commented that Turkey's strides to end human rights violations were not sufficient. Van Aartsen also expressed his dissatisfaction with the constitutionally powerful position enjoyed by the Turkish army. "Such favoritism is not acceptable for European countries. This is an issue that Turkey must address in the future," commented the minister. The Dutch official told Cem that the Netherlands would support Turkey's petition to join the European Union and added that Cyprus' membership in the Union must be contingent upon the resolution of that conflict. In opposing the Dutch foreign minister's position, the Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Sermet Atacanle said that comments made by the "visiting diplomat" were his own opinion and will in no way effect Turkish policy. "It is unacceptable for Turkey to call its Kurdish population a 'Kurdish minority,'" said Atacanle. The foreign ministry spokesman said that it was imprudent to connect Turkey's membership in the European Union to any other issue. "Turkey will not accept such preconditions. Kurds in Turkey do not have minority status," he concluded. The Turkish treatment of its Kurdish minority has been subject of criticism by numerous countries, including the US. The international community, especially Europe, has urged Turkey to clean up its act.
© 1999 Asbarez Online

LEFT CALLS FOR BETTER BALANCE(Hungary)
Left-wing organizations demonstrated in front of Parliament against the gaining popularity of right-wing ideas. Their peaceful demonstration was disturbed by young members of the right-wing Hungarian Justice and Life Party (Miép), who were chanting racist slogans. After the Miép group left following a quarrel with the event organizers, the demonstrators presented a petition to Speaker of Parliament János Áder. The document argued for legislation against discrimination in Hungary, including Parliament. The demonstrators expressed their sadness over the recent rehabilitation of the Royal Gendarme, which many historians say co-operated with Nazi organizations during the deportation and extermination of about 600,000 Hungarian Jews during the Second World War. This fall a memorial plaque was dedicated at the National Museum of Military History in Buda Castle to members of the Royal Gendarme who died during the war. Demonstrators also criticized historian Mária Schmidt, an advisor to the Prime Minister, who recently denied the that the Holocaust happened. The petition asked the Hungarian Government and Parliament to distance themselves from any kind of racism and to stop those who seek to trivialize or deny the Holocaust.
©The Budapest Sun

GOVERNMENT TO DISCUSS REFUGEE EXPULSIONS WITH NGO'S(Luxembourg)
Parliament yesterday spent close to three hours debating the extradition last week of 35 Kosovar refugees to Italy. The manner in which the refugees were rounded up and put on a bus bound for a refugee camp in Bologna had sparked severe criticism of Justice Minister Luc Frieden. Yesterday Frieden said that his ministry would in future inform relevant NGOs of any plans to expel refugees from the Grand Duchy and would hold talks on how best to carry out the transport of those on expulsion lists.
©Luxembourg News Online

SURPRISING APPROACH FROM EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT(European Union)
European Parliament publicised its support to Turkey's EU candidacy. The EP stated in its decision that Turkey was approved to be a candidate but it ought to progress in the reforms. The Parliament rejected a draft, which suggests that Turkey doesn't execute PKK head Ocalan, stating that there was not any connection between Ocalan and Turkey's candidacy. EP also released euro 135 million worth support to Turkey. Meanwhile, Greek Government's spokesman Dimitri Reppas stated that Turkey's candidacy would be negotiated at Helsinki Summit and Greece would not demand the subject to be postponed.
© Dünya Online

FSB BILL WORRIES CIVIL LIBERTARIANS (Russia)
Several civil liberties advocates said Thursday that legislation giving the Federal Security Service, or FSB, expanded powers was a dangerous expansion of the security agency's authority. On Wednesday, the State Duma voted 356-0 to amend the law on federal security organs, granting the FSB powers to seal off regions, confine any citizen at will, restrict travel through specific areas and order people to leave or stay in these areas. Critics said the danger was in allowing the agency itself to define when such measures were necessary. "This is a repetition of our tradition of the 1930s," said Konstantin Preobrazhensky, a former KGB officer. St. Petersburg-based Citizens' Watch vice chairman Yury Vdovin said that "any increase in the power of security organs here doesn't mean an increase in security for the people."
© The Moscow Times

UN: 2001 AS INTERNATIONAL YEAR AGAINST RACISM
General Assembly asked to proclaim 2001 international year against racism, xenophobia, other forms of intolerance. The year 2001 would be proclaimed the International Year for Mobilization against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, by the terms of a draft resolution approved by the General Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) this afternoon without a vote. Strongly reaffirming the proclamation, the Assembly would call on governments, the United Nations and non- governmental organizations to observe the Year in a suitable manner, including through programmes of action. The draft, on the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the convening of the world conference, was one of two approved by the Committee without a vote. The other concerned the elimination of religious intolerance. A third draft on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating the human rights and impeding the right to self-determination of peoples was approved by a recorded vote of 103 in favour to 16 against with 32 abstentions. By the draft on the Third Decade, which had begun in 1993, the Assembly would also decide that the world conference against racism, to be held in 2001, would be action-oriented and focused on practical measures to eradicate racism, including through measures of prevention, education and protection and with remedies that took into consideration the existing human rights instruments. Also, by the draft, the Assembly would request the High Commissioner for Human Rights to begin preparing for the world conference. It would ask the preparatory committee to draft a final document with specific goals, objectives and timetables. The Assembly would welcome the offer by the Government of South Africa to host the conference in 2001 and would appeal to all States to contribute generously to the conference voluntary fund, also calling for the national and regional meetings as well as other initiatives raising awareness about the conference.

SOUTH AFRICA COURT MAKES GAY RULING
Gay partners who are applying from abroad to become South African residents must be given the same consideration as married spouses, according to a court ruling Thursday that further broadened homosexual rights in post-apartheid South Africa. The decision by the Constitutional Court amended the 1991 Aliens Control Act, which allows only foreign husbands or wives of South African citizens to apply to become permanent residents. The country's Department of Home Affairs has used the law to turn away partners of gay South Africans who come to the country and seek permission to stay. Judge Laurie Ackermann said the law unfairly discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation. ``Such unfair discrimination limits the equality right of such people,'' he said, ``and their right to dignity.'' The case was brought by six gay couples, the government-appointed Commission for Gender Equality, and the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality. Coalition spokesman Zackie Achmat said the judgment would help at least 30 couples now applying for resident status. The ruling marked the first time the country's Constitutional Court reworded a law, the South African Press Association reported. Usually, the court must declare a law invalid and the matter reverts to Parliament. But Ackermann said striking down the law would have deprived heterosexual men and women the right to apply for residence if their spouses were South African. The ruling represented another step in unraveling old apartheid laws that forbade sexual relationships between members of the same sex.
the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality

DUTCH LIBERAL PARTY CLOSES WEBFORUM DUE TO RACISM
The Dutch liberal party (VVD) is closing down the interactive part of their webside. They decided to do so after consulting with the Dutch hotline discrimination Internet (MDI) Every day some visitors of the VVD webforum would leave racist and discriminatory remarks. According to the party-spokeswoman mrs Ginjaar they were snowed under with discriminatory slogans. The liberals could do nothing about them because the interactive forum is directly accessible for visitors. In the beginning of next year a new, moderated, webforum will go online. Ginjaar says she doesn't know if the remarks were made by VVD members airing their opinion or VVD haters trying to discredit the party.
Hotline Discrimination Internet

NEWSPAPERS PUBLISH NAMES AND PHOTOS NEO-NAZIS (Sweden)
Sweden's 4 largest newspapers have taken an unprecedented stand against Nazism Tuesday, by printing the names and photos of 62 known far right activists. The papers also dedicate pages of copy to common articles about Neo-Nazi activity in Sweden, written anonymously to protect the authors. The papers involved in the move come from across the political spectrum, from the conservative Svenska Dagbladet, to the liberal Expressen and Dagens Nyheter papers, and finally the Social Democratic Aftonbladet. Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson says he's pleased at the newspapers' actions: "The articles are further proof that Sweden is united. We will never let nazism or other threats against democracy get a foothold in our country."
Aftonbladet

POLICE ‘PUT BLOCK ON PROMOTION BLACKS AND ASIANS'(UK)
One of Britain's most successful police officers from an ethnic minority yesterday accused the service of the "ethnic cleansing" of black and Asian candidates for promotion to senior ranks. At a conference to launch the new National Black Police Association, Ali Dizaei also suggested that the testing procedures for senior ranks were "culturally biased", with too few questions about policing competence. Mr Dezaei, a law graduate who ran day-to-day policing in Oxford before joining the Metropolitan Police, said more senior officers from black and Asian backgrounds were needed to bring about changes in the force to show the public it was not racist and to act as role models for ethnic minority recruits. But he said that in the last four years not one black officer had gone through the service's accelerated promotion scheme, the "fast track" system for graduates, which is increasingly the pool from which members of the Association of Chief Police Officers are drawn. Of the 102 black or Asian candidates who applied for a place on the scheme in the four years, only two were interviewed, Mr Dezaei said. But they failed to secure places. Twelve per cent of graduates were now from black or Asian backgrounds. "I use ethnic cleansing as a manner of speech to reflect the fact that there is not one black officer on the fast track scheme and the people who join the fast track system today will become the senior officers of tomorrow." Mr Dezaei referred to what he called a "chicken mesh" at the top of the service through which black and Asian officers could see success, but could not reach it.
The Black Police Association (BPA)

NEW RULES FOR IMMIGRANT YOUTHS(Denmark)
Minister of Justice Frank Jensen is preparing new legislation to make it harder for young offenders with foreign backgrounds to get Danish citizenship. He is also considering a ban on balaclava masks. Minister of Justice Frank Jensen is considering how to change the current law about how youths obtain Danish citizenship. At the present time, young foreigners between the ages of 18 and 23 who have lived in Denmark for at least ten years can automatically receive citizenship when they apply for it. All other foreigners are required to be accepted by Parliament's Citizenship Committee. It is there they are served with a quarantine period, if they have committed any crimes. Jensen believes this should also apply to the youths. The number applications for citizenship by young foreigners has increased dramatically in the past few years.
©The Copenhagen Post
Ministry of Forreign Affairs Denmark

EXPULSION OK BY US, VOTERS SAY (Denmark)
A controversial expulsion order directed fourteen days ago against a Danish-born Turk living in Odense, Ercan Cicek, was claimed by rioters who went amok on the streets of Copenhagen last week to be the cause of their unrest. The expulsion order has been criticized as racially discriminatory and unconstitutional. Under existing legislation, do the courts indeed have the right to exile an individual born and raised in Denmark ? The government has refused to be drawn on the subject, and leading constitutional experts disagree. However a newspaper survey conducted last week by daily newspaper BT asked a random cross-section of the population what they think, and the results of the survey indicate that a resounding majority of Danes firmly support the expulsion order. Coincidentally the survey was conducted in the morning of the same day that the riots erupted.
©The Copenhagen Post

EURO-COURT OCALAN MERCY PLEA (Council of Europe)
The European Court of Human Rights asked Turkey yesterday to suspend its death sentence on the Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan. In a statement, the court said it invited Turkey to take every possible measure so that the execution is not carried out.
The European Court of Human Rights

AIR FRANCE REPORTED FOR DISCRIMINATION(France/Sweden)
Uppsala, Sweden, (AFP) - Air France has been accused of ethnic discrimination for not allowing a Moroccan citizen who had received medical treatment in Sweden to board his scheduled flight, Swedish news agency TT reported Tuesday. The airline was reported to the Ombudsman for Ethnic Discrimination, a government agency under the Ministry of Culture, the agency said. Ethnic discrimination, if proven, is a criminal offense in Sweden punishable by either a fine, a prison term, or both. An acquaintance of the Moroccan man, who reported the incident, said the man had been told at the check-out counter he could not board due to overweight baggage. He deposited half the baggage with a brother who had accompanied him to the airport in order to meet the travel requirements, but was still prohibited from boarding by ground personnel over the protests of the cabin crew. The Air France employee at Stockholm's Arlanda airport is reported to have said "...typical of Africans and Turks to always carry too many bags, and now we're going to teach them", a local newspaper reported. The re-booking to a later flight cost the traveller 850 kronor, a little more than one hundred dollars. Back home in Morocco, the sick man's family had traveled 450 kilometres (270 miles), from Marrakesh to Casablanca to meet him. Worried when he did not arrive, Air France in Casablanca was unable to provide any information whatsoever about the man or his flight bookings. The Ombudsman for Ethnic Discrimination in Stockholm told AFP the Moroccan man's case would likely be handed on to the police and tried in court.
Ombudsman for Ethnic Discrimination (Swedish only)

MIGRANTS PUSH FOR SECOND CHANCE AT LEGISLATION(Greece)
Officials at the labour ministry are currently discussing a second registration for undocumented migrants in Greece, but it is still too early to say exactly what it will involve, Vassilis Brakatsoulas, secretary general of the labour ministry, told the Athens News last week.Tens of thousands of undocumented migrants are hoping for a decision that will allow them to live and work in Greece legally without the day-to-day fear of being deported by authorities. It is uncertain at this time, however, whether a second registration will lead to the issuing of work permits, such as the Green Card. 'The labour ministry intends to give those who wish to register a chance to do so, ' said Brakatsoulas. 'But this may not necessarily secure them the right to work. An opportunity to register, however, will certainly protect them from deportation.' Brakatsoulas explained that the government is reluctant to begin a second legalisation process, but stressed labour officials are in the initial stages of discussion concerning what 'incentives' a second registration would include. It was understood, however, that one of the main aims would be for the government to determine the exact number of undocumented migrants living in Greece. A final decision regarding the much hoped-for second chance for undocumented migrants to become legal is expected by mid-January.

KUWAITI WOMEN FAIL TO WIN VOTE
Women in Kuwait were robbed of their eagerly awaited chance to take part in political life yesterday when the all-male parliament narrowly rejected a Bill to give them the vote. Hundreds of men who crowded the public gallery in the Gulf state's parliament cheered the 32-30 vote. Women, sitting separately, filed out in stunned silence, muttering under their breath about the treachery of supporters who betrayed them at the last minute. Kuwait's ruling al-Sabah family are strong advocates of allowing women to vote for the parliament and stand for elected office, which is unheard of in the other Arab states of the Gulf. But the conservative sentiments of the Sunni Muslim and tribal MPs - who want men and women segregated - carried the day. The Bill would have given women in the oil-rich emirate the right to vote from 2003. Many women had thought that the vote was in the bag. But two MPs who had backed their campaign abstained and one voted against. Yasmine al-Sabah, a young member of the ruling family, said: "It is a huge disappointment. The hypocrisy of some MPs is unbelievable." She said some MPs had followed their own agendas, rather than voting on the merits of the female vote. However, others said the margin was so close that they would continue the struggle. Sheikha al-Nisf, a women's activist, said: "We will continue to fight." It is up to the government to propose the Bill again, but it was not clear if it intended to do so. Kuwait is the only Arab state in the Gulf region with a directly elected parliament. But even in Kuwait the franchise is very restricted. Only men over 21 who have held Kuwaiti citizenship for more than 20 years can vote. Women and those serving in the police and armed forces are also excluded.
©Electronic Telegraph

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