MIGRANTS IN SWITZERLAND DEMAND A SAY
The million and a half foreigners living in Switzerland want to play an active part in the country's future. That is the message they will be conveying at the first national conference of the Forum for the Integration of Migrants in Olten on Saturday.

22/4/2005- "We talk a lot about migrants, but rarely talk to them," says Claudio Micheloni, the forum's secretary-general. "We've had enough of just being objects of conversation. We want to show that we're also capable of expressing ourselves and taking part in discussions." This conference will not be simply an enlarged general assembly for the Forum, which since November 2000 has brought together migrant associations representing roughly 50 nationalities. For the organisers it's an opportunity to make themselves seen, to talk and to show that the foreign population – of whom a quarter were born in Switzerland – are not an appendage or just a labour force, but a real part of Swiss society. "There are a million and a half of us. We're not going anywhere and neither are our children," says Antonio Cunha, the forum's president. "We are a significant part of this society and of its future."

Big names
The Forum sent out more than 1,500 conference invitations and the responses have been encouraging. The foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, will attend. The justice minister, Christoph Blocher, has prior engagements but will be represented by Mario Gattiker, the deputy director of the Federal Migration Office. Other big players from the world of politics have announced their involvement, including Doris Leuthard, president of the Christian Democratic Party, Pierre-Yves Maillard, vice-president of the Social Democratic Party, and Aliki Panayides, deputy secretary-general of the rightwing Swiss People's Party. Not to mention the parliamentarians, top-ranking cantonal officials, representatives from NGOs and the Church, trade union officials and many foreign diplomats.

Charter for integration
At the centre of the plenary talks and discussion groups is the charter of integration. This four-page provisional document is the result of several months' thought and is the synthesis of forum values. "It's not about a litany of demands," explains Cunha. "But rather the basic principles which guide what we do and which we are prepared to discuss: citizenship based on place of birth, the right to vote and eligibility, the treatment of immigrants without identity papers, access to housing, equality in employment or training, social rights..." Regarding religion, the charter advocates a "tolerant secularism", open to intercultural dialogue – both privately and publicly. "As astonishing as that may seem, it was very easy agreeing on that," says Cunha. The charter asserts furthermore "the pre-eminence of a person's rights regarding specific ethnic and religious characteristics". It defends the "total equality" of every individual, regardless of his or her origin.

Swiss compromise
Regarding cultural collaboration, the forum is keen to set an example. So migrants from Italy, Spain or Portugal share their experiences with those nationalities and ethnic groups that haven't been in Switzerland for as long. And in a very Swiss spirit of compromise, these new migrants are over-represented within the forum so that they can explain their particular difficulties, such as racism. Having existed for just over four years, the forum can already take pride in undoubted successes. It is now one of those organisations to have a say whenever a bill is put forward, and for six months it has worked hand in hand with the Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education. For 12 years the conference has made a point of providing every foreign child with schooling, whatever the legal status of their parents – even if they are illegal. Cunha says the forum was naturally saddened by Swiss voters' recent rejection of moves to simplify naturalisation and parliament's tightening of the law on foreigners. "I don't think you can build this country's future while denying reality," says Cunha. "There will be more and more mixing within Europe – and Switzerland can't escape that." Yet the forum's president remains confident. "We're not in any hurry. We're there to take part in this debate which will produce a change in attitudes and combat some people's fears and fantasies."
©Swissinfo

PATH TO INTEGRATION NEEDS POLITICAL RIGHTS(Switzerland)
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said immigrants and Swiss people must build up more mutual trust during Switzerland's first national migrant assembly. Participants added that giving political rights to foreigners would go a long way to fostering integration, which forms part of a charter unveiled during the proceedings in Olten.

23/4/2005- More than 300 people from 52 countries took part in the historic event in the north-eastern town located in canton Solothurn. They listened to the Swiss foreign minister stress that integration meant working side by side to shape the future. "Immigrants must take on responsibility within the state," she said. "We should pull together in the same direction," she added, using a metaphor taken from the game tug-of-war. Calmy-Rey said that migration had brought "incalculable advantages" to the country, adding that a quarter of Switzerland's 1.5 million immigrants were in employment. The foreign minister told the audience that she was sorry that problems with asylum-seekers were given so much exposure. This had the effect of shunting success stories of immigrants integrating themselves in Swiss society out of the limelight, she said. It was a shame that one heard more about the 51,000 asylum-seekers, who barely made up three per cent of the entire immigrant population, she added. While she emphasised that one could not ignore the fears of the population at large, discussions on immigration issues needed to be more objective. The Bern-based Forum for the Integration of Migrants (FIMM) was behind the historic conference, which it used to unveil its integration charter. This calls for ties to be strengthened between migrant communities and the Swiss population in the political, cultural and social arenas. During the assembly, FIMM's president, Antonio Cunha, made an appeal for new nationality rules based on the country of birth, as well mutual recognition and political rights for immigrants. He stressed that being able to vote in local and national elections had an important role to play in promoting integration. "We want to work together to shape the future of Switzerland," Cunha said.
©Swissinfo

FOREIGNERS IN GENEVA GET LIMITED VOTING RIGHTS(Switzerland)
Foreigners in Geneva who have lived in Switzerland for more than eight years are to be allowed to vote in local elections but will not be able to stand for political office.

25/4/2005- Sunday's vote means that Geneva joins the ranks of cantons Neuchâtel, Jura, Fribourg, Vaud and Appenzell Outer Rhodes in granting non-Swiss residents political rights. Voters in canton Geneva were asked to decide on an initiative entitled "I live here, I vote here". It was approved by 52.3 per cent of the electorate. Around 80,000 non-Swiss residents in Geneva are set to benefit from the new rule. However, 52.8 per cent of voters turned down a proposal to allow foreigners living in the canton to stand for political office. Geneva has the highest percentage of foreigners in Switzerland. Non-Swiss residents account for nearly 40 per cent of the canton's population. Overall foreigners make up just over 20 per cent of the Swiss population. Political rights for foreigners vary from canton to canton, with the majority not according any to its non-Swiss inhabitants. Canton Neuchâtel is leagues ahead of the others - foreigners there who have lived in the country for more than five years have enjoyed the right to vote and be elected in local elections since 1849. They were accorded voting rights at the cantonal level in 2000. Two years ago, the 22,000 foreigners living in the canton were permitted to vote in the Senate elections. Since 1980 non-Swiss residents of Jura who have lived in the canton for more than six years have been able to vote and stand for election at local and cantonal level. The first Swiss-German commune to accord the vote in local elections to foreigners was Wald in Appenzell Outer Rhodes, which did so in December 1999. Canton Graubünden has left it up to its communes to decide whether to accord political rights to foreigners.
©Swissinfo

GENEVA JEWS WANT ACTION OVER RACIST ATTACKS(Switzerland)
Jews in Geneva want the police to consider stepping up protection of Jewish buildings and the community after what they say is a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.The most recent incident, which took place last weekend, saw the Grand Synagogue in Geneva defaced with swastikas and neo-Nazi slogans.

23/4/2005- A memorial in front of the synagogue to the millions of Jews who died in the Nazi death camps was spray-painted with the words: "Heil Hitler" and "Gas the Jews". "It's not the first attack and it's certainly not going to be last. But it's a long time since we have seen so many anti-Semitic attacks," said Johanne Gurfinkiel, general secretary of the Geneva-based Intercommunity Centre for Coordination against Anti-Semitism and Defamation. "We are not being paranoid – we are just expressing what is going on out there. Fortunately we have not had anyone hurt or killed." The centre recorded 34 anti-Semitic attacks in western Switzerland last year, ranging from offensive graffiti and attacks on Jewish buildings to verbal assaults and anonymous letters denying the Holocaust. In a report published last month, the organisation called on the authorities to take a firmer line on anti-Semitism, especially in terms of cracking down on extremist websites. Sabine Simkhovitch-Dreyfus, president of the Jewish Community of Geneva, told swissinfo that there had been a clear increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past five to ten years.

Security issue
Simkhovitch-Dreyfus said Jewish communities were increasingly having to shoulder the burden of protecting buildings and people. In Geneva, as in other cantons, the Jewish community employs armed security guards and has been doing so for several years. "We have a good relationship with the police, but they have staffing problems and this is a problem that most Jewish communities and other institutions that need protection face in Switzerland," said Simkhovitch-Dreyfus. "Resources need to be adapted from time to time to evolving needs, and in the present context a review needs to be carried out. "Our main objective in terms of protection is the population and in particular Jews who attend religious services and other events. This is something we are trying to share with the police." Patrick Puhl, spokesman for canton Geneva police, said patrols in the area around the Grand Synagogue had been increased following the attack. But he added that it was unlikely that more would be done to protect the Jewish community. "We have to police the whole of Geneva and there are other areas of the city that need to be protected," said Puhl. "We cannot take specific measures for some [communities] and not for others. We base all our decisions on the level of danger that exists." "But we are taking this seriously and we will do our best to respond to their needs," he added.

Firebombing
Last weekend's attack on the Grand Synagogue comes a month after the firebombing of a synagogue and a Jewish-owned fabric shop in the city of Lugano in the southern canton of Ticino. Jewish leaders have been less than happy with the response from Ticino prosecutor Rosa Item who dismissed anti-Semitism as a motive, claiming the attacker – a former Lugano bus driver – was mentally unstable. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities has now written to Item, criticising her for being too quick to rule out anti-Semitism. "We have the impression that the nature of these attacks is somehow downplayed – like the murder of the rabbi in Zurich in 2001 – in that each time it's blamed on someone who is mentally unstable and not anti-Semitic," said Simkhovitch-Dreyfus. "Whatever the mental state of someone, it is too much of a coincidence that a synagogue and the business of an Orthodox Jew were attacked on the same night."

Cantonal police matter
The Federal Police Office underlined that protection of Jewish buildings and the country's Jewish community was a cantonal police matter and that it was up to the relevant authorities to decide if security should be stepped up. Alfred Donath, president of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, told swissinfo that it was too early to say whether the recent attacks on synagogues marked the beginning of a new wave of anti-Semitism in Switzerland. But he echoed Simkhovitch-Dreyfus, saying attacks against Jews and Jewish buildings had increased over the past decade. "There is an increased threat compared with five to ten years ago. There are definitely more incidents but so far we are not on a par with what is happening in France or Belgium," he said. "But there has been an increase – that's clear. What happened in Geneva has never happened before." Johanne Gurfinkiel at the Intercommunity Centre for Coordination against Anti-Semitism and Defamation said it was clear that more efforts were now needed to educate the public and to preach the virtues of tolerance. "I am worried about the number of young people, teenagers, who are expressing extreme rightwing ideologies," he said. "We have had some problems in Geneva where far-right activists have been trying to recruit in schools."
©Swissinfo

NATURALISED SWISS DO BETTER THAN NATIVES
Naturalised second-generation immigrants are high flyers when it comes to education and a career, surpassing their Swiss-born peers, says new research. However, a Swiss passport is not necessarily a solid guarantee to success on the job market or proper integration.

26/4/2005- Two studies by the Federal Statistics Office on children born in Switzerland to immigrants show that the offspring are often better educated and have better jobs than their mothers and fathers. About half a million people belong to this category, a third of whom possess Swiss nationality. The so-called "secondos" were also found to be more driven than their Swiss peers when it came to educating themselves. The study revealed that 27 per cent of naturalised second-generation immigrants went on to higher education compared with just 17 per cent of native-born Swiss. However, there was a yawning gap between secondos with Swiss nationality and those without. Only one in ten in the latter category made it into a university or technical college. The Statistics Office said that a recipe for success included the following ingredients: naturalisation, a good school education and parents with a university qualification or equivalent. Nearly half of naturalised 20-year-olds with immigrant parents falling under this category went on to higher education. For their non-naturalised counterparts, the rate fell to one third. However, the percentage of those born Swiss with similarly educated parents was lower still at 23 per cent. The study concluded that the earlier naturalisation occurred, the better the chances of integration and of having a successful career. Secondos from Spain and Italy were the best integrated in Swiss society, the study discovered. Those of Serbian, Montenegrin, Kosovar, Turkish and Portuguese origin faced a tougher ride. They tended to experience more difficulties assimilating to Swiss culture and worked in low-qualified positions. However, higher unemployment rates for naturalised citizens were proof that a Swiss passport alone could not guarantee integration or professional success.
©Swissinfo

REPORT HALVES NUMBER OF ILLEGAL RESIDENTS(Switzerland)
The number of people living in Switzerland without proper authorisation is significantly lower than previously thought, according to a study. The Bern-based Gfs Institute says that only around 90,000 people do not have a residence permit, half the lowest previous estimates.

26/4/2005- The study - funded by the Federal Migration Office - found that there was no correlation between illegal residency and the number of asylum seekers whose applications had been turned down by the authorities. Researchers said they were able to gain a more accurate picture of the situation by focusing on the labour market. Many illegal residents were found to be living in high-income areas, not only in cities but also in rural areas. In general, these individuals have jobs which demand they put in long hours for poor pay. The majority are aged between 20 and 40 and are single. In urban areas, many women without the required papers work as cleaners in private households, whereas a majority of men have jobs on farms in the countryside. The length of the average stay of such a person in Switzerland varies considerably from a few weeks to many years. The findings are based on six case studies in the following cantons: Zurich, Basel City, Thurgau, Vaud, Geneva and Ticino. The figures were then adjusted to estimate the total for the whole of Switzerland. Experts agreed that the majority of these people were not engaged in criminal activities. They also stated that the number of illegal residents could rise in the next few years.
©Swissinfo

TRUCK FOR DIVERSITY, AGAINST RACISM(Malta)
25/4/2005- A 30-ton truck, forming part of the EU anti-discrimination campaign with the motto "For Diversity against discrimination", was stationed over the weekend at Freedom Square, Valletta to provide information on discrimination, rights and European and national legislation to combat it. The truck began its second tour across Europe on the International Day Against Racism which was held on the 21st March. Based on last year's experience and huge demand from countries, it is expected to visit 23 different cities by the end of July. This tour through Europe informs the general public, in particular employers and employees, about their new rights and obligations under the European ant-discrimination legislation, not just from Brussels but on the spot. The truck tour is accompanied by both pan-European as well as national media and promotion activities. People who feel discriminated against are given the opportunity to visit the information vehicle and to voice their opinions and frustrations on discrimination. Its co-coordinators said members of the public first approached the truck out of curiosity, but then went on to avail themselves of the information on its computers and picked up leaflets before they left. The programme on the various stops includes presentations on discrimination, as well as entertainment by local and foreign talent, and has been planned in close co-ordination with national partners, NGOs, ministries, trade unions and employer associations to emphasise the national character of each venue. Panels representing unions, pensioners, people with disabilities, homosexuals, employees and religion held discussions yesterday, while entertainment included performances by the Eden Foundation's band, wheelchair dancers, singer Miriam Christine, the campaign's ambassador, and a Peruvian band.
©di-ve.com

IMMIGRANTS LEAD WAY OUT OF JOBLESSNESS(Germany)
The image of immigrants compounding Germany's jobless misery has been proved wrong by a study that says migrants take the plunge into self-employment more frequently than Germans and employ over a million people.

25/4/2005- Standing behind the meat counter of his supermarket, Orhan Alcin looks like someone who has worked to the point of exhaustion. In fact, he has. At the end of a 12-hour working day, serving and billing customers for their purchases of vegetables, meat, fruit and other foodstuff in the store in Berlin's immigrant-dominated Neukölln neighborhood, Alcin is more than ready to go home. The 35-year-old opened the supermarket, sandwiched between a Turkish café, a Lebanese car rental agency and a Greek bakery, two years ago. Like in many immigrant-run businesses, Alcin's is filled with family members. Together with his four older brothers, Alcin runs three supermarkets in Berlin. "We're almost a family enterprise," Alcin says. "We also have employees from outside, but at least one brother in every branch." Nowhere else in Germany is the industrial spirit of the country's immigrants more evident than in southern Berlin. Here businesses owned by migrants from Turkey, Russia, Italy and Arab countries dominate the streetscape. They don't just provide local color and new smells and tastes to the city, but also create much-needed jobs -- a commodity that's increasingly rare in Germany with unemployment hovering around five million.

Migrants still considered social problem
A new study called "The Importance of the Ethnic Economy in Germany," commissioned by the German Economics Ministry, has found that since 1990, the number of immigrants who have been taking the plunge into self-employment has risen by 60 percent. The study, carried out by the Institute for Research on Mid-sized Companies at the University of Mannheim, surveyed 2010 immigrants of predominantly Turkish, Greek and Italian origin. It found that three to four percent of all jobs in the country are created by self-employed people who don't come from Germany. The Alcins alone employ 10 people -- nine Turks and a German. The study also concluded that the number of new companies founded by foreigners was much higher, at 182 per 10,000 working people as opposed to just 122 among Germans. German Deputy Economics Minister Rezzo Schlauch said the stody showed that, contrary to popular belief, the jobs created by foreigners aren't just in ubiquitous döner kebap joints, vegetable and tailoring shops. "The social and economic importance of migrants is unfortunately still underestimated in Germany or not taken notice of at all." "But in fact, self-employed foreigners are increasingly getting a foothold in all areas," Schlauch said. "And that builds a positive counterweight to the cliché in society that migrants are always somehow a social problem." Alcin's supermarket is a case in point when it comes to the diversity of fields in which immigrants seek to make a living. Though Alcin mainly sells goods with Turkish labels on them, most of them don't actually come from Turkey. The traditional Turkish soft cheese, for instance, was produced in Germany by a Spanish company, while most of the fresh vegetables are from an Italian middleman.

Tougher to get loans
At the same time, Schlauch said the study had found that it was more difficult for foreign self-employed workers to get bank loans than for Germans. Alcin knows that all too well. He tried in vain to get three banks to finance his supermarket. "We also hired an accountant who readied all our documents and the banks still said 'no'," Alcin said. "We also had guarantees: for instance property, even personal assets, but the banks still refused." Alcin, like many other immigrants, was thus forced to borrow the start-up capital from family and friends. His example confirms the study's findings that foreign entrepreneurs are apparently more willing to take risks than Germans when it comes to self-employment. But, despite success stories like Alcin's, the picture is not always so rosy for immigrants. According to the study, one-fifth of all self-employed Turks said they wanted to open a shop because they were unemployed. In the past five years, joblessness among foreigners has risen by a fourth and, at 20 percent, is almost twice the German average. Companies started in need often don't survive long. And though immigrants may be turning to self-employment more frequently, they also fail at it much more often than Germans do.
©Deutsche Welle

IMMIGRATION KEY TO IMPROVING ECONOMY, EXPERTS SAY(European Union)
25/4/2005- Managed migration from new EU member states into the old as well as from outside the EU would lead to greater growth and a stronger economy, experts said at the Brussels Economic Forum on Friday (22 April). But a massive inflow of workers could have a negative impact on the economy if it is not regulated, Columbia University's Jagdish Bhagwati said. The phenomenon of illegal immigrants competing for rights and employment with legal migrants such as asylum seekers could compound the problem further, he added. "An older and declining population will pressure Europe to seek more immigration to supply labour for the economy," Mr Bhagwati said. Gudrun Biffl of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research explained that the EU must coordinate the various immigration policies currently operative in member states in order to deal with this need. She said that countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden already see around 12 per cent of their populations born outside of the EU, in a situation similar to the US. Luxembourg and Switzerland have foreign-born populations of around 20% - in line with Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Immigration of highly skilled labour, mostly university graduates and higher, goes to North America and Australia, while lower skilled workers find their way to the EU, taking up jobs disliked by current citizens, indicated Ms Biffl. The inflow of low-skilled labour has done less to increase European productivity than the migration of more highly skilled employees. The EU could attract more better qualified migrants by investing heavily in research and innovation while social cohesion could be ensured by implementing integration measures for immigrants such as language courses. Both economists stressed the dangers of uncontrolled illegal immigration in Europe, which creates tension among asylum communities as disruptive migrants give a bad name to productive immigrants. Immigration, both legal and illegal, increases the development of poor countries by boosting aid funds sent directly to outlying villages, said Mr Bhagwati, but the lack of attention paid to the "black market" economy encourages illegal immigration. "We risk the de-skilling of workers who are permanently excluded from formal employment", said Ms Biffl.
©EUobserver

TORIES DISOWN ASYLUM ADVERT(uk)
26/4/2005- The Conservative leader of Cumbria County Council has admitted that adverts the party placed in the News & Star and The Cumberland News last week are misleading and inaccurate. The advertisement was headlined: "Mr Blair's asylum chaos has cost Cumbria £450,000." It goes on to say that Cumbria County Council has spent more than £400,000 supporting the asylum system since 1997, diverting cash from "essential local services". It adds: "It's no wonder a typical band-D council tax bill in Cumbria has gone up £532.50 since 1997." Mr Stoddard made the admission after a black trade union official at the county council claimed the full page advertisement could "incite racial hatred". Mark Clifford, secretary of the council's Unison branch, says they misleadingly blame asylum seekers for increases in council tax. He has written in a personal capacity to Mr Stoddard, asking him to disown the campaign. Mr Stoddard told the News & Star he accepted that the advertisement is misleading but denies it could incite racial hatred. He said: "The Government give us a grant for whatever the figure [for looking after asylum seekers] is. It is not accurate to say that council tax payers foot the bill. "I cannot answer for an advertisement placed by Conservative Central Office." In practice, Cumbria County Council has spent £424,000 helping asylum seekers since 1997. As Mr Stoddard says, all this money was reimbursed by the Government so there has been no effect on council tax or spending on local services. But the county council has also spent £469,000 on a multi-cultural community centre in Barrow, the cost of which is borne by council tax payers. The centre supports all immigrants, not only asylum seekers. Mr Clifford's letter said: "As a black person who has suffered racism, physical and verbal, I am appalled at the Conservative Party advert. "It clearly blames asylum seekers for the increases in council tax and may well incite racial hatred. It is something I associate more with the British National Party."
©News & Star

POLICE SEARCHES UNDER SCRUTINY(uk)
26/4/2005- Concerns over the use of police stop and search powers have led to calls for young people to be better informed of their rights. Since January this year the police must give a brief report to anyone they stop in the street and should only use their powers fairly and without discrimination. The ruling came into force after it was recommended by the MacPherson report which investigated institutional racism in the Met following the death of Eltham teenager Stephen Lawrence. Police say stops are now based on either intelligence or officers' discretion. But community workers in Lewisham are concerned young people do not understand their rights. Last month the Lewisham Police/Community Consultative Group (LPCCG), which liaises between the police and the community, heard how members of the public were still concerned black youths are being unfairly targeted. One parent told how her son had been stopped 20 times without sufficient reason why. Now the group, which is tasked with monitoring stop and search use in Lewisham, is planning an educational video so young people are fully aware of their rights. It is also considering holding a conference for youngsters on policing issues and stop and search. Lewisham Community Network Equality Officer Tracey Jarrett welcomed the news young people were going to be better informed and more involved. She said: "We need to empower people to take action and ask the right questions. "We have to raise awareness about institutional racism. "And I still believe there is room for improvement." LPCCG chairman David Michael said: "It is all about community empowerment, understanding rights, young people playing their part with the police to look for solutions to prevent any misunderstandings and having a balance where police do not abuse their powers." Dates are yet to be set for the conference and funding is being sought to produce a stop and search video.
©Newsshopper

BARRISTER DISBARRED AFTER CALLING HIS INSTRUCTING SOLICITOR A 'NIGGER'(uk)
23/4/2005- An Oxford-educated lawyer has become the first barrister to be disbarred for racism after he called a senior black solicitor a "nigger" and suggested he returned to Ghana. Joseph Sykes made his comments in a letter to a London solicitor, Philip Glah, who had instructed him in an employment law case. In a disagreement between them over £16,000 Mr Sykes had owed Mr Glah but had refused to pay, Mr Sykes called him a "nigger". In the worst ever case of racial abuse at the Bar, a disciplinary tribunal of the four ancient Inns of Court found Mr Sykes guilty of racism and conduct discreditable to a barrister. The chairman of the tribunal, Judge Crawford Lindsay QC, in a decision published in the Law Society Gazette this week, found Mr Sykes's conduct of the dispute with Mr Glah had showed lack of judgement and was evidence of a "racist manner". The full ruling has been sent to Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, and Ken Macdonald QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions. In response to the ruling, Courtenay Griffiths QC, the chairman of the Bar's public affairs committee and one of Britain's leading black barristers, said: "It is absolutely appalling that in the 21st century anyone could treat a fellow professional in that way." Mr Sykes, who was called to the Bar in 2001, defended himself at the hearing and called three black solicitors to testify he was not a racist. The men, who described themselves as being of African origin, told the tribunal there had never been any "racial tension or problems" between themselves and Mr Sykes or between Mr Sykes and any of their mostly black clients. But in December, Mr Sykes's appeal was dismissed and his sentence upheld. Publishing the sentence, the tribunal said the four charges of professional misconduct would come into force from 16 March this year. Mr Sykes was a member of Gray's Inn and an Oxford MA. Mr Glah is one of two partners at his firm Philip Glah and Co. Mr Glah told The Independent after the judgment was published: "I am happy with the outcome. I tried to resolve the matter with him and his head of chambers but Sykes wasn't interested. All I wanted was a simple apology but he refused. So, reluctantly, I had to take it further."
© Independent Digital

FAMILY CONDEMNS PRISON SERVICE OVER RACIST KILLING(uk)
29/4/2005- An Asian family has launched a scathing attack on the Prison Service as the inquiry into the murder of their son by a racist cellmate drew to a close. Officials had shown little more remorse than the psychopath who killed Zahid Mubarek and should be ashamed, the Mubareks' legal team told the chairman of the inquiry, Mr Justice Keith. Mr Mubarek, 19, was battered to death by Robert Stewart on the day he was due to be released from Feltham young offenders' institution in west London after serving a short sentence for theft. Dexter Dias, for the Mubarek family, said: "The Prison Service's moral blameworthiness arises from the fact that Stewart's behaviour had set off alarm bells about his mental disorder and his dangerousness ­ and these warning signs were ignored. Their responsibility flows from the fact that they quite unnecessarily exposed Zahid to these obvious risks. And for that the Prison Service should be ashamed." The four-month inquiry into the death has examined how Mr Mubarek came to be placed in a cell with a man who had a string of convictions, had displayed racist and violent tendencies and been diagnosed as suffering from a psychopathic personality disorder. The inquiry has heard that Feltham had many problems, including institutional racism, at the time. Mr Mubarek's family has sat through evidence from 60 witnesses. But, their barrister said yesterday, they had been greatly distressed by the Prison Service's stance that their son's murder was random and could not have been predicted. Yesterday, the inquiry heard that two weeks before Mr Mubarek was killed, two officers had access to a file warning that Stewart, 19, was a dangerous racist.
© Independent Digital

CHILDREN FOCUS ON WIPING OUT HATE(N-Ireland)
A new programme for small children aims to wipe out sectarianism, racism and physical prejudice.

26/4/2005- The Media Initiative for Children, launched in Belfast on Tuesday, will be offered to thousands of pre-school children on both sides of the border. Its goal is to tackle deep-rooted prejudice in a way that is "child's play". Colourful puppets, puzzles, song and dance and television will be among the methods used to get the message across. The programme is a joint initiative between The Peace Initiatives Institute (PII) in the United States of America and Nippa, the early years organisation in Northern Ireland. Together, they hope to teach young children the value of respecting and including others who are different from themselves. After a six-week pilot scheme in February 2004, the programme is now being formally launched throughout Northern Ireland. Initially, the MIFC-N.I. programme is being taught in 200 schools, touching more than 1,000 pre-school age children and their teachers, parents and siblings. The multi-year programme will continue to expand throughout Northern Ireland, and PII and Nippa plan to extend the programme to the Republic of Ireland in the near future. Pre-schoolers who have already participated in the training in Northern Ireland said they had learned: "You shouldn't leave anybody else out." "The colour of a person's skin shouldn't stop you from playing with them. "It's what is on the inside that is important. "We have to learn to trust each other." A spokesperson for MIFC said research had shown that young children absorbed the attitudes of adults in their community. As children grow older, attitudes become core values that influence actions throughout life - and perpetuate conflicts. By teaching children a different way of thinking and acting, the goal of Media Initiatives For Children is to reduce violence in conflicted societies over the long term.
©BBC News

TOWN HALL REVOLT AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE LAW(Spain)
26/4/2005- Conservative mayors in several of Spain's provincial capitals have said they will refuse to perform gay marriage ceremonies. Despite a bill legalising such unions, which was passed by Spain's lower house of parliament last week, a number of mayors have refused to carry out these ceremonies when the law comes into force. "Even if the law allows me to marry homosexuals, I will not exercise this authority," said Javier Leon de la Riva, mayor of Valladolid, according to a report by the Spanish daily 'La Razon'. "I do not have a problem with these couples having the same rights as the rest of the citizens. But what does not seem right is that their union should be called a marriage," he added. The newspaper also cited other mayors in such Spanish cities as Leon and Avila as having the same opinion. The law making gay marriages legal still needs the approval of the Senate. If passed by the upper house of parliament, Spain would become only the third European country — after the Netherlands and Belgium — to legalise such unions. The measure triggered strong opposition from leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and several other religions. The proposed law requires judges and civil leaders such as mayors to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. Spanish justice minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said the law allowing gay marriage is a matter of civil rights and obligations, regulated by parliament. Public officials cannot refuse to abide by the law, he said on Punto Radio, adding that it is a matter of conscience. "Nor does it have anything to do with religion or with a sacrament," he said.
©Expatica News

SPANISH ARREST 21 IN NEO-NAZI CRACKDOWN
26/4/2005- Police arrested 21 suspects in a crackdown in five cities on the Spanish branch of an international neo-Nazi group called Blood & Honour, the Civil Guard said today. The 21 suspects – ranging in age from 17 to 34 – were arrested on charges of crimes against civil liberties, defending the Holocaust, illegal association, and possessing and trafficking arms, said a statement from the paramilitary police force. The Civil Guard said Blood & Honour had affiliates across Europe and the US. The Spanish group is accused of organising concerts at which they would incite xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and the use of violence. The concerts, attended by some 300 to 500 followers, were held on the summer and winter solstices, or on dates commemorating the births or deaths of Nazi figures including Adolf Hitler or Rudolf Hess, the Civil Guard said. The gang had been operating since 1999 and maintained contact through fanzines and the internet, it said. Police seized two guns, knives, swords as well as an array of Nazi paraphernalia in raids on the suspects' homes and the group's meeting places in Madrid, Seville, Jaen, Burgos and Zaragoza.
©The Scotsman

DROEGE'S DEATH WON'T SLOW DOWN EXTREMISTS, EX-CSIS MOLE SAYS(Canada)
25/4/2005- The shooting death of Wolfgang Droege will do little to slow the growth of a new generation of potentially violent white supremacists in Canada, warns a former CSIS mole who helped discredit the neo-Nazi leader. In the age of the Internet, smaller, independent extremist cells can get their ideological inspiration from abroad instead of rallying around a highly visible leader, said Grant Bristow, once an informant with Canada's spy agency. "Some of these more insidious organizations are able to articulate the message without that necessity for either face-to-face contact or that group camaraderie," Mr. Bristow, who remains in hiding, told The Canadian Press in a rare interview. "It makes it very difficult for the intelligence community to do their job." Mr. Droege, the 55-year-old co-founder of the Heritage Front, once Canada's most prominent and active neo-Nazi organization, was found shot in the head and chest in the hall of his apartment building two weeks ago. Police have charged Droege acquaintance Keith DeRoux, 43, with second-degree murder and continue to believe the shooting had nothing to do with the extremist right-wing views that were Mr. Droege's life's work. But his death, coupled with the deportation to Germany last month of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, has left a void in the leadership of Canada's extreme right. Both men were racist lightning rods, attracting attention, recruits and cash to their cause, and were well known to Canadian authorities, Mr. Bristow said. "Here's the danger: You're going to see another lightning rod [which] may not have to be in Canada," Mr. Bristow said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location. High-profile leaders, formal organizations and direct contact have become less relevant to militant racists, he said. Instead, more are embracing the idea of "leaderless resistance," which advocates acts of race-based terrorism without the advice or consent of any organized leadership. "You don't have to have meetings to be effective," Mr. Bristow said.

Mr. Bristow has been credited with helping to bring down the Heritage Front by befriending its leader and positioning himself as a trusted deputy and confidant. The revelation that he was a spy effectively destroyed the organization and Mr. Droege's career as a racist "superstar," he said. Critics, however, have said Mr. Bristow's work with the group helped to foster its growth -- a position dismissed by a 1995 review committee, although he was admonished for tactics that "tested the limits" of acceptable and appropriate behaviour. Mr. Bristow now lives quietly under an assumed name somewhere in Western Canada, where he teaches part time, works as a tax accountant and gives lectures to police and security organizations on undercover work. In the absence of strong leadership and groups in Canada, Mr. Bristow said many of the Heritage Front's hard-core Canadian members have turned to more radical, violence-prone American hate groups that advocate for leaderless resistance in hopes of touching off an all-out race war. Andrew Mitrovica, who also interviewed Mr. Bristow for an article published yesterday in the on-line version of Walrus magazine, said the insidious nature of leaderless resistance has already manifested itself in tragic ways in the United States. Examples are Timothy McVeigh, who 10 years ago carried out the deadly bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and Eric Rudolph, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to bombing the Atlanta Olympics, a lesbian nightclub and women's clinics. Mr. Bristow said intelligence services will have to learn to adapt. "[White supremacists] have to have a certain amount of contact with these organizations to become indoctrinated," he said. "The key is going to be in the ability to look at organizations and the dot-com hate mongers on a much wider scale."
©Globe and Mail

SKINHEADS IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA
Report prepared by the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights


April 2005- Skinheads are participants of the radical nationalist youth movement adhering to the "white power" ideology – the ideology of "white fight" against the "aliens". They consider themselves "soldiers of the Third World War in which the white race shall win or perish. Skinheads are fighting against "occupants" they believe all non-Aryans –Africans, Asians, natives of the Caucasus and the North – to be. Their goal is to drive all non-Russians away from Russia. At that their main rule is "The enemy does not have age, nor gender". That is how they justify their attacks against women and children of "wrong" nationalities. Skinhead's uniform includes heavy boots (Dr. Martens, Grinders or army boots), rolled up khaki pants or jeans, suspenders, black (or sometimes khaki or dark blue) jackets ("bomber", "scooter" or "Bundeswehr") and military caps. On the stripes: the Celtic cross; the Confederate Cross (flag of the southern slave-owning states in the civil war); scull and bones ("Totenkopf") over a heart; inscription "Skinhead" in gothic script on the back; the right white fist with the words "White Power" or letters "WP" over it (contrary to the Trozkists who use the left fist in their symbolic); imperial or state flag over the thunderbolt on the left sleeve; stripe with a shield on the right sleeve; swastika (both 4-ray and 3-ray – symbol of racists of the Southern African Republic); Hitler's portrait; bulldog in a spiked collar; stylized picture of a baseball bat, runic symbols used in Nazi Germany – doubled "zig" (two thunderbolts like SS), "othal" and others; "Oi!" – the greeting of British workers that rendered a name to a style in music; numbers 88 ("Heil Hitler") and 18 ("Adolph Hitler"); 14 words ("We Must Secure The Existence Of Our People And A Future For White Children!").

Practically every more or less significant internet resource of the Russian skinheads contains a library. Literature popular among the skinheads: Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler, Russia Is Awakening by Dmitry Nesterov, 88 Commandments by David Lain and ABC of Slavic Skinheads. Skinhead image also includes Nazi tattoos and Nazi greetings.

The number of skinheads in the Russian Federation comes to 50 000 (to compare: the number of skinheads in the world, excluding Russia, is less than 70 000).

RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER SAYS SKINHEADS BETTER ORGANISED THAN POLICE
21/4/2005 – Russia's deputy interior minister says that the level of organization among the various ultra-nationalist skinhead organizations in his country is now higher than that of his own ministry and that this represents an obvious threat to the the future political stability of the Russian Federation. Sergei Shadrin's comment was cited by Emil Pain, the general director of the Center for Ethnopolitical and Region Research and Russia's leading specialist on national extremism, in the course of an interview he gave to the „Marketing and Consulting" news agency on Tuesday. As he has in the past, Pain was sharply critical of the way in which the Russian government has sought to involve young people in a campaign under the general rubric of „the struggle against fascism" ina dvance of the commemoration in Moscow of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. „If the beginning of this campaign is the creation of the ‚Nashi' [„Ours"] organization and if the ideology of its members is what appears on television screens now," Pain told the news agency, „then this anti-fascism frightens me even more than fascism itself does." „Identifying anyone who thinks differently as an enemy is already an element of totalitarian consciousness," Pain continued. And the „Nashi" organization's efforts to divide people between „ours" and not „ours," to promote unqualified support for the „leader" – and Pain uses the word „vozhd'" in this context -- and backing the use of force as the chief means of political struggle, he said, are all hallmarks of fascism itself.

According to the Moscow scholar, there are currently about 300 aggressive groupings of skinheads and about 20 unregistered extremist parties of a nationalist type in the cities and regions of the Russian Federation. Their influence on Russian political life now is minimal, but „the potential of the radicals is quite high." There are two reasons for that, he said: On the one hand, ever more Russians back the slogan „Russia for the Russians," thus creating a fertile field for the rise of nationalism. And on the other, Russian national extremists are often found not among the oldest age cohorts of the population who are passing from the scene, but among the young who represent the future. „If in the Baltic countries, it is mainly the elderly who come out to support fascist actions," Pain pointed out, „then in Russia nationalist views are [now] widespread among a remarkable segment of the young." The comments of Shadrin and Pain take on added urgency given release this week of an expanded report by the Moscow Human Rights Bureau about the activities of skinhead groups in the Russian Federation. According to NewsRu.com on the same day, the bureau said that there are approximately 50,000 skinheads in the Russian Federation -- compared to a total of 70,000 in all other countries around the world combined. There are skinhead groups in some 85 Russian cities, the Bureau specified, and in the past year alone, they have been responsible for most of the 40 murders and the hundreds of other attacks on individuals and groups in that country that appear to have been carried out as ethnic or religious hate crimes. The Bureau added that „throughout the entire country a number of small, radical nationalist newspapers are readily available. They print anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and xenophobic materials, many of which violate the laws on the struggle with extremism. Nevertheless, the production of such materials continues, and their publishers are seldom punished." If the Russian government is attempting to exploit these feelings as Pain and others suggest (see for example Yuri Vdovin's article, „Russia's Fascist Present," in the Moscow Times on Wednesday of this week who arguees that some in the leadership see fascism as „a diversion"), that must be a matter for concern. But if in fact Russian nationalist skinheads are now better organized than the police as Shadin says, then that is a matter for real fear – in the first instance, for those in the Russian population whom these groups have identified as their enemies, but also for everyone there and elsewhere who hopes that the Russian Federation will make the transition to democracy.
©FSU Monitor

RUSSIA: ZHIRINOVSKY IN DUMA PUNCH-UP
May, 2005 - Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the boss of the misnamed Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) has shown himself up yet again. Protesting in the Russian parliament, the Duma, against what he considered to be rigged election results in against the Nenets Republic – where his party came in last behind Russian Unity, the right-wing Rodina bloc and the Communist Party – and objecting to a report being made by a Rodina MP, he sparked off a brawl. "Our candidates were threatened," screamed Zhirinovsky before setting about his opponent, a move that descended instantly into a full-scale mass punch-up between two dozen rival LDPR and Rodina MPs. This is not the first time there has been such a ruckus involving Zhirinovsky and a Rodina spokesman. The most recent incident occurred during the last parliamentary election campaign and involved Zhirinovsky throwing a jug of water at an opponent during a live TV broadcast. As a punishment, the clownish Zhirinovsky has lost his coveted position as vice-president of the Duma and could yet be banned from addressing the assembly for a month. None of this has prevented the buffoon from telling a press conference, on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the LDPR's foundation, that he is "the most popular person on earth" and that the LDPR is "the most popular party on earth'. Because the Russian government is obsessed by the – very theoretical, it has to be said – possibility of losing power through an "Orange Revolution" as happened in the Ukraine, it is multiplying its initiatives aimed at preventing such an event. Thus, a meeting took has taken between a key Kremlin official and Russian rock stars to enlist their support if a Ukraine-style upsurge materialises! At the same time, a movement that the Kremlin would like to be seen as ‘anti-fascist" has been set up to organise football fans from Russia's biggest clubs into giving active (and violent) support to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Its objective is to undermine any anti-Putin movements that might surface and to fight Edouard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party (NBP). The sudden appearance of this new movement has caused havoc in the NBP's Moscow headquarters. The NBP is now being accused of everything under the sun to such an extent that Pravda on 23 March claimed that the party would be receiving the support of the financial oligarch and sworn enemy of Putin, Boris Beresovsky.
©Searchlight magazine

SPEAKER OF UPPER HOUSE OF RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT PARTICIPATES IN ANTISEMITIC, RACIST TV SHOW
27/04/2005 - Sergey Mironov, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, appeared on April 23 on a television show known for spreading antisemitism and racism, according to an April 23, 2005 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. The show "Out Strategy" had already received an official warning for inciting ethnic hatred last year, but that didn't deter its hosts from asking Mr. Mironov if he thinks that there is a "Jewish oligarchic conspiracy" against Russia. Mr. Mironov answered that such a conspiracy doesn't exist, but didn't bother to correct or condemn the interviewer for asking such an obviously antisemitic question. The show also featured an interview with Dmitry Rogozin, head of the extremist nationalist Motherland ("Rodina") faction in the Duma. Mr. Rogozin reportedly responded to a question on whether certain ethnic groups are more prone to crime than others in the following way: "Criminality doesn't have an ethnicity? What a lie! Criminality always has an ethnicity!" He then exempted ethnic Russians from this "truth" by pointing out that they only suffer at the hands of other ethnic groups. The Sova center added that during the show, "Jewish organized criminal groups" were discussed as threats to Russia.
©FSU Monitor

RUSSIAN YOUTH GROUP VOWS TO NAME FASCISTS IN SCHOOLS
Kremlin backs activists in attempt to harness anger

27/04/2005 - A youth activist group reportedly founded by the Kremlin is to name and shame "fascists and their sympathisers" in schools and workplaces, raising fears of ideological witch-hunts reminiscent of Russia's turbulent past. Nashi, or "Our Guys", said it would distribute a booklet naming "fascists and their sympathisers" to headteachers and other officials. "We want to show the whole society that fascists are fascists," the Nashi leader, Vasili Yakemenko, said at its recent manifesto launch. Mr Yakemenko said the booklet would name the leader of an obscure ultra-left party, the National Bolsheviks, Eduard Limonov, and "those who are connected with Limonov, who sympathise with fascists, but are not fascists themselves". He declined to say how many people would be named. Analysts have said Kremlin strategists created Nashi in response to the youth anger that has fuelled three regime changes, in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, in 17 months. The group's hardline rhetoric, coming days before Russia celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany, has raised fears that the Kremlin has instead conjured the ghost of "fascism" to harness xenophobia and nationalism in support of President Vladimir Putin. Nashi is the most hardline of many youth groups set up in Russia recently. Ilya Yashin, an activist from the youth opposition group Oborona, said Nashi would be used to apply "direct force against the opposition. The authorities are doing this consciously." He said the group had direct links with the Putin regime and he "could not exclude" the prospect of violent clashes between youth movements if forthcoming elections sparked protests in Moscow similar to those in the former Soviet republic capitals of Bishkek, Kiev and Tbilisi.

"The aggression from the Kremlin could have very negative effects on society," Mr Yashin said. Two youth groups - Pora ("It's time!") from Ukraine and Kmara ("Enough") from Georgia - have spawned similarly named groups in Russia. Mr Yakemenko said Nashi was non-violent and, echoing an edict of Lenin, planned simply "to study, to study" to prepare a thousand "specialists for the modernisation of the country". Its manifesto claims Washington seeks to dominate Russia, "the historical and geographical centre of the contemporary world". The launch of Nashi's manifesto, which broadly backed Mr Putin, was addressed by Andrei Fursenko, the science and education minister. Sergei Vozhol, 18, from Kursk, said: "We are a new generation, the youth. We do not support Putin as a personality, but the idea of Russia being a great country again." The manifesto, distributed to delegates from all over Russia in a little red book, states: "Today beneath our eyes is forming an unnatural union between liberals and fascists, westernisers and ultra-nationalists, international foundations and in ternational terrorists. They are joined by one thing - their hatred of Putin." It adds: "In the post-Soviet space, in the guise of slogans of democracy and freedom, the west is playing a big geopolitical game, the aim of which is to push Russia from world politics and introduce foreign management to Russia. World development is the competition of peoples - [in this you are] either a leader, the led, or the victim."
©The Guardian

RUSSIAN PROSECUTORS SAY CALL FOR BAN ON JEWISH GROUPS NOT ANTISEMITIC
29/4/2005- The St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office has proclaimed that the infamous March petition demanding a ban on Jewish groups was not anti-Semitic, the Izvestia newspaper reported Friday. No complaints will be filed against the petition's senders. In January 2005 a group of Russian MPs appealed to the state prosecution demanding a ban on all Jewish groups over claims of extremism. In March 500 well-known public figures joined the MPs, and the petition eventually received 5,000 signatures. However, prosecutors decided that the petition contained no essential elements of offence, Izvestia reports. After publishing the petition the Rus Pravoslavnaya (Orthodox Russia) and Za Russkoye Delo (For the Russian Cause) newspapers received a warning from prosecutors for extremism in March. One observer of the case, ethnographer and anthropologist Valentina Uzunova, told Izvestia that she could see ethnic hatred in the two papers' publication. However, she could not give any details, because the case is not closed yet, Izvestia reports. The Prosecutor's Office has punished the newspaper according to the gravity of the offence, Uzunova said. "A warning is serious enough. It does not mean the Prosecutor's Office has neglected the newspaper's actions. However, only the courts can decide if the newspaper should be shut down," Uzunova was quoted as saying.
©Moscow News

KYRGYSTAN: RUSSIANS SPOOKED BY CONFLICT RUMOURS
"Counterrevolutionaries" blamed for alleged leaflet campaign advocating ethnic discord.
By Leila Saralaeva, independent journalist in Bishkek and Elena Skochilo, IWPR contributor in Bishkek.

25/04/2005- Kyrgyzstan's Russian community has been shaken by an apparent whispering campaign aimed at driving Slavic groups from the republic in the wake of the recent revolution. The Russian embassy in Bishkek confirmed that requests for information on how to emigrate to Russia have risen six-fold following the scare, which was apparently sparked by leaflets advocating the use of violence against non-Kyrgyz. But the republic's interim leaders – who swept to power in the so-called "tulip revolution" on March 24 – have dismissed the rumours as the work of "counterrevolutionaries" and called on Kyrgyzstan's people to remain united. Ishengul Boljurova, the first deputy prime minister for social issues, placed the blame on deposed president Askar Akaev's circle. "They cannot accept that they are no longer in power, and are destabilising the situation in any way they can," she said. "One of Akaev's slogans was ‘Kyrgyzstan is our common home', yet now they are attacking this principle." On April 18, the Russian embassy addressed the republic's half-million strong ethnic Russian population with a statement warning that certain elements were trying to "hinder the normalisation of the [post-revolution] situation" by inciting ethnic conflict. Russian ambassador Yevgeny Shamgin said, "We are firmly convinced that the friendly people of Kyrgyzstan will emerge from these temporary difficulties with dignity." Rumours of the existence of leaflets advocating ethnic conflict and the seizure of property belonging to non-Kyrgyz first surfaced on April 12, and were exacerbated by a television report on squatters living in the village of Maevka. The following day, rumours began to spread that the Maevka squatters were threatening their non-Kyrgyz landlords with violence unless they abandoned their properties. The situation was exacerbated by stories that leaflets advocating "taking apartments away from the Russians" had been scattered outside Bishkek estate agencies, the national university, schools and in a number of villages including Maevka, Alamedin-1 and Chonaryk. Bishkek housewife Yulia Kochergina was among those unnerved by these stories. "My husband and I were not intending to leave, but the rumours about the squatters have really scared us," she said. "We haven't seen the leaflets, but when we heard about them my blood pressure went up. My husband says that if anyone tries to get into our house, he will burn it down. He has even brought a petrol canister home." However, not one leaflet has yet been confiscated by the authorities. Bishkek police department chief Omurbek Suvanaliev told IWPR, "These leaflets are like ghosts in an old castle - everyone is scared of them, but no one has seen them."

In spite of the lack of solid evidence for any threat, ethnic Russians are still on edge. On the morning of April 14, over 400 people had put their names down for a consultation at Bishkek's Russian embassy. In an attempt to defuse the mounting tension, acting Kyrgyz foreign minister Roza Otunbaeva called a meeting with the ambassadors from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus later that day to reassure them that the situation was being dealt with seriously. Belarus ambassador Aleksandr Kozyr said, "It is worrying that such leaflets have appeared, and that they have led to mass queues outside the embassies of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Undoubtedly, such disorder has been provoked by destructive elements." Otunbaeva told IWPR that the counter-revolutionary forces believed to be behind the campaign were simply out for revenge. These forces "have businesses and financial interests here, and they are in all the power structures", she said. She added that the loss of the "Russian-speaking population" – a term which includes Slavic Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians and other groups - would be a severe blow for Kyrgyzstan, and must be avoided at all costs. "Losing engineers, businessmen and highly-qualified specialists in all areas would have a negative effect on the country's economy," she said.

At a parliamentary meeting the following day, Kyrgyzstan's acting president Kurmanbek Bakiev called on Russians and other Slavs to ignore the alleged provocations, blaming the rumours on counter-revolutionaries bent on setting sections of the population against one another. "The law-enforcement bodies are investigating these cases, and I would like to stress that anyone who inflames the situation, regardless of their political status or rank, will face criminal and civil-law charges," Bakiev said. Deputy prime minister Daniyar Usenov told IWPR that the government was doing all it could. "A lot of problems have accumulated in this country over the past 14 years [since independence from the Soviet Union]," he said. "I call on our citizens to be calm, and together we will build a new country." Alevtina Pronenko, the acting minister for labour and social welfare, said that the rumours had spread so far that some ethnic Kyrgyz people had arrived at her offices to ask to be given an apartment when the Russians eventually leave. But she stressed, "The situation is not so serious that people need to flee the country en masse. This is a temporary situation, and the most important thing is to endure it." Tatyana Tsvigel, a teacher at Alamedin-1's School ? 1, told IWPR that it was already too late for some Russians. "Fear for the future and for their children will make the Russian-speaking population leave Kyrgyzstan," she said. "We teachers will be forced to wait until June when the holidays begin, but even now two or three children from every class, most of them Russians, are leaving the school – and Kyrgyzstan."
©Institute for War & Peace Reporting

HR MONITORING INSTITUTE – SITUATION WITH ROMA IN LITHUANIA
26/04/2005- The research was conducted by Tadas Leoncikas, Junior Researcher at the Department of Ethnic Studies of the Institute for Social Research and Expert at the Human Rights Monitoring Institute.

• Special thanks to Vida Beresneviciute, Zilvinas Miseikis, Svetlana Novopolskaja and Rasa Paliukiene for their assistance in collecting data for this overview.

Summary
In Lithuania the Roma issue has been drawing public attention for a few years. However, until today a number of deep-seated problems have contrasted policy makers' poor understanding of how to solve them.

As identified in the government-initiated 2000-2004 Roma Integration Programme, the principal problems faced by the Roma still persist in the sectors of labour, housing, education, healthcare and public services. The Roma themselves as well as the experts and officials dealing with Roma problems do realise in one or another way these issues. However, the causes of these problems are not regularly analysed or superficial popular opinions are provided to explain them. Although the 2001 Population Census registered 2,500 Roma in Lithuania, it is believed that the actual number is probably closer to 3,000. Even though they constitute a relatively small group of residents, the government should be capable in terms of both finances and administration to develop policies that would help achieve essential changes in Roma life. Marginalisation in the labour market, educational system and public services sphere makes it difficult for the Roma to overcome this exclusion on their own. About every other (46 percent) Lithuanian Rom is younger than 20 years of age, while this age group constitutes 27 percent nationwide. Therefore, education and employment are crucially important for the development of the Roma community.

Education continues to pose the most serious problems for the Roma Community. In recent years, the percentage of Roma children enrolled in school increased compared to previous years. However there are very few Roma with a diploma and a high rate of illiteracy prevails. A number of Roma children attend specialised instead of general education schools in provincial areas. Elderly Roma speak Lithuanian much more frequently than the younger generation in comparison to other ethnic minorities whose young people speak Lithuanian better than the older generation. This reflects a "regressive tendency" showing the extending exclusion of the Roma.

Roma involvement in the labour market is one of the most painful issues since only poor results have been attained in this field. Although the development of a mechanism for Roma integration into the labour market is underway in the framework of a project supported by the EQUAL programme, this project will not replace the necessity to formulate policy on Roma integration in the labour market. The vast majority of Roma either have very few possibilities or none at all to improve their living conditions. The quality of housing in the Kirtimai settlement is especially poor, and the prospects of this compound are unclear. Social housing is not necessarily a suitable alternative as it increases living costs and the Roma question whether they can afford it. The provision of primary health care services, especially in the Kirtimai settlement, is very important for the Roma because of health risk factors, including easily available drugs. Certain gaps were bridged by mobile medical services (visits of medical doctors and nurses to the Kirtimai settlement), which experts rated as effective assistance. However these services are not guaranteed.

The analysis of collected data contradicts the opinion pointing to Roma self-isolation and reluctance to integrate (it is sometimes claimed that perhaps social exclusion does not exist except for the alienation of the Roma themselves). Even though Roma have not expressed any attitudes of alienation, success stories of effective Roma involvement in various initiatives are practically non-existent. Notwithstanding, it should be noted that gaining Roma trust is not so much the task of the Roma but the challenge to all who are willing to change the current situation. The input of non-governmental organisations in seeking forms of activities for the Roma is also vital. Over the last ten years, a number of cultural and educational projects have been implemented. However, the majority of projects were short-term and had limited impact, failing to achieve systemic changes. On the other hand, this generated a network of experts on issues related to Roma integration. No marked changes have been achieved in developing the Roma capacity to participate in integration efforts. Although around 20 Roma organisations have been founded over the past 15 years, most of them are no longer active. Only four NGOs were able to take advantage of an opportunity to participate in a programme allowing tax payers to donate two percent of their income tax for the non-profit sector.

At the moment, there is a growing need for both the detailed identification of Roma-specific problems in individual fields and for a critical revision of Roma integration policy. The shortcomings of institutional coordination in the implementation of the 2000-2004 Roma Integration Programme posed the main administrative problems. This resulted in incoherent integration efforts in separate regions, no review of the experiences gained in the programme implementation, an absence of an impact assessment and a failure both to set priorities and to ensure the continuity of programme activities. Programme implementation revealed that the Department of Minorities and Emigration lacked the administrative capacity and political importance to ensure the coordination of Roma integration. Roma integration policy could become more effective if greater attention was paid to it on the governmental level. The current situation calls for the drafting of a national strategy for Roma involvement in both the education system and the labour market, setting priority fields of social assistance, development of community-oriented target projects and support for non-governmental organisations.
This project is supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy
Source: Human Rights Monitoring Institute

MACEDONIAN COURT ACQUITS FOUR IN TRIAL OVER SLAIN MIGRANTS...
25/04/2005 - A court in Skopje on 22 April acquitted three former senior police officers and a fourth man of charges that they had killed six Pakistanis and one Indian outside Skopje in March 2002, Reuters and Macedonian media reported. The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove charges that the defendants killed the migrants in a staged shoot-out, so that the Interior Ministry could claim that police killed Al-Qaeda members who were planning to attack western embassies in Skopje. Macedonian press reports suggested that the acquittal was due to poorly prepared charges, inconclusive testimony by prosecution witnesses, and good work by the defense attorneys. UB

...WITH POSSIBLE POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS. Representatives of the conservative opposition parties, which had supported the defendants as "defenders of Macedonia," hailed the 22 April verdict as a victory for an independent judiciary, Macedonian media reported. Prosecutors nonetheless announced that they will challenge the verdict, "Dnevnik" reported. It is not clear whether the verdict will affect the trial against former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski. In February, Croatian prosecutors charged Boskovski with murder in connection with the killing of the migrants (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 5 March 2002, 10 and 11 May 2004, and 28 February and 24 March 2005, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27 May 2004 and 26 March 2005). Croatia has since handed over Boskovski to the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal after the tribunal indicted him in connection with a police operation in 2001, in which 10 ethnic Albanian civilians were killed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 April 2005). UB
©RFE/RL

AFRICAN PLAYER FED UP WITH RACISM IN ROMANIA
26/04/2005 - Universitatea Craiova's defender Mariko Daouda from Ivory Coast said he considers to quit the Romanian premier division club after he has been racially abused. 23 year old Daouda told Reuters "I'm disgusted with Romania," after bottom club Craiova drew 1-1 at CFR Cluj. "In Romania you are considered good or bad judging by the colour of your skin but not for what you manage to do on the pitch," Daouda said. "Supporters are insulting me during the games and my wife on the street." Only last week Craiova mayor Antonie Solomon was blaming the black and Roma players of FC Universitatea Craiova's for being responsible for the club's situation. In interview with Realitatae TV he said: "With all those players recruited over the internet and all these crows - which if I put them in the zoo and showed them to kids saying look at the monkeys they wouldn't see any difference." In Romania crows is used as a derogatory term for Roma and black players. As farenet.org reported, racist incidences have increased in Romanian football over the past months. Steaua Bucharest's stadium speaker was fined for making racist comments during the derby against Rapid Bucharest earlier this month.
©Football Against Racism in Europe

JOURNALISTS IN COVASNA PROTEST AGAINST ALLEGEDLY DISCRIMINATION(Romania)
25/4/2005- Romanian journalists from Covasna published a letter of protest disapproving with Janos Demeter, president of the Covasna County Council, who had organized the day before an exclusive press conference for the Hungarian-speaking media. In the protest, representatives of the local Romanian-speaking press, several newspaper reporters, radio anchormen and journalists from the national press agencies objected to "the lack of impartiality" that Demeter displayed. They also stressed that the right to the citizens' information is upheld by the constitution, regardless of their ethnicity. The journalists believed that the press conference topic – the restructuring of the development areas and the delimitation of the "Szeklers' Region"- represented a point of interest for all Romanian citizens. Covasna country, together with Harghita county forms the so-called Szeklers' Region in central Romania where the majority of the population is of Hungarian origin.
Source: Divers Bulletin

EU PLEDGES TO PROTECT RIGHTS IN ANTI-TERROR FIGHT
26/4/2005- The European Union will put protecting human rights at the heart of its fight against terrorism, the EU's top justice official pledged on Tuesday as watchdogs highlighted abuses inside the 25-nation bloc. The United Nations this month created the post of a special investigator to probe whether anti-terrorism measures introduced around the world after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States violate basic human rights. EU Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said he would ensure that future proposals to strengthen security would be weighed against the need to protect fundamental freedoms. "We need to make sure that the right to security and the fight against terrorism ... can be reconciled with full protection of the fundamental rights," Frattini told a European Parliament seminar on protecting human rights in the EU. Human rights watchdog Amnesty International welcomed the pledge but listed what it called civil liberty breaches caused by the introduction of emergency anti-terror laws in several member states. "At the European Union there has been a marked failure to seriously address the human rights impact of its anti-terror measures," Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty's EU office told the seminar. "Emergency legislation in member states has led to incommunicado detention in Spain, and indefinite detention without trial and the use in court of secret intelligence evidence, potentially extracted through torture, in the United Kingdom," he said. Oosting said some EU states had handed over suspects to countries outside the bloc where they could face torture. "Deportation and extradition of people suspected of terrorism show a worrying tendency to reduce safeguards in the interest of swift procedures," he said. Oosting also criticized statements by senior officials such as EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gijs de Vries that young European Muslims could be involved in terrorism, saying they hampered efforts to combat racism. "The trend to equate terrorism with Islam undermines the EU's commitment to fight racism and xenophobia," Oosting said.
©Reuters

MEPs CALL TO IMPROVE ROMA RIGHTS(European Union)
28/4/2005- MEPs have tried to raise awareness about the plight of Europe's 12-15 million Roma with a resolution calling on member states to do more to help this ethnic minority. The resolution notes that Roma in Europe "are suffering racial discrimination and in many cases are subject to severe structural discrimination, poverty and social exclusion". It also highlights the every-day difficulties faced by Roma such as racist attacks, hate speech, unlawful evictions and police harassment.

Sterilisation of women
Other practices include the sterilisation of Roma women without their consent and segregated education for Roma children. Hungarian Liberal MEP Viktoria Mohacsi, one of only two Roma deputies in the Brussels assembly, said the adoption of the resolution is a "very important" step. "I am particularly concerned about the fact that Romani children are declared mentally disabled and segregated into separate schools", said Mrs Mohacsi. "In my experience, generally 60% of children who are declared mentally disabled in the European Union happen to be Roma". The non-binding resolution calls on the EU and member states to recognise the Roma as a European minority - currently countries such as Greece, Denmark and Italy do not - and says future member states such as Croatia and Turkey should do so as well. It also says that the atrocities committed against the Roma by the Nazis should be formally recognised and asks for the removal of the pig farm situated at the site of a former concentration camp to be removed. Livia Jaroka, also Roma, and a centre-right MEP from Hungary, said "Roma remain to date the subject of powerful exclusionary forces. "Actions to combat these phenomena are still fledging", said Mrs Jaroka, the initiator of the resolution. Roma are thought to be Europe's largest minority having made their way to this Continent from India around 1,000 years ago.

Poverty
However, precise demographic figures are not available "due in large part to the stigma associated with the Romani identity ... and the refusal of many governments to include Roma as a legitimate category for census purposes" says a European Commission report on Roma. Roma also continue to live in abject poverty in several of the new member states including in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A UN committee ruled recently that policies in Slovakia kept Roma in sub-standard slum-like housing. But "old" member states do not fare much better. The European Roma Rights Centre website notes that there have been a "number of recent violent and abusive actions committed against Roma by public authorities and others in Greece, Italy ... Spain and Sweden".
©EUobserver

REFORM CALLS FOR UN RIGHTS AGENCY
22/4/2005- The UN's Human Rights Commission has ended its annual meeting in Geneva facing unprecedented calls for reform. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the body's declining credibility was undermining the UN as a whole. Human rights commissioner Louise Arbour described the commission as selective and unfair, saying it was failing to monitor human rights abuses. Critics say the commission is arbitrary in its assessment of human rights records of individual countries.

'Double-standards'
Mr Annan has called for a new structure involving only countries that have a proven record of upholding human rights. "We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole, and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough," Mr Annan told the commission. He is proposing a smaller council whose members already have a proven record of upholding human rights. Small countries with poor human rights records, such as Belarus, Burma, Cuba and North Korea, were criticised by the commission while nations like China, Zimbabwe and Russia were left out. "There is something fundamentally wrong with a system in which the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world is answered by reference to just four states," said Louise Arbour. On Sudan, the commission passed a resolution condemning human rights abuses in Darfur but failed to censure the Sudanese government, which is a member of the commission. Nations criticised by the commission do not face penalties but most governments are keen to avoid being named and shamed. Critics say the commission cannot function when its 53 member states, among them China, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, are in charge of judging themselves. Joanna Weschler, of Human Rights Watch said: "This session has been a powerful demonstration of the need to scrap the commission and replace it with something better." Amnesty International's Peter Splinter criticised the commission's "selectivity and double standards". During the six-week session, which ended on Friday, the commission appointed an investigator into counter-terrorism measures and human rights abuses but rejected a proposal to look specifically at Guantanamo Bay. The fate of the commission will be decided when the UN's 191 member states meet at the General Assembly in New York to discuss reform of the organisation.

SWISS SAY UN IS FALLING SHORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Switzerland says the United Nations' top human-rights body, which closed its annual meeting on Friday, has restored some of its credibility but still needs reform. Officials warned that progress on Nepal, counter-terrorism and Darfur masked deeper problems within the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) – a view endorsed by Human Rights Watch.

22/4/2005- "We think it has been a rather good year for the commission, but it is still not enough," said Jean-Daniel Vigny, minister for human rights at the Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva. "Even if we did do better than two years ago or last year, it's far from being a great success." He told swissinfo that more countries in addition to Belarus, Myanmar, Cuba and North Korea should have been "named and shamed" for human-rights violations. China, Russia and Zimbabwe all escaped censure. The 61st annual session in Geneva was conducted against a backdrop of calls, notably from non-governmental organisations, for reform or even abolition of the commission. Earlier this month UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that he was taking up a Swiss proposal to create a new, permanent human-rights council that would address violations as they arose. He criticised the inability of the commission – which meets only once a year – to prevent human-rights abuses, citing Sudan's Darfur region as a case in point. "I think it is unlikely that the next commission will be identical in format, composition and structure to this one," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. Vigny said the Swiss were in favour of a standing human-rights council that would meet every two or three months and respond to situations quickly. Switzerland announced on Friday that it is due to host a meeting of 60 nations in Lausanne early next month to discuss the reform plans.

Reform imminent
Vigny said the background of imminent reform of the commission had served to focus the minds of delegates. "It made the atmosphere less politicised and less confrontational than last year and more favourable to discussing big issues more objectively," he said. The Swiss were engaged on a number of these "big issues", achieving several notable successes, according to Vigny. Swiss-led negotiations with Nepal led to an agreement that will see UN human-rights observers stationed in the Himalayan kingdom. On Wednesday the UNCHR accepted a Swiss resolution calling on Nepal to restore multi-party democracy and reinstate all civil and political rights, which were suspended after a state of emergency was declared on February 1. Switzerland was also active behind the scenes in pushing for the appointment of special rapporteurs on counter-terrorism and the rights of minorities – two of its focal points during the session. Vigny added that Switzerland had co-sponsored a resolution condemning human-rights abuses in Darfur, as well as one aimed at ensuring the re-establishment of justice in post-conflict countries.

Active role
Loubna Freih, Geneva director of Human Rights Watch, said Switzerland could be proud of its role during the session but added that opportunities had still been missed. "There are a very large number of countries that commit human-rights abuses on a daily basis that were not even addressed by the commission, such as China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, and the situation in Chechnya," she told swissinfo. "The terrible situation in Darfur was treated in a lukewarm manner, which led to a compromise decision. Overall, we feel that it [the commission] showed that it cannot effectively address violations of human rights by countries around the world." Freih agreed that it was time to set up a permanent human-rights body wielding greater authority. "If the international community is serious about human rights, it needs to put in place a better and more effective body with improved membership and not some of the world's violators sitting on it," she said. But Human Rights Watch said it was encouraged by the decision to establish a special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism. Freih said many countries had been quick to introduce counter-terrorism instruments in the wake of September 11 and that there had been very little monitoring by the international community. "We have seen a lot abuses and we think this is the single most important step the commission has taken this year," she said.
©Swissinfo

THE POLITICS OF POISON(uk, comment)
The overhyped ricin case has played straight into the hands of Howard and his asylum scaremongering
By Polly Toynbee

15/4/2005- The most explosive issue in this campaign burst out again yesterday with the collapse of the ricin trial. "Asylum and immigration" are the public words that tell of unspoken passions on race, Britishness, Islam and other things winked and nudged at in "Are you think what we're thinking?" The trial of police murderer and ricin plotter Kamel Bourgass ended in chaos as eight other Algerians were set free with no terrorist conspiracy found. After wild claims of a massive terror plot, finding out that Bourgass was a murderous but inept loner, whose ricin recipes were never tried, embarrassingly echoed the failure to find WMD in Iraq. But the Conservatives were more interested in the asylum implications. With triumphant glee the Mail splashed: "Murdered because we've lost control of our borders". Eight of the nine men were illegal immigrants and Michael Howard was quick in his press conference yesterday to claim that 250,000 people refused asylum have never been deported. The politics of this are poisonous: no government can survive long if voters feel their borders really are "out of control". Any uncertainty over who belongs, who pays taxes and on whom those taxes are spent threatens social democratic ideals. Paying collectively for public services, contributing to universal social security and redistributing from rich to poor depends on general agreement on who belongs within that shared community of interest. The alternative "open-door" model is an American society where the only "liberal" cause George Bush has espoused was letting in large numbers of Hispanics because it keeps wages low and fits a Wild West every-man-for-himself and devil-take-the-hindmost free society of rugged individualism where no one expects anything from a minimal state.

On the doorsteps, the Conservatives are making headway on immigration. Whatever the polls say - and people lie on this to polite pollsters - Labour campaigners find it everywhere. Howard's posters, speeches and tactics may be despicable but they work, however preposterously impossible his party's policies. Here's a reminder: they will create a new British Border Control Police to keep 24-hour surveillance on 35 ports and airports. (There are 650 ports.) Yet they will halve the immigration service budget. Anyone seeking asylum would be processed in some other country - but no such fantasy island has been found yet. The UNHCR sternly rebuked them a few days ago but the Tories say they will pull out of the Geneva convention anyway. They will fix a quota for refugees; once the quota is full, every asylum seeker is turned away. No Conservative campaign since the war has used asylum and immigration like this. But it works. At one cabinet minister's adoption meeting last weekend, even some Labour party stalwarts stood up to say the Tories had the best policy on asylum. "Keep them out" has always been a good rallying cry. So how should Labour best respond? Howard hoped Labour would denounce him as a racist and make him a martyr of political correctness so he could claim to be the only one "telling the truth", turning asylum into the key battleground. But Labour hasn't fallen into that trap. However, Labour's record has been abysmal in recent years - incompetent in administering the system, and when it flared up, inflaming the alarm. When cool words were needed to calm unreasonable fears, David Blunkett used the petrol of inflammatory language. His gesture policies pushed through more brutal rules and fell foul of human rights laws, just like Howard before him. Labour colluded with anti-asylum sentiment to such a degree that even when they did get control of the system and numbers fell fast, they kept tightening the screw, which implied "swamping" was in progress. They never turned to challenging public fears and misinformation; appeasing the Mail would always be a losing strategy.

It is unfair to blame an embattled government alone. Where was civil society when decency was under attack? Where are the churches, the legal and medical professions, the charities and anyone else with trusted authority when a loud voice is needed to say the country is not being "swamped"? When political flak is in the air, all these duck under the parapet, too afraid of losing that trust instead of mounting a defence of asylum. However, Labour's manifesto at last strikes a better note. Setting out the economic and humanitarian case, it boasts of the 180,000 migrants who help fill 600,000 job vacancies, contributing 10-15% to economic growth. "Immigration has been good for Britain. We want to keep it that way. We need skilled workers. We can and should honour our obligations to victims of persecution." Calmly, it lays out reassuring facts: asylum applications have dropped by two-thirds since 2002. The backlog of claims, bequeathed by Howard at 50,000, is now 10,000 and new cases are fast-tracked. Airline liaison officers on the Asian subcontinent and in Africa turned back 30,000 last year. The system that lost track of Bourgass is much changed: all asylum seekers are fingerprinted and will soon be electronically tagged. By the end of this year, more failed asylum seekers will be removed than new ones applying. Charles Clarke's less punitive approach is securing agreements with previously recalcitrant countries to take back their failed asylum seekers. But it will take much louder voices to turn back the tide of fear that Howard and his press are stirring. The statistics pale beside huge pictures in yesterday's Star and Mail of migrants queueing for charity food in Calais. They purported to show that, despite the closure of Sangatte, hundreds of "would-be illegal immigrants continue to find ways of crossing the Channel". Does it matter that they gave no evidence of a single recent case succeeding? UK immigration officers in Calais, Dunkirk and B Undeterred, the government is pressing on with making better settlement arrangements for newly accepted refugees. It should ease resentment in some of the poorest communities too often forced to cope alone with new arrivals. But more needs to be done. There is no evidence that treating asylum seekers cruelly stops others coming: numbers went up when cash benefits were replaced with meagre vouchers. Innocent would-be migrants or asylum seekers are not criminals, even if they are refused. Letting them work would stop them starving in limbo while they wait. Many applicants never even get basic legal advice. The unpalatable truth is that desperate people who have walked for months across continents, fleeing wars, will still often be turned away under any system. Even if the rules are fair, keeping people out is a cruel business. Keeping hold of justice and humanity gets harder in the face of this panic-mongering from the right. At least Enoch Powell was ejected from his party, as opposed to leading it.
©The Guardian

IMMIGRATION MAY CAUSE RACE RIOTS, HOWARD SAYS(uk)
19/4/2005- Britain could face a spate of new race riots if immigration gets "out of control" and the public do not have confidence in the "system", Michael Howard suggested last night. In a claim that threatens to raise the temperature in the immigration debate, Mr Howard warned that the country had to "be vigilant if we are to make sure we continue to have good community relations". The Tory leader's remarks came after he was accused by a member of the public of pandering to racism by making immigration a key election issue. A member of the audience on ITV's Ask the Leaders said last night: "You don't realise what it is like for me. You are pandering to xenophobia and hatred in our country." But in an angry exchange Mr Howard accused the man Dean Velani, 18, an Asian member of Labour Students, of trying to "abuse" and "insult" him. "It does not take the debate much further to pin labels on me or abuse or insult me in the way in which you have just done," the Conservative leader replied. "What I say ... is if you disagree then tell us what you would do to deal with the problem." Mr Howard's appearance came amid reports of unhappiness among senior Tories about the way his campaign has focused on asylum and immigration. The Tory leader was challenged over his focus on immigration by the presenter Jonathan Dimbleby. "Are you fearful that if there are more newcomers than is desirable there will be more Burnleys, more Oldhams?" Mr Dimbleby asked. Mr Howard replied: "I think that when people believe that there is no proper system, that immigration is out of control, I think that these anxieties ... make it more difficult to have good community relations." He said the country had to "be vigilant if we are to make sure we continue to have good community relations". He refused to disassociate himself from an election advertisement issued by Bob Spink, a Tory candidate in Castlepoint, which said "What bit of 'send them back' don't you understand Mr Blair?". Mr Howard said it referred to failed asylum seekers living illegally in Britain. The Tory leader also rejected claims that highlighting asylum was making life worse for ethnic minorities living in Britain. Mr Howard was forced to fend off accusations that he was playing on a "primeval" fear about immigration. Roger Chandra, who said he was a disillusioned Conservative voter, said the Tories were deliberately combining the issues of immigration, asylum seekers and terrorism. "You mix those up, you are playing on the fear of people," he said. Mr Howard said: "controlled immigration is the key to ensuring Britain's security, managing public services and guaranteeing good community relations." He was on the defensive over plans to cap the number of people coming to Britain and faced questions over plans to process some asylum seekers offshore.

TORIES FACE ANGER OVER POLICE KILLING(uk)
17/4/2005- Michael Howard's bid to exploit the murder of a policeman by an illegal immigrant backfired spectacularly yesterday as the police warned that the officer's widow did not want the tragedy turned into a 'political football'. Failed asylum seeker Kamel Bourgass was jailed for 22 years for stabbing to death Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a police raid on a flat in Manchester. The Tories have blamed the government for his death, arguing that if proper immigration controls had been in place Bourgass would have been deported before encountering Oake. But in a setback that reflects growing questions about the success of Howard's highly populist campaign and with opinion polls showing a decline in Tory support, colleagues in the Police Federation hit back this weekend. They warned that the Special Branch officer's widow, Lesley, did not want Oake's memory turned into a political battleground. Sergeant Paul Kelly, chairman of the federation's Greater Manchester branch, which has a close relationship with Oake's family, said: 'I am not jumping on the bandwagon of blaming the government because Bourgass was an overstayer. 'By far the vast majority of people overstaying in this country are just people seeking either economic refuge or [escaping] less nice living places - they're not there to damage society. Bourgass was responsible for Stephen's death, nobody else.' Lesley Oake, a Christian who has said she forgives his killer, was a 'fantastic lady,' he added. 'She doesn't want Stephen's death turned into a political football.' The police intervention marks a crucial turning point, capping a week in which Howard was also forced to admit giving inaccurate figures for cases of the hospital-acquired infection MRSA in election leaflets. Both immigration and the superbug have until now proved popular causes for him, but doubts began to emerge about the strategy yesterday as the former Tory minister Edwina Currie admitted she had felt uneasy about the use of the Bourgass case. An ICM poll in today's Sunday Telegraph, putting Labour 10 points ahead of the Tories, will do little to calm nerves.

Kelly said the key issue for the policing union arising from Oake's death was not immigration but the law on handcuffing, over which it has long lobbied the Home Office without success. Bourgass was not handcuffed, having appeared docile, but he subsequently grabbed a knife - killing Oake and wounding three officers. The federation wants a change in the law to give officers the automatic right to handcuff anyone they detain until it is determined they are not dangerous. They must now justify the decision to handcuff arrested people. Kelly said fear of being sued deterred many officers. Jan Berry, the federation's national chair, declined to comment on the Tories' handling of the affair but said it 'was unfortunate' that the case had concluded last week, in the middle of the campaign: 'These are very serious matters and not ones which people can make political points about.' Handcuffing had been a key factor in the tragedy, she said. Tony Blair is now planning a major campaign speech on immigration, clarifying what he sees as the values underpinning the system. Yesterday he admitted during a press conference that there were 'real concerns' about immigration but claimed Tory policy did not stack up. Howard was still not identifying the offshore location at which asylum seekers would supposedly be processed, he said: 'Where is this country that's going to process all Britain's asylum seekers and apparently do it without any visible costs?' The issue has been reignited by reports in a Sunday newspaper that the Home Office has secretly calculated there are 500,000 illegal immigrants in Britain. The research was ordered by the Prime Minister more than a year ago, according to a Whitehall memo. Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes accused the Tories of 'pandering to racism' on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? on Friday night, adding it was 'even more despicable' given Howard's family history as Jewish immigrants. A furious fellow panellist, David Cameron, the Tory frontbencher, accused him of trying to 'drown out free speech'. Yesterday Howard apologised for mistakes in some local leaflets over MRSA, blaming a printing mistake. Voters in Harrogate and Knaresborough in North Yorkshire were told their local hospital had 247 cases in a year - the figure for the entire area's hospitals - when it had actually had six, prompting complaints from the body representing hospital trusts. Howard added that Blair might be angry about the error over MRSA, but said: 'I'm angry about the 5,000 people who die every year from hospital-acquired infections'.
©The Observer

ARE YOU A RACIST? THE TEST THAT CLAIMS TO KNOW(uk)
20/4/2005- Can a five-minute online test tell whether you are racist or not? In the US, two million people have taken one and now a UK version is available. Racism is a reality encountered every day in Britain, but how many people actually consider themselves racist? It's difficult to be sure because people's true feelings are inevitably concealed by their politeness. So much so that those who harbour prejudice sometimes cannot admit it even to themselves. But a five-minute online test (link at bottom of page), devised by American academics and newly launched in Britain, promises to strip away the veneer of respectability many people hold on to, and plunder the prejudices we harbour in the unconscious. The result - a truer picture of one's attitudes.

At least, that's the claim of those who drew up the Implicit Association Test. It works like this:

BNP FARCE AS RIVALS WALK OUT(uk)
20/4/2005- An election meeting in which a Labour veteran was to share a platform with a British National Party candidate descended into farce last night. The meeting in Knowsley Village attracted controversy after it emerged that Labour's George Howarth, who is defending the parliamentary seat of Knowsley North and Sefton East, would be sharing a stage with BNP candidate Michael McDermott. Around 40 demonstrators gathered outside the hall, waving placards with messages such as "No to the BNP: the party of race hate". They were watched over by a small number of police. It was intended there would be speeches from all the prospective candidates at the meeting, followed by a question-and-answer session with voters. In the event, not all the candidates turned up, and the meeting was abandoned after the hall emptied as the BNP candidate stood up to speak. Mr Howarth refused to sit at the same table as Mr McDermott. Instead, he stood a little way away and briefly outlined his policies before he, along with the Socialist Labour Party candidate Steve Whatham, left the building as Mr McDermott was invited to speak. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Flo Clucas - who is also a cabinet member for Liverpool City Council --refused to address the meeting because of the presence of the BNP candidate. She said: "My dad spent two to three years as a prisoner in Poland and there is no way I'm giving credibility or credence to such a party. "I explained to everybody who turned up to the meeting why I wouldn't speak as my conscience just wouldn't let me." The BNP candidate ran a gauntlet of shouting protestors as he entered and left the building. Mr McDermott, who attended the meeting along with a party official, and who left to shouts of "Nazi scum", said: "We are being denied our democratic right to speak."

There was confusion from the outset as to whether or not the meeting would go ahead. At first, the 20 or so people who attended voted not to allow the BNP candidate to address them as they mistakenly thought the protestors outside the building were his supporters. When they realised the group was in fact demonstrating against his presence, they took another vote to allow him to speak. Merseyside TUC president Alec McFadden, who organised the demonstration outside the hall, said: "The person who comes out of this worse is George Howarth. "The trade union movement still funds the Labour Party in the main and Mr Howarth is sponsored by Amicus, and yet he is prepared to share a platform with the BNP. "This has never been done before and is against both the rules and spirit of the Labour Party. "Trade unionists, and the good local people of Knowsley, have come out as one to prevent a fascist party having a say. We have identified those who will oppose the fascists, and those who will appease them." However, former Home Office minister Mr Howarth - who was also barracked by the protesters - denied he had shared a platform with the BNP. He said: "I took the opportunity to describe the BNP as racist thugs and bullies. "I have spent all my life working against racism, inequality and prejudice. "The residents walked out, and I walked out with them when the chairman asked the BNP to speak. "We have demonstrated that racism can be defeated by democracy. People have voted with their feet, I'm proud that they did so and I was happy to join them. "As for the demonstrators, they have their own agenda and they had very little to do with the people of Knowsley Village." Mr Howarth also denied he had broken any Labour Party rules by taking part in the meeting. The Knowsley Village Community Association, which called last night's meeting, said they were surprised at the amount of protest the meeting had provoked. Secretary Mike Birchall said: "We are an apolitical organisation. The invitation was extended to anyone who was standing in the constituency and we didn't exclude anybody. "I was surprised at the level of demonstration we saw here tonight. "I have received vilification over the past couple of days in the form of intimidating phone calls telling me to cancel the meeting. I wasn't frightened by it, but at the same time it wasn't nice."
©IC Network

FRENCH EMPLOYERS 'PREFER YOUNG, WHITE, FIT MALES'
14/4/2005- Jobseekers in France start at an advantage if they are white, slim, male, in their 30s and not suffering from any physical disability, a study whose results were broadcast Thursday on French television has found. Six actors were recruited for the experiment conducted by a leading temporary employment agency: a white male of 33, a man with a slight handicap which was not mentioned on his application, a 50-year old male, a West Indian man, an obese male and a North African woman. It involved sending prospective employers an application accompanied by a CV (resume) and a later interview. In all 1,950 CVs plus applications were sent in reply to 325 commercial job offers. More than half (54 percent) of all the positive replies were sent to the young white man (30 percent) and the undeclared handicapped man (24 percent). The West Indian received 21 percent of the positive replies, the obese candidate 10 percent, the woman of North African origin (who was better qualified but came from a poor suburb) nine percent and the man in his 50s six percent. Five of the candidates (but not the obese male) attended a total of 44 interviews, some of which were filmed. The fit young white man was the most successful, with a 92 percent rate of job offers. The woman of North African origin, whose CV had attracted little interest, scored 66 percent as did the West Indian. The handicapped candidate, whose disability only became apparent at the interview, was successful in 46 percent of cases. The 50-year old was offered a job in only 20 percent of cases. "The first lesson of this survey is that it is essential to keep CVs anonymous," Amadieu told AFP.
©Expatica News

FRENCH ANGRY AT LAW TO TEACH GLORY OF COLONIALISM
15/4/2005- More than 1,000 historians, writers and intellectuals have signed a petition demanding the repeal of a new law requiring school history teachers to stress the "positive aspects" of French colonialism. "In retaining only the positive aspects of colonialism this law imposes an official lie on massacres that at times went as far as genocide on the slave trade, and on the racism that France has inherited," says the petition, which has also been signed by one of France's best-loved humourists, Guy Bedos, and a leading film director, Patrice Chéreau. The law of February 23 2005, as it is known, was intended to recognise the contribution of the "harkis", the 200,000 or so Algerians who fought alongside France's colonial troops in their country's war of independence, from 1954-62, before being abandoned to a dreadful fate when the French withdrew - about 130,000 were executed as traitors. But an unnoticed amendment, apparently tabled by MPs with close ties to France's community of former Algerian settlers, added a new clause to the bill. It reads: "School courses should recognise in particular the positive role of the French presence overseas, notably in north Africa." Opponents are angry in part because, in the words of one eminent historian, Pierre Vidal-Naquet: "It is not up to the state to say how history should be taught." Mr Vidal-Naquet told Liberation: "In Japan, a law defines the contents of history lessons, and textbooks minimise Japan's responsibility in the Sino-Japanese war. If France wants to be like that, it's going the right way about it." Other leading historians said the need for such a law might be understandable in Germany but not in France. "It is imposing an official version of history, in defiance of educational neutrality," said one professor, Gerard Noiriel. "I cannot accept the authorities dictating to teachers the contents of their lessons." But the principal objection to the law is simply that, like most forms of colonialism, the French empire caused great suffering. The anti-racist group MRAP said the law was "an insult to intelligence, a denial of democracy, a rejection of historical reality and a brake on academic freedom". Above all, it showed "contempt for the victims".

Laws governing how certain periods of history should be taught in French schools have been passed before: a 1990 law outlaws denial of the Holocaust, and a 2001 law dictates that the slave trade be described as a crime against humanity. But those episodes are unambiguous. "The reality of the Holocaust and slave trade is self evident," said Thierry Le Bars, a law professor at Caen University, who has also signed the petition. "It is by no means self evident that France's colonialism was positive. Think of the ignoble legal status of the Muslims in Algeria, of the massacre of up to 5,000 Algerians in Setif in 1945, of all the unfortunates who endured the hell of slavery to assure the prosperity of Caribbean islands." The first of France's two empires began in the early 1600s in what are now Nova Scotia and Quebec. Louisiana had been added by the end of the century, as had Caribbean territories including French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). At the same time France got a foothold in west Africa (Senegal), and in India. Most of that empire was lost by 1815, but a second began in 1830 with the invasion of Algeria. Southern Vietnam and Cambodia followed, then, after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, the rest of French Indochina, Tunisia and Morocco, and almost all of western and central Africa. Mr Noiriel said the law was "all the more dangerous" because of attempts by certain interest groups to "confiscate history for their own ends". He added: "It can only contribute to a feeling of humiliation. It is directly opposed to the policy of integration the government claims to be implementing.
©The Guardian

SIKH SCHOOLBOYS LOSE FRENCH CASE
19/4/2005- A French court has upheld a school's decision to expel three Sikh boys for wearing turbans to school. The tribunal said the boys' continued wearing of an under-turban made them "immediately recognisable as Sikhs". Under a law passed amid protests in March 2004, French students are barred from wearing conspicuous religious symbols at school. The boys' lawyers said they would appeal and if necessary take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. The boys, aged 15 to 18, were expelled from the Louise-Michel school in Bobigny, north-east of Paris, last November.

No compromise
The three were separated from the rest of the class at the beginning of the autumn term and taught separately. They appealed against the segregation but in October a French administrative court referred the matter back to the school for further mediation. Shortly afterwards the boys were expelled as they failed to reach a compromise allowing them to wear the Sikh keski, or under-turban. The school's decision was confirmed in December by the education authority in charge. The boys were the first Sikhs to be punished by the new secularity law.

Controversial One of the boys' lawyers, Felix De Belloy, had argued that as they had no intention of trying to win converts to their faith, the boys posed no threat to the law. The French secularity law, primarily aimed at stemming the growing numbers of Muslim girls wearing headscarves in school, also prohibits the wearing of Christian crucifixes and Jewish skullcaps. The law also outlawed the Sikh turban, although French authorities have admitted they did not consider the Sikh community when the law was being drawn up. Sikh males are required by religion to allow their hair to grow, and most wear a turban - a symbol of Sikh identity, which helps to keep the growth under control. In most French schools Sikhs have reached a compromise that has allowed them to wear the keski, a smaller version of the turban, to control their hair.
©BBC News

BITS FROM RUSSIA
Moscow most antisemitic place in Russia
15/4/2005- The Moscow Human Rights Bureau has released a report on anti-Semitism in Russia in 2004 and the first quarter of 2005. It found that there has been a rise of anti-Semitic activity in Russia. Moscow was described as the most dangerous city for Jews with 27 anti-Semitic attacks in that period. Five similar acts were registered in each of the cities of Volgograd, Voronezh, and Petrozavodsk and in the Kaliningrad region. St. Petersburg and Penza were third on the list with four attacks in each city. The report's authors have included both "heavy" and "light" attacks, the Izvestia newspaper wrote on Friday. The more serious incidents were violent acts and terrorist attacks, the other category included slander, public offences and discrimination. For instance, the report mentioned a grenade explosion on the territory of a synagogue in January 2004 in the North Caucasus city of Derbent, and a bomb explosion in Moscow near the entrance of the Mekor Haim education center in March 2004 that caused no casualties. In March 2004 the president of the World Mountain Jews Congress, Zaur Gilalov, was killed. In Dagestan, two Jews were also killed. In January 2005, two rabbis were beaten up in Moscow. The report also mentions attacks on Jews committed by policemen. In number of anti-Semitic articles in 2005 has already equalled the total number for 2004, the report said. At the end of March 2005, a group of famous Russian cultural figures sent a letter to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office demanding that several Jewish organizations be banned. A similar letter was sent to prosecutors at the end of January. Then, it was also signed by a group of Russian MPs. The authors called the Jewish religion "anti-Christian and inhumane, whose practices extend even to ritual murders". However, the deputies retracted their letter shortly afterwards.
©MosNews

Police source puts number of skinheads in Kiev at 10,000
20/4/2005- On March 22, 2005 the Prima-News agency, which focuses on human rights topics in the former Soviet states, reported from Kiev that an Interior Ministry source put the number of skinheads in the Ukrainian capital at around 10,000. According to this police source, Kiev skinheads "attack Jews and foreigners" with a large degree of impunity, since although Kiev police have many of the neo-Nazis' photographs and names on record, few are ever arrested. It is not clear exactly how the number of 10,000 skinheads was arrived at, and it has not been confirmed by other sources. However, recent news reports of a sharp increase in attacks on Jews and other minorities in Kiev and some other cities indicate that the number of skinheads in Ukraine is growing, and that they are becoming more violent. Neo-Nazi leaflets were posted around Kiev and Nikolaev in March 2005 reports the ForUm news agency. The leaflets warn that white people are in danger and recommends several antisemitic and racist web sites. The leaflets in Nikolaev were pasted up the night before a parade to mark the anniversary of the city's liberation from the Nazis, and were in clear sight of many of the war veterans who took part in the parade.

Antifascist attacked in Voronezh
20/4/2005- For the second time in a year, anti-fascist activists have been attacked in Voronezh­a hotbed of violent neo-Nazi activity­according to an April 18, 2005 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. On April 16, a group of around 12 youths attacked two members of the Youth Human Rights Movement­Sergey Fedulov and Aleksandr Vyalykh. Mr. Fedulov lost two teeth in the assault, both of the young men suffered numerous cuts and bruises. Last April, Aleksey Kozlov, head of the Youth Human Rights Movement was attacked by skinheads who threw rocks at him, yelling "Run Niggers and Jews!" Mr. Kozlov is a regional monitor for an EC project to monitor xenophobia in Russia (UCSJ, the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Moscow Human Rights Bureau are co-grantees of this project). Three Albanian students at Voronezh's Architecture-Construction University were attacked by skinheads on April 6, according to an April 12, 2005 report posted on NTV's web site. The attack happened in the downtown area. The Albanians were speaking their native language as they walked, which attracted the attention of a group of skinheads. Shouting "Foreigners, go home!" the neo-Nazis beat the Albanians, one so severely that he is still in the hospital in serious condition. Police are investigating the assault as an incident of "hooliganism."

Skinheads stab Spaniard in Lipetsk
18/4/2005- Skinheads stabbed a Spanish citizen in Lipetsk recently, according to an April 14, 2005 report in the Yekaterinburg-based newspaper Zhizn'-Yekaterinburg. The article, which contained the disrespectful title "Skinhead Attacked a Macho," reported that a 50 year old Spaniard named Carlos Alberto journeyed to Lipetsk to meet a Russian woman he had corresponded with over the Internet. The couple was walking around the downtown area when they were set upon by a group of skinheads, one of whom stabbed the Spaniard in the neck. Fortunately, his injury was light and his female companion was able to take a picture of the attacker with her cell phone. Police soon afterwards arrested a 17 year old university student in connection with the attack.

Izhevsk police raid targets Baptists
18/4/2005- Police in Izhevsk, Russia (Republic of Udmurtiya) raided a Baptist church, making mass arrests and interrogating parishioners about their membership in a "sect," according to an April 15, 2005 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. On the evening of April 14, around 20 police officers, including riot police, burst into the "Matter of Faith" church, smashing the gate and forcing parishioners to put their hands up and line up against the wall. The church was then searched, during which police officers allegedly used offensive language towards the parishioners. The 46 detained Baptists were then taken to the police station, where they were interrogated individually over the course of five hours (four were kept overnight). They were reportedly asked questions about the salary of their pastor and why they didn't go to a "normal church" instead of a "sect." Questions about hidden stashes of drugs and guns allegedly followed. The Baptists were eventually released without charges being filed against them, after fingerprinting and photos. One later got a doctor to attest to injuries he sustained while in police custody. National Baptist leaders have filed a complaint with the prosecutor general's office against "the blatant illegality" of the police action.
©FSU Monitor

'SOCIOLOGY IN THE SERVICE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA' (Russia)
20/4/2005- Both government officials and leaders of the Orthodox Church in the Russian city of Voronezh have deployed a new weapon in their campaign to block the rise of Islam -- specially commissioned opinion polls clearly designed to inflame rather than simply measure public opinion. This use of polls is the latest in complicated saga about relations among the government, Muslims, and Orthodox hierarchs in that city. Some time ago, Voronezh Mayor Boris Skrypnnikov met with the Muslim leaders and agreed to the construction of a mosque. Then a few weeks ago, Vyacheslav Agapov, a deputy of the city Duma who is against building a mosque, denounced that decision and provided the press with a copy of the original agreement with the mayor's signature on it. Initially, the mayor acknowledged that he had met with the Muslims. But then the secretary of the Voronezh eparchate of the Russian Orthodox Church said that his organization was opposed to the building of any mosque in Voronezh, and the local media reported that any such mosque would be built with Saudi money and that it would thus spread Wahhabism. After that, the mayor denied that he had ever approved the deal. To measure public attitudes on this question, opponents of the construction of a mosque asked the Voronezh „Qaulitas" Institute of Public Opinion to carry out a specially designed poll.

That agency asked 1003 adults in Voronezh three questions:

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER ATTACKS RUSSIA'S RECORD
21/4/2005- Europe's top human rights watchdog urged Russia on Wednesday to do more to protect press freedoms, punish soldiers who commit serious crimes in Chechnya, and halt a rise in anti-Semitism and racist attacks. The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, has also called on Russia to abolish the death penalty, his annual report on respect for human rights in the Russian Federation to the Committee of Ministers states. He stressed that non-ratification of a 1997 protocol on the abolition of the death penalty within the European Convention on Human Rights is "a serious breach of the undertakings" Russia gave when it joined the Council. The penalty is still stipulated in Russian law, despite a moratorium being introduced in 1996 by former President Boris Yeltsin. Gil-Robles also suggested that the Russian government should devise legislation to deter radical political leaders from venting expressions of xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism. He said there had been a disturbing a rise in Russia of anti-Semitic attacks, homophobia, and discrimination against people from the Caucasus. "Attacks on synagogues, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and assaults against individuals are examples of the serious criminal acts which are becoming more frequent in numerous regions of the Russian Federation," Reuters quoted the official. In the commissioner's opinion, the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan that led to the deaths of 330 people is "clearly racist in nature". Russian authorities were not responsible for the tragedy, he claims. Only the terrorists and those people who backed should be called to account for such actions. The report also pays particular attention to the administration of justice, police behavior, prison conditions, the respect for human rights within the armed forces, freedom of the press, the rights of national and religious minorities, the enjoyment of social rights, the activity of NGOs and human rights institutions, and the situation of vulnerable groups such as children, women, the elderly and the disabled in the context of the recent social reform. A whole chapter deals with human rights in Chechnya. Gil-Robles said the situation in the republic, where separatist rebels have been fighting Russian troops for six years, had begun to improve over the past year but people continued to disappear there. While criminal groups and Chechen fighters were behind some of the disappearances, Russian forces and the Chechen police also appeared to be implicated, the report said. "Such practices must cease and those responsible, whoever they are, must be arrested and tried," the report said. Russia needs to adopt a law defining regional ombudsmen's powers more clearly and strengthen dialogue and co-operation with civil society to establish a so-called "genuine modern democracy," the commissioner concluded.
©MosNews

DUTCH TOWN BANS TWO MORE DEMOS
15/4/2005- Mayor Jos Waals has once again used his powers to ban demonstrations in the Dutch town of Venray. Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) planned to hold a rally in Venray on Saturday. AFA, which emerged from the far left in Britain in 1985, has loosely-affiliated branches in several countries. It specialises in confronting people and groups, sometimes violently, that AFA perceives to be racist. Michael Smit, a councillor from Rotterdam, was expelled from the Leefbaar Rotterdam party because of his right-wing views. He was organising a rally for 23 April to protest against a ban Waals imposed on the first demonstration he wanted to hold on Saturday. Waals took the decision to ban the three rallies because he wants to avoid clashes between demonstrators and bystanders, or with the police. The mayor is also afraid property could be damaged during a contentious demonstration. Two weeks ago, 10 native Dutch youths and 70 Turks engaged in a brawl after the windows of a local mosque were damaged. The riot was the latest incident to be blamed on the rise of Lonsdale Youth, young right-wingers who identity with the British brand of clothing Lonsdale. Venray has become a beacon for both the extreme left and radical right, something that Waals is not keen to encourage. Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk, with the media in tow, visited Venray in the aftermath of the violence outside the mosque. She emphasised any difficulties between local Dutch teens and people from immigrant backgrounds should be solved by dialogue.
©Expatica News

HAIDER PARTY LAUNCHED IN AUSTRIA
17/4/2005- Far-right politician Joerg Haider has launched a new party in Austria after a split in the Freedom Party he once led which threatened the ruling coalition. The new Alliance for Austria's Future elected Mr Haider as its leader in Salzburg, and it looks set to remain in office with the majority conservatives. All Freedom Party cabinet ministers have defected to the new party. The split came after the party, whose extreme views prompted EU sanctions on Austria, lost much of its support. A recent opinion poll gave the Alliance 5% support and just 3% to the rump Freedom Party. Under Mr Haider, the Freedom Party had taken nearly 27% in the 1999 general election. The BBC's Bethany Bell notes that while Mr Haider showed he still has considerable personal appeal with voters when he was re-elected as governor of the southern province of Corinthia last year, surveys nationwide suggest many Austrians mistrust him.

Election call
Of the Freedom party's 18 members in parliament, nine have reportedly joined the Alliance while seven remain with the old party and two are undecided. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, leader of the conservative People's Party, said he had received sufficient guarantees to work with the new Alliance. However, opposition parties are demanding a new election, with the Social Democrats arguing that Austria, which is due to assume leadership of the European Union for six months on 1 January 2006, cannot afford an unstable government. "Imagine what would happen if the government imploded just before or, worse, during Austria's presidency," Social Democrat leader Alfred Gusenbauer said at a party conference in Vienna. Austria is not due to hold its next general election until next year. In a two-hour speech in Salzburg, Mr Haider justified the creation of the new party, saying that "internal criticism" had hindered the success of the Freedom Party, AFP news agency reports. The 564 delegates present also elected Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach to a party leadership post. Mr Haider, who won notoriety for his comments on Austria's Nazi past, is not a member of the coalition government himself.
©BBC News

CONSERVATIVE MP SUES HOSI WIEN ACTIVISTS(Austria)
17/4/2005- On 2 March 2005, Austrian Parliament debated, in plenary, a motion tabled by the Green Party to set a deadline for finally putting their motion of March 2003, to include homosexual victims in the Federal Nazi Victims Compensation Act (Opferfürsorgegesetz - OFG), on the agenda of the Parliament's social affairs committee where the original motion had been parked since 2003. Once again, the conservative/extreme right ÖVP/FPÖ majority defeated the motion. MP Walter Tancsits, speaking in that debate on behalf of the People's Party (ÖVP), defended and justified his party's refusal to amend the OFG. For more than two decades, HOSI Wien has been fighting for the recognition, in the OFG, of the Nazi victims persecuted on the grounds of their homosexuality. Until today, this group is treated as second class victims who can only get some charitable alms from special funds in case they are poor and needy. But only recognition in the OFG would grant them a legal entitlement to compensation.
More information on the non-recognition of homosexual victims under the OFG

As a reaction to this vote of 2 March, HOSI Wien, in a media release dated 4 March 2005, criticised the position of the People's Party as "taking ideological views of the Nazis" ("vertritt nationalsozialistisches Gedankengut") in general and Tancsits' statement in particular ("It's a disgrace for the country that even today mental descendants of the brown Nazi myrmidons, such as Tancsits, are sitting in the Parliament."). True, those are quite strong words but - according to the established jurisprudence of both the Supreme Court in Austria and the European Court of Human Rights - they must be considered as legal and "fair comments" in a political debate, especially since the authors of these formulations explain why they have come to these conclusions.
Read more about the charges - both in English and German.

It's not only ridiculous but also not at all convincing that Mr Tancsits now pretends to be so deeply hurt and offended by our comments that he feels forced to bring both civil and criminal action against HOSI Wien, its president Christian Högl, and its secretary-general Kurt Krickler. In the civil action he applies for an injunction and the retraction of our statement, including the publication of that retraction; the criminal action is a classical defamation/libel suit. However, HOSI Wien suspects that the real reason behind these legal actions is to intimidate and to financially damage a critical NGO, and more so as HOSI Wien has been a decided opponent and a most vocal critic of the right-wing government in power since 2000.

Solidarity campaign
The criminal court procedure will take place in Vienna on Thursday, 28 April 2005, and we cannot exclude a political show trial in the present political climate in Austria, which in the past years has taken a strong turn into a very authoritarian and anti-democratic direction. In view of the established case law it does not really make sense to bring such actions to the courts - unless one is speculating and hoping to find willing executioners in the justice system who would "automatically" decide in favour of a government MP and against critical homosexuals. With all our negative experience with the Austrian justice system in the past, we only have little trust and confidence in it, and so we are quite concerned not to get a fair trial, and therefore, we have asked both foreign embassies here in Vienna, Members of the European Parliament and human rights organisations such as the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and amnesty international, to send observers to the trial on 28 April. If we are sentenced, we are of course determined to appeal the case and, if necessary, take it all the way to Strasbourg.

There are many ways to support us in our fight against this attack on freedom of expression, but also for the recognition, rehabilitation and compensation of those Nazi victims persecuted on the grounds of their homosexuality.

HOSI Wien has also launched an initiative ‘SOS Freedom of Expression' to combat these attempts to intimidate and silence critical NGOs or media. You will find more information on a special website section, both in English and in German.

We thank you very much in advance for any kind of support and solidarity. Don't hesitate to contact us for any further query.
Homosexuelle Initiative Wien (HOSI)

HUNGARIAN POLITICS: A GAY OLD TIME
The right sharpens its spears as the governing liberal party ups the ante on sexual morality.
By Judit Szakacs

20/4/2005- Homosexuality is becoming the cause celebre of the political season in Hungary. Conservatives are stumping for the sanctity of heterosexual marriage while a liberal party has launched a promotional drive involving, among other issues, gay rights. On top of this comes a new anti-discrimination agency and a speech accusing the liberals of cozying up to gays. And now a Hungarian politician, for the first time ever, has publicly come out of the closet. "It's more logical for me to say that I'm homosexual than to wait for others to say it. And this is only right," Klara Ungar told viewers of a television program about discrimination, Strucc (Ostrich). "My life has changed for the better ... And this probably shows." Ungar, one of the founders of originally liberal Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party, is an experienced politician. She entered parliament in 1990, but following Fidesz's conservative turn quit the party in 1993 and joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), representing the party for another parliamentary mandate, until 1998. Although not presently a legislator, she is a member of the governing board of the SZDSZ, which is currently a junior member of the governing coalition. Ungar's March coming-out happened in the midst of a political uproar set off by Christian Democrat leader and Fidesz parliamentarian Zsolt Semjen, who told a Christian Democrat congress, "If you want your teenage son to have his first sexual experience with a bearded older man, you should vote for SZDSZ." Semjen, who is vice-chairman of the parliament's human rights committee, also tied the liberal party to "the death culture of euthanasia and abortion," "extreme sects," and the use of marijuana in schools. According to him, the Free Democrats, currently scoring only about 5 percent support in opinion polls, will turn to gays and drug addicts to "scrape up" the votes needed to stay in parliament after next year's general election. Semjen later insisted he was merely trying to fulfill his "constitutional duty" to protect children. He opposed SZDSZ's policies because the party aims to legalize homosexual marriage, which would in turn enable homosexual couples to adopt children, he said on 13 March.

Tough talking
Although his fellow party members remained conspicuously silent, Semjen apparently enjoys the general support of the conservatives. Speaking on a live television morning show, Fidesz leader and former prime minister Viktor Orban said, "those were tough words that Zsolt Semjen said, we could even call them fighting words, but otherwise I find nothing wrong with their content. It is the SZDSZ campaign that is wrong." Repeating Semjen's allegations, he said the liberal party had adopted gay causes "for self-interested political reasons," and in what appeared either an intentional or unintentional slip of the tongue, added, "it is not right for a party to pin homosexuals on the flagpole" (the original Hungarian idiom is "to pin something on the flag," meaning to take up an issue). Conservatives are concerned that the flag of gay rights and other "liberal" causes is flying higher not just because of the SZDSZ, but also an anti-discrimination law. Although the law took effect in January 2004, the authority designed to monitor compliance only began work on 1 February this year. The legislation prohibits discrimination against a wide range of groups by state and public institutions and all employers (but not the police or the courts). The new Equal Treatment Authority says it has received about 100 complaints of alleged discrimination since it opened its doors, but so far only one alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual preference – from a gay couple who say they were treated unfairly in an official procedure. Since the complaint is under investigation, the authority has not released further details. A media campaign is attracting far more attention than the Equal Treatment Authority so far. Two months ago provocative street posters and television spots began appearing: "It's better for Roma children if they are placed in segregated classes." "Light drugs should be legalized." "Capital punishment should be reinstated for the most serious crimes." The posters and ads were the work of the Free Democrats. People who sent their opinions of the statements to a special website received a sampling of other people's opinions as well as the party's own view. As the right-wing daily Magyar Nemzet was eager to point out, seven of the 44 statements touched on rights for sexual minorities, which in the paper's view signaled that the party cared more about gays than about schoolchildren (three statements), women (two), or farmers (none). Judging from the SZDSZ's e-mail response to those who responded, the party supports same-sex marriage, adoption for same-sex couples, and giving same-sex couples access to the same inheritance and credit rules that apply to heterosexual couples. Fidesz blasted the campaign as "outrageous." "Offensive to the church and family-loving people," said the party's Marta Matrai, chairwoman of the parliamentary social and family affairs committee. The SZDSZ wanted to divert attention from serious issues such as unemployment, she said. Miklos Csapody, a deputy for the other conservative opposition party, the Hungarian Democratic Forum, told Magyar Nemzet that the SZDSZ had always been anti-Christian. Furthermore, "as far as the questions relating to sexual orientation are concerned, people are bored by this equal opportunity stuff. … Deviance is not the norm. Homosexuality is not the norm. And even liberal experts concede that children brought up by two men or two women will become deviant." The Socialists, the SZDSZ's senior partner in the government, have rather typically not taken a stand in this squabble.

Conforming to change
While some on the right were outraged by the Free Democrats' provocative media campaign, many intellectuals were shocked by Christian Democrat Semjen's "bearded man" speech. More than 250 public figures, including philosophers Agnes Heller and Miklos Tamas Gaspar, psychologist Tamas Vekerdy, philosopher of religion Gyorgy Gabor, theologian Tamas Majsai and historian Csaba Fazekas, demanded Semjen's resignation from his committee post in an open letter. What aroused their ire was not only what they saw as Semjen's homophobia, but also what they took as an anti-Semitic jibe: linking the wearing of beards with homosexuality. Semjen rejected the allegations of anti-Semitism as "ridiculous." Nevertheless, this interpretation was certainly not lost on one public figure with a taste for the outrageous. Minor celebrity Terry Black, best known for dressing in women's clothing, appeared on one of the main television channels' morning shows sporting a yarmulke and demanding Semjen's resignation. What's more, he warned, if Semjen did not quit by 18 March, he would publish a list of gays in parliament – a threat he has failed to follow through on. The current uproar aside, public attitudes toward homosexuality have changed dramatically, political scientist Ferenc Hammer says. Citing the findings of researcher Laszlo Toth, he says that Hungarians are significantly more tolerant than they used to be, but is more inclined to attribute this to changing patterns of conformity than to a true change of heart. "The majority of people have no clue about what homosexuality is, so they don't think anything about it. So they say, let's just follow what others think. During the socialist period and in the years after it was okay to be anti-gay; now it's much less the case," Hammer says. "The SZDSZ is a small, invisible party, stuck between the two big parties [the Socialists and Fidesz]. What they did was to pick up hard-core liberal issues, such as euthanasia and drugs, and using them to positioning themselves. I can't tell whether taking a clear liberal stand on homosexuality is good strategically or not." The changing approach to homosexuality seen in Hungarian law, it could be argued, backs up Hammer's suggestion about conformity. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in 1961, Hungary lagged behind nearly every other European state in equalizing the age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals, not doing so until 2002. (In 1998 the European Parliament called on Hungary and six other countries to repeal laws that discriminated against homosexuals, and warned that no country with such discriminative legislation would be accepted into the European Union.) In 1996, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, the law was changed to recognize homosexual common-law partnerships, but at the same time the court upheld that marriage is valid only between a man and a woman. Although they still cannot marry, people in long-term gay partnerships are now eligible for survivor's pensions and, since this February, for state-subsidized home loans just as heterosexual couples.

More struggles to come
It appears that the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats – and to a certain degree Fidesz and the Socialists – are gearing up for a battle pitting traditional values against personal liberties. The Christian Democrat youth organization is circulating a "family protection charter" demanding a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, while some Free Democrats were quick to reaffirm their stance on sexual rights. "The government is determined to ensure equal rights for homosexuals," said Miklos Hanko-Farago, a Free Democrat and the state secretary of the Justice Ministry, said in February. To secure those rights, the ministry is revising the civil code to allow registered partnerships for same-sex couples. It was not about giving gays special rights but ensuring non-discriminatory treatment is such areas as inheritance, he said. Although the new code, which is still at least two years from completion, apparently falls short of legalizing gay marriage, the party's next manifesto could well include language in favor of same-sex marriages, SZDZS parliamentarian Peter Gusztos told the Budapest Sun. Whether these political skirmishes reflect changing attitudes among voters, and whether one citizen's conformity is another's deviance, are other questions. "In a normal country, it's nobody's business whom you go to bed with," Klara Ungar said by way of explaining her decision to come out. "But in many ways, this is not a normal country yet."

Note: In January 2004 TOL's Judit Szakacs reported on a theology student who had been expelled from the Hungarian Reformed Church's Karoli Gaspar University as unfit for church service after he told a school counselor of his anguished doubts over his sexuality. The student, Gabor C., took the school to court, although the anti-discrimination law that came into effect that same month might not have protected him in any case, as it exempts religious activities from its purview. Last December an appeals court upheld the school's decision. On 20 January 2005, though, Gabor C., appeared to have won his case when a court ruled that the university had not followed proper procedure when it expelled him. A sexual minority organization called the Hatter Support Society is also suing the university on the grounds that its policies are not just an expression of its religious views but have consequences for a certain group of people, and that as a recipient of state support its policies are not simply internal church affairs. The suit is now before the Supreme Court.
©Transitions Online

ANTI-GYPSYISM IN FOOTBALL(Romania)
By Valeriu Nicolae

On 13th of April 2005 Steaua Bucharest played against Rapid Bucharest in one of the games with the highest audience in Romania. During the entire game Steaua's supporters proliferated anti-Gypsy chants and abuses against the host team of Rapid Bucharest. Instigation to violence and explicit hate speech against Roma came also from the speaker of the Stadium. One of the most racist Romanian songs called "Gypsyies and UFOs" was broadcasted through the Stadium speakers during the intermission. After the game Gabi Safta the presenter at the home games of Steaua Bucharest verbally abused the coach of Rapid, Razvan Lucescu which he also called a "stinky Gypsy"

How is that possible?
Gigi Becali the owner of Steaua Bucuresti declared publicly before the game that he would beat up the ex-owner of Rapid Bucuresti (team largely supported by Roma community in Bucharest) and one of the Romanian ministers nowadays, if he would dare to come to the game. Gigi Becali, one of the richest man in Romania does openly support the extreme right wing organization "Noua Dreapta". The organization has the same doctrine as the "Iron Guard", the extreme Nazi movement in Romania during the Second World War which is responsible for many killings including the pogrom of over 200 Jews during which the victims were put trough the entire cycle of the conveyor belt of the slaughtering house near Bucharest. A five-years old girl corpse was stamped as fit for consumption by the members of the "Iron Guard". On their website the Roma are considered to be "a subhuman group which steal our bread, replace our traditions, mug our brothers and kill our parents" The boss of the Romanian Football League Dumitru Dragomir is member of the Romanian Parliament from the extremist party Romania Mare .The leader of Romania Mare, Corneliu Vadim Tudor said that in the case he will win the election he would "... isolate the Roma criminals in special colonies.." in order to ".. stop the transformation of Romania in a Gypsy camp.. ". Dumitru Dragomir was also under investigation for being the owner of an anti-Semitic publication. Giovani Becali the brother of Gigi Becali is also known for his strong views against Roma . The Romanian chief of the referees Ioan Craciunescu recognized that he "received" a piece of land from Becali in the best area of Bucharest.

BUCHAREST DERBY MARRED BY ANTI-GYPSY ABUSE(Romania)
19/4/2005- The National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD) – the main partner of the FARE network in Romania – announced today to sanction FC Steaua Bucharest with a fine of 40 Million Lei (1100 ) following the racist abuse at the league match against FC Rapid (0:0). In addition, Steaua stadium speaker who called the Rapid coach Razvan Lucescu a "miserable Gypsy" has been fined 550 (20 Million Lei). During the entire game played on 13 April 2005 in front of 25.000 spectators Steaua supporters proliferated anti-Gypsy chants and abuses against FC Rapid, a club largely supported by the Roma community in Bucharest. Among others Steaua fans chanted "We have always hated gypsies, we have always urinated on you". Instigation to violence and explicit hate speech against Roma came also from the stadium speaker, Gabi Safta. During half-time one of the most racist Romanian songs called "Gypsies and UFO" was transmitted via the PA systems at the Steaua stadium. In a statement NCCD disclosed today: "Through these actions the Roma community rights regarding the personal dignity, non-discrimination and equal treatment have been infringed". The NCCD is also criticzing "the passive behaviour of the F.C. Steaua Bucharest representatives for not stopping these discriminatory behaviours before and during the football match". According to the European Roma Information Office (EIRO) Steaua president Gigi Becali, declared before the game that he would beat up the ex-owner of Rapid who is currently a member of the Romanian government, if he would dare to come to the game. EIRO spokes person Valeriu Nicolae said that Steaua president Becali would lend open support to the extreme right wing organisation "Noua Dreapta". On their website the Roma are considered to be "a subhuman group which steal our bread, replace our traditions, mug our brothers and kill our parents". Valeriu Nicolae believes that "Anti-Gypsyism in Romania and for that matter all around Europe is the acceptable European racism and accordingly largely ignored". "Racist incidents against Roma in stadiums are usual and receive no attention". EIRO reports that after the Steaua- Rapid match observer of the Romanian Football Federation Valentin Alexandru said: "The game was played in normal conditions" and there is nothing he would need to report. Representatives of the the National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD) and of the European Roma Information Office attended both the FARE conference in Bratislava.
©Football Against Racism in Europe

ATLETICO GET SOFT RACISM FINE AGAIN(Spain)
20/4/2005- Atletico Madrid have escaped serious punishment for the third successive time after being handed a 600 euro (£400) fine for racist incidents during last Saturday's home game against Espanyol. Bananas were thrown at Espanyol's Cameroon international goalkeeper Carlos Kameni, who also received racist abuse from a small section of the Atletico fans - mainly their ultra group the 'Frente Atletico'. It is the third time Atletico have been punished with a 600 euros fine for racist incidents at their Vicente Calderon stadium in 2005. The first occasion came following the derby with Real Madrid, where Real's Brazilian duo Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo were abused, and there was a similar incident in the match against Sevilla, leading to another 600 euro penalty. The club and local police are currently analysing video recordings of the crowd to try to identify those responsible, who can expect a heavy fine and to have their club membership revoked.
©ITV Network

FIRST HATE CRIME VERDICT IN SPAIN
18/4/2005- A Jury found guilty tree young men accused of killing a beggar aggravated by discrimination. A popular jury in The Supreme Court in Madrid had found unanimously guilty tree young men accused of killed a beggar in august 2002 beating him to dead in Santa Maria de la Cabeza avenue (Madrid). The jury considered the discriminatory aspect of the crime aggravating because the victim was singled out for being a beggar. The jury considered proven that the three accused, were guilty of murder with cruelty, perfidy and discriminatory motivation. The Movement against Intolerance was part as a popular action in the trial and in its statement said that it is a historic verdict because it´s the first time that a hate crime is recognised in the Spain juridical system. However it´s necessary a law against hate crime to combat the better the intolerance and neo-nazi violence.
The Movement against Intolerance

SPAIN'S MAJOR FAITHS OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE
20/4/2005- Representatives of Spain's major religious faiths, except Islam, unveiled a joint statement opposing gay marriage. The move came as parliament was about to debate a government proposal to legalize it. The statement, addressed to the Spanish parliament, was signed by the Spanish (Catholic) Episcopal conference, the federation of Jewish communities, the federation of evangelical religious groups and a senior Orthodox Church representative. "Monogamous heterosexual marriage is part of Judeo-Christian tradition and other religious faiths, and in its basic structure was and remains a fundamental institution in the history of societies of our cultural environment," it said. "Any change of the institution of marriage requires deep reflection and a vast dialogue and social consensus," it added. Signatories of the statement demanded that the structure of marriage be left unchanged as parliament prepared to discuss a government bill that would amend 14 articles of the Civil Code relating to marriage, including replacing the terms "man and women" by "partners". The Socialist government voted last November to legalise gay marriages from 2005 and give gay couples the right to adopt children, which would make the historically conservative country one of the most liberal in Europe. The move infuriated the country's powerful Catholic Church, which in December branded homosexual behaviour "intrinsically bad." In a statement, Catholic bishops said that "homosexual tendencies, even if not a sin, must be considered objectively as troubling". In Europe, only Belgium and the Netherlands allow same-sex marriages, though several countries extend officially recognised unions to homosexuals that convey some but not all of the rights of marriage.
©Expatica News

NATIONAL ANALYTICAL STUDY ON RACIST VIOLENCE AND CRIME(Italy)
RAXEN Focal Point for ITALY
By Annamaria Rivera Collaboration: Paola Andrisani

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The present report, like the former Analytical Study on discrimination and racist violence (2000-2002) is based on the theoretical supposition that "races" do not exist but rather human groups which are "racialised", that is, socially considered and treated as "races"1.

In our opinion, racism is part of a process of social classification so that some groups (migrants, refugees, minority groups) are perceived and labelled as different or radically different from the group which the advocates and/or perpetrators of racism belong to.

nyone belonging to a minority group and/or at a disadvantage from an economic, legal, social, religious point of view, can be racialised and become a victim of racism, independently of the phenotypical objective differences, and without great cultural differences. This is why, also in this report, we prefer to speak of racist instead of "racial"2 violence and crimes.

The report is, therefore, based on a well defined theory of racism3, without which, as weshall explain later, it is impossible to clearly distinguish the expressions of discrimination and racist violence and counter them efficiently. This is why we have dedicated a lot of space to the definitions of terms and key concepts (see par. 3). The space reserved to the gap analysis is equally extensive: what makes the Italian context unusual, is the lack of systematic surveys, constant monitoring and consequently, quantitative and qualitative data concerning discrimination, violence and racist crimes. Later, we shall point out that in our opinion, this deficiency is a sign of the underestimation of the phenomenon (also and especially by the government and more generally by the institutions); and this is, in itself, a cultural and political factor to be added to the analysis.

As far as we know, during the period under examination, no group of data and no report on a national level have been published on the subject of racist violence and crimes except for one research4. To compensate for the lack of reports and reliable quantitative data, we have directly carried out a small investigation, both by interviewing professionals who deal regularly with the defence of the rights of migrants and ethnic minorities and by examining a certain number of daily newspapers. From the latter and the aforementioned research, we have taken a number of cases which we considered a sample and which we have analysed extracting some information on the offenders and the victims of racist violence and to the places in which it usually took place.

Much space has been reserved to a general view of the extreme right wing organisations and populist xenophobic parties, as we feel that this can throw light on the characteristics of those we have defined as the "political actors of xenophobia and racism".

We have also dedicated a great deal of space to the analysis of the Italian legislation on racist crimes, to show that it would be sufficient to prosecute effectively and adequately racist type violence.

Lastly, in the documents enclosed, which form a consistent part of this report, we have included: a description of the number and composition of immigrants and ethnic minorities; a general glimpse of the current legislation and policies on the subject of immigration and integration.

The conclusions we have reached are the following:

POLISH GREATEST ROCK STARS KICK RACISM!
18/4/2005- On the 16th of March students from Wroclaw Film School shot a new video for one of the most popular Polish rock bands of these days - Big Cyc. The clip illustrates the single "One for all, all for one" coming from their last album "Change your sex with us". The song reflects band's protest against racism and violence growing on football stadiums across Poland. Pictures were shot in and old, abandonded fabric spaces and the only victim of the offensive football fans ( starring Big Cyc members) was a TV, smashed by Skiba into pieces.The video, which can now be seen on Polish TV, is a proof of band's support for "Let's kick the racism out of the stadiums" campaign launched by Never Again Association in 1996. Big Cyc's musicians also form four other bands: Bielizna, Czarno-Czarni, Doktor Granat and Skiba Solo. The first of these, Czarno-Czarni has already shown it's massive support for this very campaign by placing their hit "The last play" on the "Let's kick the racism out of the stadiums" compilation containing several anti-racism songs about football, published by Jimmy Jazz Records from Szczecin. The album,featuring also "Marian the loyal fan" by Big Cyc is still available on Never Again Assoc. website. www.nigdywiecej.org All the artists mentioned above, except Bielizna which has just resumed their activity, has intensely supported other Never Again Assoc's campaign - "Music against the racism". The chatacteristic logo of the campaign or it's slogan was placed on covers of all of their albums. Big Cyc has in total recorded 14 albums, sold in 2 million copies. In June 2004 a compilation of band's greatest hits, "Big Cyc - Bombowe Hity. The Greatest Hits 1988-2004" was issued by Universal music Poland. It contains (along with the old, well known songs) two fresh tracks : "Zloty warkocz" ("Golden plait") dedicated to MP Renata Beger and "Nienawidze szefa" ("I hate my boss") dedicated to the managment of Biedronka supermarkets chain.
Band's official website
Never Again" Association – Stowarzyszenie "NIGDY WIECEJ

GERMANY'S MEDIA STRUGGLE WITH MIGRANTS
Even though some 7,3 million foreigners currently live in Germany, migrant life still gets a bad rap in the media. Public broadcasters met in Berlin recently to discuss ways of combating the cliches.

19/4/2005- If German television is anything to go by, Muslim life is still shackled by tradition and overshadowed by crime. Its image took an even steeper downward plunge after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Fritz Pleitgen, director of German public broadcaster WDR. But migrant life isn't all bad news, he insisted -- and it's high time television delivered the broader picture.

Melting pot Germany
"Honor killings and arranged marriages make more of a splash in the media that differentiated depictions of normal life among migrants," Pleitgen said. He'd rather see more coverage of upbeat news about the country's minorities -- like German-Turkish director Fatih Akin winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and Asli Bayram (photo) scooping this year's Miss Germany title. After all, contemporary Germany is increasing becoming a proverbial melting pot. Cultural borders have never been more blurred -- one in six marriages is inter-cultural and one in four children born in Germany has at least one non-German parent.

Remaining objective
On the other hand, gang violence, honor killings and the sort of Muslim fundamentalism practiced, for example, by the so-called Caliph of Cologne, Metin Kaplan, who is now standing trial in Istanbul after Germany extradited him last year, are also a fact of modern life. But it needs to be stressed that these cases are exceptions, said Marie-Luise Beck, a government expert on migration. At a time when economic problems are creating wide-scale insecurity and resentment, society tends to look for scape-goats, she observed. "It's important to report on what's happening," she said. "The media has a duty to cover an inflammatory speech given by an Imam. But it's equally important to report of the rise of right-wing extremism and show that it doesn't only take the form of jackboots, it can also come packaged in a pin-stripe suit." It's an approach that can easily depoliticize extremism. Beck said that instead of exploring the roots of right-wing fanaticism, the media tends to promote a stereotypical image of shaven-headed Nazis in bomber jackets which fails to convey the full extent of the problem -- and the rise of middle-class reactionaries. Beate Winkler from the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia also had reservations about the way the media portrays right-wing extremism. "Right-wing extremists are turned into victims to such an extent that viewers can identify with them," she said. "At the same time no one really looks at their broader social role."

"Why can't we take them as they are?"
So what can be done to encourage more objective reporting? While many feel that Germany's public broadcasters should assume an educational responsibility by depicting positive examples of integration, others caution against taking an over-optimistic approach. "People are always saying television should show more good news," said Ulrich Deppendorf from WDR. "But if we only ever showed positive images, we'd lost some of our credibility." According to media expert Rainer Braun, the problem is that migrants still haven't hit the mainstream. "Why is it so hard to have people from other backgrounds fronting any thing other than specifically multi-cultural shows?" he asked. "Why couldn't they read the prime-time news or host political shows -- why can't we just take them as they are?"
©Deutsche Welle

BITS FROM SLOVAKIA
Illegal migrants: Massive drop in 2005
18/4/2005- Improved police work and far better cooperation with Ukraine since the change in government in Kiev are behind the large drop in the number of illegal immigrants entering Slovakia so far this year, the SITA news agency reported. Border police chief Michal Borgula and Migration Office head Bernard Priecel declared that the number dropped to one-fifth of 2004's first quarter figure. The first quarter of 2004 saw 3,000 illegal migrants enter the country, while that figure dropped to about 600 in the corresponding period this year. Of 11,500 migrants who applied for asylum in 2004, 350 remain in the asylum process. Since the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1993, around 650 people have been granted asylum in Slovakia. More than half of these have, however, left for other EU countries.

Slovakia's Roma decade begins 18/4/2005- Cabinet appointee (plenipotentiary) for Roma affairs, Klára Orgovánová, opened the Decade of Roma Inclusion in Slovakia on April 8, World Roma Day. The Decade of Roma Inclusion is an international project involving former Communist bloc countries. "Efforts to improve the situation for the Roma population in Slovakia gained a formal character once Slovakia joined this project, but the outlines and aims remain the same," said Orgovánová. According to the plenipotentiary, over the last 10 years NGO activities have created a base from which to change the status of the Roma in Slovak society, the SITA news agency reported. So far the most important steps have been acknowledging the Roma community as a national minority, establishing Roma civic associations and setting up a Roma theatre in Košice. Orgovánová also praised the creation of a Roma department at Nitra University and high schools that include classes on Roma history and language. Slovak schools have Roma assistants to help Roma pupils and teachers communicate. There are also social workers based in Roma settlements. Slovakia plans to improve school attendance among Roma children and enhance the status of the Roma on the labour market. In its national action plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion, Slovakia pledged to support employers who offer jobs to Roma, reduce racial prejudice among civil servants in the social affairs and employment sector, distribute grants to unemployed Roma to help them get work, and build homes for Roma people within and outside Roma settlements. Orgovánová said that the cabinet allocated about Sk600 million ( 15.2 million) for these goals in 2005. Additionally, Slovakia can draw funds to improve Roma living conditions from EU structural funds and apply for subsidies from the Roma Education Fund, the European Social Fund and the PHARE fund. The International Decade of Roma Inclusion is supported by the World Bank, the Open Society Institute, the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme.
©The Slovak Spectator

‘RACIST ATTACK' BREAKS OUT AT TRAFFIC ACCIDENT SCENE(Cyprus)
Sit-com actor says he was beaten up after his car was hit by another driver

20/4/2005- An actor and chef living in Cyprus for 17 years claims he was racially abused, physically beaten and then locked in a police cell for 15 hours following a car crash in Limassol over the weekend. He has lodged a complaint about the incident with the Ombudswoman. Hounzanme Severin, originally from Benin, is a Cypriot citizen and lives here with his wife and daughter. He reported to the Ombudswoman that he was racially abused by a police officer, then beaten up and locked in jail. He now faces charges of hitting that same officer. As Severin was driving from Limassol to Nicosia last Saturday at around 4am near the Yermasoyia roundabout, a car driving in the wrong lane, crashed head on into him, he said. "The car was in my lane, I had nowhere to go. It hit me straight on, destroying the left side of my car and causing me to swerve on to the pavement," Severin added. According to Severin, he then got out of the car and waited for the police to come. A group of six or seven people gathered at the scene. Despite asking them repeatedly, nobody told Severin who was driving the other car. "I didn't get to see who the driver was. But as I was standing there, a woman came towards me and shouted ‘you f-ing black man, don't speak'. So I responded, ‘who are you to tell me not to speak'," he said. "Then five or six guys standing around started beating me. They put me on the ground, hit my throat, my chest, my groin, knee, everywhere." Severin told the Cyprus Mail that the beating continued for approximately 10 minutes and only stopped when a female bystander pleaded with them to stop.

"I was still in shock from the accident and I couldn't see who was hitting me. They hurt my mouth, knee, elbow, neck. Then I heard a woman crying nearby, saying ‘leave the mavro (black man) alone'. They stopped hitting me. One guy picked me up, and told me ‘That lady you want to hit is a CID officer'," said Severin. "But I never laid a finger on her. I simply asked her who she was to tell me not to speak. If she really was a police officer, why didn't she present herself to me? Why didn't she come to me and ask if I was OK? Nobody did, they just beat me." Five minutes later, the police arrived. According to Severin, the CID officer was the first to speak with police arriving on the scene. "She spoke to the police and then said ‘bring him in'. So, the policeman turned to me and told me I was under arrest. I asked why and he said because I was fighting. But I wasn't. They beat me up. I asked what would happen to my car, and they said just come with us. Before I knew it, I was being driven to the station." After making his statement, Severin was asked to remove his shoelaces and other items before being locked up. He was finally released at 7pm on Saturday evening after signing a statement that said he had been locked up for hitting a police officer. Severin only found out yesterday from traffic police who was driving the car that smashed into his. It was not the police woman in question. "I told police when they arrived on the scene that I had been beaten up for about 10 minutes. At the station I showed them the injuries on my arms and knees. Now I have to go to court, because I am being charged with hitting her." On Monday morning Severin took the case to the Ombudswoman who is also responsible for investigating cases of discrimination and racism on the island. "They took action immediately and asked the Chief of Police to investigate what happened." Former Attorney-general, Alecos Markides, will be representing Severin as his lawyer. Severin works as a chef for two European ambassadors in Nicosia. He also acts for Sigma television on the show I Takoi. "I have had some trouble before, but this is the first time in 17 years that I have had to deal with such racism in Cyprus," he said. "Now they have found themselves in the fire. They didn't think I could do anything. They thought I would forget about it, but they hit the wrong man."
©Cyprus Mail

A NEW WAVE OF MIGRATION?(Kyrgyzstan)
Land seizures and nationalist propaganda are unsettling many Russians and other Kyrgyz minorities.
By Hamid Toursunof, TOL correspondent

18/4/2005- As Kyrgyzstan's new leaders try to maintain stability ahead of presidential elections, concern is growing over rising numbers of non-Kyrgyz seeking to leave the country. Russia's ambassador in Bishkek, Evgeny Shmagin, said that the number of Russian-speakers who want to leave their birthplace has jumped fivefold since the unrest of late March that led to the ouster of former president Askar Akaev and his regime. Shmagin pinned some of the blame on nationalistic, anti-Russian flyers that have begun appearing on the streets of the capital, Bishkek. "I was surprised today to see flyers directed not only against Russians, but also against ethnic Koreans," Shmagin said after a 14 April meeting of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian ambassadors with acting Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva. "There is concern lately among the Russian-speaking population, especially after the distribution of these provocative leaflets." The leaflets call for a jihad – or holy war – against Russians living in Kyrgyzstan. "Muslim brothers, do not buy apartments and houses from Russians and Koreans because in any case they will give them away," the flyers said, implying that they will soon leave the country in any case. Calling the flyers a provocation, Otunbaeva said migration by Russians and other ethnic groups was on the rise, and linked this to the "desire of some people, by provoking various destructive processes, to sow inter-ethnic discord and to destabilize the situation."

A home on the Russian steppe?
On 14 April, Yuri Ermolaev, head of the Russian immigration service in Bishkek, said that representatives of 26 ethnic groups have recently applied to the Russian embassy for permission to emigrate to Russia, including Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, and even Kyrgyz. That claim is supported by anecdotal evidence. "Undoubtedly, the latest events will increase the migration of Russians. All my Russian acquaintances say they are planning to leave the country," said Antonina Zakharova, an ethnic Russian who heads the ethnic relations department in the southern division of the Kyrgyz Academy of Science. "Only those who have old and sick parents and grandparents are staying." "My father will come to Kyrgyzstan from Russia this summer to sell our apartment and take my grandparents to Russia. As for me, I will leave Kyrgyzstan as soon as I finish my studies next year," said Alexey Demin, an information technology student from Osh. When Kyrgyzstan became an independent state as the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, its total population of 5 million included 900,000 ethnic Russians. At least a third have since left Kyrgyzstan. The Russians are concentrated in the north of the country, in Bishkek itself and the surrounding Chui province. In the south, the largest minority are Uzbeks, who, according to the National Statistics Committee, numbered 664,000 in 1999.

The first wave of Russian emigration followed ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in 1990 in the city of Osh in which several hundred people were killed. Migration picked up again after 1999 and 2000, when armed groups crossed into the southern region of the country bordering Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Few Russians still live in the south. "In 2004, there were only 11,000 Russians in Osh province," Zakharova said. "Every year approximately 500 Russians leave the province, which is a lot given the small presence of Russians here." The other two southern provinces, Batken and Jalal-Abad, are home to an estimated 5,000 and 12,000 Russians respectively. Before the breakdown of the Soviet Union, Russians in Kyrgyzstan dominated many areas of life, from industry to education, science, and medicine. Their shrinking numbers are having an effect on the country's development, some Kyrgyz feel. "If Russians and people of other nationalities leave Kyrgyzstan, our country will never become a civilized state," said Almaz B., a Kyrgyz entrepreneur from Jalal-Abad. Many felt that Akaev's declaration of Russian as the country's official language in 2002 was an attempt to stem the flow of Russians. Akaev explained the decision saying that the Russian language and the Russian media helped Kyrgyzstan stay in touch with the world. This was true during the March events that culminated in Akaev's flight to Moscow, when Russian-language Kyrgyz media provided much of the local coverage of the uprising and subsequent installation of a new leadership. Russian television and radio are far more popular than their Kyrgyz-language competitors, and one of the country's largest universities, Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, bears the name of the former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Even as the number of native Russian speakers shrinks, more and more Kyrgyz- and Uzbek-speaking parents are sending their children to Russian-language schools, hoping to improve their economic prospects. Officially, 300,000 Kyrgyz citizens are migrant workers in Russia; the number of unregistered workers, many of them seasonal laborers, is far higher, up to 800,000 by some estimates.

A home in the Bishkek suburbs
But it is migration of another kind that is currently proving the biggest headache for the new Kyrgyz government. For years, poor rural Kyrgyz have been migrating to the capital in search of work. Now some have begun squatting on unused land belonging to inhabitants of Bishkek and nearby villages, claiming they need the plots to build houses. According to Tolekan Ismailova, the head of an organization called Citizens Against Corruption, 50,000 people are now illegally occupying land in Bishkek. Parliament discussed the issue throughout the week of 11-15 April, but was unable to reach a consensus on how to deal with the problem. Although the authorities have threatened firm action against the occupations, little has been done so far. However, a government minister, Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, said the state could expropriate vacant lots whose owners have done no building work in the last two years, RFE/RL reported. When Bakiev and a group of parliamentarians visited some of the squatters to try and convince them to give up their illegal occupations, they were told the land seizures amounted to the same thing as the opposition did when it took ousted the Akaev regime. The scenes of mob violence in late March and frustration at the slow response on the part of the new authorities prompted some landowners to begin setting up self-defense groups immediately after the revolution. One such militia leader, a well-known horseman and stuntman, Usen Kudaivergenov, organized foot and mounted patrols to protect private property, and asked landowners and squatters alike to stop the dispute before it grew into armed clashes. He soon became one of the most popular people in Bishkek. However, on 10 April, Kudaivergenov was shot dead in his house; the authorities have made no arrests. Some supporters charge that his murder was politically motivated, and leading presidential candidate Feliks Kulov blamed the killing on "counterrevolutionary forces." Kulov was the only prominent politician at Kudaivergenov's funeral. The land seizures are also exacerbating inter-ethnic tensions, because the areas where land seizures are most common – the suburbs of Bishkek and outlying villages – are home to many Russian-speakers, including Ukrainians, Belarusians, Germans, Koreans, Dunghans, and other ethnic groups. "The land problem is a most painful and difficult problem in a country [like Kyrgyzstan] that has only limited agricultural resources," Zakharova said. "Even if the authorities solve the land seizure issues soon, the migration flow among the Russian-speaking population will increase," she predicted. Local analysts say the issue of land rights could undermine the fragile stability put in place by the new leadership after mass anti-Akaev protests in March. With new presidential elections looming on 10 July, one of the candidates, former parliamentary opposition leader Adakhan Madumarov, has called on all presidential hopefuls to make a gentleman's agreement that the losers will not try to foment demonstrations, roadblocks, or building takeovers – the same methods the opposition used to overthrow Akaev.

Unwanted members
The already tense mood in Bishkek was made tenser still on 14 April when the ousted president's daughter unexpectedly returned. Bermet Akaeva was elected to parliament in the contentious recent elections but escaped along with her father and the rest of the family as the uprising spread to the capital. She told journalists that her brother Aidar would soon return to take up his own seat in the assembly. But a crowd soon gathered outside parliament chanting slogans against the Akaevs, and the speaker of parliament, Omurbek Tekebaev, asked Akaeva to leave the building to "avoid further turmoil." She left by a rear entrance and did not appear at the next day's session. Although the parliamentary elections in February and March were widely denounced as an attempt by Akaev to pack the legislature with his supporters, the new leadership eventually decided to respect the results of the elections rather than risk a constitutional standoff between the new and old parliaments.
©Transitions Online

RELIGIOUS IN PLEA OVER TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANT WORKERS(Ireland)
Human dignity must be at the heart of the state's treatment of immigrant workers as the country's population heads towards 4.5 million, it was claimed today.

20/4/2005- The Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) said there would be serious implications for way people lived their lives and spent their money. "Ireland's population passed four million last year for the first time since 1871 and it will reach 4.5m in about six years time. The challenges in that context are massive because we will be becoming a very multicultural society in a very short time frame," said director Fr Sean Healy. CORI is hosting a conference on the subject of human dignity in a globalised world in Dublin today. Fr Healy said the experience of the GAMA construction workers was an example of the need for human dignity. "You have a situation where people don't seem to have been paid anything remotely close to the minimum wage and have been working excessive hours. It would certainly raise questions about whether human dignity was a priority for their employers." The speakers at the conference will include the South African ambassador to Ireland, Melanie Verwoerd, and Sister Bernadette McMahon and Sister Margo Delaney of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. Fr Healy, whose organisation has been an outspoken critic of the Government at budget time, said he believed people were becoming more aware of the need for human dignity. "I think people are beginning to recognise that it's very good to be better off but that there are downsides as well. They're experiencing that as well their longer working hours, a longer time to commute to work and less time to spend with their communities and families." He added: "That brings it home to people that they need to keep an eye on securing their own dignity and also the dignity of people around them." Around 100 people from faith groups, community groups and trade unions are expected to attend the conference, which begins at 9am today in the Tara Towers hotel in Booterstown in Dublin.
©Irish Examiner

RAPE VICTIMS NOT EQUAL(Norway)
21/4/2005- Oslo municipal court has ruled that it is cheaper to rape women from countries with a lower standard of living than Norway, and complaints are already raised from Eastern European voices. Aftenposten's evening edition reported Monday that a 36-year-old Moroccan was sentenced to 15 years in custody for raping four women and abusing two others. Four of the victims were from Lithuania, one from Estonia and one from Norway. The Norwegian woman was awarded NOK 330,000 (USD 52.600) in compensation and lost income while the court found that suitable damages for the foreign victims would be between NOK 15,000 and 70,000. The Norwegian woman was attacked and raped as she was entering her home. The foreign victims were prostitutes in Oslo when they were assaulted. "I don't understand why Norwegian laws are not followed, and why the judge thinks it should be cheaper to rape foreigners. Does he think the pain is less for us who are born in another country?" said Selma Dilba, who was head of the Norwegian-Lithuanian friendship society for many years. The Polish consul in Norway, Danuta Szostak, also protested. "If rape victims seek professional help in Norway they must pay the same prices as Norwegians. So I have difficulty seeing why victims of the same crime should not be treated equally," Szostak said. If a prisoner in custody is acquitted in court, Norwegian tribunals do not distinguish between nationals foreigners when awarding compensation, there is a fixed rate per day in custody. In this case the convicted man had disposed of his holdings so the women will get their compensation from the Norwegian state when the case goes through the appeals process in the autumn.
©Aftenpost

POLICE EXPERTS TAKE STEPS TO COMBAT HATE CRIMES IN THE OSCE REGION
18/4/2005- Law enforcement experts from seven countries have developed a set of goals and methods for collecting data on hate crimes at a meeting in Warsaw. They were joined by experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights ODIHR and the National Public Safety Strategy Group (NPSSG), a strategic training and development consortium. "I warmly welcome this initiative, which I am sure will serve as an important tool for collecting reliable information and statistics on hate crimes," said Ambassador Christian Strohal, Director of the ODIHR. The Office has been mandated by the OSCE's 55 participating States to combat violent manifestations of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance and is to serve as a collection point for information and statistics collected by OSCE participating States. The experts agreed on elements of data collection related to hate crimes in the OSCE region. The initiative will also serve as a model for OSCE States that seek to expand or enhance their existing capacity for criminal data collection. The ODIHR will work with participating States to secure consistent data collection across the OSCE region, with the aim of effectively and efficiently combating hate crimes. Data on hate crimes can be used to identify where more resources are required, to allocate these resources to the areas of greatest need and to stem emerging problems. This data can also help to support individuals, groups and communities in dealing with hate crimes and their effects. "This co-operation of law enforcement experts is an unprecedented effort to achieve expert-level consultation on the collection of hate crimes data resulting in a data collection template for all OSCE participating States. This is a significant step forward in establishing commonality of data on hate crimes across the OSCE region," said Paul Goldenberg, NPSSG President.
©Noticias

A VIEW FROM UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN(CSW) 49
The State of Women's Rights as International Human Rights Today
Special for ICARE by Casey Belle

18/4/2005- The tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was commemorated for two weeks last month at the UN in New York during the 49th session of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women.
See

Women's rights are not yet fully realized even in the most developed countries of the world. So, while governments have now convened 49 conferences on the status of women at the UN for over half a century, one must ask if these meetings are successful and whether they make a difference. Like much with international affairs, an honest response can only come in terms that are relative to past efforts and future goals in the effort to secure women's rights through the application of international human rights.

Merely convening the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in and of itself was an important achievement that was burdened by obstacles. The policy that was adopted there continues to provide strategic political leverage in pressuring governments with their own words and benchmarks to meet, as opposed to stand-alone advocacy by non-governmental organizations and individuals.

Since governments reaffirmed the Beijing documents upon their fifth anniversary in the year 2000, one might have expected that this year's reaffirmation of Beijing and linkage of the Beijing process to the UN Millennium Development Goals would be uncontroversial. Yet it took a full week of negotiations with the United States to adopt the declaration without any proposed amendments. With support from the Vatican, the US wanted the Declaration to state that the Beijing Platform creates no new international human rights, specifically no new right to abortion.

While this was by no means the only problem encountered this year, it was clearly the most publicized one because it took half of the conference to clear up. The presence of several right wing, anti-choice NGOs from the US and Latin America lent a sense of urgency to the proceedings. Chaos occasionally broke out in the upstairs NGO gallery when participants expressed sounds of condemnation and applause in response to relevant statements being made on the floor below.

Women's NGOs from the US and worldwide applauded the declaration's final adoption for which they ardently lobbied.
See and even they can't deny that reiterating the Beijing Platform without actually doing anything to advance it is potentially harmful because it lends the false appearance that governments are doing something when in fact they are not.

Governments themselves expressed disappointment that the pre-negotiated declaration was not adopted pro forma and therefore important negotiations regarding resolutions to be adopted were delayed. The distraction took its toll when at the end of the session they ran out of time to elect new members to the Commission. It was agreed that rather than end the 49th session they would postpone it and meet again later in the year to take care of more business.

Unfortunately, operating with what has become the acceptable insult of being sidelined and treated "like a woman" is not a new dynamic for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Initially founded as a subcommission to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), even gaining full status as an independent commission was a challenge for the CSW. Despite meeting that challenge 59 years ago, the CSW still has no rapporteurs or experts assigned to carry out its mandate whereas 53 special rapporteurs, independent experts, personal representatives, and working group members are assigned to the CHR (of whom only 14 are women).

The structural inequality for women's issues that is embedded within the CSW and other UN mechanisms is obliquely referenced in the resolution tabled by Bangladesh and the United Kingdom on mainstreaming a gender perspective into national policies and programs. According to the UN's press release, the adopted resolution asks the CSW to reiterate that "gender mainstreaming is a tool for effective policy-making at all levels and not a substitute for targeted, women-specific policies and programs, equality legislation, national machineries for women's advancement and the establishment of gender focal points." It calls on the UN system and relevant organizations to strengthen their efforts and stresses the importance of political will from member states and asks the Secretary-General to report to the CSW 50 on progress in implementing the resolution.

This year's CSW came at a time when the UN was already under public scrutiny because of a report that the Secretary-General requested UN Ambassador Prince Hussein of Jordan publish on sexual assault by peacekeepers in the Congo and elsewhere.

However institutional gender imbalance at the UN presents a less sexy and more chronic nut to crack particularly because many governments face similar problems at home. The most mundane face of it can be seen in terms of staffing at the UN itself. According to a report by the Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Gender Issues, women on staff in UN Secretariat professional and higher categories is at 36.4 per cent as of June 2004. As of December 2003, professional and higher-categorized women with appointments for one-year or more stand at 37.4 per cent. When broken down in terms of professional ranking, the percentages more clearly show a pink ceiling. They show that the majority of posts gained for women are at entry levels whereas percentages of women in the highest professional grade and directorships remain in the teens.
See

The fact that the gender mainstreaming resolution and the other nine resolutions that were finally adopted at the CSW are still not posted on the UN's website or anywhere else online after the conference's conclusion already a month ago merely belabors the point. Nonetheless, many important advancements were made at this year's CSW that are worth noting. Along with the gender mainstreaming resolution, a resolution on the advisability of appointing a special rapporteur on discrimination against women snuck onto the agenda just in time for the mid-session deadline for tabling resolutions.

With initial co-sponsorship by Rwanda and the Philippines, this resolution calls to create the CSW's first-ever Special Rapporteur. The Beijing Platform itself is based on the unquestionable principle that women have equal rights as men and that obstacles to overcoming inequality present serious consequences for the well-being of all. This resolution and the appointment of such a rapporteur therefore address a fundamental need.

The resolution calls on the: "Secretary-General to report to the CSW, at its 50th session, on the implications of the creation of a Special Rapporteur, and to include in his report the views, inter alia, of the Member States and relevant UN bodies including the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights."

Four other new resolutions were adopted at the CSW: reducing demand for trafficking (sponsored by the US); integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster relief especially in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami (sponsored by the Philippines); indigenous women (introduced by Bolivia); and women's economic advancement (which was initiated by the US, but then the US withdrew its sponsorship).

Another four resolutions were carried over from previous CSW sessions were:

FEMALE CIRCUMCISION WRECKING LIVES(Iraq)
Much criticised by human rights groups, the practice is said to leave girls vulnerable to infection, hemorrhaging and long-term health and sexual problems.
By Roonak Faraj and Talar Nadir in Sulaimaniyah

13/4/2005- Forty years have passed since Sairan Muhammed was circumcised, but she still remembers the event vividly. "I was seven-years-old. My mother took my hand and I didn't know where she was taking me," she said. "We went to a house with a wooden roof. I could hear the shouting and crying even before we got there. I ran away, but my mother chased after me and caught me. In the house, there were six other girls who were being circumcised too." For Sairan, 47, a resident of Sulaimaniyah, the psychological scars left by circumcision refuse to heal. "Even now, I can't get the screaming, the struggling and the fear of that day out of my mind," she said. Circumcision, also called female genital mutilation, is a well-known practice in Somalia, Sudan and Egypt, but is not generally considered to be common in this part of the world. However, according to a 2004 survey of women from the Kurdish-controlled Iraqi areas of Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah, a staggering 75 per cent of 40,480 respondents were found to be circumcised. Twelve-year-old Ameena Muhammed, from the town of Kalar, remembers the agony of the procedure. "I was 5-years-old. I was grabbed by two people, and they circumcised me. I didn't go outside for two days, and it hurt when I peed," she said. The Kurdish method of circumcision involves the removal of a girl's external genital organs. The procedure is usually carried out by women who are not trained in surgery. There is no anaesthetic and little attention to hygiene. As a result, there is a high risk of infection and haemorrhaging. Women with disfigured genitals commonly have problems with urination, intercourse and childbirth. In Iraqi Kurdistan, uncircumcised women are often looked down upon. Shamsa Ali, 50, from the Sarshaqam neighborhood of Sulaimaniyah, describes how a deep sense of shame led her and her two sisters to circumcise themselves, "We were in our early teens, and we felt ashamed because we hadn't been circumcised. Our friends told us that if a girl isn't circumcised, the water from her hand is unclean and not fit for drinking and that God is angry with her. So we decided that the three of us should go to Hamdia's, a friend of ours, and circumcise one another."

Muslim clerics in northern Sulaimaniyah declared a fatwa on the practice in 2000. Muhammed-Amin Abdul-Hakeem Chamchamali, the head of the Kurdistan Religious Scholars Union, said the "common belief that uncircumcised women are dirty or unsuitable for marriage is unfounded" and they "are not guilty of anything in the religious sense". Dr Rezan Ismael, a gynaecologist in the Rania township, an area where many girls are circumcised, believes that female genital mutilation damages women's sexual organs so profoundly that it can lead to sexual dysfunction and marital problems, "The damage done by female circumcision is most apparent after marriage. I think that 70 to 80 per cent of marital problems are sex-related." The damage is compounded because the women conducting the circumcisions are often illiterate and unskilled. One practitioner from the town of Basrma, who preferred not to be named, circumcises girls aged between two and five, performing the operation with a blade and placing the child in a washtub to staunch the bleeding, then applying a mixture of salt and oil to the wound. Fatim Ibrahim says she performs circumcisions because she sees it as a moral duty. "I learned the profession from a woman in our village," she said. "I do it because it is virtuous, and so that God is satisfied with me. So far, I have circumcised over one thousand girls." The damaging practice has been condemned by many international human rights groups. In a report about women in Iraq published in February this year, Amnesty International concluded, "Some aspects of [female circumcision] are analogous to torture in that it is intentional, calculated, and causes severe pain and suffering." Roonak Agha of the Kurdistan Women's Union has launched a campaign to educate mothers against circumcising their daughters, which she says has begun to lower the incidence in some areas. "We held symposiums and seminars, and have made a concerted effort to stop circumcision. We have held talks with religious scholars here so that we can persuade mothers to put an end to this phenomenon." Thanks to projects like these, circumcision is on the wane in the larger cities of Kurdistan. But in smaller towns and villages, the practice is more difficult to eradicate. While some progress is being made in tackling female genital mutilation, many victims of the practice continue to suffer the consequences. Sairan Muhammed said her husband took a second wife because of her sexual frigidity. One consolation for her, she said, is that her four daughters will not have to experience what she went through.

Roonak Faraj is the editor-in-chief of Rewan newspaper, and conducted the survey referred to in this article.
Talar Nadir is an IWPR trainee in Sulaimaniyah.
©Institute for War & Peace Reporting

RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES WANT RIGHTS ENSHRINED IN NEW CONSTITUTION(Iraq)
20/4/2005- Iraqi NGOs, representing minority ethnic groups in the country, held a two-day conference in the capital Baghdad this week to ensure that their rights are enshrined in the new constitution being drafted by the transitional government. "Through this conference, we have tried to highlight the fact that Iraqi minorities have the right to be involved in the preparation and writing of the new constitution to ensure our rights are the same as other groups such as the Muslims and Christians," director of the Iraqi Commission for Civil Society Enterprises (CCSE), Basel al-Azawi, told IRIN in Baghdad. The event, organised by the CCSE, came to an end on Tuesday. It resulted in the formation of a committee which will liaise with the new government to ensure that minority rights are genuinely protected under the new constitution. "Promises of participating in the new government were given from the bigger parties like the Shi'ite Iraqi Alliance, but nothing has been done so far and we are afraid that we will lose our rights when they write the constitution," a member of the Mandaean Democracy Congregation (MDC), working to protect the rights of the Mandaean community, Sameea Dawood Salman, told IRIN. Iraq consists of a number of ethnic and religious groups. According to the US State Department, 97 percent of a population of 22 million people are Muslim. Shi'ite Muslims, predominantly Arab, although some come from Turkomen, Kurdish and other ethnic origins, constitute 60 percent of the population. Sunni Muslims make up 37 percent and the remainder are Christians, comprised of Assyrians, Chaldeans, Roman Catholics and Armenians. There are also a small number of Jews, Mandaeans, who follow the teachings of John the Baptist and Yazidis, who follow a mixture of religions. It is these smaller groups, particularly the latter two and the Assyrians, which are voicing their concerns. The Yazidis live near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, with smaller communities in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Armenia, and are estimated to number 500,000. The Mandaeans are smaller in number at some 100,000 and live mainly in southern Iraq, according to members of both groups. Under the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, who ruthlessly promoted his Sunni brethren, a campaign of persecution against religious leaders and followers of the majority Shi'ites was carried out, as well as no acknowledgement of Assyrian, Chaldean and Yazidi groups, according to human rights observers. In addition, the minority groups were not allowed to participate in elections with their own independent parties. Following the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003 and the 30 January election, minority religious groups want to make sure that there will be no more discrimination against them. "The people from minorities who have been neglected after the [30 January] elections are some of the oldest residents in Iraq," Santa Mikhail, a member of the Assyrian Women's Union (AWU), told IRIN. "We want to have a clear vision through the media and through the people who believe in our rights as Iraqi citizens and [we want] civil society foundations that care about minority rights," al-Azawi added. Some 12 local NGOs, and many university professors and researchers participated in the event. "We are part of Iraqi society, we had original roots and civilisations on this land, but we are afraid that the winners in the parliament will forget or ignore us," director of the Iraqi centre for interlocutions and religion NGO, Khezhal al-Khalidy, told IRIN.
©IRIN

SHOPKEEPER QUITS AFTER YEARS OF RACISM(uk)
13/4/2005- After enduring 14 years of attacks at the hands of racists at his shop on a council estate in Lancaster, Mal Hussain has finally sold up and moved out of the area. Mr Hussain and Linda Livingstone bought the Ryelands Mini Market in 1991, and within days they were subjected to racist attacks after a man walked into the shop and demanded: "Get out of your chair, you fucking black monkey, and give me 20 cigarettes." Over the years, Mr Hussain has recorded more than 4,000 separate incidents, including a firebomb and being shot at with live bullets on two occasions. One bonfire night, a petrol-soaked mattress blocked the shop door. His shop was wrapped in razor wire and barricaded with grilles and steel shutters. He announced his intention to quit the Mini Market in August last year, but it has taken this long to reach a settlement. During the 1990s, Craig Wareing, a notorious local racist, was jailed for terrorising Mr Hussain. He was later banned from entering Lancaster for life. Mr Hussain said: "It has been 14 years of hell for both Linda and I. I have always stated that I would not be driven away from my successful business, built through sheer determination and despite all the attempts by racists to undermine it and force us to leave Ryelands. "I feel betrayed and failed by the institutions who are supposed to protect those who suffer in the hands of racists. "I relentlessly campaigned against the attacks I have experienced because racists cannot be allowed to get away with their acts of violence and harassment. "This is a sad day for us, because we feel we have been pushed into a corner and options removed from us." Lee Jasper, secretary of the National Assembly Against Racism, said: "In the last year, Mal has been looking for ways of leaving Ryelands, having come to the end of his tether with the constant nature of harassment he has been experiencing. "However, despite reaching a settlement, Mal has had to sell the Mini Market at a cutdown price. "This case represents one of the most serious and sustained acts of racist violence in recent history." At a court case in March 1996, the defence solicitor for an individual who had been alleged to have been harassing Mr Hussain said: "If one is abused occasionally, one can take offence. "But if one is abused for four to five years, one becomes immune to it. It is like water off a duck's back." The estate agent selling the Mini Market said the shop had weekly takings of between £4,000 and £6,800 with an average 25% mark-up on wholesale. Mr Jasper said the details of the settlement could not be disclosed. Lancaster city council is believed to have made an offer for the shop years ago, but negotiations failed.
©The Guardian

EXTREMIST FINED FOR ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR(uk)
14/4/2005- A former British National Party (BNP) activist has been fined hundreds of pounds by magistrates for the harassment of an anti-racism campaigner from Freezywater. Roger Goff, of Forest Road, was verbally abused by former Cheshunt BNP member John Cope, of Mortimer Gate, as he delivered election leaflets last year for the Broxbourne Against Racism Group, of which he is a co-founder. Cope was also said to have banged his fist on a car and taken photographs of Mr Goff and two of his companions. Mr Goff, who is also the Enfield spokesman for the National Union of Teachers (NUT) was pleased with the outcome. He said: "It is a result. The NUT is also totally opposed to the policies of the BNP. This kind of political intimidation is not on, and that was made loud and clear by the outcome of the court case. Ian Dust, co-ordinator of Broxbourne Against Racism, also spoke out against the right-wing extremist party. He said: "As we are now officially in an election campaign, I would like to quote Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative party, in a speech about the BNP recently this is not a political party, this is a bunch of thugs dressed up as a political party'. "I am confident that local people will reject out of hand both Cope and his political allies in the BNP at the ballot box on May 5." Hertford magistrates dealt Cope a £750 fine and ordered him to pay £104 costs last Monday, after he admitted harassment.
©Enfield & Haringey Independent

RICIN CASE 'SHOWS ASYLUM CHAOS'(uk)
14/4/2005- Conservative leader Michael Howard has said Tony Blair's failure over asylum led to ricin plotter Kamel Bourgass being able to commit his crimes. Mr Howard said Bourgass should not have been in the UK and said the case showed "the chaos in our asylum system". Home Secretary Charles Clarke dismissed the claim, but admitted "border issues" needed tackling, and said measures should include the use of ID cards. The Lib Dems warned against casting a slur on all asylum seekers. Bourgass, who had at least four false identities, has been jailed for murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake and plotting to spread poisons. Another four men accused of playing a part in the poison plot were found not guilty. A further four men had pleaded not guilty, but the prosecution offered no evidence against them, so they were also acquitted.

'Immigration controls'
Mr Howard said: "The tragedy of what happened is that Kamel Bourgass, an al-Qaeda operative, should not have been in Britain at all. "He was one of the quarter of a million failed asylum seekers living in Britain. "If Mr Blair had delivered the firm but fair immigration controls promised eight years ago, Bourgass wouldn't have been in Britain. "He wouldn't have been here free to plot a ricin attack." But the Tories say the government has little idea who is entering or leaving the UK, despite the terrorist threat. They want 24-hour security at major ports, a new border police and the detention of asylum seekers who arrive with "suspect documents". The home secretary said asylum seeking should not be confused with terrorism. But he said there was a need to press ahead with measures to improve security and asylum processing. Mr Clarke told BBC News: "We have made major advances. "Asylum applications are reduced by two-thirds since 2002, removals are three-quarters higher than in 1997 but... there are a whole series of further measures we need to take to address it." He said ID cards, stronger borders and the type of anti-terrorism laws passed before the election were all needed. Labour says it would make an Identity Cards Bill, which it dropped shortly before the election, a priority of its first Queen's speech if it wins the election. Challenging the Conservatives to support it, Labour's Alan Milburn said: "There is no scope for playing politics on this."

'Isolated case'
Liberal Democrat spokesman Mark Oaten said ID cards would not deter a determined terrorist. Mr Oaten said it would be "totally wrong" to use "one isolated case" to cast a slur on all asylum seekers and immigrants. Bourgass told the Old Bailey he had destroyed his documents before entering the UK and claimed asylum in January 2000 using the name Nadir Habra. The next month he formally applied for asylum but was not interviewed by immigration officials until 15 August 2001. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate refused the asylum claim, sending him a letter in a brown envelope on 22 August 2001. Recipes for poisons and explosives were later discovered stored in the same envelope, along with £4,100 in cash. Bourgass' appeal against the asylum decision was dismissed in October 2001, when he became liable to be arrested and deported. But when arrested for shoplifting in July 2002 he told police his real name - so avoiding detection. In the year Bourgass asylum appeal was dismissed, 70,000 applications were made, of which 40,000 were refused. Only 9,000 people were removed from the country. Gareth Peirce, the solicitor for four men found not guilty in the trial, called on the government to justify some of its claims. "There was never any ricin, there were no poisons made," she said. "One has to consider how was it that all of us in this country were allowed to believe that there was ricin. That there was a substantial plot. That it wasn't an individualist, tiny, failed attempt." Massoud Shadjareh, of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, accused Tony Blair of linking the ricin arrests at the time to international terrorism. "The real issue is that terrorism has nothing to do with any particular group, asylum seekers or anybody. "The question is - are we going to let this politics of fear take over our lives?"
©BBC News

A BATTLE THAT CAN NO LONGER BE AVOIDED(uk, eu, leader)
14/4/2005- The report published yesterday by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia is a stark reminder of how backwards much of the continent remains in tackling racism. In Britain, the police have finally begun to keep proper records of racially motivated crimes. Though many incidents slip under the radar, it is now possible to gauge whether racist attacks are going up or down, and which groups are most at risk. But we are a rarity among the 25 nations of the European Union in this respect. Only France and Ireland have comparable systems. Germany records racist crimes only when committed by right-wing extremist groups. Greece, Italy and Portugal have no recording system whatever. And the same is true for the 10 mainly East and Central European nations that joined the EU a year ago. The consequences are serious. Most member states have no idea of the degree to which their ethnic minorities are being targeted, and it would be laughable to argue that racism is not a major problem. There are around 10 million Roma in Europe who have endured savage persecution for generations. There has been a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in France in the past year. The murder of the film-maker Theo Van Gogh provoked a spate of fire-bombings on mosques in the Netherlands. The disgusting racist chanting that sullied the England football friendly against Spain in Madrid last November caused outrage in this country. But in Spain it was nothing out of the ordinary. As the European Monitoring Centre points out, European governments cannot tackle racist violence effectively if they do not know the scale of the problem. The police in EU member countries urgently need to change their crime recording methods. Victims must be encouraged to come forward. This is an area where it makes sense for a standardised approach to be adopted across the EU. The agreement of EU governments to promote judicial co-operation to ensure that perpetrators do not take advantage of different standards in individual member states ought to be implemented. In most countries this will require a revolution in official attitudes towards ethnic minorities. And this will be impossible without the active co-operation of governments. The problem is that there are so now many prominent parties elected on a platform of xenophobia and thinly-veiled racism, from the Danish People's Party to the Northern League in Italy. They would no doubt launch a formidable resistance to these reforms. But that must be faced down.
This is a battle that the European Union cannot afford to avoid any longer.
© Independent Digital

FRENCH COURT TO RULE ON EXPULSION OF THREE SIKH TEENS OVER TURBANS
12/4/2005- A French court will rule next week whether to overturn the expulsion of three Sikh teenage boys who refused to remove their turbans despite a law banning religious insignia in state schools. Presiding judge Guy Roth said the administrative court in Melun southeast of Paris would deliver its verdict on April 19. The government commissioner, a legal expert whose recommendations are often followed by the court, asked that the request by the three boys to return to class be denied, as they plan to continue wearing their head coverings. Felix De Belloy, an attorney for the three boys, countered that as they had no intention of trying to win converts to their faith, the boys posed no threat to the law calling for the strict separation between church and state. The so-called "secularity" law, which came into effect at the start of the academic year in September, forbids the wearing of "conspicuous" religious insignia in state schools, like Muslim headscarves and Sikh turbans. Though the law does not single out any specific faith, many in France's five-million-strong Muslim community believe the hijab worn by teenage girls was the main target. The Sikh religion forbids male followers from cutting their hair and obliges them to wear a turban. The three boys expelled all wore keskis, or under-turbans -- a more discreet version of the turban often worn for sleeping. Education authorities initially agreed to allow Sikh boys to wear the thin cloth but later reneged. The teens, aged 15 to 18, were expelled on November 5, a decision confirmed a month later by the education authority responsible for their high school in Bobigny, northeast of Paris. They are currently taking correspondence classes. French officials estimate there are 5,000 to 6,000 Sikhs living in Paris and its suburbs.
©The Tocqueville Connection

RACISM REARS ITS UGLY HEAD(Latvia)
13/4/2005- In recent weeks, many a back alley in Riga's Old Town has been vandalized with hate-filled, racist graffiti. Observers call it a recent phenomenon. That may be true, but the increasingly visible presence of skinheads sauntering around the neighborhood's cobbled streets and the recent attack on a Sikh chef have many wondering if the foul graffiti indicate a growing intolerance in Latvian society. The graffiti – including swastikas and messages like "white power" – essentially espouse the ostracism of non-white persons from Latvia. Far worse, however, is that the hatred has gone beyond words and manifested itself in violent outbursts against dark-skinned foreigners. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of attacks has risen in recent months. "If you turn your back, you could be attacked from the rear, and no one will help you," says George Steele, an African American who has lived in Latvia for 10 years. Steele, who is well-known in the local community, was commenting on the recent assault on a Sikh chef, which occured during broad daylight in the Old Town. No one came to the victim's aid, either during the molestation or afterward. Peter, who is also of African origin, says, "I feel uncomfortable walking around here. I know there are these groups out there." He says he has been verbally harassed on numerous occasions. "I have heard many negative things, like ‘Go back to Africa,' or groups of people pointing and laughing," he says. Peter, who did not want to give his surname, says he has little faith that police will do anything. "The police just turn a blind eye to what's happening." Yet, ask a Latvian if racism exists and (if one can avoid the minefield of the state's relations with its Russian minority,) more often than not you will hear denial. While working at the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies in 2001, Artis Pabriks, who is now foreign minister, wrote that part of the denial is related to the Soviet period, where racism was never officially accepted. The government insisted that xenophobia was a phenomenon of the decadent West and not of communism, where the doctrine of "friendship of peoples" (druzhba narodov) was preached and used as a propaganda tool. To prove this point, Moscow went out of its way to develop cultural exchanges with African nations. Pabriks cited statistical data from the Baltic Data House that, even in 1998, there was a strong distrust of homosexuals in Latvian society, and that 10 percent of the population would be willing to block black people from entering the country. New data shows that racial intolerance is spiraling upward in a society that has had little history of immigration from Africa or Asia. Ilze Brands Kehris, current director of the human rights center, says that part of the problem is that racism has not been publicly addressed. "There is an illusion that Latvia is a tolerant society," she says, adding that polls "have shown a tendency toward xenophobia."

There is growing intolerance against Africans, Chinese, Central Asians, and especially Muslims, despite the incredibly small numbers of those groups living in the state, Brands Kehris adds. Across Europe, xenophobia is on the rise. Societies that have been almost entirely mono-ethnic have become exposed to cultural diversity, either through immigration, guest workers or refugees. Even progressive societies like Scandinavia, in many ways considered a vanguard in the protection of minority rights and female advancement, are not immune to the ravages of racism. Considering current demographics, issues of race and culture are only bound to intensify in the future. Parts of Europe will soon experience the acute need for working hands – more taxpayers – and if necessary, they will have to entice foreign workers. Case in point: Latvia, which was this week given the dubious distinction of having the steepest population decline in the European Union. Recent figures from Eurostat, the European statistics office, predict that Latvia's population will decline by nearly 20 percent by 2050, falling as low as 1.8 million. "The debate has not begun about the affects of demographics yet," Nils Muiznieks, former integration minister, says. With such a steep decline, Muiznieks says he has supported convincing people who are here to stay, increasing the birth rate and inviting foreign Latvians. But even these measures could prove insufficient for meeting future labor demands. "We are going to get more diverse," warns Muiznieks, adding that the Ministry for Integration has already adopted a National Program for the Promotion of Tolerance.

Controversial forums
Racist attitudes in Latvian society appeared to strengthen at the end of the 1990s. George Steele, for one, has been a leader in confronting the issue in Latvia. Famous for his participation in the Latvian Song Festival, as well as his language skills, he has given interviews in the media discussing the verbal abuse directed at him in the past. In one interview published on the portal politika.lv, Steele called Latvia one of the most racist countries he has lived in. The charge catalyzed a forum discussion on the issue of intolerance and prejudice. Nearly all non-whites here have reported a disturbing trend of verbal harassment, and sometimes even physical intimidation. A black British DJ was attacked in front of the Freedom Monument several years ago. Assailants reportedly chased him from the Old Town all the way to the monument. He did not report the attack. While the number of reported attacks against people of color are few and far between, this may be due to fact that many victims do not turn to the police for help. Racist advertisements have also appeared, playing to residents' fear of non-white people. In the run-up to the 2003 elections, the Freedom Party ran a political advertisement depicting an African dressed as a Latvian soldier kissing a local girl. The ad was considered so inflammatory that LTV, a television station, refused to broadcast it. The actors successfully sued the party, stating that the ad's intentions were misleading. Steele himself sued the Freedom Party for the racist advertisement – the first of its kind to deal with racial discrimination – and the court ruled in his favor. At the time, Mikhail Mamilov, an adviser to the Freedom Party, continued to play on the fear of a mass movement of people of color to Latvia. "There are 20 million refugees in Africa and Asia on their way to the EU, and Latvia is not an integrated society. We have a lot of internal problems between Russians and Latvians here. We are not ready to take in approximately 100,000 political refugees to our country," Mamilov said. Despite appealing to a fear of foreigners, the Freedom Party failed to win enough votes and disappeared in ignominy.

Motley and ugly
It is difficult to determine exactly how many are responsible for the racist messages, and many countries across Europe are grappling with the same issues. However, Latvia and Estonia were also recently placed at the bottom of a Europe-wide survey on racist and intolerant attitudes, according to the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. One of the report's findings said there appeared to be a correlation between a country's high GDP and the more open it was to migrants and minorities. Latvia is currently the poorest EU member state in terms of GDP per capita. To be sure, racist graffiti had been prevalent in other parts of Riga before it made its way into the Old Town, says Kaspars Zalitis, president of the Latvian branch of the European Youth Human Rights Network. Agreeing with the premise that intolerance is on the rise, he says he saw similar things in Riga's Moscow region. "Racism is getting worse, and no one's talking about it," he says. "If it's not right in front of our nose, then we don't see it." Zalitis claims that some of the racist comments on Web sites come from state-ministry employees. Though the scale of this is impossible to confirm, evidence suggests that much of the prejudice-laced commentary on delphi.lv originates in governmental ministries. Zalitis' organization is one of three that directly deal with racism in Latvia. Others include AfroLat, an NGO, and the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies. AfroLat held education seminars in the eastern region of Latvia last year. Zalitis says it was the first time that some people had ever seen someone from the African continent. The public's response was very positive, he adds. Still, merely being exposed to other cultures is not the only answer, says Branks Kehris. Therefore, state-sponsored campaigns are one way to increase tolerance. "It's in the state's interest to support this, and they should do everything they can to raise awareness," she adds. But as Steele says, "I feel like I have been left completely undefended not just by Latvian society, but by friends and acquaintances… I want Latvians to know they are not so wonderful, they are not to be trusted by people of color." It is reassuring to see that some of the racist graffiti has been co-opted by more tolerant members of society, who, lacking the spray gun to remove the foul epithets, depict a generic person dropping a swastika into a trashcan.
©The Baltic Times

HATRED ESCALATES(Latvia)
13/4/2005- During the Soviet period, racism was a logical impossibility. Theoretical Marxism-Leninism preached the doctrine of internationalism, that all peoples essentially shed their national cloak as soon as they don the garb of the proletariat. Workers in a workers' state do not need nationality; they have their economic convictions, which transcend bloodlines and skin color. In practice, of course, the Soviet Union was as prejudiced as most countries. A person's nationality was stamped in his/her internal passport, the tsarist, Stalinist anti-Semitism continued to thrive, and most people had to suffer some degree of Russian chauvinism. Naturally, after the Soviet Union disintegrated, national identity became all-important. For some, it was the stick by which all things were measured. To be sure, experience in West European countries shows that nationalism is here to stay, irrespective of the level of economic development, and that there will always be marginal elements in society who will take out their frustrations on groups that are different. But the same experience also shows that those governments prepared to combat the menace of intolerance and prejudice can bring pressure to bear and stem the tide. If it weren't for efforts by German authorities, no doubt we would be hearing about far more race-based attacks in places such as Dresden and Mannheim. As it is, these attacks, led mainly by individuals under the age of 21, are increasing. The year 2000 was plagued with some of the worst race-based violence Germany has seen since unification. With all the other societal challenges on its plate – dwindling population, corrupt civil service, creeping drug addiction, disgruntled medical staff, catastrophic road culture, disillusioned minorities – the Baltic governments are probably loathe to hear that they need to start addressing intolerance and racism. But historically, the Baltics have been swept along by developments in larger neighboring countries such as Russia and Germany, and as both German leaders (in recent years) and President Vladimir Putin (at Auschwitz) have admitted, hatred and xenophobia are on the rise. The Baltics should beware. As the newest Eurostat information shows (see lead story), they are in the throes of a demographic slide. In the not-too-distant future, there will not be a large enough labor pool for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to function normally. To make up the difference, migrant workers will have to be invited in. The question is, from where? Not matter who it is, the laws of economics dictate that these workers will be brought in on the basis of competitive wages. And sadly, the laws of human behavior show that an unprepared society will single out and target these foreigners as objects of hatred. Only a holistic effort coordinated from above will suffice to combat the evil of racism.
©The Baltic Times

RUSSIAN NEO-NAZI BAND MEMBER GERASIMOV ACQUITTED AGAIN(Czechia)
13/4/2005- The Prague 6 district court today acquitted Denis Gerasimov, a member of the Russian neo-Nazi band Kolovrat who was charged with promotion of Nazism and neo-Nazism, for the second time. The same court acquitted Gerasimov last October, but the appeal court returned the case to it for a new trial. The Kolovrat band performed at a skinhead meeting in Chroustovice, east Bohemia, in January 2004. On Gerasimov's departure from the Prague airport, the police found propaganda materials on him which were reportedly related to the neo-Nazi movement. Gerasimov, 28, has dismissed the accusation that he would incline to racism or Nazism. The plaintiff also accused Gerasimov of having performed songs with racially-intolerant texts at a Kolovrat concert in a restaurant in Kutna Hora, central Bohemia, in the summer of 2003. Some of the participants in the concert reportedly repeatedly gave the Nazi salute. The same happened at the Chroustovice concert last year. Kolovrat was founded as the first Russian skinhead band in Moscow in 1994. On its internet site, it admits that right- oriented skinheads and soccer fans rank among its most loyal fans. Gerasimov has written the texts of most of Kolovrat's songs.
©Czech Happenings

BOUNCER FIRED FOR ETHNIC LOOKS(Norway)
13/4/2005- One of the companies owned by property magnate Olav Thon has fired bouncers at the bar and restaurant The Scotsman because they were giving the establishment a foreign look. The security company at the Scotsman in Oslo were informed that they were making the entrance look like an asylum seeker center, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports. In a sound recording manager Jar Erik Schultz in the Thon company Resthon explains that the security firm is being dismissed because there were too few Norwegians on the door at the Scotsman. "It looks like Ali Baba owns the place and not Olav Thon," Schultz said. The manager continues to say that these viewpoints are not his own but come from higher up. The conversation took place between Schultz and Jalal Yousuf, manager of security company SSG. "I was rather shocked. It is not exactly customary to end an agreement in that way. It was a strange experience," Yousuf told Norwegian news agency NTB. Yousuf said that he had not yet decided whether to file complaint but felt it was most important that the matter get public attention. "I wouldn't be surprised if similar things have happened in other places. Several acquaintances have said to me that this is a familiar situation when they hear about it," Yousuf said. Magne Kristensen, lawyer for the Thon Group, denied that racism was at the root of the dismissal. "There are purely business reasons related to delivery and service that are behind the decision," Kristensen said. Oslo's clubs and night spots are periodically accused of racist admission policies.
©Aftenpost

CITY SPOTS WANT TO BE 'WHITE'(Norway)
14/4/2005- Oslo's bars, restaurants and clubs want a "white" image and discrimination of employees with a multi-cultural background is a widespread problem. Newspaper Dagsavisen has looked into the incident reported by NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) on Wednesday, where a security firm was dismissed because the bouncers they provided for bar/restaurant The Scotsman in downtown Oslo 'made the place look like an asylum seeker reception'. Samad Elhami, of Pakistani origin, said he was fired by The Scotsman before on the grounds of his dark looks, but this story is one that is heard at regular intervals about Oslo's nightlife spots, though most often from potential guests who feel they are barred because of their ethnic origin. "Many restaurants and bars think like this but very few cases become known," Elisabeth Haugseth at the Center for Combating Ethnic Discrimination (SMED). Haugseth would not comment on the possibility that property tycoon Olav Thon, owner of the company behind the Scotsman firing, was worse than others. "But we get the impression that this is a systematic mentality when it comes from so high up in the Olav Thon Group," Haugseth told Dagsavisen. Claus Jervell of the Oslo Hotel and Restaurant Employee Union said that complaints of discrimination are common but tend to be very difficult to substantiate, and also stressed that the problem was more widespread than just establishments in the Thon Group. Dagsavisen reported that they had heard much of the tape recording of Jalal Yousuf's SSG security. SSG decided to tape the conversation when the Thon Group refused to supply a written explanation of why they wanted to stop using the company. According to Dagsavisen the tape contains remarks of "a serious racist character". Yousuf called the remarks "pure racism" and said he was getting out of hospitality security since the industry was permeated with racism. SSG has engaged legal counsel and filed charges against the Thon Group on Wednesday. The Thon Group was apologetic, and concern director Dag Tangevald-Jensen said the company took exception to the remarks if they were reported correctly. Tangevald-Jensen said that the remarks were from one of their 4,000 employees, the manager of the Scotsman, and not in line with Thon Group policy. Tangevald-Jensen said the manager had been suspended but no final decision had been made about possible consequences.
©Aftenpost

BITS FROM DENMARK
Racial violence on Funen
14/4/2005- A neo-nazi group is arrested for persecuting a Somali family on the island of Funen. A Somali family in the town of Langeskov on the island of Funen has suffered a long-time persecution. The police has arrested seven local youths and charged them with racial violence and vandalism against the family. The family fled their home after having their windows and mailbox broken, and being repeatedly threatened by bat-wielding youths. Police raided the young men's homes and confiscated bats, illegal knives, gas spray, a stun pistol and an air gun. The bats were decorated with swastikas and racial slogans. Two of the suspects are only 15 years old. An 18-year-old man has been remanded in prison for four weeks on charges of racial discrimination, violence, and owning amphetamine. The other six were released after interrogation. The attacks against the Somali family have caused an outrage in Langeskov, where local organizations have scheduled a march to protest racism in the town.

Queen says Islam should be challenged
14/4/2005- In a new biography, Denmark's Queen Margrethe II says Islam should be challenged. Islam poses a challenge both globally and locally, and the challenge should be taken seriously, says Queen Margarethe II in a new, openhearted biography. The book, based on interviews between the queen and the book's author, journalist Annelise Bistrup, is to be released on Saturday, the queen's 65th birthday. 'There is something impressive about people, whose existence is immersed in religion from dawn to dusk, from the cradle to the grave. There are also Christians who live like that,' the Queen said in the book. 'But it is a challenge, which we need to take seriously,' she added. 'We have admittedly ignored it for too long. Because we are tolerant - and a little lazy. I don't find it easy at all. Nor especially pleasant.' Queen Margarethe has studied Islam through her archaeological pursuits, and says she does not feel entirely unprepared to enter the debate. 'As I said, there is something fascinating about people who go to such lengths to surrender themselves to a religion. But there is also something frightening about the all-encompassing side of Islam,' she said. 'The challenge must be met, at the risk of getting some less flattering labels attached,' the Queen said. 'For there are some things we should not meet with tolerance. When we are tolerant, we should be careful to note whether it stems from convenience or conviction.' Queen Margarethe said we might stand at crossroads. 'Unfortunately, crossroads often only reveal themselves after we have crossed them,' she said. 'And one doesn't always turn out to have taken the right road. But we have at least realized that we cannot let ourselves be shooed off by things that frighten us. We cannot compromise our notions of justice and legitimacy.'
©The Copenhagen Post

AUTHORITIES SEND OUT TOUGH ASYLUM MESSAGE(Switzerland)
14/4/2005- The head of the new Federal Migration Office says Switzerland will always be a refuge for persecuted people, despite tighter asylum laws. Eduard Gnesa – who took up his post at the beginning of the year – told swissinfo that for Switzerland the challenge was to integrate its immigrant population better, particularly those from the Balkans. Parliament has been discussing amendments to the immigration and asylum laws which, if approved, would make them among the toughest in Europe. The Senate backed controversial proposals to speed up the asylum procedure and pressure rejected asylum seekers to leave Switzerland. At the same time the Federal Court ruled that the authorities must not cut emergency aid as a means to drive away rejected asylum seekers. The Federal Migration Office was created through the merger of the refugee and immigration authorities.
swissinfo-interview: Urs Geiser

swissinfo: Has Switzerland's humanitarian image not been damaged by the Senate decisions?
Eduard Gnesa: People who are persecuted or come from a conflict zone will always find protection in Switzerland. We have about 24,000 people with regular refugee status in this country and another 24,000 people with temporary refugee status. They can stay until the situation in their home countries improves. The problem we have, which many people - the churches and humanitarian organisations - don't want to recognise, is the approximately 15,000 people who have not been granted asylum and refuse to leave Switzerland. They don't tell us who they are or where they come from, so we can't send them back.

swissinfo: A year ago the federal authorities drastically cut welfare payments to rejected asylum seekers. How successful has this measure been in persuading them to leave?
E.G.: Figures for the first nine months show that only 17 per cent of the rejected 3,800 asylum seekers claimed emergency aid after their welfare benefits were cut. Of course, the government and parliament will have to take into account a recent ruling by the Federal Court that rejected asylum seekers remain eligible for emergency aid even if they refuse orders to leave the country.

swissinfo: Critics have argued that a tightening of the asylum law will cause people to go underground and get caught up in crime. Are these concerns justified?
E.G.: A survey carried out by the Federal Immigration Office showed no significant increase in the number of criminal asylum seekers. Only about five per cent of the 3,800 rejected applicants committed - mostly petty - crimes. The percentage is lower than among those who are still going through the asylum procedure. As for people going underground, we don't have reliable figures yet. Even before the welfare payment was cut we had an estimated 10,000 people each year who disappeared from our records after their asylum request was rejected. They might have left the country or have stayed as illegal immigrants.

swissinfo: Asylum applications reached a 17-year low in 2004 in line with a general trend in Europe. Will your office run out of work soon?
E.G.: Not at all, but more job cuts are inevitable by the end of this year. Our work has been changing in the past few months and we might have to focus more on repatriation efforts or helping the cantonal authorities deal with embassies to provide identity papers. We also have to step up efforts to better integrate recognised refugees into the Swiss labour market. Currently only about 20 per cent of them have jobs.

swissinfo: Apart from the asylum law, parliament is also amending immigration rules. What are the main decisions?
E.G.: Parliament has endorsed a system introduced in 2002 which gives preference to European Union citizens and highly skilled workers from other countries. It's a fact that we have had integrations problems with people who are not very well qualified.

swissinfo: How important is the forthcoming nationwide vote on closer security and asylum cooperation with the EU, the so-called Schengen/Dublin accords?
E.G.: Police cooperation will facilitate visa regulations and increase security. As for the Dublin accord, it will help to improve the situation in the asylum sector and make it impossible for asylum seekers to apply to more than one of the signatory countries. But it might take some time before the system works. It was introduced just over two years ago and not all the member countries cooperate fully or feed their data into the system as required.

swissinfo: Is Switzerland struggling to integrate its foreigners as was suggested in a nationwide vote on easing strict citizenship rules?
E.G.: The result of last September's vote showed that the perception of foreigners in Switzerland was influenced by integration problems and especially cases of abuses of our laws. By that I mean rejected asylum seekers who refuse to leave the country, or criminal foreigners. They only make up a small part of the overall foreign population but it seems to be enough to make the Swiss vote against proposals to ease citizenship rules for young foreigners.

swissinfo: What needs to be done?
E.G.: I think we have to make it clear to foreigners that they have to respect our laws. But at the same time our integration efforts have to be more focused, especially on people from Balkan countries - the biggest immigrant community in Switzerland. We are not pointing the finger at them and the majority are very well integrated into the Swiss society. But some just don't respect the rules and refuse to accept an authority.
©Swissinfo

RIGHT-WING PROTEST BANNED IN VENRAY(Netherlands)
13/4/2005- Right-wing politician Michiel Smit has been banned from staging a protest in Venray, the scene of recent clashes between Lonsdale youths and Turkish immigrants. Mayor Jos Waals said Saturday's protest organised by Smit posed a threat to public order. He said vandalism could occur as protestors moved through the city streets. But Smit — who founded the right-wing party NieuwRechts (New Right) after he was expelled from Pim Fortuyn's Leefbaar Rotterdam (LR) — said the last word had not been said. A legal challenge to the ban is being prepared. "We hope that an alternative can be discussed with the city council," he said. Waals banned the demonstration based on an emergency ordinance imposed last week. The by-law was sparked after violence erupted at the start of this month between extreme-right youths and people with Turkish ancestry after windows were smashed at a local mosque. The Dutch youths were wearing Lonsdale clothing, which has come to identify racist Dutch youths. Lonsdale is said to be an unofficial abbreviation for 'Laat ons Nederlanders samen de allochtonen langzaam elimineren' (meaning in English: 'Let us Dutch people gradually eliminate the immigrant together'). The national security service AIVD is now investigating the rise of right-wing Dutch youth and the threat they pose to society. Police chiefs have recently raised alarm about the rapid radicalisation of native youths. Meanwhile, Smit claims the emergency ordinance in Venray is illegal. He asserted that it provides the council the power to ban public gatherings in nightlife venues, but pointed out his protest would be held outside. "If every demonstration would be assessed in this manner, a rally could never be held again in the Netherlands," he said. Smit will continue unabated with planning the demonstration and is expecting 80 people to participate. The objective of the demonstration is to campaign for a ban on offensive symbols, such as the swastika. Smit is also demanding that Mayor Waals resign, claiming that the way he has responded to right-wing youths is incorrect. Smit said Waals will only incite them further, rather than ensure order. But Waals said if Smit proceeds with the protest, police will step in and break the demonstration up. He also said that he had no need to reply to Smit's demand that he resign as city mayor.
©Expatica News

WHICH WAY IS THE WIND BLOWING FOR HOLLAND?
As the Dutch face a Cabinet crisis and debate continues about immigration problems, crime and economic security, we look at where the Netherlands is today. What makes the country tick and where is it heading?

April 2005- The Netherlands is busy trying to find answers to these very questions. Until recently such a debate would have been unimaginable, but now everything is being questioned. The international media has long portrayed the Netherlands as a curious little country with extraordinarily liberal policies and remarkably little social division. At the same time the Netherlands was admired for its impressive economic performance in the mid 1990s, as well as its pivotal role as a major transport hub for goods entering and leaving the European continent. The success of the consensus-style decision-making in labour relations — known as the Polder Model — was the envy of the world. While other countries stood by and watched — sometimes in awe, more often in unease — the Dutch legislated for drugs, prostitution, gay marriage, abortion and mercy killings. The country also operated a loose immigration policy. Sandwiched between Belgium and its giant neighbour Germany, the Dutch (population 16,258,000 in 2005) seemed to have discovered the perfect combination between the most liberal social policies and a modern, efficient economy. A major element of the Dutch model was relativeren, putting things in perspective, and gedogen, the policy of toleration, which is applied unofficially. This often materialises as: 'If it doesn't hurt me directly or it is not going to go away, I can find ways of tolerating it'.

As a trading nation, the Dutch expect a return on this investment of goodwill: when they decriminalised soft drugs and treat hard drugs primarily as a medical rather than a criminal matter, they expected a corresponding drop in the problems associated with drugs. Instead, more than 1,000 cannabis coffeeshops and businesses selling drug paraphernalia have sprung up around the country and drug tourism and international trafficking is rampant. The Netherlands is also considered the main ecstasy-producing country in the world. Rules and regulations enacted — often to protect workers and the consumer — have created a bureaucratic maze which often does more to hinder, rather than help the ordinary citizen. Through the 1970s to the 1990s, the Dutch worked hard to cater for what they perceived were the needs of newcomers from the former colonies Suriname and the Dutch Antilles, and then for the Turkish and Moroccan people who moved here. Since the slide of the country's economic fortunes from 2000 onwards, there has been a growing feeling among native Dutch people that immigrants have not been pulling their weight and have failed to integrate as they should. It was this type of dissatisfaction that led to the rise of anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn. The murder of this populist by a native Dutchman on 6 May 2002 triggered a loss of innocence and destroyed the sense of quiet satisfaction of a multi-cultural society at peace. Society suffered another blow with the horrific killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004. The suspected killer this time was a Muslim man, in his mid 20s, who was apparently incensed by Van Gogh's short film 'Submission' that accused the Koran of advocating domestic violence against women. The authorities subsequently arrested a dozen young Muslims who were allegedly part of an active terror cell that was bent on attacking society. As a result, the country is undergoing a deep-seated re-examination; principles and ideas long held to be self-evident have been put under the microscope.

Politics
Politicians and opinion-makers are working at a feverish pace to find answers for issues that are exercising minds in other countries too: immigration, culture clashes, terrorism, public safety and basic values, to name but a few. To date, consensus has taken a back seat to ideas such as a return to older Dutch norms and values; tighter enforcement of rules; tougher punishment for offenders and a limiting (or complete halt) to immigration, coupled with compulsory integration for people who wish to live here permanently. There is no denying that there are serious issues to be addressed and that all rights come with corresponding obligations. But there is a danger that the current debate is being used by some people to scapegoat others, with Muslims cast as the main villains. The media in the Netherlands has, for example, given disproportional coverage to politicians such as Geert Wilders, who has built a reputation on his hostility to Islam. For his troubles, he and Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali were forced into hiding for months because of death threats. Interestingly, the widest coverage given to Wilders and his views on Muslims has been in the left-leaning papers 'De Volkskrant' and 'NRC Handelsblad' as they shift their political views to the right. The biggest selling daily 'De Telegraaf' has been more critical of Wilders although the paper is firmly rooted in the conservative camp. The debate in this small Western European country is being followed with interest abroad — partly because outsiders are amazed at radical suggestions being put forward, and partly, perhaps more secretly, to see if a Dutch model will emerge that can be applied successfully elsewhere. The current centre-right coalition, led by Christian Democrat CDA Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, is heavily influenced by Fortuyn's views. Legislation has been enacted to compel would-be immigrants (except those from certain countries) to complete an integration course — involving the Dutch language and culture — in their home countries as a pre-condition to being granted a residence permit. This legislation is considered to be a world first. The Dutch reputation as a 'safe haven' has also been called into question by the decision to deport 26,000 long-term asylum seekers, many of whom have been waiting for five years or more to have their applications finalised. Though this has given rise to some heart-wrenching accounts, it has also become apparent that many of those earmarked for deportation will in fact be allowed to stay. And despite the prevalence of gloom-and-doom merchants on the public stage, crime has dropped in Amsterdam for the fifth year in a row, with shoplifting and burglaries at business premises down 13 percent and 26 percent respectively according to a report by the capital's police chief in January 2005. This mirrors a general trend. Rotterdam has led the way in putting police officers back on the beat in the city centre to help tackle anti-social behaviour and petty crime.

Economy
The Netherlands went from being an economic powerhouse in the 1990s, averaging 4 percent annual growth, to being one of the sick men of Europe in subsequent years. Growth fell to 1.4 percent in 2004. The Dutch economy suffered 0.3 percent negative growth in the last quarter of 2002 and officially entered a recession when Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell a further 0.3 percent in the first three months of 2003. Risking the country's envied consensus in industrial relations, the centre-right coalition, headed by Balkenende, decided to slash government spending in September 2003 by EUR 17 billion by 2007 and persuade the trade unions to accept a pay freeze. Additional cuts followed as budgetary problems worsened. The budget breached the 3 percent maximum of the European Union's Growth and Stability Pact in 2003, before falling to 2.3 percent last year. Union-led protests in the latter part of 2004 — including a demonstration of 200,000 people in Amsterdam — helped blunt some of the most contentious budget cuts. But the main elements of the government's reforms — long-term control of government spending, salaries, pensions and healthcare costs — remain in place. Meanwhile, unemployment has continued to rise significantly. The Netherlands had the fastest growing unemployment rate in the EU, rising by one-third from December 2002 to December 2003. An average of 500,000 people (6.6 percent of the workforce) was jobless in the Netherlands by the first quarter of 2004. The unemployment rate has continued to pick up and it is estimated it will peak in 2005 at 6.75 percent of the workforce before decreasing to 6.25 percent in 2006. It is worth noting that while unemployment has been growing, it was still below the EU average of 8.8 percent in January 2004. The government is hopeful that its tough economising measures are slowly beginning to bear fruit. Macroeconomic think tank CPB has forecast Dutch business will benefit from the upswing of the international cyclical situation in 2006, with domestic expenditure also expected to contribute to economic growth. "For the first time in years, the purchasing power of households is projected to rise, enabling people to spend more. The foreseen increased profitability of companies will contribute to a considerable increase of investments," the CPB forecast said, predicting economic growth of 2.25 percent in 2006.

International role
The Netherlands ran the EU presidency effectively in the second part of 2004, the first presidency to follow the big bang expansion of the EU to 25 states. Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot used the opportunity to call for a social charter to boost enthusiasm for the European ideal by making the EU more accountable to its citizens. This is an idea the Dutch government should pursue both in Europe and domestically. A social contract between the public and The Hague could be a significant step in helping to restore some of the consensus that was too quickly jettisoned in recent years. The Netherlands has also worked hard to maintain close links the US. As the contingent of 1,300 Dutch troops ended its peacekeeping mission in Iraq in March 2005, The Hague agreed to provide elite troops for service in Afghanistan and opened discussions with the Pentagon about future military co-operation.

So what attracts expats to the Netherlands?
Notwithstanding the cuts in public spending and the fastest-growing unemployment rate in the EU, the Netherlands still has a high standard of living. The UN's Human Development Report 2004 also ranks the Netherlands fifth in the world in terms of health and life expectancy, education and earnings. It is placed second in the EU behind Sweden. Amsterdam is rated 12th in the latest Mercer report on the most liveable cities in the world. The country has a good road network, plus land, sea and air connections with the rest of the globe. Many international businesses are headquartered in the Netherlands, ensuring opportunities for expats. The heated discussions on immigration and national identity can also be seen in a positive light. Not all of the proposed answers will appeal to everyone, but at least the Netherlands is looking for answers — while many other countries sit back and wait.
©Expatica News

ISLAMIC SCHOOL SEEKS TO ENHANCE INTEGRATION(Netherlands)
14/4/2005- An Islamic school in Amsterdam has moved to exchange expertise, organise sport competitions and hold joint patriotism and integration seminars with two Dutch schools, IslamOnline reports. Al-Soeff primary school's headmaster said parents will be crucial in helping bring students from the different schools and enhancing the integration of young Muslims in Dutch society. "Parents will play a key role in brining students together," said Al-Soeff's principal, Rahmat Abdel Rahman. "It also helps students stick close to their roots and ethnic backgrounds," he continued. His pupils are mostly of Surinamese, Pakistani, Somali and Moroccan descent. The agreement reached for the year 2005-2006 was the result of efforts made by all three schools over the past two years to build confidence among students and help them get closer to one another. Students had visited churches and mosques to give them direct experience of one another's religions, Rahman said. Rashid Jamari, member of the Amsterdam municipal council, lauded the protocol as "a golden opportunity to enhance integration and help students interact well with one another," stressing that it needed to be translated into "concrete steps". Only 3 percent of Muslim children in the Netherlands study in Islamic schools, while half receive their education in government-run schools and the rest are enrolled at Christian-oriented schools, according to Jamari. There are 30,000 Muslim students in the Netherlands, and as social tensions continue to rise over the integration of the country's one-million-strong Muslim community, the issue of religious education is currently polarising the political spectrum. According to a report published on Wednesday by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, only in Ireland did racist incidents increase more sharply than in the Netherlands over the period 2001-2004. Under the Dutch constitution, religious and secular education is subsidised by the government, which has enabled Dutch Muslims to build more than 40 schools over the past two decades. Dutch MPs such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali - the Somali-born feminist author and screenwriter, have been calling for the country's Islamic schools to be banned. Hirsi Ali wrote the screenplay for murdered film-maker Theo Van Gogh's controversial film 'Submission' which severely criticised the treatment of women by Muslim men. After the film was shown on Dutch television last autumn, a Moroccan extremist shot and stabbed Van Gogh to dead in Amsterdam, triggering a wave of anti-Muslim attacks in the Netherlands. Hirsi Ali also received death-threats after the airing of 'Submission', and had to go into hiding. In December, Queen Beatrix dedicated her annual address to the nation on 25 December (Christmas Day) on the importance of tolerance and moderation for the wellbeing of Dutch society.
©AKI

ROW ERUPTS OVER ETHICS AND RELIGION RULING(Germany)
14/4/2005- Conservative politicians in Germany are up in arms over the decision made by the ruling SPD-Green government to make lessons in ethics and religion compulsory in Berlin. School lessons with religious content in a country like Germany, in which church and state and are deliberately kept separate has always been a very emotive issue. A new row over the form that lessons with religious content should take has now broken out in Germany, following a decision by Social Democrat leaders in the city state of Berlin to make lessons in ethics and religion compulsory. These lessons would provide a general survey of the world's religions without any special bias towards the Christian faith. Lessons organized by the churches would only be optional and would not free students of the obligation to attend the new ethics classes. The decision by Berlin's SPD leadership has infuriated numerous federal politicians particularly from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria's arch-conservative Christian Social Union (CSU). During a special parliamentary session in the federal parliament on Wednesday, the CDU's education spokespeople called Berlin's plan to introduce mandatory ethics lessons an aggressive assault on the Christian faith in German society. The party's Hermann Kues said the new lessons to be introduced in 2006 smacked too much of the anti-religious approach that teachers in former Communist East Germany preferred:

A question of choice
"The freedom of religion is one of our highest values," Kues said. "I believe that the new ethics lessons as intended by Berlin are not suitable to give school students a fair choice of whether to become believers or atheists. There are references to God in our Constitution or Basic Law, and we must not let anyone neglect values which in our society are so much based on Christian faith." Needless to say, the Christian churches themselves have joined the critics' chorus. The head of Germany's Protestant church council, Wolfgang Huber (photo), declared that everything had to be done to prevent Berlin from becoming godless. But Wilhelm Schmidt from the Social Democrat faction in the Bundestag accused his political rivals of hypocrisy "No one prevents anyone from taking lessons in the religion of their choice," Schmidt complained. "So why all the fuss now? None of the opponents of the Berlin plan, he argued, ever complained about the fact that only a meager 20 percent of school students have taken part in voluntary lessons in Christianity in the past few decades. "And now all of a sudden you're making such a fuss", he told conservative MPs.

Brandenburg success a template
Ethics lessons, which Berlin is poised to make compulsory, were introduced in neighboring Brandenburg as early as 1996. And according to the head of the region's institute for education, Jan Hofmann, the subject has been a success. "There's only a very small group of school students whose parents categorically object to these lessons," he said. "And then there are those who have opted for lessons in religion offered by either the Catholic or Protestant church. These children do not have to attend ethics classes. I think that despite initial criticism our system has worked quite well and might serve as a model for other federal states." It is possible that Berlin may have to soften the compulsory status of its planned general ethics lessons, because Germany's conservative parties are intending to bring the issue before the federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe.
©Deutsche Welle

TEACHING RELIGION THE EUROPEAN WAY
As the Bundestag discusses introducing compulsory religion and ethics classes, DW-WORLD takes a look at how the topic is dealt with across Europe.

14/4/2005- "Every type of religion class comes with its own version of history," explained Peter Schreiner, President of the Intereuropean Commission for Church and School (ICCS). "You can make comparisons, but there won't ever be a pan-European approach." For now, he pointed out, each country decides itself how to organize classes, develop the syllabus and select teaching materials, train teachers -- as well as providing options for students unwilling to attend religion classes. The way the topic of religion is treated varies widely across the continent. In southern and eastern Europe, Finland, Italy, Austria and Germany, religion classes are divided according to denomination. In other countries, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain, students can opt for non-denominational alternatives, such as ethics, philosophy or values classes.

Germany and Austria
Compulsory religion classes across Germany's states is a principle enshrined in the German constitution or 'Grundgesetz', with one small opt-out clause, known as the "Bremer Clause" for certain states with a different legal status. Bremen and Berlin, for example, are not governed by the legal obligation to provide religious education, as legislation already in existence when the 'Grundgesetz' was drawn up in 1949 takes precedence. Instead, these states offer 'Biblical History' and a discipline known as LER - 'Life, Ethics and Religion.' Berlin, moreover, is the only German state where religion classes are the responsibility of the church rather than the state. In Austria, students can't complain of lack of choice, with Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, New Apostolic, Jewish, Islam and Budhist classes available. Religion, whichever it is, is a compulsory subject in schools, while an alternative, non-denominational option has been also been available since 1997.

Italy and Greece
Catholic classes, not surprisingly, are a guaranteed fixture of the Italian education system. Available to children from all backgrounds, religion became a voluntary subject in 1984. Other classes are also provided, but need to be paid for privately if sufficient pupils express interest. Alternatively, students can attend 'Civic and Human Rights' classes. Greece takes the opposite approach. Here, Orthodox classes are compulsory, regardless of personal faith.

Learning about religion
In northern Europe, England, Wales and Scotland, pupils can take religion -- or a class in which they learn about the world's different religions. "Classes about religion belong to schools' educational duties, rather than religious education per se," observed Friedrich Schweitzer, theology professor at Tübingen University. Local education authorities in England and Wales develop a syllabus together with the Anglican church and representatives from other religious communities, although the emphasis is firmly on Christianity. Even so, since 1994, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews and Budhists have been encouraged to help contribute to the syllabus.
©Deutsche Welle

ICE CREAM GIANT SLAMMED FOR 'RACIST' ADS(Sweden)
Nogger Black ice cream: logo has nothing to do with hip hop culture says maker GB

13/4/2005- Sweden's biggest ice cream maker, GB Glace, has been accused of racism after launching an advertising campaign for its new ice cream, Nogger Black. The company has been strongly criticised by the Centre Against Racism for associating the ice cream with black youth culture, including using graffiti-style writing in the ad. "We're not critical of the colour of the ice cream or the name 'Black' but the whole concept of the advertisement," said Amina Ek of the Centre Against Racism to Svenska Dagbladet. The ad itself features a heart drawn in white on a black background with the words 'Nogger + liquorice = true' inside. The chairman of the Centre Against Racism, Stig Wallin, told Aftonbladet that he reacted immediately when he first saw the ad on Tuesday afternoon. "I read it as 'Nigger + liquorice = true'," he said. "It's impossible not to see this as an allusion to racism." Amina Ek said that this kind of ad "reinforced the racist structure of society" and that the Centre Against Racism was considering reporting GB to the Discrimination Ombudsman if the company did not withdraw the campaign. But GB, which is owned by Unilever, said it didn't see what all the fuss was about. Petronella Warg, the company's information officer, told The Local that the original Nogger ice cream had been around since 1979 and derived its name from the nougat filling. "That was brown - and nobody complained about that," she said. The new variety includes liquorice and is black, so "Nogger Black" apparently seemed like a natural name. "I think what they say about the ads alluding to black hip hop culture is far-fetched," said Warg. "Drawing a heart in the school playground with two names in, that's my culture." According to Petronella Warg, the company had "a couple of complaints" from consumers when the ice cream was first launched a couple of weeks ago but "it was no big deal". Nevertheless, she added that GB would listen to what the Centre Against Racism had to say. "If anyone is really offended then we will take that into account. Aftonbladet's readers appeared to support GB's view on the matter. Of almost 50,000 people who answered the question "Do you think the ice cream advertisement is racist?" 94% said no.
©The Local

SWASTIKAS, ANTI-JEWISH CHANTS MAR ROME SOCCER MATCH(Italy)
13/4/2005- "This is not just anti-Semitism," said Riccardo Pacifici, the spokesman of the Rome Jewish community, referring to the banners with huge swastikas and the words, "Rome is Fascist" that appeared during clashes with police at Sunday's soccer match here. "This is pure violence and racism by people who probably don't even know any Jews," Pacifici said. Eighty-five policemen were injured, and there were 17 arrests and 259 subpoenas. Lazio received a 25,000 fine and an official warning on Tuesday. Lazio fans identify with the Right and consider the Livorno team leftists. Along with chanting "Jews! Jews!" as an insult against the Livorno players, they also screamed "Fedayin!" – referring to the presumed pro-Palestinian sympathies of the "leftists" from Livorno. Most of the members of this violent fringe are not affluent and are given free tickets by the teams' organizers. They stand and cheer in the northern and southern "curves" of the stadium – one occupied by rightists and the other by leftists. Critics say the police know the identities of all of the extremists, and it would be much easier to prevent their entering the stadiums than to close them, as Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu has warned he would do. "The teams' managers are afraid of losing their clientele of fans," said Pacifici. "But it would be far better and would surely not harm business if these agitators were kept out of the crowd." At last Sunday's soccer match, the Nazi banners were permitted to be shown for more than half an hour. Sports commentators are now demanding that all symbols be banned, but the sale of merchandise – flags, shirts, badges, etc. – with opposing symbols brings in a lot of money. The league said Lazio would have faced harsher penalties if not for the "disassociation shown by other fans" and the "documented initiatives by the team to avoid such conduct." Lazio president Claudio Lotito said after the decisions were handed out that the fans responsible were a minority. "Lazio fans are not represented by what was seen Sunday," Lotito said. "We can't have a policeman for each person." Lotito also said that he agreed efforts should be made to "isolate the fringes of fans" that promote violence and racism.

Chief Inspector Nicodemo de Franco, of the National Police, complained in an interview, published in La Stampa on Tuesday, that until not long ago policemen were stationed among the fans in the two "curves" and, through friendly relations, managed to keep them under control. "Then it was decided from high up that we were to abandon the curves," he said. The ultras then organized themselves "into a hierarchy with politicized leaders," said de Franco, adding that they were united more by extremist political conditioning than by their love of soccer. "The curves are places where one no longer knows who is in charge. Or rather, one knows too well, and it isn't the state," he said. Laws that make racism and anti-Semitism crimes were enacted in 1994. Paolo Di Canio, a soccer star whose arm seems every so often to swing automatically into a Fascist salute, was fined 10,000 recently for engaging in an "apology for fascism." However, last Sunday he did it again – albeit in a less defined, horizontal motion. But the violence is not monopolized by rightists. It is instigated and carried out by extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni has been criticized for singling out only the Right, when actually the fans of both teams were involved in the violence. After praising Rome's citizens for the outstanding way they kept peace and order during the pilgrimage of two million people during Pope John Paul II's funeral, he was dismayed at Sunday's soccer violence. At the preview of a documentary entitled Where Is Auschwitz by filmmaker Mimmo Calopresti on a visit to Auschwitz by 200 Italian high school students, Veltroni said, "We have to make sure that the boys who unfurled a Nazi symbol at the Olympic Stadium yesterday learn that in the name of that flag, other boys were deported and entire families murdered. The reappearance of this flag 60 years later demonstrates that we must not stop this work on memory." He added that the extremists do not represent Rome, but rather the thousands of students who continue their research on this theme do. Reached by phone in Ukraine, where he is touring Jewish institutions, Leone Paserman, the president of the Rome Jewish community, told The Jerusalem Post that he was very concerned. "It is extremely grave that the president of the Lazio team has not taken a position. In similar situations in the past, such violence was denounced and action taken. Relations by the soccer associations with these groups of ultras should be broken," he said. According to Pacifici, there were Jewish fans in the stands cheering for Lazio. They left the stadium as soon as the violence broke out.
©The Jerusalem Post

EU: BLACK MARK TO ITALY FOR LACK OF RACISM STATISTICS
13/4/2005- Of the original 15 European Union countries, Italy is one of just three which does not produce data on racism and xenophobia, a newly published report by the Vienna-based European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) said on Wednesday. The report, 'Racist violence in 15 member states', says the 'top of the class' for the completeness of their statistics are Finland, France, Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden. Austria and Germany tend to focus on episodes of far-right racism, and other countries give less comprehensive data, while Greece and Portugal are the other two countries apart from Italy who do not compile statistics, the EUMC said. The report highlights the need for improved data collection, especially via unofficial data collection mechanisms, and suggests how this might be achieved to better understand the problem of racism and tackle it effectively. Of the countries for which data is available, the EUMC report showed that over the period 2001-2004, the number of racist incidents increased most sharply in Ireland - by an alarming 88.4 percent - and in Holland (by 3 percent). Racist incidents over the period fell the most in Denmark (by over 55 percent), followed by Germany (by more than 21 percent), Austria (by 17.4 percent), Sweden (down more than 13 percent), and Great Britain (down nearly 7 percent).
©AKI

SPAIN ACCUSED OF FAILING TO ACT OVER RACISM
14/4/2005- European governments including Spain were accused of complacency and of failing to confront the scale of racist violence after a report said only a handful of nations collected proper information. The British daily The Independent reported that the document also highlighted a surge of attacks on racial minorities and the impact of global events, with Muslims being targeted after 11 September and more anti-Semitic attacks following crises in the Middle East. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia said that only six EU countries monitored the scale of violence properly, and demanded a comprehensive system. Spain only released only limited data for 2001 and Greece, Italy and Portugal have "no official criminal justice date on racist crime/violence". Most of the 10 countries that joined the EU last year have little record-keeping and in the EU as a whole, "no two countries have data that is strictly comparable," the report said. Beate Winkler, the centre director, said: "If you are not collecting data, it seems that you do not have a problem. My message to those governments is to give a clear lead, take the problem seriously and face reality". The report identifies the groups most vulnerable to racist violence as illegal immigrants; Jews; Muslims; North Africans; émigrés from the former Yugoslavia; refugees and asylum-seekers and Roma. There was clear evidence "that attacks on Muslim communities increased in the months following 11 September" and some victims were wrongly identified as Muslims. The document adds: "There is also evidence from a number of member states, such as France, Belgium, [the] Netherlands, that attacks on Jewish people and Jewish property have flared up in response to conflicts in the Middle East." According to the research, the main perpetrators tend to be "young males; members of extremist politically motivated organisations and others not affiliated to such groups." In Britain - praised for its record keeping - media and NGO reports "indicate some evidence of increased violence directed at people who are or are presumed to be Muslim".
©Expatica News

GOVERNMENTS HIDE FROM RACISM(European Union)
13/4/- The under-recording of racist incidents in most European Union member states is hampering efforts to crack down on racist violence, according to a new report from the Union's racism watchdog. The report 'Racist Violence in 15 EU Member States released by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) Wednesday warns that official data collection on racist violence in 15 of the bloc's 'old' member states is "non-existent or ineffectual" and needs further development. The EUMC, a Vienna-based agency of the European Union (EU), says only six member states - Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Britain and Sweden -- keep "a comprehensive system that adequately reveals the extent and nature of racist violence in their society." Three member states - Greece, Italy and Portugal -- have "no publicly available" official criminal justice data on racist crime and violence. The group adds that in most EU countries attacks on ethnic or religious minorities are not specifically recorded as "racially motivated offences." As a result, such attacks are not published through official crime statistics. The EUMC warns that such a lack of data collection could "seriously hamper" efforts to respond to violent racism within the bloc, and insists that effective data collection is paramount to combating racist violence. "The EU needs to know how widespread the problem of racist or xenophobic violence is. Otherwise it cannot effectively protect its cultural, religious and ethnic minorities against the violation of their fundamental rights, including their most basic rights to human dignity, life and integrity of the person," Beate Winkler, director of the EUMC said in a statement Wednesday. "Not to record such incidents means that we underestimate the problem and that its victims remain invisible." The EUMC says such differences make it difficult to enforce a global response to the problem. "As a result, decision-makers will find it difficult to develop adequate policy and practical responses to the problem. We need to know more about the perpetrators of racist crime and adopt effective legislation that will ensure they are punished with proportionate and dissuasive penalties," Winkler added. The group warns that comparing data between countries is also misleading as the effectiveness of official data collection systems - where they exist at all -- differs greatly between EU member states. This depends on the country's legislation, whether criminal justice agencies have been trained to respond to incidents of racist violence, and the existence of and accessibility to data on racist crime. "Such differences lead to a distorted picture when comparing the raw figures of racist incidents between individual member states," the report says. "Countries with the best data collection systems, broad definitions of racist acts and the most systematically applied legislation will have the most complete figures. The number of incidents recorded may ironically reflect the effectiveness of their definition of racist violence and data collection rather than any notion of racism being more of a particular problem for that state." As a result the EUMC says it is difficult to assess whether racist violence is actually increasing or decreasing within the bloc.

"Given the absence of official data in many member states, the actual extent of racist violence cannot be firmly assessed. Unofficial data collection mechanisms - run by NGOs and academic institutions - generally do not have the resources to provide comprehensive information on racist violence," EUMC spokesman Frederick Banson, told IPS Wednesday. "They can however provide some indication of whether there is a problem with racist crime in a country. In those countries that do not adequately record racist incidents, the EUMC's National Focal Points have indicated to the EUMC that the problem is being underestimated," he added. The EUMC says good data collection is essential for protecting victims of racist violence and punishing the perpetrators of such actions, and is urging those EU member states which do not have effective methods for recording racist violence to develop responses to target the problem. "This could be done by encouraging victims of racist violence to report incidents, developing sensitive, effective and visible policing responses to respond to fear, and using criminal intelligence systems and procedures to build up an effective database about perpetrators," the report says. The group also says the EU should enforce regulations to ensure that racism is recorded properly in its member states. "A framework decision sends an unambiguous signal to the perpetrators that there will be no hiding place within the EU for their activities and to the victims that the EU as a whole is acting to combat this evil," the report says. In November 2001, the European Commission, the EU executive, presented proposals to fight racism and xenophobia more efficiently at the EU level, but discussion on the proposals between member states was suspended until February 2005 when the Luxembourg presidency of the EU decided to reconsider the proposals. The EUMC says the EU and its member states must now work to adopt the proposals during the Luxembourg presidency of the bloc which ends in June. (END/2005)
'Racist Violence in 15 EU Member States' Report
©Inter Press Service

FORMER HEAD OF NEO-NAZI GROUP SHOT DEAD(Canada)
13/4/2005- Wolfgang Droege, the one-time leader of white supremacist group the Heritage Front, was shot dead Wednesday in a normally quiet residential neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto. Several neighbours said the man killed in the four-storey apartment building was Droege, but police wouldn't immediately confirm the victim's identity. Kimberly Gorman, who was asleep in her home at the time of the shooting, said several officers stood outside the door of Droege's apartment hours after the killing that rattled area residents. "People are pretty upset and pretty shocked," said Gorman, who has lived in the apartment for 34 years. "He was a nice man." The early childhood educator said despite Droege's sordid past, he was always approachable and polite in their casual lobby and hallway encounters. "He would talk about his vacations . . . he went to Europe a lot. He was a very healthy guy, he would talk a lot about his health and vitamins and what he ate," said Gorman, who lived a floor above Droege. "I think he was trying to let the past be his past." Another longtime resident said Droege had lived there for at least 10 years. "I knew him to see him," said Donna Davis. "Definitely, I'm positive that that's the man who is dead." The 55-year-old Droege was said to have associated with recently deported Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel. Droege was born in Germany and moved in the early 1970s to Canada, where he became a citizen. In 1976, he joined the Ku Klux Klan and tried to start a branch of the organization in Toronto. Five years later, he helped organize a failed attempt to invade the tiny Caribbean country of Dominica and overthrow its government. The coup failed, and he was sentenced to three years in prison in the United States. Const. Kristine Bacharach said an arrest was made promptly after the shooting, but that officers had not yet contacted relatives of the victim. "The family members haven't been notified, and he hasn't been positively identified yet," Bacharach said.

Police rushed to the scene after a receiving a call about gunfire. When officers arrived, they found a man in a second-floor corridor, dead from a gunshot wound. They soon learned that a suspect had barricaded himself in an apartment. "For a brief period of time, we had a situation that was described as either a barricaded suspect or a hostage situation," Supt. Bob Clarke of Toronto police told reporters. "There was no hostage situation - it was a barricaded suspect." Members of the Toronto police emergency task force were called to the scene and spoke with the suspect over the phone before making an arrest. "I understand there is a brother of the suspect who was also called and came to the scene," Clarke said. He added that the brother and the suspect spoke during the incident but could not say whether that played a role in the suspect's arrest. Residents in the immediate area of the shooting were evacuated from their homes, and a nearby school was put in lockdown. Clarke said it was uncertain if the shooter knew the victim. In 1985, Droege was arrested in Alabama and charged with cocaine possession and a weapons offence. He was deported to Canada in April 1989 after serving a prison sentence in the United States for those charges. In October of that year, he set up the now-defunct Heritage Front, a continental network of neo-Nazis. The Canadian Human Rights Commission obtained a court order to shut down the Heritage Front's hotline, which issued hate messages against minorities and homosexuals. The group disobeyed the court order, and Droege and two associates were jailed. The Toronto-based hotline was eventually shut down. Droege had also been convicted of several other crimes, including assault for beating a 22-year-old man with a flashlight in a bloody brawl with anti-racist activists on June 12, 1993 in a Toronto restaurant.

Acquaintance charged in racist's killing (Update 14/4)
An acquaintance of notorious white supremacist Wolfgang Droege has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with his shooting, sources told The Canadian Press on Thursday. Two sources identified the accused as Keith Deroux, 44, of Toronto. Mr. Droege was shot dead at his home Wednesday in a killing that one source said likely had no connection to his racist views. Police were wrapping up their investigation of the crime scene and planned to announce that the charge had been laid later Thursday.
©Canoe

UN PASSES RESOLUTION AGAINST NAZISM
14/4/2005- Members of the UN human rights commission passed Thursday a resolution against neo-Nazism and neo-fascism, moved forward by Russia in association with Belarus and Cuba. This document denouncing all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and ensuing intolerance, was supported by 46 states of the commission's 53 member-countries, with abstention on the part of the USA, Australia, Japan and Canada. The commission's session last year resulted in negative attitude toward this resolution by all countries of the European Union as well as the USA and Japan. "We welcome the fact that the European Union's protracted polemics have ended with the conclusion in favor of support for the project we have submitted," said Russia's ambassador Leonid Skotnikov at the UN department in Geneva. "This resolution indicates that problems facing member-countries, including certain EU states, should be tackled rather than played down," he added. The Russian delegation, according to Sotnikov, was regretful of the USA's having failed to support the resolution with reference to the observance of free expression of one's opinion. The resolution displays deep concern over the glorification of the Nazi movement, including through unveiling monuments and memorials as well as staging mass rallies. Such practices, goes on the resolution, scar the memory of numerous victims of crimes against humanity committed during World War II, especially in the year of the 60th anniversary of V-Day. The resolution also urges the UN member-countries to take more effective measures to combat these phenomena and extremist movements. At the UN human rights commission's Geneva-based 61st session, Russian diplomats called upon Latvia and Estonia to cease the persecution of veteran anti-Nazis and the glorification of Waffen SS league members.
©RIA Novosti

SCHOOL TAKES ON NEO-NAZI DRESS CODE(Germany)
1/4/2005- A school in southern Germany is trying to ban students from wearing neo-Nazi gear even though instituting a formal dress code leads them into a legal grey area. Students sport bomber jackets with a not-so-secret code for "Heil Hitler" stitched on. Or they strut in combat boots with white laces, a symbol for the white race. Or maybe, some go so far as to decorate school walls with Nazi symbols. In one school in the southern German town of Weinstadt in Baden-Württemberg, school officials say that since the beginning of the school year, this phenomenon has become increasingly common. "Every tenth student regularly wears the right-wing extremist symbols," teacher Antje Fröhlich of the Reinhold-Nägele High School told news magazine Der Spiegel. One teacher found a swastica on their classroom walls. But when a 9th grader showed up sporting a jacket with "European Master Race" on it, school staff had been pushed too far: the teacher refused to allow the child into the classroom. Shortly after, the teacher called the student's father. But he refused to accept the situation saying that as long as there is no official rule forbidding such apparel, he would do nothing. Besides, he told the teacher, his son has no interest in politics but just wear such gear because he likes it.

Learning a new language
For most adults, this secret language was incomprehensible. It consists of such things as "88," code for "Heil Hitler" (H is the 8th letter of the alphabet) or 18, a symbol for Adolf Hitler or particular brands of clothing that neo-Nazis prefer such as Lonsdale of London. But these days, parents and officials are learning fast. At another school, students, parents and school staff decided by a majority to forbid these symbols. And at Reinhold Nägele High School, staff is pleading with state officials to create a law so they can do the same. But so far, it hasn't been a smooth road. Questions have been arising over freedom of expression. School officials grapple with which gear to specifically forbid: should they ban combat boots completely or only when they are worn with a bomber jacket. Or should the school look at each case individually.

No ban
Other jurisdictions in Germany such as Berlin and Lower Saxony have for years forbidden such symbols in schools, affecting about 40,000 students. But the education union, VBE, warns that such actions threaten personal freedoms and are ineffective. "Many teachers aren't familiar with many regulations," spokesman for the union, Michael Gomolzig told the magazine. He recommends educating the children about the radical right in elementary school because "by the time they are sporting bomber jackets and combat boots, it is too late." Officials from Baden-Württemberg have decided against a state-wide ban, saying that it is not a school's place to decide what students can wear. Still, they are allowing schools to forbid specific gear, symbolic of the right-wing extremists because they say this doesn't hurt personal freedoms. Meanwhile, teachers from the school hope for an open discussion between parents, students and staff so that the school , says one teacher, can be salvaged.
©Deutsche Welle

PROTESTERS PELT NEO-NAZIS MARCHERS IN MUNICH(Germany)
2/4/2005- Angry Germans pelted neo-Nazis with bottles, fruit and eggs on Saturday when some 6,000 people took to the streets of Munich to disrupt a march by about 250 supporters of far-right political groups. Booing demonstrators threw tomatoes, eggs and bananas at the marchers, who were protected by hundreds of police in the Bavarian capital. Police said 53 arrests were made. At a protest rally nearby, city mayor Christian Ude said Munich, Hitler's home in the Nazi party's early days in the 1920s, wanted nothing to do with his present-day followers. Far-right parties made electoral gains in other German states last year and neo-Nazis staged one of their biggest demonstrations in February. Though smaller than such movements in some other European countries, Germany's neo-Nazis are a source of particular concern to their compatriots because of their history. Munich protesters handed out white roses, symbol of local students executed during World War Two for opposing Hitler.
©Reuters

SUPPORTERS OF NEO-NAZI CONVICTED OF TERRORISM(Germany)
6/4/2005- Three young women and a schoolboy who joined a neo- Nazi secret cell that may have plotted bomb attacks against Jews were convicted of terrorism by a German court on Tuesday, but walked free with their prison terms suspended. They were supporters of Martin Wiese, a sinister Munich neo-Nazi who is being tried separately along with three of his lieutenants. Based in Munich, the city where Adolf Hitler laid the foundations of his Nazi party and mounted a failed putsch, they used secret codes and names, planning to take over Germany. The trial was the first where neo-Nazis were charged with being a terrorist organisation. The Bavarian superior state court imposed sentences ranging from 16 to 22 months on the group, the youngest an 18-year-old girl. Another girl, 20, and the boy, 19, were still attending high school. A fifth defendant, 38, a contact from Wiese's eastern German hometown, was convicted of illegal possession of explosives and being an accessory to illegal acquisition of a gun. He was given an 18- month suspended term. Presiding Judge Bernd von Heintschel-Heinegg said, "From early 2003 you planned a revolution of blood that was to include murder." Prosecutors said the group aimed to set off a bomb at an empty building site, hours before the foundation stone was laid for a new synagogue in 2003, frightening away German leaders. Neo-Nazi violence to date has rarely proceeded beyond brawling, muggings and arson. Police arrested the group, the Comrades of the South, in 2003 before it could act. Its members have confessed at the two parallel trials that there was talk of attacking the synagogue site, but it is unclear how advanced the plot became. Wiese's trial is still only mid-way through. A girl had seriously contemplated committing a suicide bombing for the cause on Munich's main square while she was 18, the judge said. The court said it suspended the sentences because the four were only barely adults and had dissociated themselves from the neo-Nazis. They face arrest if they meet any neo-Nazis while the suspended sentences run.
©Expatica News

OPEN THE FLOODGATES(Germany)
Opposition politicians are exploiting stereotypes of illegal immigrants in an attempt to bring down Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. David Gordon Smith argues that illegal immigrants are not the pariahs they are made out to be, and that Germany needs more immigration, not less.

8/4/2005- Illegal immigrants. The phrase conjures up images of criminals, prostitutes, undocumented construction workers - the kinds of undesirables German foreign minister Joschka Fischer is alleged to have let into Germany under a relaxed visa regime between 2000 and 2003. Opposition politicians accuse him of failing to respond quickly enough to reports of abuses of the visa scheme. He is accused of abetting the slave trade and of letting hundred of thousands of Ukrainians planning to work illegally to enter the Schengen zone on tourist visas. These allegations are not without substance. Undoubtedly, many of those entering Germany on tourist visas were planning to stay on. Of those, some may have indeed been criminals. There are also reports of serious abuses at the German embassy in Kiev. Embassy officials are alleged to have turned a blind eye to the 'queue mafia' who extorted money from people waiting outside the embassy. Furthermore, Ludger Volmer, the former deputy foreign minister behind the liberalisation of the visa scheme, is accused of receiving illicit payments from the Federal Printing Office, who benefited from the increased numbers of travel documents needed under the scheme. Such corrupt activities, if proved, cannot be condoned. Considering its place in the international order, Germany is far too corrupt. Certain sectors (the construction industry in particular) of the economy are widely perceived to be crooked, and corruption scandals involving politicians are depressingly commonplace. Measures need to be taken to punish those involved in corruption related to the visa scheme, and to make sure such abuses cannot happen again. However it seems doubtful that the opposition parties after Fischer's head are motivated primarily by a desire for cleaner bureaucracy. More likely, they see the affair as an opportunity to exploit popular stereotypes of illegal immigrants to Fischer's disadvantage. The average German is frankly scared of Eastern Europe and its inhabitants. Few Germans have any direct experience of their eastern neighbours. They may be prepared to travel thousands of kilometres to Spain on holiday, but Poland - despite being an EU and Nato member and only an hour from Berlin - is a forbidding and unknown place. As for Ukraine, most Germans couldn't find it on a map. In the popular imagination, the Eastern European is a prostitute, a car thief, a mafioso or an illegal worker undercutting German tradesmen - a stereotype which borders on open racism. Illegal immigrants are, by their nature, very hard to profile. In the absence of hard data, they become a mirror for a society, reflecting its prejudices. The caricaturing of Ukrainian immigrants as prostitutes and villains is a crudely populist move on the part of the opposition parties.

Some of those entering Germany on tourist visas were no doubt undesirable. All societies have their criminal elements, and Ukraine is no exception. However, in Ukraine as elsewhere, these form a small minority of the population. Most people in any country simply prefer to stay put and those who leave are generally forced to by economic circumstances. The main motivation for those who enter a rich country illegally is to earn money to support themselves and their families. Given the choice, they would prefer to do so legally. The majority want to go home as soon as they can. Immigration generally benefits the host country, even when illegal. It is loath to admit it, but Germany profits from its booming black economy, estimated by economics minister Hans Eichel to comprise up to 18 percent of Germany's GDP. The same Germans who worry about Eastern Europeans stealing their Mercedes are quite happy to pay Polish women cash to clean their villas. Above all, Germany needs immigration to prop up its tottering pension system. Germany's population is ageing and contributions from the working population are no longer enough to cover pension payments. In the absence of the political will to reform the system, the only solution is immigration on a massive scale. People will continue to come and work in Germany legally or illegally, whatever happens. The government should recognise this fact and make immigration on economic grounds easier. Immigrants will gain through better protection and social benefits, while Germany's tax and pension coffers will see increased revenues. Fischer should have paid more attention to the corruption associated with the relaxed visa regime of 2000-2003, and he should be made to answer for his negligence. However, the fact that he allowed thousands of Ukrainians to enter Germany is not necessarily a bad thing. It is time that the average German wakes up to the fact that immigrants, whether legal or illegal, are an asset to a country, not a threat. What Germany needs is more immigration, not less.
©Expatica News

TEACHING UNION BIDS TO FIGHT RACISM IN THE NORTH(N-Ireland)
1/4/2005- The Ulster Teachers Union has teamed up with the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities to lead the fight against racism in the North's schools, it was announced today. They have produced a guidance leaflet for the union's 6,500 members which is being launched at the UTU annual conference being held in Newcastle, Co Down over the next two days. Speaking at the launch of the leaflet UTU President Rosemary Barton said the union recognised teachers needed more support from the Department of Education in order to tackle any possible racist behaviour before it could become an issue in schools. Ms Barton said: "For some time the UTU has felt that our members need more guidance and help in making sure that pupils from ethnic backgrounds get the same educational opportunities as everyone else." She said in the past Northern Ireland may have seen issues relating to race as less important that other issues. But she said "There is evidence that this is changing, prompted by a growing number of racially-motivated incidents. For that reason, and also because we are aware of a growing number of pupils from racially diverse backgrounds, we approached the council for ethnic minorities to assist us in the development of guidelines which we are launching at the conference." Ms Barton said the union would be working with the department, the CEM and the Equality Commission in the coming months to ensure that children learn that racism is wrong from an early age and that teachers were well equipped to cope with the growing number of pupils from multi-ethnic backgrounds.

The UTU had isolated different areas where they felt there was need for urgent action:

RACISM SIMMERING IN BRITISH SCHOOLS, SAYS SURVEY(uk)
1/4/2005- Evidence of simmering racism in Britain's schools has emerged from a study of teenagers' attitudes towards Muslims and right wing groups, it was revealed today. Researchers who questioned more than 1,500 non-Muslim adolescents aged 13 to 24 found more than 9% supported the ultra right wing views of the British National Party. Their attitudes towards Muslims had also hardened considerably since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and the invasion of Iraq.

WE NEED RACE MINISTER TO FIGHT INEQUALITY, SAY CAMPAIGNERS(uk)
1/4/2005- Campaigners yesterday called for the introduction of a race minister as they launched a manifesto demanding equality for black and ethnic minority communities. The initiative, organised by Operation Black Vote (OBV), is designed to push race-related issues higher up the agenda in the run-up to the election. The manifesto calls for high-achieving schools, colleges and universities to have legally binding intake quotas for low-income black and ethnic minority children. It urges parties to adopt all-black shortlists in areas with substantial ethnic minority communities and to outlaw the extreme right by banning any parties that contravene race or human rights laws. The coalition - which includes organisations such as the National Black Police Association, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Society of Black Lawyers - hopes voters will use its manifesto and pledge card to press candidates on race issues. It wants a race minister, equivalent to the existing women's minister. Karen Chouhan, of the 1990 Trust, said: "Tackling racism at a cabinet level, along with the other measures, will be a quantum leap forward." Simon Woolley, OBV's director, said: "This election will be won and lost in urban areas. That's where we reside and have political clout. Never before in British politics has the black vote been so strong. Although we are a minority vote, in a tightly run race we hold the balance of power." Mr Woolley said the younger generation was becoming engaged, with stars such as Ms Dynamite and members of So Solid Crew asking how they could help with the process. The coalition has been registering voters around the country and will take its own battlebus on the road. It also plans to hold "question time" sessions. OBV says there are 71 seats where ethnic minority populations exceed the majority at the last election, and so could directly affect the outcome. But electoral participation in many ethnic minority communities has been below the national average. Black and Asian voters have also supported Labour overwhelmingly in the past, although that loyalty has begun to break down. The coalition points out that two-thirds of black people still live in the poorest areas of the country; that infant mortality rates are twice as high; and that black people are six times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. Demands in the manifesto include an apology for slavery and colonialism; concerted action to eliminate racial disparities in health and healthcare; and an end to "draconian" policies on asylum seekers such as forced dispersal and detention. "Black communities don't have the luxury not to vote," said Lee Jasper, the chairman of OBV, and the London mayor Ken Livingstone's adviser on race issues. "With racism and in particular Islamophobia alarmingly on the increase, it is the duty of every black person to tell their political candidates that we demand that they sign up to an agenda for justice. "Failure to do so will be punished at the ballot box."

Demands

ARCHBISHOP SAYS RACISM GENERATED BY IMMIGRATION TALK(uk)
1/4/2005- The spiritual leader of the Anglican church, Rowan Wiliams, has warned it was "racist to whip up" anxiety over immigration, as political parties campaigned for elections expected in May. The remarks by the archbishop of Canterbury on BBC television come after the main opposition Conservative Party put up posters around the country declaring: "It`s not racist to impose limits on immigration." Conservative leader Michael Howard has called for parliament to impose an annual limit on the number of people allowed into the country. Asked if controlling immigration was racist, Williams told BBC2`s Newsnight last night: "It`s racist to whip up the kind of anxiety that can be so easily generated on this subject. "That will always present asylum seekers, for example, as a menace, as an uncontrollable menace," Williams said. Fear is a "button that can be pushed", the archbishop warned. "It`s something that`s an easy thing to reach for. There`s bound to be some apprehension if people feel that all the things they care for are under threat and this is a convenient scapegoat very often. "But in fact we have quite a good record of integrating people," Williams said. "We have people with skills coming in. So I think that`s an issue we have to move on from." When asked if his remarks were an attack on the Conservatives, Wiliams, whose church represents 70 million people in Britain and other countries, replied that he thought "it`s a cross-party problem". He also said he believed it was his job to intervene in politics when there were issues of morality. Political parties are competing hard to address public concerns about immigration as the campaign heats up for general elections widely expected on May 5. Howard on Tuesday unveiled a plan for a new border police force, stressing the need to protect Britain`s shores from illegal immigrants and asylum seekers due to the "real terrorist threat" they pose. In February, the Conservative party promised to test immigrants from outside the European Union (EU) for HIV, tuberculosis and other diseases if it wins elections expected in May. The Government dismissed the plan as an attempt to catch up with the government`s own immigration policy, while groups fighting HIV/AIDS condemned it as both ineffective and prejudicial.
©Garavi Gujarat Publications

POLICE STORM OVER RACIST EMAIL(uk)
1/4/2005- A greater Manchester Police civilian worker sent a racist e-mail showing a picture of a South African beauty queen with a monkey's head superimposed upon her body. Now a row has erupted after the man was allowed to keep his job by the force's personnel department. He was given a written warning, while another person was given a written warning for sending out an Irish joke. Several others were given warnings for misusing the computer system. The e-mail was found during a routine trawl of the police computers. Chief Constable Mike Todd and deputy Chief Constable Alan Green were unaware that the disciplinary action was taking place. Senior officers, who are understood to be livid about the e-mail, said they had closed a loophole so that anyone found sending out similar material in the future could be sacked. Deputy Chief Constable Alan Green said: "In our efforts to rid GMP of discriminatory behaviour and to promote our obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, we routinely carry out checks of our IT systems to identify any abuse. We know the vast majority of our police officers and staff maintain the highest professional standards which we demand. "Regrettably, we have uncovered material which is unacceptable within GMP. As a result, several employees have been disciplined and the Chief Constable has prepared a letter addressed to all our staff advising them of future consequences.

Expectation
"I am extremely disappointed that dismissal has not been chosen as a sanction on this occasion. Regrettably, the decisions made cannot be reversed but I have sought a full explanation. "There is an expectation that in all future cases, save in extremely extenuating circumstances, any member of GMP will be dismissed where they have been involved in the promotion of sexually explicit, sexist or racist material or display any other form of discriminatory behaviour." Last week a tribunal ruling said the force failed to properly investigate claims of racial discrimination made three years ago by Charles Crichlow, chairman of the Black and Asian Police Association. It said officers in the complaints and discipline department and the diversity training unit - the very unit designed to rid the force of institutional racism - showed a reluctance to "hear" or "see" a complaint of discrimination unless, "forced to do so".Pc Crichlow said of the e-mail storm: "The person responsible should not have been allowed to keep his job. It is not surprising, knowing what I know about these sort of issues within GMP. It is no excuse to hide behind the legal process. The Chief Constable said a year ago that anybody who believed they could express racist views and get away with it in GMP must be "deluded". Those words are like feathers to me now." Race has been a controversial issue for GMP since the broadcast of the Secret Policeman documentary in 2003, which showed trainee and serving officers displaying racist attitudes and language.
©Manchester Evening News

CALL TO CHANGE LAW TO FIGHT RACISM IN POLICE(uk)
4/4/2005- Police applicants from ethnic minorities should get automatic preference over white candidates with the same qualifications, a senior officer claims. Julie Spence, Cambridgeshire's Deputy Chief Constable, is calling for the law to be changed to legalise "affirmative action" in recruitment to help forces meet Home Office targets for ethnic-minority officers. And she is one of a growing number of chief police officers to voice their concern that many forces are nowhere near meeting the targets for recruiting ethnic-minority officers. The Home Office wants 7.7 per cent of the 150,000 officers in England and Wales to be drawn from ethnic-minority backgrounds, mirroring the working population. The targets were set after the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, killed by five white youths in 1993, described the Metropolitan Police as "institutionally racist". Mrs Spence will argue her point at a conference in Peterborough later this month. The senior officer, who has been in the police for 27 years, said: "It takes two years to get new legislation through, so we have got to do this now if we are going to get the diverse, representative workforce the Government says it wants. If handled sensitively and professionally, it will have a positive effect on policing." In response to Mrs Spence's comments, opponents warned that favouring ethnic-minority candidates could provoke a backlash from white recruits who would resent being turned down for jobs because of their colour and from ethnic-minority recruits who would want to be judged solely on their ability. They also claimed it could potentially lower standards. But Mrs Spence dismissed the suggestions as "myth", adding: "The evidence shows that standards go up when more jobs are opened up to women and ethnic minorities." Affirmative action is currently illegal under racial equality laws.
©Cambridge Newspapers

ANTI-TERROR LAWS 'HURT RACE RELATIONS'(uk)
6/4/2005- The government's anti-terrorist strategy since September 11 2001 has con-tributed to a deterioration of community relations, with a particularly negative impact on Muslims, according to a parliamentary report published today. The Commons home affairs committee said evidence was lacking of a concerted government effort to explain its response to terrorism to local communities and organisations. While the report recognises the significant efforts made by police in overcoming institutionalised racism, it criticises the way that raids are carried out by anti-terror officers "without a proper appreciation" of their impact on local community relations. MPs found a clear perception across a wide section of Muslim opinion that Muslims were being stigmatised by the operation of terrorist laws. The report criticises sectors of the media for sensationalist reporting of some police raids and arrests, which helped to fuel populist fears of the Muslim community. The committee chaired by John Denham, Labour's former Home Office minister, says it is essential that British Muslims are engaged fully in the promised review of new terrorist legislation, which includes control orders.
©The Financial Times

BNP LEADER FACES RACE HATE CHARGES(uk)
6/4/2005- The leader of the British National party was today charged with four race hate offences, police said. Nick Griffin, 45, was arrested at his home in mid-Wales last December by West Yorkshire police as part of a long-running investigation into the BBC programme Secret Agent. Mr Griffin answered his bail today at Halifax police station and was charged with four offences of using words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. The Secret Agent documentary, screened in July last year, featured undercover filming of BNP activists. Mr Griffin will appear before Leeds magistrates court tomorrow. Earlier today, the BNP founding chairman, John Tyndall, was charged with two offences of using words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. Mr Tyndall, 70, of Brighton, was arrested in December last year following a speech he made in Burnley in March 2004 as part of the same investigation into the BBC documentary. He will also appear before magistrates in Leeds tomorrow. More than 250 BNP supporters from all over the country, draped in Union and St George's flags, gathered outside the police station as Mr Griffin answered his bail this afternoon. The party had organised what it described as "a freedom of speech" rally, to highlight what it claimed was a campaign to stop it speaking about immigration. Mr Griffin arrived at the police station to loud cheers from supporters. The crowd chanted "Freedom, freedom" as he launched an attack on the government and West Yorkshire police. Before he was charged today, Mr Griffin told protesters: "We're not going to protest by rioting. We will leave that to the far left and the Muslims." People of all ages held "Fighting For Democracy" placards and cheered as a bagpiper played. More than a dozen police officers monitored the demonstration. Mark Collett, 24, a BNP activist from Leeds, has also been charged today with eight counts of the same offence and will be appearing at Leeds magistrates court tomorrow with both Mr Griffin and Mr Tyndall. The charges follow a joint investigation by West Yorkshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service casework directorate. Later Mr Griffin emerged from the police station and made the victory sign to the crowd. He told them that he had been charged for telling the truth and would use his trial as a platform for defending the party's belief. He said: "Whether I am found guilty will depend on the jury and whether someone should be jailed for telling the truth." Mr Griffin told reporters that he had "no regrets" and "would continue to tell the truth" even if he had to go to jail. Mr Griffin led a rendition of Jerusalem followed by the Lord's Prayer before leaving in a people carrier.
©The Guardian

OXFORD COLLEGE GUILTY OF RACE DISCRIMINATION(uk)
8/4/2005- Oxford University was yesterday accused of "institutional racism" after an employment tribunal ruled that a former accountant had been the victim of race discrimination. The court heard that Diamond Versi had been subjected to a "personal vendetta" by the bursar at Keble College, Oxford, who instigating a fraud inquiry against the 57-year-old "on a whim" and treated him in a "high handed" and "antagonistic" way. The tribunal report criticised the way Roger Boden was able to railroad the college's finance committee by "lobbying" fellows in the college's cosy atmosphere "over a glass of wine". "The fraud investigation was an extremely serious matter with no factual background to justify it [and was] merely the whim of the bursar who considered that the claimant, in taking a long-haul overseas holiday and acquiring a BMW, may be guilty of misfeasance," the report stated. It said other senior fellows at the college "acted as a rubber stamp to his proposals", and presided over a grievance procedure that was "a sham". Speaking after the tribunal's ruling, Mr Versi, of Witney, Oxfordshire, said the findings were part of a wider problem at the university. "Personally, I think the whole Oxford scene is institutionally racist. Now there isn't one brown or black bursar, or one brown or black accountant in all 36 colleges," he said. "I cannot imagine that people of colour are not applying for these jobs."

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Oxford University denied the charge, saying it recruited the brightest and most able staff irrespective of social, racial or religious background. A spokeswoman for Keble College said it was considering an appeal against the tribunal's findings. "The college has consistently believed that it acted fairly and lawfully in its dealings with Mr Diamond Versi... A thorough internal investigation of his grievance was undertaken, whilst he was still an employee... This found, both in the first instance and on appeal, that Mr Versi's complaints were without foundation or merit." Mr Versi, who is claiming £250,000 compensation, worked for the college from 1989 until he was made redundant last April. The tribunal, in Reading, Berkshire, found Mr Boden and Keble College both racially discriminated against Mr Versi before unfairly dismissing him. It also criticised the college's equal opportunities procedures. "It was clear that whilst the college was able to brandish a bit of paperwork showing it had a policy, in practice very little was done regarding the implementation of equal opportunities. "The importance the college gave to equal opportunities was shown by the fact that the bursar had no training in it and said he relied on pamphlets from law firms." It said the grievance process Mr Versi was subjected to had been tainted by Mr Boden's involvement. "The tribunal takes a most unfavourable view of a prestigious Oxford college, which, through its finance committee and governing body, failed to apply appropriate checks and balances and allowed a situation to prevail where there were no effective or operable policies in relation to equal opportunities at the college."
©The Guardian

THE SHOCKING CULTURE THAT UNDERMINES 999 SERVICE(uk)
8/4/2005- The Yorkshire Post today exposes shocking evidence of the racism and sexism undermining one of the country's biggest ambulance services, including details of an unofficial staff magazine which casually uses terms like "smelly Asian" and "Packi" in its pages. It can also be revealed that a female paramedic has been paid £600,000 damages by West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service after she agreed to drop a sex discrimination case which could have led to a highly embarrassing employment tribunal. But despite the payout and WYMAS' claims it has made efforts to change its culture, the Yorkshire Post has learnt the male employee alleged to have sexually assaulted the female paramedic during a campaign of harassment was not disciplined – even though the incident has resulted in a criminal injuries award. In addition, WYMAS has sanitised the findings of a confidential internal report into how its handling of the harassment case went badly wrong. A final copy of the report obtained by this newspaper reveals all references to interviews with staff who referred to racism and sexism in the service have been removed, along with several critical paragraphs about the management of the service. The content of the initial version was first revealed in November when the Yorkshire Post won a legal battle to lift the terms of an injunction obtained by WYMAS. Although the concerns about racism were aired in the report there was no specific evidence until now. Copies of an unofficial staff publication, called WYZASS, which is circulated around hundreds of paramedics and ambulance technicians, have been obtained and reveal a casual use of racist language.

In a section dubbed the "WYZASS Roll of Honour", a category for "The Most Smelly Asian Tech's" (ambulance technicians) is included, along with the "Best Dr Packi Paramedic". There is also a reference to "Abdul Pains" being the most common jobs in Bradford. WYMAS last night refused to comment on any of the details of the damages payment, the lack of disciplinary action against the male employee or the alterations to the internal report, claiming they were all confidential. But the service did issue a statement, which was also issued on behalf of the three main WYMAS unions Unison, GMB and TGWU. It said: "Racist and sexist behaviour will not be tolerated within WYMAS. "We were aware previously of an underground publication produced by an anonymous source. We utterly condemned the content of the publication, as we would any sexist or racist attitudes within the service. Following investigations, however, we believe it has stopped. If the publication has re-appeared we will continue our investigation into its source and make every effort to ensure it is stopped immediately. "We will take appropriate action against any individuals found to be involved. We would stress that the content of this leaflet never was and never will be acceptable to the vast majority of our staff and managers, whose primary focus is on providing the best possible care to our patients." Although WYMAS declined to comment directly on any aspects of the sexual harassment case, it insisted it was taking action to tackle attitudes amongst staff. MPs in the region reacted with shock at the latest revelations and demanded the service took action. Marsha Singh, Labour MP for Bradford West, questioned whether Asian people could have full confidence in the service. Mr Singh, who said he expected WYMAS to hold an inquiry, added: "It goes to show that institutions have got to be ever vigilant against this type of thing, you can't afford to drop your guard. Chris McCafferty, Labour MP for Calder Valley, said: "I was really shocked with what I've seen. You don't expect it in West Yorkshire in 2005. People who work for WYMAS are working in the wider community, and I would hope WYMAS act quickly to make sure these kinds of racist 'jokes' in future will not be tolerated."

Normanton's Labour MP, Bill O'Brien, said: "This kind of publication should never have been allowed to circulate. The WYMAS board should carry out an in-depth investigation to make sure this is not allowed to continue and those responsible are brought to book." He was also angry that the mishandling of the sexual harassment case had cost the public purse in the region of £1m, when legal and administrative costs were taken into account. "How many ambulances could we run a year for that amount of money? And the person who helped create this mess in the first place has got away scot-free – I don't understand how that can be the case." Ralph Berry, the chairman of WYMAS NHS Trust, declined to comment on all the details of the case, but did say not all of the payment to the paramedic will come from WYMAS funds because the NHS makes provisions nationally to help individual trusts meet the costs of legal settlements.
The woman cannot be named for legal reasons.
©Yorkshire Post

INTEGRATION SCHEME AIMS TO HELP REFUGEES TO RISE ABOVE BARRIERS(uk)
8/4/2005- UNISON, the public service union, yesterday announced the launch of a new integration scheme to bring refugees into work in public services. The New Workers project is a pilot funded by the Home Office, giving 16 refugees work experience in health and social care and related fields. The first Scottish authorities to commit to the project are Greater Glasgow Health Board and South Lanarkshire Council. Discussions with Glasgow City and Lothian Health Board are continuing. It is also hoped that the project will be rolled out elsewhere in Scotland. Historically, jobs done by migrant workers are low-paid and do not utilise their skills, despite many having good qualifications. Under the initiative, every refugee will have a mentor from the trade union's wide range of lifelong learning advisers, and will be placed with an employer for a 10 to 12-week period. Elaine Rae, who is running the project, said she hoped it would break down some of the barriers that refugees face in finding jobs. "We want participants to finish their placement with improved confidence, new learning and enhanced skills. They can then use these hopefully to move into a job – either with the participating employer or another one," she said. Part of Unison Scotland's Opposing Racism action plan, the scheme will involve partici-pants in the activities of the union and help employers meet their requirements under the Race Relations Act. As well as trying to overcome some of the learning, communications and cultural barriers that refugees face when looking for employment, the union added that it will confront some of the media myths about refugees. Dave Watson, Unison's head of policy and information, said: "This is a practical demonstration of Unison's Opposing Racism action plan. "Unison has been prominent in campaigning against the poison of racism being peddled by far-right political parties. Now we are proud to start a project that brings together refugees and union members in the workplace – a project that will benefit both the participants and the mentors."
©The Herald

PROSECUTER: SLAYINGS OF FOREIGNERS SOLVED(Russia)
1/4/2005- City Prosecutor Sergei Zaitsev on Wednesday announced that the murders of two foreigners last year have been solved, and has stated unequivocally that the motive was racial hatred. He said the suspects in the killing of Khursheda Sultanova, nine, who was stabbed to death on Feb. 9, and those who murdered Vietnamese student Vu An Tuan on Oct. 13 have been charged. Both murders produced reactions of horror, fear and condemnation from city leaders and the public. "Seven of Khursheda's attackers have been charged with hooliganism, and one - with the racially motivated murder of a helpless person," Zaitsev said. "The guy who is charged with the murder was 14 years old when the crime was committed." Fourteen youths face charges over the slaying of Tuan near a student hostel on Vasilyevsky Island. The prosecutor refused to give any names. The investigation revealed that the defendants, who were aged between 14 and 21, had committed other crimes against foreigners and Russian nationals, Zaitsev said. "Five new criminal cases have already been opened," the prosecutor added. Hooliganism is the usual charge against those who attack foreign citizens in St. Petersburg, with law enforcement agencies apparently reluctant to level more serious charges when racist motives are alleged. The city prosecutor's office has been criticized by human rights advocates for ignoring such motives when witnesses report that attackers have chanted phrases such as "Russia for the Russians." Zaitsev acknowledged that the city has problems with extremist groups, but said it should not be exaggerated. "In many cases, crimes against foreigners and citizens of former Soviet states have common, domestic, rather than racial or nationalist motives," the prosecutor said. Governor Valentina Matviyenko made an enthusiastic statement Wednesday, saying that "all ethnically motivated crimes in the city have been solved." "Our city, which is known to the country and to the world for its intelligentsia and tolerance, has several times been shocked by horrible murders on racial grounds," Matviyenko said in her annual televised speech. "We are not going to tolerate the escapades of extremists. [...] I firmly say that we will confront all manifestations of xenophobia, anti-Semitism and discrimination."

But some experts say it is much too early to trumpet successes. Matviyenko's statement sounds overblown to human rights advocates, who note that the murder of Nikolai Girenko, the country's leading expert on ethnic crimes, who was gunned down on the doorway of his apartment on June 19, 2004, hasn't been solved. Vladimir Lukin, the federal ombudsman for human rights who released his 2004 report on Thursday, expressed concern about growing nationalism and chauvinism in the country. On Wednesday, Zaitsev also announced the start of a new investigation against an extremist group. Eight people have been detained in connection with the activities of Mad Crowd, a group of young nationalists who have been attacking natives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, China and Korea. The group's organizer has gone missing, Zaitsev said. Earlier this week web site Fontanka.ru reported that 15 Arab students were planning to drop out of their universities in St. Petersburg and leave the city in protest over the regular attacks on them. The publication quoted Gannam Mohamad, head of the Union of Arab students, as saying that "the situation has gotten to the point when the students can only guess whether they will make it to the hostel each night." But on Thursday, Fontanka said Mohamad denied the earlier statement. "There is no mass exodus of Arab students from the city, and there won't be," he was quoted as saying in a letter to Alexander Viktorov, head of the city committee for Science and Higher Education. "The problem is currently in the process of being resolved positively," Mohamad added.
©St. Petersburg Times

MASS CALL TO OUTLAW JEWISH GROUPS(Russia)
3/4/2005- Over 5,000 known public activists and members of the clergy in Russia have sent a petition to the state prosecutor's office in which they demand to outlaw Jewish groups. In the petition, the signatories use quotes from Kitzur Shulhan Aruch, which they argue prove their claim that Judaism is a fanatic and racist religion that hates gentiles. Among those who signed the letter, according to Army Radio, are ex-generals, artists and the former world champion in chess. Israel's Ambassador to Russia, Arkadi Milman, called the new affair severe and said that Israel will contact Russian authorities in an attempt to prosecute those responsible for the petition. The recent anti-Semitic petition comes two months after about 20 members of the lower Russian parliament house, the State Duma, asked Prosecutor- General Vladimir Ustinov to investigate their claims that Jews are fomenting ethnic hatred and provoking anti-Semitism. Arguing that Jews were to blame for anti-Semitism, the authors of the letter demanded that Jewish groups be outlawed, based on legislation against extremism and fomenting ethnic discord. However, in a 306-58 vote that hewed to party lines, the State Duma adopted a declaration saying that the 'clear anti-Semitic intent' of the letter and other appeals for government actions targeting Jews 'prompts indignation and sharp condemnation.' The stunning calls to ban all Jewish groups comes amid concerns of persistent anti-Semitism that continues to plague Russia.

Jewish leaders have praised President Vladimir Putin's government for encouraging religious tolerance, but rights groups accuse the authorities of failing to adequately prosecute the perpetrators of anti-Semitic and racial violence. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said the lawmakers were either insane or 'quite sane but limitlessly cynical' and were hoping to win support 'by playing the anti-Semitic card.' With Putin planning to join events this week commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops, Russia's Holocaust Foundation head Alla Gerber said it was 'horrible that as we're marking the 60th anniversary of this tragic and great day... we can speak of the danger of fascism in the countries that defeated fascism.' She said that while the Russian state itself is no longer anti-Semitic, there are 'anti-Semitic campaigns that are led by all sorts of organizations.' 'The economic situation is ripe for this, an enemy is needed, and the enemy is well-known, traditional,' Gerber said. Echoing anti-Semitic tracts of the Czarist era, the letter's authors accuse Jews of working against the interests of the countries where they live and of monopolizing power worldwide. They say the United States 'has become an instrument for achieving the global aims of Judaism.' 'It is possible to say that the entire democratic world today is under the monetary and political control of international Judaism, which high-profile bankers are openly proud of,' the letter says. Along with outlawing Jewish organizations, the lawmakers called for the prosecution of 'individuals responsible for providing these groups with state and municipal property, privileges and state financing.'
©The Jerusalem Post

RUSSIA DIAGNOSIS: XENOPHOBIA
April 2005- After the massive scandal surrounding the delivery of an antisemitic statement – signed by nineteen MPs – to Russia's chief public prosecutor in January [see Searchlight March 2005], Alla Gerber, head of the Holocaust Fund, complained, "Society is sick with xenophobia. Like a cancer it is spreading through the country." She added that surveys have shown that 28% of adult Russians want to "bring back" special settlements for Jews and that 48% are in favour of curbing the rights of national minorities. Alexander Brod, head of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, also believes that almost two-thirds of the Russian population agrees with the oft-repeated nationalist slogan "Russia is for the Russians and all misfortunes stem from foreigners". In early February, a question-and-answer programme featuring the notorious antisemite Albert Makashov, one of the signatories of the statement was televised. Without any shame, Makashov again confirmed his stupidity and ignorance to the whole country but the results of viewer surveys about the programme were shocking, TV audiences in Moscow and Siberia giving Makashov high ratings. As a result of the Makashov controversy, a mass media discussion erupted about the legality of giving a public platform to people who abuse the privilege to make ultra-nationalist propaganda.

The democratic journalists and human rights activists who initiated the discussion suggested that the answer might be to censor the ultra-nationalists but, regrettably, did not analyse any concrete cases of antisemitism or examine the practical difficulties of using the law to counter nationalists and antisemites. The TV programme's producer, Vladimir Solovjev, explained that, for him, "it was especially important to show that the level of xenophobia in Russia is dangerously high and almost catastrophic," although he "does not believe that the authorities are nationalistic or antisemitic". Solovjev claimed that, as in the TV programme when viewers supported Yuri Boudanov, an ex-colonel who accused of raping and killing a Chechen girl, the one with Makashov had provided a barometric reading of the climate of xenophobia in Russian society. At the same time as the discussion about the Makashov programme was raging, however, the Social Opinion foundation conducted a more sophisticated survey on "Attitudes to Jews and antisemites in Russia" with 1,500 interviews taking place in a hundred settlements in forty-four regions of Russia and 600 interviews being made in Moscow.

According to the Social Opinion survey, 67% of respondents had never heard of the antisemitic statement sent to the chief prosecutor in January. Additionally, the Social Opinion sociologists concluded from their research that, in fact, only 13-15% of Russian citizens actually share antisemitic ideas and, among those, only 6-8 % are ready to defend their views with argument. In St.Petersburg, 51% of respondents actually blamed the authors of the January antisemitic statement and most people there are still condemnatory towards those who kill migrants and foreigners from the East. In mid-January, a further survey was made among school leavers in Krasnojarsk in Southern Siberia. The results of this survey indicated that every second youngster identifying himself as Russian had negative attitudes to other nationalities, mainly those from the Caucasus and Middle Asia, but did not have notably antisemitic feelings and were not afraid of gypsies. The results of social research, of course, vary in the different regions of Russia but generally indicate that a "phobia" exists against Jews, Gypsies, Caucasians, Asians from the former Soviet republics as well as towards people from China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Africa. The same research also suggests that there is nothing significantly different from Soviet times. The highest single percentage of xenophobes, interestingly, is to found among the police. The view that there are many criminals among immigrants may be a myth created by the police but schoolchildren, students and even voters for democratic parties now, unfortunately, share it.

It would be not anything new or original to say that levels of xenophobia rise in periods of economic instability, social inequality or defeats in war. These factors frequently produce a search for scapegoats and some democrats and human right activists in Russia even like – wrongly – to compare the country with "early Nazi Germany". This trend has been accentuated since the horrific Beslan school siege in August last year – in which 330 schoolchildren, teachers and others died at the hands of terrorist gunmen and bombers – leading so-called experts, journalists and human rights activists to make xenophobia their most popular discussion topic. There is no doubt that the increased activity, mounting brutality and the harassment of Muslims by radical Russian nationalists and skinheads were provoked by the hostage siege in but this does not fully explain manifestations of antisemitism and the killing of students from China, Vietnam and other countries. If in Moscow the most typical form of xenophobia is "caucasophobia" or "chechenophobia", there are, nevertheless, in the Chechen Republic, the same "phobias" as in Russia. "Migrants from Asia, gypsies, are filling our republic," wrote one newspaper, Stolitsa plus, in Grozny recently, adding, "They are everywhere – bus stops, markets, at the mosque door. How do these people manage to cross the border? They bring drugs and diseases. Recently, they even began involving homeless kids in their black market". Articles of this kind can now often be read in mainstream – and not just radical nationalist or chauvinist papers – with the mass media methodically painting a picture of migration being the main danger to Russia's security.

Journalists even compensate for the abysmal lack of official statistics by inventing their own estimates of the number of migrants living in Moscow or speculating about the number of "terrorists" among Chechen diaspora in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Journalists writing about immigration in Russia also consciously – or unconsciously – make wild generalisations about ethnic differentiation in business and trade. Thus, "the food markets in Moscow and the Moscow region are in the hands of the "Azerbaijanis", the "Armenians" run the petrol stations and auto servicing sector, the "Moldavians" build cottages in the Moscow region; the "Georgians" have done well in the restaurant business and the "Vietnamese" sell cheap clothing," Izvestia has reported. The emphasis of articles of this kind connects, in the readers' minds, the image of ethnic immigrants with that of the black market and dodgy business practices and pushes readers to conclude that all immigrants are criminals. In this way, the mass media helps to makethe kitchen and bar room "case" against immigrants and to stoke up the fires of xenophobia. If examples of hate speech were previously relatively rare in the mainstream press papers, since September 2004, articles against ethnic minorities in Russia have become the norm. The leader of the pack in this aspect is Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia's biggest circulation paper.

At the same time politicians, too, are getting into nationalist rhetoric. For example, the head of Economic Policy Commission, Irina Roukina, has accused immigrants themselves of causing increasing xenophobia in Russia. Similarly, in the Krasnodar region, in the south of Russia, the governor, Alexander Tkachev, proposed the creation of "camps" for migrants and even began to realise his plan, while Sergei Krivnjuk, a member of Jaroslavl City Council, has pronounced himself ready to lead pogroms against gypsies. Real resistance to xenophobia continues to be, almost exclusively, the business of non-governmental organizations. Many human rights activists now believe that much of the xenophobia in Russia is a result of state policy and clearly demonstrates the inability of the authorities to deal with social problems because of their corruption and lack of professionalism. The authorities, for their part, generally deny even the existence of xenophobia in Russia and laughably accuse human rights activists and liberals of destabilising society and working in the service of the West. President Vladimir Putin's answer to the very problems whose existence the authorities deny is to "centralise " power.
©Searchlight magazine

RUSSIA TO INTRODUCE SINGLE REGISTER FOR FOREIGNERS
8/4/2005- Russian authorities will soon introduce a centralized register of foreign nationals, the government has announced on its Web site. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed the resolution on Friday, the report said. The planned register is an automated federal information resource, and will be operated by the Federal Migration Service. The register stores data from organizations that monitor foreign nationals at the Russian border and at the place of their temporary or permanent residence. The main reason behind the creation of the register is to strengthen migration control in the country. The resource will be accessible through a central database with special elecronic regulations required for any user. The sources providing the Central Register with information will be responsible for its reliability. Federal migration control organizations and their local branches will monitor the data received and send it on to the Central Register. There are several organizations that with the Federal Migration Service's approval can grant access to the Central Register: the Russian Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Information, the Russian Security Service and the Foreign Ministry. Private individuals and legal entities obtaining information from the Central Register will be responsible according to Russian legislation for its misuse or violations of the system. The Migration Control Service was established in Russia in 1992 to regulate the frantic migration processes that followed the collapse of the USSR when several states and therefore borders were introduced where a single state used to be. The main Service's functions include processing documents allowing or prohibiting foreigners to enter, reside and work in Russia. Another important function is regulating Russian nationals going to work abroad.
©MosNews

POLICE ROLE IN NEO-NAZI CONCERT EARNS IRE(Czechia)
Watchdogs alarmed, but lawmen say statute forbids intervention

7/4/2005- Watchdogs have fiercely criticized police for not stopping a concert attended by hundreds of neo-Nazis and far-right sympathizers from five countries. By allowing the event to go ahead, the authorities sent skinheads a message that they can stage international meetings in the Czech Republic and go unpunished, says an official with Tolerance Civic Society, an association that monitors right-wing extremism. Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has voiced concerns and called for a report on the March 26 gathering of up to 500 people in Jablonne v Podjestedi, a north Bohemian town near the German border. The event was the largest of its kind in four years and featured bands from the United States, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia, according to Tolerance Civic Society. Police said that they would have intervened had there been any public display of support for fascism but that they were powerless to act because the concert was a private event held behind closed doors. Although it is illegal to promote or publicly show sympathy for fascism, enforcing the law is problematic because it can be interpreted in various ways, particularly when it comes to what constitutes a public meeting. Gross announced after the Jablonne concert that he does not want the Czech Republic to host such extremist gatherings. In his previous role as interior minister, Gross said in the wake of a big neo-Nazi concert in 2001 that police should apply a stricter interpretation of laws. That does not appear to have happened. "There should have been measures taken to prevent the [Jablonne] concert from taking place," said Ondrej Cakl of Tolerance. "When U.S. band Final War played, the singer shouted 'Sieg' and in response came a collective 'Heil.'" At this point, if not sooner, the police should have stepped in and ended the event, Cakl said, adding that officers were not within hearing range of the singer. According to Cakl, the concert was organized by Blood and Honor. The Interior Ministry says it monitors this group as an extremist organization that could pose a threat to national security. Klara Kalibova, also of Tolerance, said police could have gone inside the concert venue, a former gym, as it was obvious that criminal activity was taking place. "In Jablonne the police made an error. I see this as a result of a lack of will to act," Kalibova added.

Colonel Vladimir Hysek, one of around 200 police officers who supervised the concert, said that about half the people attending were from Germany, while others came from Poland and Slovakia. He added that the event was announced as a private birthday party. "If there was any public display of [fascism], we would have intervened. It is a different matter if such things were displayed inside a private meeting. The law does not allow us to intervene in private gatherings." However, said Cakl, when the law refers to "public" events it means any meeting of more than two people. Human Rights Commissioner Svatopluk Karasek said, "It is complicated for the police to decide whether to take any action." He added that officers were likely to face criticism whatever they did. Zdenek Zboril, a political analyst and an expert on extremist movements, said that police should have intervened, "but they don't feel they have the support of judges" in interpreting the law more strictly. Zboril estimates that there are 2,000 to 3,000 neo-Nazis and supporters of the far-right in the Czech Republic. Of those, not more than 300 are active as musicians, organizers of concerts, or as producers and distributors of extremist magazines, while 50 to 80 are the hard core of the extremist movement. "Currently they are not a big threat," Zboril said. However, he continued, "In moments of political, economic and social crisis, these kinds of [attitudes] could be accepted by a greater part of society." Extremist groups are particularly attractive to young people who are "excited by something that's dangerous, prohibited, by something the major part of society sees negatively," Zboril added. According to Interior Ministry statistics, there were 366 extremist crimes reported in 2004, up from 335 in 2003 but down from 473 the year before that. Until 2002, the overall trend was upward. In 1996, 131 extremist crimes were reported. The Interior Ministry defines extremist crimes as those that show elements of intolerance and attack democratic principles.
©The Prague Post

FARE CONFERENCE KICKS OFF WITH PLEDGES FROM EC AND UEFA(Slovakia)
Ninety delegates gathered in the stadium of ASK Inter Bratislava this morning for the 2005 FARE networking conference "Using Football for Intercultural Dialogue and Anti-Discrimination", which is taking place in Bratislava, Slovakia, on April 8 - 9.

8/4/2005- Delegates heard welcoming speeches by Daniel Milo, director of People Against Racism, Slovakia, Jozef Barmos, general manager ASK Inter Bratislava, Vladimir Waenke, sport manager Slovak Football Association, Pedro Velazquez-Hernandez, European Commission DG Education and Culture/Sport Unit, and Patrick Gasser, UEFA Assistance Programmes. Reflecting FARE´s determination to make the fight against racism in football a truly pan-European struggle, over 50 per cent of conference delegates represent supporters clubs, football clubs, ethnic minority organisations and NGO´s from central and eastern Europe. Through networking and the exchange of experience, delegates are taking the opportunity to learn from each other and share good practice. The European Commission pledged to consult FARE member groups in the development of the new commission sports policy. Mr. Velazquez-Hernandez encouraged all grass roots groups to engage with the Commission through written submissions and attendance at forthcoming conferences on the vital new policy. Mr. Gasser reiterated the importance of grass roots action in underpining the work of governing bodies, such as UEFA and national FAs, in tackling racism. Mr. Waenke underlined the Slovak FA´s determination to fight racism and discrimination in football and to promote integration of ethnic minorities especially the Roma population. At the Conference media briefing, UEFA Director of Communications, William Gaillard said that fighting racism was UEFA´s number one social objective. "Whilst football cannot solve the problem of racism in society, we can use it to reach sections of the population who may otherwise not be reached. This conference is important for raising awareness", he added. The fact that more racist incidents are being reported means that tolerance for racism in football is lower than ever before. Whilst much has already been done, it is still not enough. FAREs role is to hammer home the need for renewed efforts to rid the game of racism for once and for all.

The conference has been organised by People Against Racism of Slovakia and is being hosted by ASK Inter Bratislava.
Football Against Racism in Europe

HAIDER FOUNDS NEW AUSTRIAN PARTY
4/4/2005- Joerg Haider, the controversial former leader of Austria's right-wing Freedom Party, is to split from his old allies and head a new political party. Mr Haider and his sister, party leader Ursula Haubner, have clashed with party activists over a sharp drop in support. Mr Haider's new party, the Alliance for Austria's Future, will aim to re-engage lost voters, he said. Freedom Party ministers in Austria's ruling coalition can join the new party and keep their jobs, Mr Haider said. "We have reached a crossroads," he said. "The choice was to return to the opposition benches or, as we wish to do, continue to carry our responsibility to rule with enough support."

Extremists excluded
The Freedom Party polled just 10% of votes cast in a snap election held in Austria last November, almost two-thirds down on its peak of support in 1999. Mr Haider's opposition to a string of government policies and disagreements with Freedom Party figures had dogged the party since the formation of the latest government. He recently hinted that he was considering a return to the party fold, but has instead moved to create a new grouping. The new party will exclude several of the Freedom Party's extremist right-wing members. Instead it will reflect a more moderate tone in line with Mr Haider's current political views. Ms Haubner told a press conference she intended to keep her current role as social affairs minister. Austrian Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach, another Freedom Party member, also announced his resignation from the party and intention to remain part of the government. "We are taking the only road that will ensure that this successful government can continue to do its work. "All the members of the government of the FPOe [Freedom Party] support this new way we have chosen," he said.
©BBC News

FINNISH FRONTIER GUARDS DENY ALL ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM
4/4/2005- The Finnish Frontier Guard has asked the Finnish Parliamentary Ombudsman Riitta-Leena Paunio to investigate the actions of the Finnish frontier guards relating to the refusal of entry to the group of Georgian women who had arrived by bus from Russia in mid-March and were flown back to Georgia last week.Various allegations have been made regarding the refusal of entry itself, as well as of the course of events prior to that. The Finnish Frontier Guard has not been able to give any official answer to the accusations, as they have been mere insinuations. The most recent question is: are Finnish frontier guards racists who regard all East European women as prostitutes? Frontier officials deny all such accusations. Lieutenants Ilkka Tuomikko from Imatra and Vesa Petman from Lappeenranta say that they do not have any prejudices based on people's looks or country of origin. The officials took part in a three-day course on the subject of border control issues at the Frontier and Coast Guard School in Espoo last week. The participants on the course included superior officers of the Finnish Frontier Guard, the Police, and the Customs. Officially, the issue of the deported Georgian women was not discussed on the course. According to the course leader, Captain Pasi Kylmämaa, the case is not ready to be handled on a course yet. However, Kylmämaa is likely to encounter the issue still many times at work, as he teaches future frontier guards the subject of border control policies, including attitude and behaviour training. "In teaching, advantage is taken of earlier mistakes, and students are put to discuss previous complaint and appeal cases", Kylmämaa notes. In the attitude training, also immigrant lecturers, for example representatives of the Finnish Somali Association, are involved. The amount of attitude training will be increased next year, when the frontier guard examination will be reformed. Kylmämaa finds it well-founded, as a good command of laws and statutes is only part of the professional skills. "People are entitled to their own opinions, but when wearing a uniform, a guard represents all Finnish authorities, Finland, and even the EU", says Kylmämaa. "However, even complaints are relevant at this work", adds Ilkka Tuomikko. "The authorities can prove the reliability of their actions best by examining all allegations and admitting all mistakes", Kylmämaa points out.
©Helsingin Sanomat

END OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND HARMONY IN NETHERLANDS?
4/4/2005- Netherlands was considered the greatest example in race relations in the past. But the Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker, murder changed everything. Now being a Muslim and being a foreigner is very difficult in the country. Muslims in Netherlands have been under racist attacks since the murder of Van Gogh. Latest attack came Sunday and a group of youths smashed windows of a mosque in the southern Netherlands. One person was hurt in the attack, and police arrested one man after the Saturday night disturbance in the city of Venray, police said. Local media reported the fight involved about 60 immigrant Dutch citizens and around 20 native Dutch. The violence in Netherlands has included dozens of attacks on mosques and Islamic schools, including several bombings and cases of arson. No one has been killed in the attacks, but many were injured. Police said more arrests might follow. The Muslim population in the Netherlands is about 1 million and, Turkish and Moroccan Muslims jointly represent two thirds of the total number of Muslims living in the Netherlands. There are about 350,000 Turkish in the Netherlands, followed by 295,000 Moroccans. The Islamic community made up 5.8 percent of the Dutch population on 1 January 2004. many of the immigrants are Dutch citizen and lived here for the decades. The racist groups see the Muslims a potential threat and accuse them for all the failure the country faced. Dr. Davut Sahiner from International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO) says "the only long-lasting solution to racial tension in Western Europe could be a Muslim European state's membership to the EU". "There are many European Muslim states. However none of them is a EU member. Bosnia, Albania, Turkey, Turkish Cyprus and Azerbaijan. The EU confirmed on 17 December Summit that Turkey has fulfilled all the criteria the EU asked. However the anti-Turkish and anti-Muslims group claim there is no place for the Muslims in the EU. The right wing parties in Germany, Austria, France and Netherlands make anything possible to prevent Turkey's membership. Many in these countries curtail their racist and discriminative attitudes by abusing Turkey's EU bid. They cannot defend racism and Nazism, but they attack Turkey. The anti-Turkish policies in these countries feed the racist groups and policies. If Turkey or any other European Muslim country enters the EU, racism would be down" added Dr. Sahiner.
©Turkish Weekly

INQUIRIES ABANDONED INTO BOMBING ISLAMIC SCHOOL(Netherlands)
4/4/2005- Dutch police have abandoned investigations into the November bombing of an Islamic school in Eindhoven, an attack that came just days after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. "The investigation team was recently disbanded," a police spokesman was quoted saying by website nu.nl. Inquiries were stopped because of a lack of clues to continue the investigation. Any useful tips given to police will be investigated, but detectives will not actively pursue the case. A bomb exploded at the entrance to the Tariq Ibnoe Ziyad Islamic primary school on 8 November 2004. Large-scale damage was reported, but no one was injured in the blast. The attack took place just days after a suspected Islamic militant murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in broad daylight on an Amsterdam street on 2 November. A series of retaliatory vandalism and arson attacks took place against mosques, schools and churches in the days and weeks afterward as social tension heightened across the Netherlands. Police arrested two Eindhoven suspects — aged 22 and 18 — in connection with the school bombing, but were forced to release them due to a lack of evidence. The spokesman refused to confirm if the two suspects were still under suspicion.
©Expatica News

ALARM OVER RADICALISATION OF DUTCH YOUTH
4/4/2005— Police have sparked alarm about the speed with which youths are becoming radicalised in the Netherlands, with the Utrecht intelligence service RID claiming it potentially poses a threat more dangerous than Islamic terrorism. Police and municipal councils have started investigating 'Lonsdale youths', typified by native Dutch teeangers who wear the Lonsdale clothing brand. These hardcore youths are responsible for more racist incidents, street disturbances and violence than previously estimated, newspaper NRC reported on Saturday. The Leiden University and Anne Frank Foundation recorded 106 violent anti-Muslim incidents in the month after the November 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Islamic militant. Lonsdale youths were involved in about 25 percent of these cases and new incidents have occurred recently. An Islamic primary school in Uden was set on fire earlier this month, the second arson attack against the school since Van Gogh's death. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for the attack. Researcher J. van Donselaar is still compiling the nation-wide incidents involving Lonsdale youths from recent months, but asserts that the figures show a multiplication on previous statistics. Donselaar said the number of incidents is worse than initially thought and that the prevalence of such attacks is increasing. There are very few regions in the Netherlands not affected. Police and youth researchers assert that Lonsdale youths are becoming more of a danger given the fact that society is experiencing a generic shift to the right, propelling the youths to action more quickly. A police chief in Venlo claims these youths represent a powder keg. But authorities have also raised concerns about immigrant youths seeking out racist Dutch youths. Violent clashes have been reported in Veenendaal and Geldrop recently.
©Expatica News

AIVD TO INVESTIGATE RISE OF RIGHT-WING DUTCH YOUTH
5/4/2005- Police and the national security service AIVD are to investigate extreme-right youths who wear Lonsdale clothing as concerns rise over the radicalisation of Dutch youth. The youths — who are distinguished by wearing the clothing brand Lonsdale and are openly opposed to immigrants — are said to be sparking street disturbances and other violent incidents. After police raised the alarm over the speed of radicalisation of young native-Dutch people, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner announced the Cabinet has ordered an investigation to determine how dangerous these groups are, RTL News reported on Tuesday. The RID, a regional police intelligence unit, recently claimed the radicalisation of a hardcore of Dutch teens potentially poses a threat more dangerous than Islamic terrorism. Lonsdale youths are said to be responsible for more inter-racial incidents, street disturbances and violence than previously estimated. Researchers claim incidents involving Lonsdale youths have multiplied in recent months. In the latest incident, teens dressed in Lonsdale clothing were involved in a massive violent confrontation with Turkish immigrants in Venray on Saturday. It began when windows of a local mosque were smashed. Police have arrested three suspects, a 21-year-old Zwolle man, a 33-year-old Belfeld man and a 16-year-old Tegelen resident. Venray Mayor Jos Waals said on Monday that some of the rioters were from Amsterdam and Westland. Police have not ruled out more arrests. The police were completely surprised by the riots and Venray Council will discuss the incident on Tuesday night. Waals met with police and prosecution officials on Monday and has proposed to the council tough measures to crackdown on racism.

Interior Minister Johan Remkes has informed Waals that Saturday's riot was not an isolated incident, but was instead a national phenomenon in which right-wing extremists are gaining more influence in the Netherlands. In another incident, police have arrested four youths in connection with an arson attack against an Islamic school in Uden last month. That attack came after the school was burned down in a deliberately lit fire last November. That attack came after a suspected Islamic militant murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November 2004. Some 106 retaliatory attacks against Islamic targets were reported in the month after the brutal slaying. Secondary school Dockingacollege in Dokkum banned students from wearing Lonsdale clothing last year after the summer vacation. The move came in response to racist actions of a group of youths against an asylum seeker centre in the Friesland city. The youths threw clods of dirt and stones at the refugees and graffiti-ed the area with Nazi swastikas and stars of David. The subsequent ban on wearing Lonsdale clothing has been declared a success, provided that the issue is discussed with students. "There have been no more incidents in the past six months," school director Tjitte Wierdsma said. But Wierdsma also said it is important to discuss the ban, asserting that despite the fact it changes outward behaviour, the thoughts of Lonsdale youths also need to change. He said the school now devotes more time in school lessons to social studies and religion. Teachers also explain why the ban was imposed and lead discussions about the measure. The school said it had not received any negative feedback, asserting that parents are instead pleased with plan. The school said parents claim it helps them raise their children.
©Expatica News

TBS DETAINEE EMBROILED IN VENRAY MOSQUE FIGHT(Netherlands)
6/4/2005- A young man on leave from a secure psychiatric hospital was involved in a violent brawl outside a mosque in Venray during the weekend, it was reported on Wednesday. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner was aware of the fact the detainee was involved in the fight, but failed to inform MPs of this when discussing the violence in the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday, RTL television news has reported. Donner did tell MPs that police and the national security service AIVD are investigating the rise of right-wing Dutch youth gangs. Municipal councils are also to crackdown on hardcore groups to prevent an escalation of violence. Alarm has been sparked recently about the rapid radicalisation of native Dutch youths, who often identify themselves by wearing Lonsdale-brand clothing. They have been linked with attacks and harassment of people perceived as immigrants and asylum seekers. But the parties Labour PvdA, Socialist SP, Green-left and Minister Donner's own Christian Democrat CDA are now demanding why he failed to mention that one of the Venray suspects had previously been sentenced to TBS psychiatric detention with compulsory treatment. In his defence, Justice Ministry spokesman Ivo Hommes said the debate was not only focused on the incident in Venray, but about extreme right-wing Dutch youths in general. He said MPs also debated the recent arson attack at an Islamic school in Uden. As the discussion did not solely focus on Venray, Donner did not think it necessary to discuss the criminal past of one of the suspects. PvdA MP Aleid Wolfsen has since said "it can never be the intention that someone with TBS with compulsory treatment can loiter in the company of radical and violent right-wing groups during leave". He also said it was an important fact that should be thoroughly investigated. According to RTL, the youth was convicted for a serious violent crime and is one of the three suspects arrested on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the brawl in the Limburg town of Venray. The youth has not been named by the police. Teens dressed in Lonsdale clothing were involved in a violent confrontation with members of the Turkish community in Venray on Saturday. It began when windows of a local mosque were smashed and one person was injured in the ensuing riot. Venray Council discussed the riot on Tuesday night, deciding that special nightlife events may be banned if they are judged to pose a heightened risk to public order. The decision came after Donner said right-wing violence was no longer incidental, but had become a concerning systematic pattern of behaviour. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk intends to meet with Venray Mayor Jos Waals, hardcore native Dutch youths and immigrants on 14 April to discuss the situation.

Meanwhile, the renewed concern over TBS detainees on leave comes after a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped by a psychiatric escapee last May. He was sentenced to 10 years jail and renewed TBS by Zutphen Court on 15 March. In response to the crime, Donner — who survived a no confidence motion in parliament over the matter — imposed restrictions on the probationary release system afforded to inmates of TBS detention centres. But Donner was forced to act again in March when political pressure was applied in response to the murder of a 54-year-old man, allegedly committed by a criminal who had been sentenced 10 days earlier to conditional TBS detention for another offence. Donner subsequently promised that psychiatrically disturbed criminals will no longer remain in the community while awaiting treatment. He also intends to compel all forensic-psychiatric institutes to admit criminals sentenced to TBS psychiatric detention.
©Expatica News

IMMIGRANTS STAGE HUNGER STRIKES IN CHURCHES(Spain)
4/4/2005- At least 250 immigrants were continuing a hunger strike in five different locations in Barcelona over the government´s immigration amnesty. At least 50 Indians, Pakistanis and Bengalis were locked in the church of the Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona. Another 80 illegal immigrants were also locked in the Espai Obert centre in the Poble Sec area of Barcelona. Another group of Bulgarians and Moroccans were locked in a similar social centre in the Sants area. In the parish of Sant Miquel, in Santa Coloma, another 50 immigrants staged a similar demonstration. The protest, which started on Saturday, called for the support of all aspects of Catalan society for those without legal status in Spain. The protestors claim the government´s amnesty on the normal regulations governing applications for legal status to live and work in Spain has not helped them. The amnesty which ends on 7 May, offers the right to work and have residency if immigrants can show they have contracts of at least six months. For domestic and agricultural workers this time period can be as short as three months. It means Spain will grant residence permits to immigrants who can provide proof of their registration with a local council from before 8 August last year, proof they have no criminal record and a work contract of six months. Once they fulfil these conditions and are given approval, immigrants are registered with the social security authorities and start paying contributions to the system. Already 200,000 people have attained legal status.
©Expatica News

DEATH TOLL OF MIGRANTS RISES AT EUROPE'S BACK DOOR(Greece)
5/4/2005- The heavily fortified borderland between Greece and Turkey has claimed two more lives after illegal immigrants strayed into a minefield in the remote region of Evros. The killings in the militarised zone on the frontier of the European Union brought to 72 the death toll in the area since Greece signed the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997. Scores more have been severely mutilated in desperate attempts to find a back door into Europe across the Evros river and through the lethal minefields to the village of Kastanies. Three men triedto cross early yesterday morning, according to the only survivor. They had been charged 800 (£550) each by a Turkish people-smuggling gang and told to walk in a straight line, where a path had been cleared. Shortly afterwards one of the men, from Mauritania, stepped on a mine, killing himself and another man, from Tunisia. An Iraqi, also injured in the explosion, was rescued later by Greek sappers alerted by the sound of the explosion. Athens has been repeatedly accused of dragging its feet on de-mining after taking seven years to ratify the treaty and having made little headway in clearing the explosive legacy on its northern borders. According to an international body, Landmine Monitor, Greece has only two years left to complete its treaty commitment to eradicate the explosives. Local authorities in the north of the country were given a reminder of the threat posed by the fields of explosives after severe flooding this winter dislodged some mines, sending them downstream in the river. The minefields are a lethal leftover from decades of tension between the regional rivals, who are now fellow members of Nato and co-operating on Ankara's attempt to win accession talks with the EU. Since last year the army claims to have fenced off the minefields and posted phosphorescent signs in Greek and English warning of the deadly devices planted there. However, the increasingly desperate attempts by overland migrants to get into the EU has meant that many are still prepared to cross mined terrain. Greece, with its thousands of miles of shore and remote, mountainous land borders, is a major transit point for immigrants. Tens of thousands of people cross illegally every year. It has kept minefields along the Evros river on its frontier with Turkey since the 1970s. Authorities said last year that 24,751 mines remain to be cleared. In addition, Athens admitted that it has a stockpile of 1.5 million more mines, most of which it is committed to destroying. In addition to the Evros river, Greece has unexploded ordnance on up to nine islands in the Aegean and along its northern borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria. Much of it dates back to the civil war, which ended in 1949.
© Independent Digital

ROW IN FRANCE OVER LOWERING OF FLAGS FOR POPE
4/4/2005- Leading French left-wingers on Monday criticised the government of President Jacques Chirac for lowering flags on public buildings in tribute to the late pope, arguing that it was a breach of the country's secular principles. "For Christians to pay homage to the head of their church -- that is part of their private lives. But when the head of state involves the whole of the population, whatever their religion, that is clearly an abuse of power," said Yves Contassot, a Green party member and deputy mayor of Paris. Recalling that Chirac's centre-right government recently passed a law banning religious symbols in schools, Contassot said: "Today we have a government and a head of state who are trying to take political advantage of a private affair. "I find this totally out of place, and when it comes to the flags, possibly illegal," he said. Socialist deputy Jean-Luc Melenchon said: "This kind of thing is insidious. It can have all sorts of knock-on effects. The authorities should display total and unambiguous attention to the secular principle. "Whether you want it or not, lowering the national symbol is a kind of favour done to a religion," he said. Flags were put at half-mast in France for 24 hours following Pope John Paul II's death on Saturday. Officials said it was to honour a respected head of state and an important international figure, not the head of a religion. "This Republican tradition is applied in the case of ruling heads of state with whom France has privileged relations. The same step was taken for preceding popes," a spokesman for Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said. "Thanks to his personality Pope John Paul II affected all men, secular and non-secular, and France owed it to itself to show its grief," said writer Max Gallo, defending the government's decision.
©The Tocqueville Connection

FRENCH CHRIST ADVERT BAN UPHELD
8/4/2005- A French court has upheld a ban sought by the Catholic Church on a clothing advertisement based on Leonardo da Vinci's painting Christ's Last Supper. The display "insults the religious feeling of Catholics", the Paris appeals court ruled on Friday. The advertisement for designers Marithe et Francois Girbaud shows a female Christ figure surrounded by women, one of them hugging a semi-naked man. The French Catholic Church won an injunction against the poster in March. It has also been banned in the Italian city of Milan. In its ruling, the appeals court said the campaign had been particularly offensive because it was scheduled to run over Lent and Easter. The designers say they did not intend to offend anyone with the poster. The campaign is said to have been inspired by Dan Brown's bestseller The Da Vinci Code which refers to the 15th Century fresco.
©BBC News

FRANCE: JUSTICE FAILS VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY(press release)
6/4/2005- The French government ministers, judges and senior police officers are allowing members of the police force to use excessive and sometimes lethal force against suspects of Arab and African origin without fear of serious repercussions, Amnesty International said today. In its report France: The Search for Justice, through 10 years of documenting and exposing cases, Amnesty International has uncovered evidence of widespread failure of the judicial system to prosecute and punish human rights violations. This includes a "two-speed justice" -- which prosecutes cases brought by police officers far more quickly than those brought by their victims. The cases of Youssef Khaïf (police killing) and Aïssa Ihich (death in custody), for example, both took 10 years to come to court. This pattern of impunity contributes to a lack of public confidence that law enforcement officials operate under the rule of law and are held accountable for their actions. Amnesty International has found that a large number of cases never reach the courtroom. When they do, convictions are rare, and sentences often nominal. "In our view, there is effective impunity for police officers committing human rights violations - we have identified a widespread failure of the judicial system to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish human rights violations in law enforcement affairs," said Nicola Duckworth of Amnesty International. The number of fatal shootings by police officers or gendarmes, in disputed circumstances, has declined in recent years, but complaints of ill-treatment have increased. Complaints about police conduct increased by 18.5 per cent in 2004. In addition, Amnesty International is concerned at the continuing lack of respect for internal guidelines or codes of conduct, as well as for international norms. Among the concerns are the reluctance of public prosecutors to pursue cases against police officers; mistreatment and lack of safeguards in police custody; unnecessarily lengthy delays in judicial proceedings; and the lack of a full definition of forture in the Penal Code.

The organisation is calling for the French authorities to create an independent mechanism to investigate all allegations of serious human rights violations; bring those responsible to justice after prompt and thorough investigations; ensure that all detainees are granted access to a lawyer from the outset of police custody; and ensure that the victims receive redress. "The prevention of torture and ill-treatment is primarily a matter of political will," said Nicola Duckworth. "There must be full accountability for everyone involved no matter what their rank."
©Amnesty International

NAZI MEMORABILIA SOLD ON BELGIAN WEBSITES
8/4/2005- Nazi memorabilia prohibited by law in Belgium is being sold on some Belgian websites, La Libre Belgique reported Friday. The newspaper does not name any specific web addresses, but reports that one Belgian site aimed at collectors recently listed for sale items such as an SS insignia and even guns. A representative of the site named Sebastian Delcampe told the newspaper that because Belgian laws on Nazi collections are very fuzzy, it has enlisted a lawyer to draft a charter. International auction websites such as eBay on the other hand have always when very strict about allowing any questionable items on their websites to avoid trouble with the law. "We have a thousand or so people worldwide responsible for 'cleaning' lists of objects put up for sale," said Tanguy Peers, director of eBay Belgium. "If a questionable object appears, then it's very rapidly removed from sale." But Michel Vergotte, a lawyer with eBay, explained that there is no Belgian law laying down precise rules for such situations. While there are laws against racism (1981) and outlawing denial of the Holocaust (1995) there is still no specific law preventing the sale of Nazi memorabilia. But it seems that even where there is vigilance there are also loopholes. Several years ago Amazon.fr, the French website of the online book and DVD retailer, expunged all 'doubtful contents' from its site, including some works signed by revisionist Holocaust scholar Robert Faurisson, but only those in French and not in English. "An oversight?" La Libre Belgique newspaper asked.
©Expatica News

FEMINIST PARTY THREATENS TO UNSEAT SWEDISH PREMIER
8/4/2005- Sweden, where almost half of all MPs are women, is on the verge of striking a fresh blow for sexual equality as a newly formed feminist alliance is now tipped to unseat the Prime Minister. The Feminist Initiative, launched earlier this week, is already eating into the support of the ruling Social Democrats and their Green and Left Party coalition allies. And, of those backing the group launched to fight for women's rights, more than one in three are men. According to a survey published by the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the embryonic feminist grouping has captured 7 per cent of the vote. That would be enough to spell severe trouble for the country's long-standing Social Democratic Prime Minister, Göran Perrson, in next year's elections, and might cost him his job. The poll findings have rattled the coalition and given a spectacular boost to the Feminist Initiative, which has not yet officially become a party or said that it will contest the elections. Its current priority is to tour the country and maximise the considerable publicity surrounding its launch. Officially the grouping has no leader, though its public face is Gudrun Schyman, who already enjoyed a high profile as a former leader of the Left Party. Ms Schyman is one of the country's most effective political operators, but her career has been marked by personal controversy. Not only has she fought a long and public battle against alcohol abuse, but she was also embroiled in a scandal over a tax return before having to resign as leader of the Left Party. So far there is no sign of a detailed policy platform, though the Feminist Initiative says that even egalitarian Sweden still has problems in areas such as equality of pay and violence against women. Launching the party earlier this week, Ms Schyman said: "This is a question of power. We in Sweden live in a society which is built on an idea that men should have the most power and dominate."

Most of the rest of Europe sees the Swedes as role models in their commitment to sexual equality. Sweden has the highest proportion of female representatives in any European political system: 45.3 per cent of Swedish MEPs are women, compared with 18.1 per cent in the UK. Although the Feminist Initiative is in its infancy, the threat it poses to the ruling coalition is real. The Social Democrats have governed Sweden for six of the past seven decades, and voter fatigue is thought to be one reason for a slide in popularity. Polls were already showing a slide in popularity for Mr Persson's coalition and putting it behind an opposition centre-right alliance of four parties - the so-called "bourgeois bloc". That trend will be accelerated, according to yesterday's poll, which indicated that almost one third of Left Party voters would switch their allegiance to back the Feminist Initiative. In a sign of his alarm, the Prime Minister has suggested that the supporters of the new feminist group could let the centre-right back into power by the back door.
© Independent Digital

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS GET TOUGH ON IMMIGRATION
2/4/2005- Immigrants to Britain may soon have to do more than just fill out forms. They may have to know where Cockneys live, how many British households have pets, and what goes into a traditional Christmas dinner. Such topics could form part of a "Britishness test' the government is proposing as it heads into a general election facing rising voter anxiety over the notion that the country is being swamped by immigrants who are keen to embrace British jobs and British welfare, but not the British way of life. Britain is just one of a host of European countries where politicians are responding to immigration angst. Prime Minister Tony Blair is campaigning on the slogan "Your country's borders protected,' while the opposition wants immigrants tested for HIV. Stricter Dutch laws threaten thousands of asylum- seekers with deportation. France is considering a special immigration police force, and Germany's ruling coalition is facing uproar over allegations of lax visa procedures that opened the door to criminals. Polls suggest the politicians are reflecting the public mood, but European Union countries are in a bind: Most studies say they desperately need immigrants to replenish aging populations and offset low birthrates. That can be a hard sell when unemployment in some countries is above 10 percent and overburdened welfare systems are widely perceived as besieged by deadbeat immigrants. A U.N. study estimates Europe will need 1.6 million migrants a year for the next 45 years to maintain its work force, yet in a poll of 25,000 EU residents last fall, 54 percent disagreed with the statement that Europe needs immigrants.

The perception that Britain has too many immigrants is false, said Anne Kershen, director of the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary College, University of London. "If you took all the illegal immigrants out of London, the economy would probably collapse,' she said. Overall, about 8 percent of Western Europe's population is foreign-born. In Germany, the figure is about 9 percent, in Britain around 8 percent but in a British poll conducted in 2000, the average guess was 20 percent. (The U.S. figure is 11.8 percent.) Such perceptions have made immigration a major issue in early campaigning for British elections expected in May, with Blair's Labour Party advocating selecting immigrants with skills and making newcomers learn English and take the "Britishness test' to qualify for permanent residency. The test would be based on "Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship,' a government handbook that tells newcomers, among other things, that Cockneys live in London, just under half of all households keep pets, and Christmas dinner is turkey and pudding. Susie Symes, a trustee of a museum dedicated to London's immigrant history, said the perception of immigrants as a social burden is nothing new. Three hundred years ago, she said, it was French Protestants fleeing persecution, and British lawmakers saying, "We should kick the immigrants out of the country.' "This is a country politically, socially and economically shaped by immigration over 2,000 years,' she said. "But that doesn't form part of our national identity.' Large-scale immigration got under way after World War II, as Turks came to Germany to help rebuild the war-shattered country and thousands from the former European empires came looking for work Africans and West Indians to Britain, Algerians to France, Indonesians to the Netherlands.

Today, thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere try to enter Europe each year from Africa in overloaded boats across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain, from Turkey across the Aegean to the Greek islands, in speedboats over the Adriatic from Albania to Italy, in trucks through the Channel Tunnel between France and England. In Britain, as in many other European countries, immigrant workers are relied on to do crucial but often poorly paid jobs that hotels, hospitals, pubs, construction sites and farms rely on. But fear of immigrants has intensified since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Madrid train bombings of a year ago. Today the "ugly immigrant' in the public imagination is not just the welfare scrounger but the hidden terrorist, which is why Blair's slogan of "Your country's borders protected' cuts two ways. In the Netherlands, where every fifth person is an immigrant or the child of one, a surge of hostile sentiment spiked with the November murder, allegedly by a Muslim radical, of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. France, meanwhile, is among many countries that feel too many immigrants are coming for the good life, not to assimilate into their adopted countries hence its much disputed effort to ban girls from wearing Muslim head scarves to school. Across the continent, extreme nationalist parties like the Flemish Bloc in Belgium and the National Front in France have gained at the polls by exploiting fears of a rising tide of immigrants and refugees. National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked France by finishing second to President Jacques Chirac in the first round of presidential elections in 2002. (He lost resoundingly in the runoff.) Le Pen also has been convicted six times of racism or anti-Semitism most recently in February for a newspaper interview in which he said a growing Muslim population meant that soon "the French will lower their heads and walk the sidewalk with their eyes down.'

Moderate parties, whether left- or right-leaning, have echoed some of the far right's concerns, arguing that to forestall a really dangerous anti-foreigner surge, tough policies are needed to choke off illegal migration and stop migrants "asylum shopping' for the most generous host country. "We will never maintain the tolerant, diverse nation of which we can be so proud, unless we have the strict controls that keep it so,' Blair says. France's government has proposed creating a special police force to keep out illegal immigrants. A law has taken effect in Germany designed to cherrypick skilled immigrants. Newcomers are obliged to take government-funded German-language and civics courses or risk losing state benefits. Germany's backlash against its previously lenient approach has lately been highlighted by a furor over revelations that immigrants who poured in from the former Soviet Union under a relaxed visa policy turned out to include criminals and women forced into prostitution. The Dutch government has introduced steep visa fees, restrictions on foreign marriages and compulsory integration classes. The government has vowed to deport 26,000 rejected asylum seekers by the summer of 2007. Denmark has also tightened its laws. Shamit Saggar, a political scientist at the University of Sussex who has studied attitudes to immigration across Europe, said the anti-immigrant mood would continue to dominate politics in many European countries. But in Britain, he feels, the picture is more complex. "Immigration has been broadly something that has been welcomed in this country,' Saggar said. "While polls show many people are hostile to future immigration, they are generally positive about past immigration. There's a long tradition of being pragmatic about these things in Britain.'
©Associated Press

INTEGRATION OVERRIDING PRIORITY FOR EUROPE MUSLIMS: ACTIVIST
4/4/2005– The issue of integration is an overriding priority for the Muslim minorities in Europe which should strike a balance between their identity and the cultures of their new societies, a leading European Muslim activist said. "Muslims in Europe cannot make a difference unless they wholeheartedly integrate into their new societies," Ahmad Al-Rawi, Chairman of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), told IslamOnline.net Monday, April 4, over the phone from London. "But they have to strike the right balance between their identity and their contributions to their society at all political, economic and cultural levels." He said that the 15 million Muslims in Europe "are part and parcel of their societies," adding that the term "integration" has become the rallying cry for this juncture. Al-Rawi said the issue is high on the agenda of an FIOE delegation attending an EU interfaith committee meeting later in the day. "Brussels will also likely host a seminar on the recognition of Islam in Europe later this month," he added. The prominent Muslim activist said Europe is no longer a "mono-cultural" continent. "Europe, though dominated by Christians and white complexions, has become increasingly multi-ethnic," he noted. "True that there are some countries that want Muslims to melt away into their pots, but there are others which boost positive integration."

Difficult Job
The Muslim activist, however, admitted that the integration process is not that easy and needs a great deal of persistence in view of incidents resurfacing every now and then, which tarnish the image of Islam. He said the Netherlands, for instance, was one of the most receptive European countries to Muslims and used to spend millions every year on their organizations. The government used to encourage Muslims to play a key role on the political spectrum, he added, recalling that 50 municipal members were Muslims. "But the killing of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh at the hands of a mad boy has changed every thing and made Muslims there back to square one," Rawi stressed. "No doubt that we all as Muslims feel jealous for our religion and our Prophet (PBUH), but there are legal channels through which we can protest and not by such a barbaric way that did more harm than good to Islam."

Duties
The Muslim activist offered a piece of advice to all Muslim minorities in the West: "Perform your duties before asking for your rights." "Muslims who abide by their religion should, by the same token, abide by the laws of their European countries," he said. "Integrate positively into your society, keep you non-Muslim fellows acquainted with the precious values of your religion, and I guarantee that your society will, sooner or later, warmly welcome you."

Not A Priority
On problems facing some Muslims in the Netherlands over refusing to shake hands with women, Rawi said such issues should not be given priority. He said shaking women's hands "is by no means a major sin but rather a minor one and a controversial issue on which scholars are divided." The Muslim activist asserted that refraining from handshaking is interpreted differently in European countries. "Some countries see it as a sign of disrespect for women, and others, like Britain, understand it," he said. Rawi continued: "We should not give heed to such issues and should focus rather on important issues on which we should make no compromise, and this is our approach at international conferences like the Le Bourget conference in France." He recalled that the European Council for Fatwa and Research has issued several statements guiding Muslims on how they can adapt to the values of their Western societies and overcome problems like this. Some Dutch Muslims have found themselves between a rock and a hard place over the issue of handshaking. The Hague Municipality deprived last month a Muslim citizen of government social assistance after he refused to shake hands with a female civil servant. The man tried in vain to justify his position as being purely religious and in no way derogatory. His lawyer defended him as a victim of racism, asserting that such a behavior was not deemed as disapproving before the November killing of Van Gogh. Another Dutch Muslim, F. Aniat, could have faced the same punishment if it hand not been for the staunch defense of his non-Muslim work colleagues, Rotterdam newspaper reported on Friday, April 1. Aniat, who works for the council of social affairs in Rotterdam, was reprimanded by a legal committee for refusing to shake hands with two female members at Rotterdam municipality. In his defense, Aniat said that the council should understand the cultures of Dutch citizens of different backgrounds.
©Islam Online

EUROPE NEEDS MORE IMMIGRANTS, BUT SEES SPIKE IN RACISM
Editor's Note: Its low birth rate and aging population mean that Europe needs immigrants for its work force. But a new survey reveals widespread intolerance to newcomers -- particularly Muslims -- across much of the continent.

5/4/2005- When it comes to immigration, Europe is between a rock and a hard place, damned if it welcomes immigrants and damned if it doesn't. With low birth rates and an aging population, Europe has to open its arms to a growing number of immigrants, and many native-born citizens don't like it. "A wave of xenophobia has washed across Europe in the last decade," says Peter O'Brien political science professor at Trinity University. Citing a 2004 poll in which 33 percent of Europeans described themselves as "racist," O'Brien points to the growing influence of right-wing extremists like Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, Joerg Haider in Austria and Umberto Bossi of the Northern League in Italy. "No longer making up a lunatic fringe, the xenophobes now garner a fifth or a fourth of the popular vote. Lithuania elected a Le Pen clone, and a Haider supporter in Austria got 47.6 percent of the vote," adds O'Brien. Immigration is stoking the fires of racism. To fulfill its labor market needs -- and pension and welfare payments -- Europe needs immigrants. It suffers from two adverse population trends. Its population of retirees grows at an annual rate of 0.5 percent. The rate of Europeans from ages 50 to 65 who are still working has dropped below 50 percent, in some countries it has sunk to 40 percent. Its birth rates are dropping too. In 2002 its birth deficit was 2.3 million; its annual birth rate is negative 0.7 percent. Even if current official immigration rates keep steady, Europe's population will fall 10 percent, or a the least by 25 million by 2050. Already, 12 percent of Europe's population are immigrants. Of those, 25 million are Muslim -- some Dutch conservatives believe the real number stands at 32.5 million and could soon reach 40 million. In England, Spain, France and Germany, most immigrants come from Turkey. The Balkans send the most number of Muslims. Many new arrivals also come from China and other Asian countries, and they're often not met with openness by European locals. Germany, Switzerland and Austria have been historically among Europe's less open societies. Their marked prejudice against immigrants, especially from the Mediterranean basin, has been portrayed in famous movies like "Bread and Chocolate," director Franco Brusati's humorous portrayal of Italian illegal migrants who cross the Swiss and German borders in the 1970s looking for odd jobs, and who are often brought back to their country in shackles. A sort of "A Day Without Mexicans." But these hapless European migrants were not treated nearly as harshly as their non-EU counterparts -- Muslims, in general -- are today. Turks currently get the brunt of attack from nationalists, fascists and neo-Nazis in France, Germany and England. Even Italy and Spain, customarily very tolerant, have discovered their xenophobic streaks.

A first-ever scientific survey of Europeans' attitudes toward immigration was recently completed by the Vienna-based European Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), a EU human rights watchdog. Conducted between 1997 and 2003 and involving 25,000 people living in EU's 25 member states, the study shows a growing resistance among Europeans toward integrating immigrants. Although the majority of EU citizens are happy to live in a multiethnic society, nearly half of the population opposes granting legal immigrants full civil rights. One in five would prefer no immigrants at all. Of Europeans living in the 15 initial EU countries, 60 percent want limits to the rise of multicultural societies. The percentage drops to 42 percent in the 10 new EU states. However, 52 percent of respondents across Europe see "a collective ethnic threat from immigration," believing that immigrants threaten jobs and the country's culture, bring crime and generally make a country a worse place to live. EUMC's study found also that ethnic exclusion was more likely to be supported in Mediterranean countries, in particular Greece, and in East European countries than in Nordic countries. This is likely because Mediterranean nations' indefensible shores and borders make them a frontline for illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants from North Africa, the Middle East and China pass first through Italy, Greece or Spain before making their way to England, France, Germany and other northern European countries where labor markets are more active. Among the new EU members, the Baltic nations were the most intolerant, in particular Latvia and Estonia, while Poland, Bulgaria and Romania were more inclusive. The study also found that xenophobia was directly linked to the GDP of each country -- those with stronger per capita incomes showed a lower level of intolerance. In addition, the survey found that 80 percent of EU's educated urbanites were tolerant toward immigrants. Among people who were illiterate and living in the countryside, however, less than 20 percent were tolerant. "It doesn't necessarily follow that less open attitudes are transferred into discriminatory and racist behavior," commented Beate Winkler, EUMC director. "However, for members of minority communities, both the thoughts and actions of majority populations are important -- particularly in relation to how they impact social inclusion in practical terms, such as equality at the work place or in the education sector."
©Pacific News Service

HATE-CRIMES TRIAL OF FORMER NATIVE LEADER BEGINS(Canada)
Case expected to test laws that try to balance free-speech rights against protection of equality and minority rights

4/4/2005- Was David Ahenakew willfully promoting hate when he told a reporter that Hitler was trying to "clean up the world" when he "fried" six-million Jews? A Saskatoon judge will begin weighing that question today, when the 71-year-old former national native leader is tried on a rare charge related to an anti-Semitic tirade in December of 2003. Legal observers expect the high-profile case involving the Order of Canada recipient to be an important and provocative test of the country's hate-crime laws that have tried to balance free-speech rights against protection of equality and minority rights. Doug Christie, who took on the case last fall and has represented Holocaust-deniers James Keegstra and Ernst Zundel, said during an interview yesterday that Mr. Ahenakew plans to move ahead with a not guilty defence. However, he won't disclose his defence strategy. "I want to see the evidence they [the Crown] provide first," he said, adding that the offence Mr. Ahenakew was charged with is an "instrument of political oppression." Mr. Christie also doesn't know whether the trial could take longer than the five days set aside. "I won't know until the battle starts," he said. The trial will primarily examine remarks Mr. Ahenakew made about Jews to a conference at a hotel in Saskatoon, and then later to Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter James Parker. Crown prosecutor Brent Klause said his case involves just four or five witnesses, but the key is the testimony of Mr. Parker, who was the only reporter present during Mr. Ahenakew's speech and later sought clarification in a taped interview. "It's almost Hitleresque in the way he speaks," Mr. Klause said, "It's not a complicated case from a factual point of view." He expects to take a day or two to present the Crown's case, but hasn't received a hint of what Mr. Christie plans to argue. Usually defence lawyers phone the Crown daily for updates leading up to a trial, but Mr. Christie hasn't even responded to Mr. Klause's calls. "We've been very amendable to a plea discussion," said Mr. Klause, who added that the Crown isn't interested in jail time. "What we'd really like is an apology," he said. "We want race relations in this province that are friendly, not one where people are talking about Hitler annihilating people." Mr. Christie couldn't be reached for comment. Nor could Mr. Ahenakew.

After a teary press conference in Saskatoon to apologize for his comments shortly after the incident, Mr. Ahenakew made further inflammatory remarks in the July/August 2003 issue of This Magazine. "When a group of people, a race of people can control the world media, then there's got to be something done about that," Mr. Ahenakew told magazine contributor Alex Roslin, who said he taped the interview and that the comments were spontaneous. Jewish groups and the Crown said the comments refer to Jews in a derogatory manner. "His apology that he did make was not proved very sincere," said Manuel Prutschi, national executive vice-president with the Canadian Jewish Congress. Mr. Prutschi is pleased the Crown is pushing ahead with the case. "The issue is not jailing people. It is establishing that a person has committed a wrong," he said. "There are certain types of expression that are really beyond the pale." Ken Norman, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan and former head of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, said that even with the taped evidence of the comments, the Crown is going to have to work hard to prove Mr. Ahenakew set out to "willfully incite hatred and violence." Mr. Norman said the Supreme Court of Canada's landmark decision 15 years ago against Mr. Keegstra established "that only the most extreme kinds of incitements to hatred should be the subject of prosecution under Section 319." Mr. Keegstra is a former Alberta high-school teacher who taught his students that Jews were "treacherous," "subversive," "sadistic," and "power-hungry" and out to destroy Christianity. Mr. Norman said that the Crown will have to establish that Mr. Ahenakew intended to "gather support for his views." "This case is going to be an historical moment," he said. "It's important more than once a generation for a country to debate the things that are at stake here -- free speech versus respect for racial and ethnic difference." But regardless of the verdict, the CJC still wants to see one punishment fall on Mr. Ahenakew. "We have been disappointed throughout this period that the Order of Canada was not stripped from him," he said, ". . . In our view, even if it isn't a guilty verdict, it should [be taken from him]." The Advisory Council of the Order of Canada has said further discussion about Mr. Ahenakew's membership will take place when the legal proceedings are completed. Susanne Kaplan, president of Saskatoon's Congregation Agudas Israel, said she was speaking only for herself when she described Mr. Ahenakew's actions as a crime against all Canadians, not just Jews. "What the Crown is doing is sending a clear message that we won't accept anti-racial or anti-religious comments toward any group," she said. Mr. Ahenakew couldn't be reached for comment, but his lawyer called his client is a "brave man" and said he has "suffered a great deal."
©Globe and Mail

ENDING RACISM IN THE FORCE A MAJOR TASK, NEW POLICE CHIEF SAYS(Canada)
Blair views issue as corrosive to police and citizen relations

8/4/2005- Toronto's new police chief acknowledged yesterday that the problem of racism goes beyond just a few bad apples, and said the force needs to address it systematically from the top down. "The only way to fight the problem of racism in our service is by addressing it as part of the organizational culture. It has to be part of the culture of the Toronto Police Service that people will be treated with respect and that we value diversity. The analogy of a few bad apples quite frankly just doesn't work," chief-designate Bill Blair said in an interview yesterday. "I don't think it explains it and it doesn't enable us to address it organizationally. "If you respect the concerns that people have around issues of racial bias, and we do accept their concerns, then you can't just sort of lay it off on the conduct of a few people. I think we have a responsibility to look at our organizational culture." Chief-designate Blair vowed to take a strong stand against racism and racial discrimination in policing. He said although there are many strong leaders in the police who believe in treating everyone fairly and with respect, the issue of race has had a corrosive effect on the relationship between the citizens of Toronto and their police force. He also said he will encourage frank discussions with leaders of Toronto's diverse communities. Speaking with The Globe and Mail after his first police services board meeting since he was given the chief's job, chief-designate Blair revealed in greater detail how he plans to put his mark on the force. He will officially become chief as soon as he reaches a contract agreement with the board and is sworn in, a process expected to take about 10 days. A graduate of Canada's only MBA-style police