Headlines 28 October, 2005
GREEKS FIND BODY ON MIGRANT BOAT
24/10/2005- Greek coastguard officials say they have found a body on a boat that sent out a distress call as it carried 150 would-be immigrants to Italy. The identity of the dead man and the circumstances of his death are unclear. The 150 immigrants, mostly Egyptians, Iraqis and Indians aged between 18 and 35, have been taken to a community centre on the island of Crete. One report said three men on the boat had been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling. Many of the immigrants were suffering from exhaustion, the Associated Press reports. The 22-metre (72ft) boat is believed to have sailed from Egypt. The route from Libya to Italy's Mediterranean islands is a common one for people hoping to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Earlier this month, Greece was criticised by Amnesty International for its treatment of minorities and foreigners trying to enter the country. Incidents of people being shot on the border and asylum-seekers being detained in metal containers were documented in a report. Greece, which insists it is opposed to human rights violations, has a low asylum application rate but is increasingly seen as a channel to the EU for illegal migrants.
© BBC News
MOROCCO ADMITS SHOOTING MIGRANTS
Morocco has admitted its border guards shot dead four African migrants trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla earlier this month.
25/10/2005- The incident sparked international criticism of how Spain and Morocco deal with immigrants trying to enter Europe. Six people were killed on 6 October in a mass raid on the double razor-wired fence which separates the Spanish territory of Melilla from Morocco. An inquiry by the Spanish civil guard has cleared its troops of involvement. Now a report released by the Moroccan interior ministry says a spray of gunfire from Moroccan security forces killed four of the migrants, believed to be from West Africa. The other two, says the report, died from multiple wounds. It is not clear from the report whether they were also shot or died in a stampede which followed. Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammed Ben Aissa, described the incident as "regrettable". The Moroccan government continues to deny, however, that it has pursued a policy of dumping sub-Saharan Africans in the desert without food or water in an attempt to deal with unprecedented waves of illegal immigration across its soil this month. However, Medecins Sans Frontieres and other humanitarian organisations have presented evidence to the contrary.
© BBC News
FIRST BLACK ARCHBISHOP: 'I'M BEING SENT RACIST HATE MAIL' (uk)
The Church of England's first black archbishop has revealed that he has received racist and abusive letters, including some covered in human excrement.
22/10/2005- Dr John Sentamu, who will be enthroned in York next month, said that although he was angered by the abuse, he prayed for those who had written the letters. He said: "I don't know where they are from. They don't tell you. They simply tell you, I am Mr White X and nigger go back and this is what you are like, this is what you are worth." Dr Sentamu, 56, said it did not mean Britain was a racist country, and he believed the letter-writers represented a "tiny minority". The archbishop said: "It has been terrible. Some of it has been awful." Asked if he felt angry, he said: "Yes, particularly when they had human excrement in them. I don't want to have those sorts of things, and I say, 'Why do people do this?'" But he told BBC Radio 4's Today : "In the end, when I get those letters, I actually pray for the person who's written them." The new Archbishop of York, the second highest position in the Church of England, was educated in Uganda, where he practised as a barrister and was an outspoken critic of Idi Amin's regime, before coming to the UK in 1974. He was ordained in 1979 and, after serving in a succession of London parishes, he was appointed Bishop of Stepney in 1996, and Bishop of Birmingham in 2002. All his life he has campaigned against racism and other forms of discrimination.
Dr Sentamu worked on inquiries into the 1993 racist killing of Stephen Lawrence and the stabbing in 2000 of the Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor, and has said the Church of England contains institutional racism, just as a room full of smokers contains smoke. During his six years as Bishop of Stepney, east London, he was stopped and searched eight times by the police. What upset him most was the sudden change in the officers' behaviour when they realised his identity. He said at the time: "When they discovered who I was, the way I was treated was very different. They should treat everybody with respect, with dignity." He has also been the victim of verbal and physical abuse. He recalled how four young white men spat at him and said: "Nigger, go back." He replied: "You have wasted your saliva." In his interview yesterday he said: "This country, of all the places I have been to, is the most tolerant and welcoming of all places. Therefore, this tiny minority is not going to stop me from telling people that if we become a society of friends and a society that will discover the wonderful love of God and Christ, we have a chance of leading the nation in prayer."
When Mr Sentamu was born, the sixth of 13 children, near Kampala in Uganda in 1949, he was so small the local bishop was called in to baptise him immediately. He survived his birth, a sickly childhood and a famine to become, 25 years later, a judge in the Uganda High Court. A spokeswoman for the Archbishop said yesterday that Dr Sentamu had been "deluged" with e-mails offering support and urging him to ignore the racist abuse. She said: "It has been rather heartening." Dr Sentamu said on his appointment that he hoped that he would not be known as the "black Archbishop" but as "a leader who would show the world the way to God's love, grace and mercy". He also acknowledged the Church's declining membership, its "ups and downs", and said it was too easy for a Christian tradition to become complacent.
© Independent Digital
LATEST VICTIM OF A HOMOPHOBIA THAT LONDON THOUGHT IT HAD LEFT BEHIND(uk)
In these liberated times, why did Jody Dobrowski go cruising and why did two other young men take his live so violently?
22/10/2005- "It must have been one in the morning. Clapham Common was still, quiet, cold and very dark. But against the lights of the houses, I could see the silhouettes, some moving, some motionless. I could see the glow of a cigarette in someone’s hand, under the trees.” This was how Matthew Parris graphically described the thrill of cruising, in his memoirs, where he confessed that the lure of brief encounters of a close kind was irresistible, even when he was a Member of Parliament — until one night when, out on the Common, he was felled by a blow to the jaw, kicked in the ribs and head, and left bleeding on the ground. Queer-bashers (usually white men in gangs), remain the greatest danger in gay life, even though it is now 48 years since the Wolfenden report and 38 years since the liberalisation of the law on homosexuality. This was brought home by the vicious murder last weekend of 24-year-old Jody Dobrowski, a Gloucestershire lad who had come to London to savour its freedom and tolerance. It was a horrible reminder that the threat of homophobic thugs is as menacing as ever. The tall, blond, good-looking Dobrowski was funny, loved singing and dancing, hated any kind of confrontation and enjoyed the buzz of working in a really busy bar. Having dropped out of Cardiff University, where he was reading biology, he had arrived in London in 2001 to work at the Jongleurs comedy club in Clapham — one of the Jongleurs chain, a revered venue on the stand-up comics’ circuit. This summer Dubrowski was offered a job as assistant manager at the Camden Lock branch. He had been there only a few weeks when last Friday night he went back to Clapham to see his old friends, leaving them at 10.30pm. Fewer than ten minutes’ walk away was Clapham Common. Nobody knows exactly what happened next. The attack happened around midnight. He was punched and kicked so viciously that he died ten hours later in hospital — his face so battered that it was unrecognisable, even to his family. He had to be identified by fingerprints.
This week Jodi’s mother Sheri, his brother Jake and his stepfather Mike Haddock travelled from their home in Whitminster, Gloucester, to meet their son’s friends and colleagues at The Rise bar, attached to the Jongleurs auditorium. They drank champagne and told happy stories about him. They wanted to hear all about his London life and his new Docklands flat. “There were no tears, because he would not have wanted that,” his colleague Julie Kirk said. In a joint statement yesterday Dobrowski’s family revealed that he had been struggling to “come out”. “Jody knew he was loved and accepted. He knew that we knew. He was also a young man still discovering his identity and was facing the difficulty of having to ‘come out’ which straight people never have to face. The timing of this was up to him. He had very little time. He did not know that.” Camden Jongleurs, formerly Dingwalls, is a crowded, noisy place with a vast auditorium, this week featuring a comedy line-up including Ricky Grover and Paul Thorne. My own son, who like Dobrowski is tall and blond and fond of jokes, worked in the bar there one recent summer. The security man, known to all as “Scooby”, told me that it didn’t even cross his mind that Dobrowski was gay. The only thing that struck everyone was that he was the most engaging of colleagues. “Madam, if you had met this gentleman, you would know him to be a fresh-faced young man who never said a nasty word to anyone, even to the drunks who came in off the street. That was his way: a kind, sweet guy. He touched me, and everyone. We would sometimes think, what is he doing in this business? My only problem with him was that he liked S Club 7. When we were told the news of his death last Saturday, the whole place just nose-dived. In seven years here I have never known anything like it. And people have been ringing up ever since to say they’re gutted, torn to pieces, so hurt.
“It’s opened my mind to a lot of things,” said Scooby. “I know now I wouldn’t tolerate a homophobic joke. I used to laugh them off, but it’s just not funny. Even if it was a close friend, I’d have to say: ‘change your tone when you’re around me’.” The gay community may not be shocked by what happened to Dobrowski, because physical attacks and verbal abuse have been rising lately. Jody was the 141st victim of a homophobic assault in the borough of Lambeth in a year. But those accustomed to thinking of our city as an enlightened, unprejudiced place, are appalled. The whole point of “the only gay in the village” joke on Little Britain is that such prejudice happens in a distant elsewhere. And fundamentally Londoners suspect that the sadistic thugs who target the vulnerable have no particularly homophobic agenda, only a total absence of normal human feelings. They could strike at anyone. Dubrowski’s family denied, in their statement, that he fled his home town to escape intolerance. They said: “It is difficult for same-gender partnerships to be openly displayed in Gloucestershire . . . “We would not disagree that homophobia exists here as it does everywhere. We have yet to read a report in our local press, however, of such a horrific attack on someone thought to be gay in Gloucestershire. That happened in London.” The mystery persists: why does a young man risk his own safety for a fleeting sexual encounter in this enlightened era, when there are pages of gay clubs and venues, and encounter listings (Men Seeking Men) even in The Times? Is it the attraction of the danger itself? Feasting with panthers was Oscar Wilde’s phrase. Ned Sherrin writes in his autobiography about how it used to be in the 1950s: the heady thrill of walking through London at night, seeing another lone walker, stopping at a shop window, glancing back. “There was always a chance it might be a policeman,” he writes. (But today, even the Metropolitan Police has its own gay senior officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick.) In the 1950s, London had a couple of gay pubs, but no clubs or discos such as Heaven, or pages of WLTMs. Sherrin adds: “Now of course there is the internet — or so I am told.”
When I asked Matthew Parris what he thought made Jody Dobrowski go to Clapham Common that night, when he must have known about the risk, he replied: “I think when you want something very much, you rather overlook the risk. And people don’t talk to each other. “And I’m not sure that people understand the level of risk — or don’t until things like this happen. And there are all kinds of reasons, not just among homosexuals, that anonymity is such a huge premium.” And why did he suppose Dobrowski did not make use of the obvious gay venues or contact magazines? “None of those is as anonymous as meeting someone in a strange place in the dark.” Cruising on Clapham Common, he said, is a stage people go through. “And unfortunately this young man didn’t get the chance to come through that stage. I imagine that this way of meeting people is probably on the decrease. There is a generation of elderly gay men who like to bray at dinner parties about how it’s not as much fun as when it was illegal and dangerous. But then something like this happens which shows how wrong that view is.” Floral tributes now mark the wooded spot where Dobrowski died, including those from his friends (“Dancing in the living room will never feel the same again”) and the one from his mother. It reads: “Darling Jody, my beautiful, bright boy and brave man. They can never extinguish your light. All who love you will carry that light now with endless love.”
Two held over killing
Two men were arrested last night in connection with the murder of Jody Dobrowski. The pair, aged 33 and 25, were held in custody at separate South London police stations, Scotland Yard said. Mr Dobrowski was beaten so badly that he was unrecognisable. Not even his family could recognise him and fingerprints had to be used to make a formal identification. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the man aged 33 had been arrested in the Clapham area of London and the man aged 25 in the Croydon area. Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola said: “This was a brutal attack, which left Jody’s face so badly injured that he could not be identified visually, even by those who knew and loved him the most.”
© The Times Online
MAN KILLED IN BIRMINGHAM CLASHES(uk)
A man has died after violence in the Lozells area of Birmingham on Saturday night. Four people were stabbed and two people shot in the disturbances.
23/10/2005- A black man in his 20s died from stab wounds and a police officer was shot with a ball bearing gun. The other injuries are not said to be serious. A riot broke out after a public meeting in the area over an alleged sexual attack on a 14-year-old girl. Police say the violence was not a reaction to the meeting. Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw said: "It does not appear that a lot of people got together in advance, but I do believe that some people started the day, with intent to cause mayhem." He added: "Police and community leaders share their abhorrence with the loss of life experienced. "This is the work of a small number of individuals and is not a true reflection of community relations in Birmingham."
Tensions high
Some locals say a 14-year-old illegal immigrant was subjected to a serious sexual assault last Tuesday. "There is an allegation that a young black girl has been raped, some people say gang raped, by some Asian men, and that is the core cause of the tension," Bishop Joe Aldred from the Council of Black Led-Churches, told BBC News 24. Since then several people from the Afro-Caribbean community have been "campaigning for justice" outside a shop where the attack allegedly took place, he said. Bishop Aldred said the meeting was held to shed some light on the issue. "I think that the violence was linked to the tensions there have been in the community since maybe Tuesday," he said. "It could not have been linked to the church meeting because what came out of that was the kind of stuff that would allay fears, not heighten them." Police say they are following several lines of inquiry and have carried out forensic tests, house-to-house inquiries and distributed thousands of leaflets in a bid to find the alleged victim. The Home Office has promised it will not investigate the victim's immigrations status until after the end of any criminal proceedings. Mr Shaw said there was "not a shred of evidence" to support the allegations but investigations were continuing. He said: "Birmingham is a city that prides itself on living together harmoniously with one another and has done a fantastic job for many years when other places have been challenged. "We have to ask ourselves really searching questions now about how we can prevent our community that we so cherish being characterised by these events."
Arrests
A police spokeswoman said the dead man would not be named until next of kin had been informed. A number of arrests have been made. A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said at least 12 people had been taken to the City Hospital in Dudley Road in Birmingham. Police officers in riot gear, dog handlers, fire engines, ambulances and vehicle recovery units patrolled streets in the area. The confrontation between rioters and police saw cars burned, missiles thrown and groups of people wearing masks, or covering their faces with hoods. A burnt-out wreck of a car was left abandoned outside the Asian Resource Centre in the middle of Lozells Road. Bricks were also scattered across the road outside the New Testament Church of God where Saturday's meeting was held.
'Without warning'
BBC correspondent Deborah Bain said the riots broke out after about 100 people outside the meeting started fighting with the police.
But she said it was "not yet clear what sparked the disturbances which came without warning". The meeting in a local church in Lozells Road, which was addressed by two senior police officers and the MP for Perry Barr, Khalid Mahmood, followed an earlier rally of about 200 people in support of victims of crime. Mr Mahmood told BBC News he thought the incidents were linked to the assault allegation but a small group of people "predominantly from outside the area" were responsible. "There are a very small number of individuals who are carrying out this," he said. "They're a fairly mobile group of people." "There's been about four or five flashpoints in different parts of the Aston Handsworth ward and what we are trying to do is to deal with that." Mr Shaw said he paid tribute to the work carried out by the local black and Asian community to reassure people and "try and put some fact behind the rumours". A statement on the force website said the build-up to the violence started last weekend. "Police treated this as serious and have investigated it as if a crime had taken place but despite this there has not been any evidence that an attack has taken place."
History of tension
The Lozells area has a history of racial violence. Tension exists between the large Afro-Caribbean population and Asian gangs.
Drugs and gun crime are also major causes of trouble.
In 2002 a female Asian shopkeeper was attacked with a machete by a black man
In 2003, Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17 were shot dead in nearby Aston as the Burger Bar Boys gang sought revenge on rivals the Johnson Crew
The area also saw the September 1985 Handsworth riots, triggered by the arrest of a black man after a police stop and search
© BBC News
POLICE HUNT 11 YOUTHS OVER KILLING(uk)
Victim stabbed on his way home with brother. Second inquiry launched after death of a teenager
25/10/2005- The man who was stabbed to death during weekend rioting in Birmingham was set upon by up to 11 armed youths as he walked home from the cinema with his brother, it emerged yesterday. Isiah Young-Sam, 24, had not been involved in any of the confrontations between the Pakistani and African-Caribbean communities that erupted on Saturday evening, officers from the West Midlands police said. The victim was, they said, innocently walking home with his younger brother, Zephaniah, and two friends, when three cars pulled up alongside them and launched into a furious attack. Detective Superintendent Dave Mirfield said: "The group was approached by three cars. Those cars contained, we believe, between 10 and 11 men. These men got out of the cars, armed with knives, and attacked Isiah and his friends." Yesterday it emerged that Mr Young-Sam, described as a gentle and deeply religious man who read the Bible each day, was oblivious to the febrile atmosphere that had developed in the Lozells area of Birmingham on Saturday. He and his brother had spent the late afternoon and early evening in the cinema. Afterwards they caught a bus from the city centre and were just a few hundred metres from home when they were set upon. Mr Young-Sam, an IT analyst at Birmingham city council, was taken to hospital but was dead on arrival. Yesterday, as riot police returned to the troubled streets of Lozells, his family paid tribute to a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Tensions were also raised further by a second murder, the shooting of a man in Newtown, less than a mile away from the scene of Saturday's disturbance. Police, however, have yet to link that killing to the ongoing feud which was prompted by unsubstantiated rumours that a Jamaican girl was gang raped by between three and 25 Pakistani men. Murna McLean, Mr Young-Sam's mother, said: "He had very good manners in a slightly old-fashioned way. He was gentle and would hold open a door or help someone with their shopping. He was a private person, deeply religious and reserved." She added: "He didn't have the lifestyle of a typical young black man in Lozells. If someone had tried to drag him into an argument he would have laughed and walked away. He wasn't out on the streets or at parties - he didn't even have a steady girlfriend." The same sentiments were expressed by his neighbours, most of whom are Pakistani Muslims. One woman said: "We have known the family since they moved here 13 or 14 years ago. He was a very nice, peaceful boy and very kind. He would help us with our shopping bags and would always speak to us in the street. He got on well with my kids. "He didn't mix with gangs. He wasn't into anything like that. I watched the trouble from the window on Saturday night and saw the family leaving. We thought they were escaping. Now we know they were on their way to the hospital." Another Pakistani neighbour said: "The races live here side by side, black, Asian and white. There has never been any trouble like this before. He was a very decent young man."
As the police renewed their appeal for witnesses, observers gave their versions of events. Benji Brown, 22, who went to the same school as Mr Young-Sam, helped lift him into the back of a car. "I saw Isiah lying on the floor and his brother Zephaniah was shouting for help. Isiah was lifeless, he was just lying there, caked in the blood. It was pouring out of his heart where he was stabbed. Another car had pulled over and Zephaniah told me to help him get Isiah into the car to rush him to hospital. It took about 10 minutes to get to City hospital, but moments later he died." With the investigation under way, West Midlands launched a second murder inquiry after an unnamed 18-year-old man was shot yesterday in Newtown. Detective Chief Inspector Keith Wilson said: "There have been community tensions in the area. If there are links then hopefully we will make them at a very early stage." He confirmed that armed police were at the scene after reports that a man had been seen with a gun, but said they had arrived to find a mixed race man collapsed in the street. Officers gave first aid and called paramedics but they were unable to save him. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the police response but has confirmed they fired no shots. A bullet retrieved differs from those issued to the police. Two men are in custody and were being questioned.
© The Guardian
RUMOURS AND RIOTS(uk, comment)
Economic inequalities are driving events in Birmingham. Solidarity must be our response
By Salma Yaqoob, community mediator in Birmingham, spokeswoman for Birmingham Central mosque and vice-chair of Respect
25/10/2005- Having witnessed events in Birmingham over the past few days, I see an alarming picture emerging. Not only have there been two deaths, scores of people injured and property damaged, but I have been taken aback at the breathtaking irresponsibility of some community representatives. Instead of calming the situation, they have inflamed it. It is important to be conscious of the impact of language and scrupulous about verifying facts. Where there are acknowledged to be "simmering tensions" in an area, the responsibility is even greater on community leaders to exercise care. Yet if one traces events to the trigger of the weekend riots - the alleged rape of a Jamaican girl by Asian men - the opposite has been the case. Despite now admitting he had no proof or facts, DJ Warren G aired the allegation on his radio talkshow last Tuesday, going as far as to organise a demonstration outside the shop where the alleged rape was said to have taken place. The message that went round the community was one of a black woman needing to be protected against "Asians" rather than individual criminals. At a second demonstration on Saturday, community representatives were calling for Asian shops to be boycotted.
Both communities suddenly felt they were under attack from the other. Businesses were attacked and hundreds of youths took to the streets to "protect" "their" communities. It was clear even at community representatives' meetings on Sunday that emotions were dangerously out of control. Many were unable to comprehend that people from both communities shared similar feelings of vulnerability and fear. There is a vacuum in local Asian leadership. And while many from the African-Caribbean community were determined the situation be contained, a small but vocal group seemed more interested in repeating inflammatory warnings of a "race war". Resentment was present before the alleged rape. There has been a widespread perception among the African-Caribbean community that Asians are doing well at their expense, and rumours that Asians receive more public funding. If public funding grants in north-west Birmingham are examined, African-Caribbean projects have received the largest proportion. Millions have been invested in helping black enterprise and training projects. The Sikh community received one substantive European grant, and the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have received the least.
In the aftermath of the violence we will no doubt be subject to more debates on "multiculturalism" and "integration". The truth is that it is economic inequalities - real and imagined - that are driving events in Birmingham. Its inner-city wards are among the most deprived in the country, and all the those living there - white, black, Asian - are disadvantaged. To find a way out of this crisis, representatives from all the communities must come together and demand the resources that the area needs. The political system has encouraged competition between different disadvantaged communities for what amounts to crumbs. This has been compounded by the role of the Liberal Democrat-Tory coalition that runs Birmingham city council and has increased pressure to divert resources from inner-city areas to more affluent suburbs. Meanwhile, the macho attitude shown across our communities in recent days has made women less safe. Tomorrow, women from both communities will march together to demonstrate our common interests: solidarity, not racism, is the answer.
© The Guardian
BRUM WARNING SIGNS IGNORED(uk)
26/10/2005- Politicians ignored warnings almost five years ago that Birmingham was becoming racially segregated and this could inflame tensions between the city’s diverse communities. The Birmingham Stephen Lawrence Commission reported in 2001 that African-Caribbeans and Asians were increasingly living apart and suffering economic deprivation. 56 months ago on, and following a weekend of disturbances that have left two African-Caribbean men dead, questions are being asked about how seriously Birmingham City Council and national government responded. Appeals for calm from prominent community leaders in Birmingham and across the country seem to have dampened anger between Asians and Africans-Caribbeans after streets battles that left 35 people hospitalised.
Senseless
A week-long build-up of tensions over rumours that a 14-year-old Jamaican girl had been gang-raped by up to 19 Asian men spilled over into violence on Saturday night. IT worker Isiah Young-Sam, 23, was stabbed to death by a group of 11 Asian men as he made his way to church. The following day Aaron James, 18, was shot dead less than a mile from the scene of the rioting. A mosque and an Asian community centre were attacked amidst the violence and CCTV footage showed attacks on Asian shops. African-Caribbean businesses and community centres were also vandalised. Lee Jasper, of the National Assembly against Racism, said: “African-Caribbean and Pakistani communities must unite in common endeavour to halt the senseless violence that threatens to engulf both communities. Birmingham City Council must demonstrate clear leadership in seeking to address the underlying issues giving rise to community tensions. We call on all communities to enter into dialogue as a means of achieving these aims.”
Disastrous
The Birmingham Steven Lawrence Commission looked into how Britain’s second city should respond to the Lawrence inquiry. It concluded in February 2003 that failure to tackle racial segregation had potentially disastrous consequences. District judge Ray Singh, who chaired the commission, warned that the report was an “alarm call” but evidence appears to show racial segregation increasing apace in the last four years. Handsworth and Aston neighbourhoods are primarily African-Caribbean while Sparkbrook and Small Heath are mainly populated by Pakistanis from Kashmir. Birmingham’s leafy suburbs have few visible ethnic minorities. Publication of the report led the African-Caribbean The Voice to run the front-page headline ‘Apartheid Birmingham.’ Birmingham City Council, which commissioned the report, published a follow-up in September 2002 which claimed significant progress had been made. Critics of the council believe there was never any serious political will to address the deep-seated issues of different communities living apart. The Cadbury Barrow Trust has called for more resources to be spent on youth facilities to combat growing racial tensions.
Inequality
Last year journalist Darcus Howe exposed racial divisions between Asian and African-Caribbean youth in a controversial TV documentary. Many in the African-Caribbean community were shocked at the racial insults being used by young Asians against them. Howe’s Channel 4 film Who are You Calling a Nigger? was slated for inflaming tensions but now appears to have been a discarded warning sign. Birmingham-based bishop Dr Joe Aldred, chairman of the Council of Black-led Churches, said: “There are social, political and economic issues which need to be addressed to allay concerns about inequality. What has become clear is that there are people in Birmingham who feel their grievances have not been properly understood or dealt with.” Simon Woolley, national coordinator of Operation Black Vote, said it was no surprise that poverty, deprivation and lack of opportunities should produce unrest. Inner-city Birmingham is among the poorest areas of Britain. He added: “During this difficult period Asian, Caribbean and African people must show mutual solidarity. I urge all communities to have a unity march. At this crucial time we stand together because if we allow divisions to widen, race relations will be put back 50 years.” A week after rumours first surfaced, the girl at the centre of rape allegations has still not come forward. There is widespread scepticism about the claims in the Asian community, typified by Lozells resident Gulfran Khan who said: “At the end of the day unless you bring the girl forward, as far as we are concerned she doesn’t exist. She is an urban myth.”
Monopoly
However, many African-Caribbeans in Birmingham believe the girl is not coming forward because she, and possibly members of her family, has immigration issues. Police have carried out forensic tests on the Beauty Queen store in Lozells where the rape is said to have taken place, but have not found any evidence to suggest a sex crime took place. Claims that the girl was taken to the back of the store after being caught stealing a hair weave were refuelled when a 30-year-old Black woman came forward, making claims about an unrelated sexual assault. Birmingham radio station Hot 92 helped spread the rape rumours although DJ Warren G admitted he had not met the girl or her family. Daily protests of up to 300 gathered the Beauty Queen from last Tuesday, forcing it to close for a while. The demonstrations were given added potency by complaints that Asian shopkeepers allegedly treated African-Caribbean customers with disrespect, and that Asians had a monopoly on outlets selling Black hair and beauty products. Violence broke out on Saturday when an older African-Caribbean was allegedly verbally abused by Asian youths who had gathered near the New Testament Church of God in Lozells where a public meeting was taking place about the rape allegations. A number of shops and community centres used and owned by both communities were attacked and several cars set alight. Salma Yaqoob of the Respect party said: “There is a lot of anger, grief and tensions between the communities. We need to create a genuine space for people to listen to each other.”
© Black Information Link
VOICE OF HATE(uk)
The Voice was condemned after the paper called for a boycott of Asian shops. Critics say there are better ways of promoting the 'black pound'
28/10/2005- Campaigners said stoking up racial division and trade wars against Asians may sell a few newspapers but would not boost opportunities for African-Caribbean businesses. Exploiting boiling racial tensions in Birmingham following allegations that a 14-year-old girl had been raped, Deidre Forbes penned an editorial calling on African-Caribbeans to boycott Asian shops. Experts said issues of conflict, such as 'disrespect' by Asian shopkeepers, needed to be resolved in a calm atmosphere. A boycott would simply polarise communities. Just two years ago The Voice was owned by Indian-born Linda McCalla. The editorial this week has appalled Asian newsagent-owners some of whom are threatening not to stock the paper.
Solutions
Leading African-Caribbean figures said there was a real need to change purchasing patterns to keep more of the 'Black Pound' within the community, but this needed to be a positive process not a negative boycott fuelled by anger against Asians. Dr Richard Taylor, father of murdered ten-year-old Damilola, said: "It's a very small globe we're living in. "Why should people suggest such a way forward? This is a social matter that needs to be addressed by community leaders and a solution has to be found to it. It's not by creating more problems." Dr Taylor said that the community exploding over an event did not mean it should be handled the wrong way. People had suggested going on the rampage after Damilola,was killed "I had to control my own emotion. That's not the solution." The Voice was also criticised for appeared to treat the alleged Birmingham rape as fact with no quote marks around the word 'rape' in the headline and no use of the words 'alleged' or 'claimed' in sub-headline.
Died
Almost three weeks after the allegations first emerged the girl has still not come forward leading many to speculate whether she actually exists. Few in Birminghams relatively small and tight-knit African-Caribbean community claim to know the family. Two black men have died following disturbances sparked by the allegations. Neil Kenlock, founder of Choice FM, said he "definitely" opposed The Voice's call and said he found it very distressing. "I've been in Britain for 40 years and we have never been fighting each other. "Instead we have supported each other in demonstrations. We should stop it. It is not our duty to go around burning and looting. It's not the right way." Both communities had experienced discrimination and racism. "We should not be fighting ourselves. We should find a way to work together and work through our problems.
Patronage
"I understand the frustrations of Black youth in Birmingham who are not getting on the way Asians are. They have to learn to work harder and organise themselves to work harder and be more determined." In the editorial Forbes wrote: "For those of you who've written in to complain about being treated with disrespect and suspicion whenever you enter certain Asian-owned or -run shops, we ask why then do you continue to give your patronage to these shops? "They rely and depend on us for the success of their business and blindly we continue to spend our hard-earned bucks in shops where we are treated in a derogatory manner. "It's time to reassess our priorities as a community and to send a clear message to those who would dare that we will not tolerate this type of violation in the community." Professor Chris Mullard, chairman of Focus Consultancy, expressed strong disproval of any boycott: "That is not the way ahead to create good race relations. It will antagonise and alienate." Bishop Joe Aldred, chairman of the Black-Led Council of Churches, accused The Voice of being shortsighted and starting a trade war. He said he would not support such a boycott. "It's a trade war. Telling Caribbeans and Africans not to buy from Asians is highly divisive and unnecessary. People have a choice. We shouldn't superimpose anything else on our communities." He also accused the paper of middle-class arrogance in calling for the boycott. He said: "What often happens is that people calling for such boycotts live in a very different society from the people they're calling to engage in the boycott. "While the rich and privileged set such standards it's the poor people for whom many of these Asian shops are affordable, who will lose out. It's they who will suffer." Simeon Grossett, director of BEM Business Federation, said the Black pound- the disposable income of the community - is worth more £25billion a year, but said that any boycott would have a negative effect on all communities. "If that were to happen then there would be negative impact and that's not just to Asian businesses, it's to anything at large.
© Black Information Link
POLISH PRESIDENT WARNED OVER ULTRA-RIGHT SHIFT
25/10/2005- Poland was given a blunt warning over its human rights obligations yesterday - after the election of a president who has sought to curb gay rights and campaigned for the restoration of the death penalty. The clear victory for Lech Kaczynski, who won 54 per cent of the vote in Sunday's run-off, marks a sharp change for Poland as a majority of voters embraced the populist politics of a man who has promised to bring about moral renewal. Mr Kaczynski, whose twin brother will also be a key figure in the new government, has caused alarm by raising the issue of reparations for Germany's wartime destruction of Warsaw. The European Commission described capital punishment as contrary to the EU's basic values yesterday. An article of the EU's governing treaty states that countries that fail to observe fundamental rights can, ultimately, be stripped of their European voting rights. Politicians have been alarmed by the statements of the president-elect, and are hoping he and his party will be reined in when in office. Martin Schultz, leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament, said Mr Kaczynski is "on probation", adding: "I hope the president will be a different kind of person to the [one we saw as] candidate." Chris Davies, leader of the British Liberal Democrat MEPs, said: "People are alert. I hope the Polish president will not seek to challenge some of the basic principles and values of the EU."
The final round of the Polish presidential election was fought between two right-wing parties, both of which were born out of the Solidarnosc union movement that ousted the Communist government in the 1980s. As in parliamentary elections two weeks earlier, Mr Kaczynski's Law And Justice party campaign overtook that of the rival Civic Platform. Mr Kaczynski's strong moral tone courted the religious right and the traditionalist elements of Poland's powerful Roman Catholic Church. During the campaign, he called for the return of capital punishment for the worst murders and, as mayor of Warsaw, he sought to ban a gay rights march on security grounds. Germany has been concerned about the nationalist tone of his rhetoric. The Law And Justice party's website carries an interview with the president-elect in which he argues Poland has "moral grounds to demand compensation" for wartime destruction by the Nazis. He adds: "Polish-German reconciliation is important but it has made some forget what has really happened. Poland's foreign policy did not take advantage of the fact that Germany and Western Europe as a whole have an unclear conscience toward Poland." Meanwhile, the result is seen as a setback for economic liberalism and caused the zloty to dip temporarily. The pro-business Civil Platform and its presidential candidate Donald Tusk had backed a flat tax and deregulation. By contrast, Law And Justice called for a greater state role in tackling poverty, corruption and unemployment, protection of the welfare state, and made generous campaign promises to farmers and heavy industry workers. Because of the result of parliamentary elections, the two centre-right parties must form a coalition government. That is likely to mean a compromise on economic reform, one that will exclude a flat tax but mean some reduction in taxation. A spokesman for the European Commission said: "One of the conditions for starting negotiations with a potential candidate country is that the existing death penalty must be abolished. This is considered not to be in line with the basic values, on which the EU is based." Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation contravenes a commitment to respect minorities, the rule of law and human rights, he added.
© Independent Digital
POLAND: IS KACZYNSKI A NATIONALIST?
By Rafal Pankowski
27/10/2005- "I am definitely not a nationalist" - said the newly elected president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski in a recent interview. It is true in one sense - his political background is not the ideology of ethno-nationalism identified in Poland with the specific political tradition of so-called National Democracy, or "endecja", which flourished in the 1920s. He is a nationalist, however, in the sense of stressing continuously that the belief in "national interests" must inform all policy. While such a bielief in itself may not neccessarily result in discrimination or intolerance, Kaczynski's campaign did play on national and even ethnic stereotypes, directed primarily against Germans and Russians. And even more importantly, many among the current president's political allies espouse precisely this nasty variant of ideological nationalism from which he sought to distance himself. His anti-nationalist declaration was rather half-hearted anyway as he was quick to add "I bielieve in a necessity of cooperation with people of national-Catholic [i.e.nationalist] views in one political party". Some known radical nationalists are prominent within Kaczynski's own Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, PiS) party. That includes top-level party operatives such as MEPs Michal Kaminski and Marcin Libicki, each of them with a pedigree in far-right groups. Kaminski was Kaczynski's right-hand man during the presidential campaign and he had achieved notoriety a few years ago when he publicly declared his allegiance to the infamous "Poland for the Polish" slogan, invoking terrible memories of antisemitic pogroms of the 1920s and 1930s... Another public supporter of the slogan and a member of PiS, the notorious Catholic fundamentalist Marek Jurek, has just been elected to the post of the Speaker of Parliament.
In addition to the nationalists within Kaczynski's own party, he was supported by the extreme-right Radio Maryja and the populist Self-Defence (Samoobrona) party. Arguably, their support proved decisive at the narrowly-won election. Is it time for the new president to pay back the favours of his extreme-nationalist allies? Anti-racist and minority rights activists are perparing for hard times.
© I CARE News
EU WARNS POLAND ON GAYS
26/10/2005- The European Union has issued a stern warning to Poland's new president not to try to limit the rights of gays and lesbians. Polish voters last weekend elected Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski to be the country's new president. (story) Last month Kaczynski's ultra conservative Law and Justice Party, controlled by his twin brother, won control of Parliament. The European Commission said it is concerned about Kaczynski's history of homophobia and said that if he continues to oppose gay rights Poland risks losing its voting rights in the EU. The commission in a strongly worded letter reminded Kaczynski that all member states must abide by European Union regulations which protect minorities. If, Poland refuses, the letter said, the EU would invoke the Treaty of Nice which deprives member states of their voting rights for refusal to comply with the Union's constitution. The letter put Kaczynski on notice that his government will be closely monitored. In June, Kaczynski refused to grant permission for a gay pride parade in Warsaw. (story) Nevertheless, more than 2,500 people ignored the order and marched anyway. (story) Opponents threw eggs and stones at the marchers, and police detained 29 people. A coalition led by Law and Justice won a majority of seats in Parliament last month. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, nominated by the Law and Justice party to lead the next government as prime minister, made it clear his party would try to roll back any advances made by Polish gays. Marcinkiewicz told the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine that propagating homosexuality constituted an infringement on the freedom of other people. (story) ``It is unnatural. Family is natural and the state should safeguard the family,'' Marcinkiewicz said, echoing the views of other leaders of his conservative party. ``If such a person tries to infect others with their homosexuality, then the state has to intervene in such an abuse of freedom,'' he said.
© 365Gay.com
NATIONALIST YOUTHS PROTEST AGAINST MIGRANT WORKERS IN MOSCOW(Russia)
27/10/2005- About two dozen youths from the nationalist Motherland party staged a noisy rally in downtown Moscow Thursday to protest the influx of illegal migrants from ex-Soviet states seeking work in Russia, local media reported. Several activists, clad in Central Asian robes and skullcaps, staged the mock sale of a traditional Central Asian meat patty (cheburecks) that had fake worms in it, while another protester held two plastic canisters labeled “gasoline” and “donkey’s urine” symbolizing that migrants allegedly dilute fuel and sell other low-quality products. Another activist walking on stilts chased away the mock traders with a long broom, while protesters shouted “Moscow for Muscovites!” and “Guest workers, get out of here!” “We are fighting against illegal migrants,” said Boris Nekrasov, a 23-year-old actor. “When they come here, there are more crimes, they hike rent prices and Muscovites are forced to pay more.” The collapse of the Soviet Union sent hundreds of thousands of migrants from poorer former Soviet republics seeking work in Russia, and interethnic conflicts are frequent. There have also been racial attacks against dark-skinned foreigners in Russia’s big cities, including a number of fatal assaults. Human rights groups warned in a report this summer that racism and xenophobia are growing at an alarming rate in Russia, fueled by economic hardship and the government failure to address ethnic tensions. Sociologists say, however, that Russia’s rapidly dwindling population is in dire need of migrants and have called on officials to ease immigration conditions to welcome workers from other countries.
© MosNews
THE FRIGHTENING ‘NEW RUSSIAN ORDER’ IN SERGIYEV POSAD
25/10/2005- The beatings of Muslims in Sergiyev Posad, the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church, suggestions by Patriarchate officials that the Muslims should not be there in the first place, and the efforts of the militia and prosecutors to downplay this event continue to spark discussion in the Moscow media. Perhaps the most complete and certainly the most devastating description of what has taken place and what it may mean for the future of Russia appeared in an article by Aleksandr Soldatov entitled “The Mosque near the Monastery” in “Moskovskiye novosti” last Friday. The current scandal began when a group of eight young men broke into the Muslim prayer house in Sergiyev Posad on October 14, shouting slogans like “Russia for the Russians” and “There is no place here for Muslims” and beating the local imam Arslan Sadriyev so severely that he had to be hospitalized. When the local militia arrived, they detained several of the attackers who as Soldatov notes had not bothered to flee the scene of their crimes. But the militia quickly released them and announced that what had occurred was nothing more than the hooliganism of those who had had too much to drink. In the wake of press reports about the beatings, however, local prosecutors said they would bring charges against those involved -- but only for incitement of inter-ethnic hatred rather than for attacking Muslims. And only on Friday did Sergei Koshman, Moscow oblast’s deputy governor, assure Muslim leaders that the authorities would punish those responsible for the attack, Islam.ru reported. But as Soldatov makes clear, this case involves far more people than those directly connected with the crime. Radical nationalist groups like the Union of Orthodox Christians have criticized the very existence of a Muslim prayer house in the seat of their church, and several Patriarchate spokesmen have seconded that opinion.
Local government officials have gotten into the act as well. One, quoted by Soldatov, said that Sergiyev Posad “is an exclusively Orthodox territory, and the establishment of Muslim cult building here is impossible,” a statement that other officials backed away from after it drew media criticism. But the current head of the region, described by Soldatov as “the former director of the local meat processing firm with the beautiful Russian name Upyrev,” ran his successful campaign for office on an openly “patriotic” platform which left no doubt that he too will continue to oppose any Muslim activities there. “In the spiritual center of Russia,” Soldatov writes, “there are no spiritual forces prepared for a dialogue with Islam. Instead, there is hatred and crude force. The dance clubs, striptease bars, and drug dens with which no one is fighting in the ‘city of Saint Sergei’ –are these not attributes of ‘the new Russian order,’ which peacefully coexists with the great but for the majority quite dead saint?” Indeed, the Moscow journalist says, the attacks on the Muslim community there and the Islamophobia behind them appear to reflect the fears of many Russians “against any recollection about God when he is presented not as an exhibit in a museum but in the form of a living reproach to contemporary Russian mores.” And those who feel that way thus want Muslims -- who insist on taking their religion seriously – to get out. But Soldatov continues, “it is clear that the Muslims are not going to leave Sergiyev Posad just as they are not going to leave other Russian cities.” Indeed, he says, current demographic trends mean that there will be more of them. Consequently, he concludes, “tolerance for Islam is a necessary precondition for the preservation of Russia in borders close to the ones it has now. And those who intend to conduct a ‘holy war’ with Islam are only bringing the disintegration of their own state that much closer.”
© FSU Monitor
EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LAW(Sweden, opinion)
By James Savage
28/10/2005- The Church of Sweden’s decision this week to bless to gay partnerships has overshadowed a potentially more interesting debate: the government’s proposals to sack civil registrars who refuse to carry out gay ‘marriages’. It has been met by protests from some councils, who worry about registrars resigning. But minor officials quitting is a small price to pay for guaranteeing that the state gives equal rights to all its citizens. Churches are private institutions, and can choose to bless whatever and whomever they like. No doubt if some civil registrars quit it will be a nuisance for the councils involved, but it’s hardly an argument against the change. Surely it is right that people licensed by the government to preside over marriages should be required to treat all people equally? Sweden’s parliament has decided to allow gay partnerships, and it is registrars’ responsibility to carry them out. It was pretty remarkable that the original legislation allowed them to refuse. Civil partnerships are grounded in the secular laws of the country. It’s not for individual registrars to make personal judgments about the people over whose partnerships they are presiding. If you allow civil officials to discriminate against homosexuals, then what next? Allowing them to refuse to marry people who have been divorced? Or to conduct mixed-race marriages? If people working as registrars want to bring their religious judgments or moral prejudices with them into what is, after all, an expressly secular environment, then maybe they’re in the wrong job. Sure, priests, rabbis and imams should be allowed to refuse to bestow their blessings on whomever they choose, but they’re responsible only to their flocks, and if you’re a believer, to God. But the state is there to serve all its citizens, so surely anyone doing the work of the state should be required to uphold the standards of fairness that the state dictates?
© The Local
ARSON ATTACK ON MALMÖ MOSQUE(Sweden)
22/10/2005- The mosque in Malmö was the target of a new arson attack just before midnight on Friday. Several minor fires were started in the main building, but these were put out quickly by the emergency services after passers-by had spotted smoke coming out of the building. One man was taken to hospital suffering from mild smoke injuries. The man was staying in the mosque temporarily for the Ramadan period and was sleeping in the building when the fire began. Someone had broken into the building after smashing a window at the back. "There were a small number of fires which we put out in the premises," said Swen Krook, the duty fire officer. The indications are that the fires were not accidental. Swen Krook said that there was some small-scale damage. "It's mostly smoke and soot damage," he said. Malmö police were on the scene by 1.30am and decided to begin immediately the technical investigation at the Mosque. "This has the highest priority. It's the same method as in September so we suspect that it could be the same perpetrator," said Lars-Olof Anderberg at Skåne police to TT. The attack is the second in less than five weeks. In the early hours of September 18th someone threw in a bottle containing flammable liquid, breaking on of the mosque's windows. On that occasion the resulting fire was also doused before it could cause serious damage. But in an arson attack in 2003 the mosque was damaged and other buildings at the Islamic centre were totally destroyed.
© The Local
MUSLIMS FACE MOST RACISM IN SWEDEN
25/10/2005- Muslims are exposed to the most racial harassment in Sweden, according to a new report from the Board of Integration. Seven out of ten reports of ethnic discrimination came from people with a Muslim background, and almost 40% of those questioned in the survey said they had witnessed verbal abuse directed at Muslims. The report, Racism and Xenophobia in Sweden, also showed an increasing intolerance of immigration. "If you look at the whole period from 1999 to 2004 there has been a significant increase in the number of people who want to close Sweden's borders to immigration, from 35% to 45.5%," said the report's author, José Alberto Diaz. But the picture painted by the report is complex. While one in five respondents said that they were "negatively inclined towards people who they did not consider belonged in Sweden", the support for anti-immigration political parties, such as the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) and the National Democrats (Nationaldemokraterna) is declining. One in four said they could consider voting for such a party, down from almost one in three in 1999. Two thirds of those questioned rejected the notion that Sweden is a racist country, and fewer people then five years ago believe that racism is increasing. In 1999, 56% said they believed racism was rising, but by 2004 this had decreased to 46%.
© The Local
PM DITCHES MUSLIMS FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH(Denmark)
Muslim ambassadors will not be granted a meeting with the prime minister on the freedom of speech
25/10/2005- Eleven Muslim ambassadors in Denmark looking to meet with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to discuss what they call a 'smear campaign' in the media against Islam and Muslims have had their request denied. The prime minister had otherwise been encouraged by the opposition to meet with the group as a way to increase understanding in an increasingly controversial public debate. In recent weeks, both the minister of culture and a Copenhagen mayoral candidate have retracted statements they made about Muslims and Islamic culture. Most recently, national daily Jyllands-Posten has invoked international ire by publishing twelve caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, some of which characterised him as a terrorist. Pictorial depictions of Mohammed are frowned upon by Islam. 'This is a matter of principle. I won't meet with them because it is so crystal clear what principles Danish democracy is built upon that there is no reason to do so,' said Rasmussen. Rasmussen reiterated his message that individuals who felt offended by the tone of the public debate should bring their grievances to the courts. 'As prime minister, I have no power whatsoever to limit the press - nor do I want such a power,' he said. 'It is a basic principle of our democracy that a prime minister cannot control the press.' Rasmussen said that though he preferred a positive debate in the press, as long as people kept their comments with in the boundaries of the law, the motives behind the comments were not an issue. 'Some people say that the press needs to be constructive, and sometimes I also think that'd be nice. But who's to say what's constructive? That's an unfair demand to make. The press needs to be critical - I need to bear that as prime minister and religions must do so as well,' he said.
© The Copenhagen Post
FRIBOURG STANDS BY ISLAMIC HEADSCARF BAN(Switzerland)
The city of Fribourg says it will not back down over a decision to fire two school employees for refusing to remove their Islamic headscarves.
26/10/2005- The local council confirmed on Wednesday that it was opposed to the wearing of religious apparel in schools. The sacked employees are complaining of unfair dismissal. The two young women, temporarily employed in August to tend to children after school hours, were dismissed one month later for refusing to take off their headscarves at work. Fribourg does not permit the wearing of religious clothing in schools. However, the local Muslim association told the Liberté newspaper on Wednesday that it would challenge the decision. The association president, Mohamed Ali Batbout, said the dismissal of the young women was unjustified. He has demanded a hearing with the school authorities, and to that end, a meeting has been arranged. The two women are expected to attend the meeting, as well as representatives from a cantonal commission on integration and racism. Fribourg's school director, Marie-Thérèse Maradan, said she would attend the hearing but was not prepared to alter the decision. The city's ban on the wearing of religious apparel is based on a precedent in canton Geneva, where the Federal Court upheld a similar ban. Religious symbols of any kind, including Christian crosses, cannot be displayed in schools in canton Fribourg. Exceptions are made for older schools as a sign of respect for local traditions.
© Swissinfo
STUDY DISPELS MUSLIM CLICHÉS(Switzerland)
Switzerland's 310,000-strong Islamic community is very diverse and most Muslims have no problem practising their religion, according to a study.
27/10/2005- The report, the first of its kind in Switzerland, surveyed 30 Muslims on behalf of the Federal Foreigners Commission. The aim was to provide a more balanced portrait of the community. Among its findings, which were released on Thursday, was that the community was very mixed. Coming from different countries and cultural backgrounds, religious practices varied. Only a small minority could be considered strict believers. "This study is going to help calm down a certain number of fears among the population about Muslims in Switzerland," the commission's head, Francis Matthey, told swissinfo. He added that many of the clichés about Muslims were simply not true. One of its main findings was that most Muslims had no problem practising their religion while keeping to Swiss law and the principles of Swiss democracy. Co-author Matteo Gianni said that, for many, religion was a private affair and that for this reason the influence of Imams was not so large as is generally feared. Earlier this month the Swiss authorities barred Geneva's Islamic Centre from hiring a Turkish imam because of doubts over the content of his teachings.
Headscarves
Problems were identified with regard to certain religious practices, such as wearing a headscarf, which divided Muslims living in the country. The issue is a divisive one in Switzerland, with some cantons banning the wearing of headscarves. On Wednesday the city of Fribourg said it would not back down over a decision to sack two school employees for refusing to remove their headscarves. Gianni said many Muslims praised Swiss integration policy and a majority said they were influenced by Swiss culture. It seems to be that the integration of Muslims in Switzerland is good," remarked Matthey. "We have handled the situation well on a pragmatic level." But the report found that discrimination or racism were still issues - such as harassment of women wearing traditional headscarves. Some Muslims also felt that they had been more closely scrutinised since the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
Better understanding
The report was carried out by the Group of researchers on Islam in Switzerland and asked 30 men and women from the community for their views. The aim was to give a voice to the "silent majority" to help contribute to national cohesion and better understanding. Speaking at the media conference to introduce the study, Amira Hafner-AlJabaji, a Swiss of Iraqi origin, who is a specialist in Islam issues, said the survey was "an important step" towards a better mutual understanding. The number of Muslims in Switzerland has risen sharply in the past 30 years. In 1970 the number stood at around 16,350, but this had risen to 310,000 by 2000. This means that the community now makes up 4.5 per cent of the population. The majority come from the Balkans and from Turkey. But only 36,000 of Muslims living in Switzerland have a Swiss passport.
*You can ask yourself how representative this study is asking 30 people on a population of 310 000. Suzette*
© Swissinfo
ISLAM FEMINISTS URGE GENDER JIHAD
Organisers of the first international congress on Islamic feminism are calling for a "gender jihad."
28/10/2005- Organiser Abdennur Prado Pavon says the struggle for gender equality in Islamic countries involves refuting chauvinist interpretations of Muslim teachings. The congress is in Spain, organisers say, because they want their message to reach the growing number of Muslim women in Europe. Around 300 delegates are looking at women's rights in the Islamic world. Mr Prado, of the Catalan Islamic board, believes a common misconception in the West is that women's liberation is not possible in Muslim societies. Activists representing the Islamic feminist movement are in Barcelona to counter that view and discuss ways of achieving female equality in an Islamic context.
Collaboration
Among the delegates is the Pakistani feminist Riffat Hassan, regarded as one of the pioneers of Islamic feminist theology. Also here are representatives from the international association, Islamic Feminism. Islamic Feminism argues that the inferior legal and social status of women in Muslim countries is a result of misogynistic distortions of the teachings in the Koran. Organisers say they want more collaboration with western feminists but say non-Muslim feminists need to challenge their anti-Islamic stereotypes. What do you think should be done to address misconceptions of women and Islam?
The following comments reflect the balance of views received:
I think that education and public discussion can change perceptions on any issue over time. However, as long as women continue to raise their sons to believe that they are little princes, I don't think that things will change much for their daughters. Regardless of where they live, or what religion they believe in (if any), mothers and grandmothers have a lot of power over society that is unrealised at present.
Zena Curwain, Toronto, Canada
I am a Muslim woman, some would say an "Islamic feminist". Despite the stereotypes, radical Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood, or Hizb-ut-tahrir, unlike the traditionalists or culturalist movements like the Taliban, are usually the source of most Muslim women's sense of Islamic empowerment or Islamic liberation away from things like forced marriage, child custody, abortion, domestic violence, sexploitation, etc. It is these movements on a grass roots level that have advanced a message of re-visiting the Quran to see how it does not in any way endorse the above oppressive practices, and this is one of the reasons why they find support. The sad thing is they are viewed as "extremists" and unpalatable to the West because they are also fiercely against Western foreign policy, and crude capitalism.
Dr Habibah Ellahee, London, UK
Aside from the humanitarian aspect, this is a vital economic issue for the Muslim world, as cultures that treat their women more equally just function better. Before anyone in the West starts making condescending remarks, we've got a long way to go as well.
Eliot Axelrod, Bloomington, Minnesota
I am a father of three, two of whom are girls, all under ten. I wish to see my children treated equally in all and every aspect of their lives by the religion whose core values I am trying my very best to pass on to them. This is an encouraging news item to me. I wish the organisers the best of luck and hope they will avoid the early trajectory of feminism in the West, that of excluding men from their just struggle. If they do exclude men of good will, I worry progress will be so slow that even my under tens will not enjoy the fruits.
Kamal Ibrahim, Carbondale, IL, USA
First, I think we should not think misogyny in the Islam world is "their" problem. The oppression of women is global and we are all involved with it to great extents. As a male, I feel especially responsible to deconstruct myths of "masculinity" and how many historic and current interpretations use masculinity to support a patriarchy. But to do this, I feel it seems a great deal of the problem could be alleviated if the media stops looking at the oppression of women as transparent or like it is some one else's problem. I would like to hear and read a lot more about Islamic misogyny and to begin to understand what Islam means to many women and men.
Josh Zimmerman, Portland, Oregon USA
Having been a resident of Middle East a few years back, there is a long struggle ahead. We must remember however, that gender equality is as important as racial, religious, sexual orientation, political affiliation equality. We cannot shy away from the fact that many religions openly (it is not a misinterpretation) reject under the "word of lord" these and many other rights. In my opinion, we need not constantly be defensive and try to appease to people who believe in the infallible status of religions.
Ketan Sudhakar Khare, Mumbai, India
The religion of "Patriarchy" predates Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and underlies them all. If we see an "ugly face" to Islam, let us Christians remember to look to our own house first. What we have done in the name of Jesus has surely made him grieve a thousand times over.
Thomas McCabe, Lakewood, OH, USA
One can guess the relative support of a religion by counting the number of priests (or whatever the religious 'leaders' are termed) who are women. Using that criterion it is quite obvious that Islam is not alone in promoting male chauvinism.
John, Canada
I grew up though the "women's movement" in North America. We have the issues with feminism today, all over the world, simply because religious male leaders quote from their religious texts why a female is considered unequal; or my favourite: equal but different. In some countries, as in Canada, females are protected against this male mindset by human right laws. In many countries the law of the country is the law of the religious faith of the country. Adjusting a male mindset from self interpreted religious text will take generations, maybe never. Civil laws outside the boundaries of this text must be written and enforced to protect females. The civil law is without passion to the unreasonable demands of a religious text, civil law is concerned of what is just and fair, not a passionate plea to keep a gender superior simply because they hold the XY chromosome.
Carolyn Hortie, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
There is no sexism in Islam. Many people have misinterpreted it. People who say Islam is sexist should learn about the Shariah, the Quran and Islamic history before they make such an idiotic statement. I admit that violations of women's rights have taken place in Muslim countries but Islam should not be blamed for it.
Abrarur Rahman, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Islam, like any other religion, is viewed through the actions of the people. If there are misconceptions, then it is the responsibility of its followers to present itself as they wish to be seen. A veil of misconception can only be removed by those who wear it.
Brian K Smith, Maryville, TN, USA
Surely it's not the Muslim women in Europe they need to focus on here, as they have comparatively much greater freedom given the make up of our societies. It is those outside Europe that appear to be greatly oppressed by their governments and families. Maybe they are doing this in Spain as it would be much more difficult to get away with in say Tehran?
Marek, Hungerford, UK
Unfortunately 'Islamic sexism' is an issue that only women from the Islamic world can defeat. Western feminists are trained to challenge the Western style of thinking to promote positive change. It must be the same for Islamic women, only they can understand how they see their problems and how they want them changed.
John Roman, Toronto, Canada
All religions and most men see women as second class citizens. You can see it with the violence and the job structures everywhere. Until men can actually start believing women are equals (and they are) we will not have peace & prosperity.
Charles Fetterman, Lena, IL USA
We put so much emphasis about how Islam does not treat its women right, we forget how Hinduism and Christianity in their own way deprive the women community from directly participating in their religion. All religions must start empowering women, but over-emphasis on Islam will only leave the other religions behind!
Chetan, Bangalore, India
Well since I am responding to a media source, I think its only appropriate that it should start here. Aside from Hollywood, news agencies have a strong influence to alter people's stereotypes about Muslim women.
Saotomae, Tokyo, Japan
This article was helpful in debunking myths about women and Islam by stating "gender equality in Islamic countries involves refuting chauvinist interpretations of Muslim teachings." This tells your reader that it is not Islam itself which is bad, but it is poor interpretations of it which places women in a subordinate place.
Jessie Pettigrew, Rapid City, SD
I believe that "role equity" issues are needed in the feminist debate. Western feminists have neglected this point. The home tending that women have traditionally done is vital to the survival and health of the human species and, done well, serves to change both the marketplace and the environment in fundamentally positive ways. Muslim women are powerfully home-based still. I believe bringing the concept of "role equity" to the feminist debate would do many things, including help address the misconceptions about women and Islam.
Nancy Woodruff, Washburn, TN, USA
I am thrilled that we are re-examining the place of women of in Islam - especially as the mother of three daughters - we have a vested interest in seeing women having greater self-expression and autonomy, with a stronger emphasis on education. While the efforts of non-Muslim feminists are valuable and enlightening, the real change will come from within. With women moving into positions of strength, we will experience the love, peace and compassion that are the true essence of Islam.
Ameena Meer, New York, U.S.A.
I am delighted that feminist Muslim women are speaking out and telling us how we can support them. That act in itself is countering the stereotype. All of us in Britain need to be informed by them to counter the possible rising Islamic fundamentalism and also our idea that all Muslims approve of fundamentalism.
Jessie, London, UK
Misconceptions of women and Islam are effectively addressed when people understand the life and times of Prophet Muhammad in a sincere and honest manner. Looking back, there is no doubt that women enjoyed equal rights and freedoms with their male counterparts while maintaining public and personal dignity. Yet the pioneering role of women in early Islam in society, economics, and politics have been conveniently ignored in the male dominated cultures of many societies. The best way to address misconceptions about women and Islam is to make a sincere effort to understand the religion and then through our collective behaviour to ensure that Muslim women and men around the world live the true word and spirit of God's universal system.
Dr Basma Abdelgafar, Ottawa, Canada
This is centuries overdue. I am afraid that this round of call for revolution is another wave of words and no action. The inaction by the Islamic Feminists encourage the Islamic male chauvinist to continue suppressing women in the Islamic societies and further erode their civil and human rights.
John S, USA
You need to continue fighting for your rights. Yours is a power struggle that is masked by your religion, over a millennium dominated by men. You must chip away at stereotypes and educate. It will take time but persevere and good luck.
Brandon, LA, Ca, USA
We as Muslim women need to be more visible in the public arena so that people can see that we are independent beings who have a mind of their own. For too long Muslim women have been portrayed as submissive and meek. Its about time that we stand up tall and tell the world that we exist.
Asya Jalil, Toronto, Canada
Islam is not against women. Koran can be interpreted in a way to help women reach closer to equality in the society. Islam as a Semitic religion protects the right of women better than Judaism and Christianity. Money, sex and women have been clearly discussed in Islam. Women's issue is a civilisation. "Please don't use women to bash Islam". Women can be used easily to bash any philosophy on the Planet Earth.
Victoria Arshad, Toronto, Canada
I am an artist living in the middle of the USA, far from the coasts and even farther from the Islamic world. It is very apparent to me however, that the only way our cultures can coexist is through the efforts of women activists. The key to the "war on terror" is in the hands of women world-wide. As long as men are in charge nothing will change. Women must throw off the shackles of oppression and misogyny.
Louis Copt, Lawrence, Kansas USA
The phrase "never judge a book by it's cover" is probably the perfect way to describe a Muslim woman. People automatically assume that a headscarf means a Muslim woman has no rights, civil liberties or a voice of her own. Look beneath that and you will find a woman who has as many rights as a Western woman.
Anon
There are no misconceptions about Islam and the status accorded to women in Islam. Not to single out Islam and considering the overlapping influence of religion on cultures and societies at large, the treatment meted out to women in almost every corner of the world bar none is that of a second class individual. I have witnessed barbaric acts of violence inflicted upon women in Pakistan, yet again I have seen and witnessed violence on women in the US.
Wacar Rizvi, Gaithersburg, USA
Any religion that denigrates half its members (or any of its members) has no credibility. Islam is supposed to be about peace. There can never be peace when women are denied the basic freedoms and respect that men enjoy. All world and religious leaders and people of good conscience should stand up and say so in support of these brave women.
Michelle Godwin, Howell, MI, US
Western feminism is incompatible with Islamic feminism by definition. Witness the Western and university educated young women (most born in the west) revert to Muslim dress. Western feminism has failed women, despite Western countries being educated and highly developed democracies. Women's rights in the lesser developed countries are no worse. It remains a novelty for a Western government or political party to be lead by a woman. Meanwhile Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Indonesia have had female leaders. Iran had a female vice-president and there are proportions of seats reserved for women in parliaments of Pakistan, Iran, UAE and few others while women are free to contest the others too. These facts are overlooked in the West.
Shoukat, London, UK
In order to address misconceptions of women in Islam all women need to come together to spread the needs and viewpoints of Muslim women. We must demand all political leaders stand and represent us. The Western world has let the issues slide for so long now because there is not enough of us coming together to demand the human rights of our sisters around the globe. If we can make a big enough ripple, leaders will rise to the task.
Angie Binoz, Tyler, Texas USA
Muslim women should be encouraged to take a leading role in Islamic academia and re-interpret texts which have been interpreted predominantly by men. As long as religious monopoly lies with a particular group, and religion continues to exercise the social, political and spiritual influence it does, it is hard to see how less fortunate groups are ever going to get a fair hearing.
Dr Saqib Qureshi, London, UK
I am reminded of the Prophet's most beloved wife; Aisha who rode on top a camel into a battle to fight for what she believed to be right. I hope that these women are successful in their long struggle for equal rights.
Anut, Oregon USA
As a woman of faith, I would love to see more co-operation when possible amongst feminist movements within faith organisations. We should definitely all pray for each other and be willing to lend a hand breaking the stained glass ceiling when our sisters request it. As for a perception in the West that Islam is not capable of feminism, I would like to remind us that our stained glass ceiling is not yet broken, it was not so long ago Christians debated whether or not women had souls, Jewish women who pray at the Western Wall do so at risk to themselves in the 21st century, and finally, that with God, all things are possible.
Cait, Boston, MA, USA
First and foremost, a lot of non-Muslim women, especially feminists, need to talk and interact with Muslim women. I have several friends that have joined me in feminist activities and they wear the veil and that's not a bad thing. The veil can be used as a symbol of oppression, but just as equally it is used by women as a defiant act. Communication is key to understanding the differences between Muslim and non-Muslim women without using stereotypes to do so.
Rachael, Washington DC, US
Misconceptions about women and Islam could be addressed through first-hand writings from women in Islamic countries about what everyday experience as a woman is like in those countries. In the West, too, traditionally female-or home-focused work is often thought of as less important or valuable than office or career-centred work. This tendency needs to be countered in both the West and Islamic countries. Women's experience is not a pale shadow or bad reflection of men's. It's different than men's and needs to be explored and written about as it's own goal.
Sheridan Mahoney, Portland, OR, USA
I have not read the Koran and it's not likely that I will. I have a hard enough time understanding Christian feminist issues. We struggle with why Jesus didn't seem to have any trouble with women and yet his most vocal follower, Paul, had some big issues. How did we get strapped with Paul's views instead of Jesus'? I would like to know, in a less than Koran length article, what the similar struggles are for Islamic women.
Marguerite Casparian, Oyster Bay, NY, USA
I don't know if the Koran has been interpreted wrongly to suit men's ideas, but what I see here in Dearborn (highest concentration of Middle Eastern people in America) is that these women see the American lifestyle - which is of course the complete opposite - and have to keep living this suppressed life. Unless the men arrive at seeing the women as equal, women will stay suppressed. Of course it has been very nice for the men to have the women in these roles, so why would they want to change that??? It will be a process over many generations to try and achieve equality as this religion has been around for thousands of years and nothing has been done...
Petra Elliott, Dearborn, MI, USA
© BBC News
CIVIL RIGHTS CHAMPION ROSA PARKS DIES(usa)
25/10/2005- Rosa Parks, whose refusal half a century ago to give up her seat on a bus to a white man sparked the US civil rights movement, has died aged 92. Ms Parks was at home with close friends by her side when she died last night, her lawyer, Gregory Reed, said. The seamstress's defiance of segregation laws on an Alabama bus changed the course of American history and led to her becoming known as the "mother of the civil rights movement". On December 1 1955, with 19th-century, post-civil war laws in place requiring the separation of the races in public throughout the US south, she was on a bus in Montgomery when a white man demanded her seat. Ms Parks, an active member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, refused. Earlier that year, two black Montgomery women had been arrested on the same charge, but Ms Parks was jailed and fined $14. The incident triggered a boycott of the bus system, led by Martin Luther King, which lasted over a year. "She stood up by sitting down. I'm only standing here because of her," the mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, said late last night. The former president Bill Clinton said Ms Parks was "a woman of great courage, grace and dignity" who was "an inspiration to me and to all who work for the day when we will be one America".
Speaking in 1992, Ms Parks said history too often maintained "that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long." Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organised by King, then a little-known Baptist minister, who went on to earn the Nobel peace prize for his civil rights work. "At the time I was arrested, I had no idea it would turn into this," Ms Parks said 30 years later. "It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in." The Montgomery bus boycott, which came one year after the supreme court's landmark declaration that separate schools for blacks and whites were "inherently unequal", marked the start of the modern civil rights movement in the United States. The movement culminated in the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public places.
After taking her public stand, Ms Parks had trouble finding work in Alabama. Amid threats and harassment, she and her husband, Raymond, moved north to Detroit in 1957. She worked in the office of the Democratic congressman John Conyers from 1965 until she retired, in 1988. Mr Parks died in 1977. Ms Parks became a revered figure in Detroit, where a street and a school were named after her and a papier-mache likeness of her figured in the city's Thanksgiving day parade. Upon retiring, she said she wanted to devote more time to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. The institute, incorporated in 1987, is devoted to developing leadership among Detroit's young people and initiating them into the struggle for civil rights.
Rosa Parks: My Story was published in February 1992. In 1994 she brought out Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation, and in 1996 a collection of letters called Dear Mrs Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth. In 1996, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to civilians who make outstanding contributions to American life. In 1999, she was awarded the Congressional gold medal, the nation's highest civilian honour. The Rosa Parks Library and Museum opened in November 2000 in Montgomery. The museum features a 1955-era bus and a video that recreates the conversation that preceded her arrest. Born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, family illness interrupted her high school education but she earned her diploma in 1934, after marrying in 1932. Looking back in 1988, Ms Parks said she worried that young black people now took legal equality for granted. Older black people, she said, "have tried to shield young people from what we have suffered. And in so doing, we seem to have a more complacent attitude. "We must double and redouble our efforts to try to say to our youth, to try to give them an inspiration, an incentive and the will to study our heritage and to know what it means to be black in America today." At a celebration in her honour that same year, she said: "I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfilment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die - the dream of freedom and peace."
© The Guardian
ROSA PARKS WAS A QUIET PIONEER
26/10/2005- Rosa Parks thought she knew precisely what she was doing on Dec. 1, 1955, when she just said "no" to racism. In fact, however, Parks did not imagine the impact her stand would have on America. On that day in Montgomery, Ala., she did not know that she was writing her way into the history books as the "mother of the civil rights movement." Parks, who died on Monday at 92 years of age, was a quiet woman who did not aspire to fame - but, in part because of her demeanor, became one of the most revered Americans of the 20th century. She was a seamstress who was riding a city bus home that day nearly half a century ago. A white man, backed by the racist laws common at that time, demanded that she give him her seat. Parks refused.
In doing so she understood that she faced the wrath of the law, not to mention the anger of many white Southerners. She also knew that the budding civil rights movement was considering campaigns against racist laws such as that making black Americans second-class bus riders. And she knew that her situation might affect the campaign. But she was far from the first to take a stand. In her own city, two other women had been arrested earlier the same year for refusing to give their bus seats to whites. Parks had little reason to believe she would be any more than a statistic in the civil rights movement. Yet she decided that it was time for her to act on behalf of civil rights - hers. The spectacle of a small motherly looking woman in glasses being hustled away to jail because - well, because of the color of her skin - disturbed many Americans. And civil rights leaders latched on to her case, using it to organize a boycott of Montgomery buses. It was the spark that fanned the flames of civil rights protests throughout the South.
Parks, though a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People before her arrest, did not see herself as a civil rights leader. She acted, as she said in later years, simply because, "I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger." Others in the civil rights movement gained fame, justly, for their leadership. And many other black Americans whose names we will never know battled for their rights because they believed they were in the right. And they won. Though racism still is a cancer in our society, it no longer is institutionalized. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe, simply, that it is wrong.
Parks achieved greatness - and helped to do great things - not because she had most of the uncommon gifts that mark leaders. She was, in fact, one of the common people of all races who have made America great. But she displayed uncommon courage, uncommon dedication to an ideal at a time when to do so was dangerous. Without intending to become one, Parks was a heroine. She lived to see the civil rights movement bear fruit, but, even in her 80s, continued to work to improve the lot of black Americans. Her focus was on leadership among the young, through the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, named for her and her husband, who died in 1977. Americans who share Parks' ideals will mourn for her this week. At the same time they will thank God for the lady who taught us that one person, courageously battling evil, can make an incredible difference.
© The Intelligencer
ROSA PARKS SET TO 'LIE IN HONOUR'
The body of civil rights icon Rosa Parks is set to lie in honour in the US Capitol Rotunda - the first time that a woman has received the tribute.
28/10/2005- The US Senate voted on Thursday to allow the move and Congress is set to approve the decision on Friday. The text of the Senate resolution said that the honour should allow US citizens "to pay their last respects to this great American." Ms Parks died at her Detroit home on Tuesday at the age of 92. Her 1955 refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a bus prompted a mass black boycott of buses, organised by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. Ms Parks' actions inspired the mass movement which culminated in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and an end to segregation.
'Brave act'
Lying in honour is a tribute usually reserved for presidents and soldiers. Presidents Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy are among the US leaders to have received the honour. World War II General Douglas MacArthur and the bodies of several unknown soldiers have also been given the tribute. "Rosa Parks' brave and simple act ignited a movement that rewove America's social fabric," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said. "Allowing Mrs Parks to lie in honour here is a testament to the impact of her life on both our nation's history and future." Her remains will lie in the Capitol Rotunda on Sunday and Monday. Ms Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honour, three years later.
© BBC News
BULGARIA: DESEGREGATION COURT VICTORY (Press release)
ERRC Prevails in Court against Bulgarian Ministry of Education on School Segregation of Roma
On October 25, 2005, the Sofia District court released its decision on Case 11630/2004 finding that the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, the Sofia Municipality and School Number 103 of Sofia have violated the prohibition of racial segregation and unequal treatment provided in Bulgarian and international law. Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of the European Roma Rights Centre, said: "After a period of fifty-one years, the soul of Brown v Board of Education crossed the Atlantic and was reborn in Europe. For the first time, a civil court in a European country, Bulgaria, found that separate by coercion means unequal."
The Bulgarian anti-discrimination act in force since January 2004 explicitly defines racial segregation as a type of racial discrimination. Racial segregation consists in actions or inaction leading to coercive separation, distinction or isolation of a person on grounds of race, ethnic belonging or colour of skin. The 2003 Act on Protection against Discrimination further introduces a positive obligation of the authorities to take measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination (Article 29). In the instant case, the court found that the Bulgarian authorities have committed racial segregation against the Romani children of Sofia School 103, a typical ghetto school with one hundred percent Romani students, situated in the poor Romani settlement Filipovtsi in the larger Sofia. The Court ruled that the Romani children who have attended and are attending School 103 have been and continue to be subjected to segregation and unequal treatment and that their right to equal and integrated education has been violated.
The civil suit against the Ministry of Education, the Sofia Municipality and School 103 was filed by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in October 2004. The ERRC, testing the procedural possibility provided by the 2003 Act on Protection against Discrimination (APAD), filed the case as an independent and sole claimant in its own capacity as an international public interest law organisation, represented by lawyer Daniela Mihailova of the Sofia-based Romani Baht Foundation, working on a joint project with the ERRC funded by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The ERRC challenged the failure of the Bulgarian authorities to terminate the conditions of racially segregated education of the Romani children attending School 103 and ensure that the Romani children have equal access to education and equal treatment in education. The ERRC claimed that the fact that 100 per cent of the student body of School 103 was Romani constituted segregation on racial grounds prohibited by Article 29 of the APAD. Furthermore, the ERRC claimed that inaction on part of the Bulgarian authorities, namely - substandard material conditions in the school, lower expectations for the students' performance, lack of training for working with bilingual children, and lack of control on school attendance, violated the right to equality in education and the right to equal treatment in education of the Romani children in School 103.
The Court ruled that the separation of the Romani children in the Roma-only School 103 "was not the result of their free will but of circumstances beyond their control, accompanied by inaction on the part of authorities obliged to take measures to remedy this situation." The Court accepted that the separation of the Romani children in School 103 was the result of lack of opportunity to attend other schools caused by residential segregation in an all-Romani neighbourhood, obstacles for enrollment in other schools, and fear of racist abuse by non-Romani children. Further, the Court affirmed that the poor material conditions in School 103, the low educational results of the children, and failure of the school authorities to exert control on truancy are manifestations of unequal and degrading treatment of the children in School 103. Regardless of the fact that the national standard educational criteria were applicable to School 103, the available evidence indicating that the Romani children could not meet the standard educational requirements to a degree comparable with that of children in other schools, was sufficient to prove violation of their right to equal and integrated education. The Court also rejected the argument that the poor educational performance of the Romani children was due to irregular school attendance, stating that the Sofia municipality and the Ministry of Education had been required by law to exert control on the
school with regard to such matters. Finally, the Court stated that "the negative consequences for society resulting from the existing situation are tremendous."
Mikhail Georgiev, Executive Director of Romani Baht Foundation, commented:
"From now on we must work hard to ensure that this historic court decision marks the start of real change to eliminate segregated schooling for Roma. The law is on our side. There are dozens of schools in Bulgaria that are similar to School 103. It will take time and hard work to give effect to the law, but the road is now open."
© European Roma Rights Center
NO SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR ROMA, COURT RULES(Slovakia)
Constitutional Court sides with challenge to positive discrimination
24/10/2005- AFFIRMATIVE action in Slovakia violates the country 's constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled on October 18 in striking down a key provision of a recent anti-discrimination law. The court found fault with a clause in Slovakia's Anti-Discrimination Act that had provided a legal basis for temporary measures to help the most disadvantaged groups in society - particularly the 350,000-strong ethnic Roma population - narrow the gap with the mainstream. Positive discrimination, the justices ruled, is still discrimination, and as such is banned by the Constitution. The decision upheld the case submitted to the Court by Justice Minister Daniel Lipšic of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), who had opposed the positive discrimination legislation first proposed by his ruling coalition partner, Pál Csáky of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK). Lipšic welcomed the court ruling as one of the key verdicts in Slovakia's constitutional development. Backed by a cabinet majority, he had challenged the Act in October 2004. "The Constitutional Court confirmed that in Slovakia it is not possible to discriminate, either in the positive or negative sense, on the basis of someone's skin colour or national origin," he said after the decision was handed down. Csáky, who serves as deputy prime minister for European Integration, Human Rights and Minorities, did not share his colleague's enthusiasm, and said the verdict was "not entirely good news" for Slovakia. However, he said he would respect the decision of the court. The Anti-Discrimination Act, which took effect on July 1, 2004, banned discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion and gender. However, the Act also provided that "specific compensatory measures may be adopted to prevent people from being disadvantaged on the basis of their racial or ethnic origin, in the interest of securing equal opportunity in practice and observing the principle of equal treatment."
Csáky has frequently argued that this positive discrimination clause is not about giving some groups advantages at the expense of others, but instead about giving a boost to people who are on the bottom rung of society and unable to help themselves. He has also stressed the temporary nature of the clause. The clause was originally intended to help Slovakia's Roma community, which is poorer, less healthy, less educated, less employed and more discriminated than most citizens - in general, the country's most disadvantaged group. But Lipšic argued that any law that gave the Roma advantages, such as easier entry to university, based purely on their ethnicity would discriminate against Slovakia's non-Roma citizens. He pointed out that the Slovak Constitution guarantees equality for all citizens regardless of ethnicity or race, and said that the provision of aid could still continue through other, Constitutionally acceptable channels. "It's still possible to give advantages to people who are in poverty despite the fact that 95 percent of them belong to the Roma ethnic group," Lipšic said. The cabinet's appointee for the Roma community, Klára Orgovánová, suggested that a certain hypocrisy lay behind some arguments against affirmative action. "On the one hand some people worry that a certain group will enjoy advantages based on ethnicity and race, but on the other hand they don't seem disturbed by the fact that neglected groups have existed in Slovakia for many years, or that a huge group of citizens [the Roma] lives in unbelievably bad conditions. This doesn't seem to bother many people, or perhaps they're not willing to see that their bad conditions are also the result of ethnic discrimination," Orgovánová told The Slovak Spectator. "If a Roma child doesn't go to school because his or her parents didn't go either and the child is not motivated, that's one thing, but people should also understand that in most cases these kids are in segregated classes, sometimes even in segregated parts of school buildings, and that too is discrimination," she added.
Orgovánová pointed out older democracies where affirmative action has helped to even the field for disadvantaged groups, and said that without the controversial clause her work of fighting to improve conditions for the Roma would now be much harder. "That paragraph would have made my work easier. It would have been easier to push through certain improvements if there were a law to back my efforts. For example, in a school that has two classes where Roma children are taught and three classes for non-Roma children, it's easier to put pressure on the principal to mix the classes together if there is a law to back up my request. Now I have to beg them to do so. "This clause would really have helped to resolve the issue of integrated education," she said. However, Orgovánová said she believed the cancellation of the clause would not endanger government projects and assistance that have already been launched for the Roma community. "I don't think the cancellation of the provision will affect the compensation strategies we already use in some of our government programmes. I hope we will be able to build on this philosophy," she said. The cabinet adopted a document in 2003 promoting the integration of the Roma communities into mainstream society. The document states that "compensation strategies" do not discriminate against the rest of the population.
Slovakia's National Centre for Human Rights has also used the new legislation in dozens of discrimination cases. In 2004, the Centre received more than 200 complaints. While the European Union has recommended that its member states help their disadvantaged groups, it has said it will not intervene into Slovakia's legislation in this area. For Lipšic, however, any form of discrimination is bad. "The whole problem with positive discrimination is that [it is based on the argument that] to prevent ourselves from discriminating we have to discriminate. This is an argument out of Catch 22," Lipšic said last March in Košice, where the Constitutional Court was discussing the Anti-Discrimination Act for the first time since Lipšic submitted his motion. The Justice Minister also argued that positive discrimination supports stereotypes by strengthening the belief that some groups are unable to succeed without extra help. Lipšic's views are not shared by the majority in parliament, which passed the Anti-Discrimination Act on May 20, 2004 with a strong majority of 107 coalition and opposition MPs backing the bill in the 150-seat legislature. MP's from Lipšic's KDH party, a strong opponent of positive discrimination, either abstained or voted against the Act. Nor is the KDH's position widely held by the Slovak public. According to a September 2004 survey carried out by the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), a Bratislava think tank, 84 percent of respondents supported the Act as passed. Only four percent thought the Act was wrong.
© The Slovak Spectator
WILL SLOVAKIA FIND A BETTER CURE THAN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?(editorial)
By Beata Balogová
24/10/2005- A Colour-blind society needs colour-blind laws. This is the major argument used by opponents of the affirmative action clause of the Anti-Discrimination Act. The Slovak Constitutional Court, it would seem, agrees. On October 18, it judged the Act's affirmative action clause to be at odds with the country's constitution. As a result, the state's help for the Roma community depends on the nature and the goodwill of the government and not the existence of a law. Affirmative action in the United States has been defined as programmes to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. Certainly, the temporary balancing strategies have evoked fiery discussion in the US over how long these strategies should be applied and at what point the playing field becomes level. The European Union has encouraged its new members to help their disadvantaged groups of citizens, and the European parliament called on all EU countries with a significant Roma minority to fight against unjust exclusion and improve the Roma's access to education.
Slovak politicians and media use the expression "positive discrimination", which has a rather negative connotation in this society. Slovaks are quick to refer to strategies that the Communist regime applied to the Roma community when the regime was in denial about their problems, and enforced the Roma's dependence on social aid and programmes through artificial employment schemes. The majority of Slovaks deny the existence of discrimination against minorities in their society. Though the general awareness of these issues has largely improved, sociologists and human rights activists say that latent racism continues to slumber under the bedclothes of the new EU member state. "On one hand, there are people who worry that a certain group will enjoy some advantages based on ethnicity and race, but on the other hand, they do not seem to be disturbed by the fact that there have been marginalized groups in Slovakia for many years. One huge group of citizens [Roma] lives in unbelievably negative conditions. It seems that this does not bother many or they are not willing to see that their bad conditions are a result of discrimination based on ethnicity," cabinet appointee for the Roma community Klára Orgovánová told The Slovak Spectator.
According to Orgovánová, the opponents of affirmative action should observe that Roma children are often placed in separate classrooms, sometimes even in segregated parts of the school building, which is a result of discrimination. The cabinet appointee stresses that the affirmative action and balancing strategies are temporary tools designed to help the disadvantaged groups to climb to the level of other citizens. International organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, have been warning about the problems of Roma exclusion. Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Kálmán Mizsei said last year in an interview with The Slovak Spectator, "The Roma population of Slovakia is so much behind the mainstream, and it is so much a target of prejudices, that its problems cannot be solved exclusively on the basis of the civil principle [that all people are equal]." However, a poll by the Institute for Public Affairs sent out a positive message when showing that over 85 percent of Slovaks agreed with the anti-discrimination act. "Support for the anti-discrimination law is so universal that different opinions between social-demographic groups are not apparent," the institute's analysis read.
To answer the question of whether the playing field in Slovakia is level, one perhaps should ask oneself some questions: How many Roma physicians have I seen over the past couple of years? How many Roma reporters do I see on television? How many Roma teachers work at my children's school? How many Roma politicians are there in parliament? These are not exactly colour-blind questions, I agree, but they do show an urgent need to create diversity in education and public life. Nevertheless, the positive news remains that the cancellation of the clause will not in fact threaten the projects that the Slovak cabinet started for the Roma community in 2003, according to Orgovánová. Slovak society has been through many impressive changes. There have been some painful reforms adopted, and people have also reformed their minds. Besides, the problems of the Roma community are not Slovakia's alone. It is a complex European problem to which the EU should not turn a blind eye.
Fighting Roma stereotypes is a Herculean task, and will require the active engagement of the Roma themselves. However, many Slovak entertainers still find it completely normal to entertain the public on primetime television with Roma jokes. These serve simply to reinforce the stereotypes. Justice Minister Daniel Lipšic says that we cannot cure discrimination with discrimination. Let us trust that he knows of some other remedy.
© The Slovak Spectator
ROMANIA'S PRESIDENT ASKS PARLIAMENT TO INCLUDE GYPSIES IN HOLOCAUST LEGISLATION
25/10/2005- Traian Basescu sent the bill back to parliament, which will vote on his recommendation.He urged lawmakers to take into consideration the conclusions of a panel led by Nobel-prize laureate Elie Wiesel that studied the Holocaust in Romania, which stated that Gypsies, or Roma, were persecuted alongside Jews by the government of Marshal Ion Antonescu. Last week, rights activists and European lawmakers signed an open letter last week objecting to the wording of the legislation, which bans Holocaust denial and aims to make racism illegal. In the letter, signatories complained that the bill failed to mention that the Holocaust targeted Roma as well as Jews. Parliament sent the legislation to Basescu to sign on Thursday. In the statement, the president's office said that of 25,000 Roma who were deported from Romania to Trans-Dniester in the Soviet Union during World War II, about 11,000 died. "The centuries-old nomad Roma community disappeared forever." The wartime regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu was responsible for the deaths of more than 11,000 Roma and between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews, said the International Committee for the Study of the Holocaust, a panel of historians set up last year. Prejudice against Roma is common in Romania. Officially, 500,000 Roma live in the country, although unofficially there are believed to be at least double the number.
© News from Russia
ROMA RIGHTS AT THE CENTRE OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION CONCERNS IN BULGARIA AND ROMANIA (Press Release)
Human Rights, Social Inclusion and Integration of Roma Key Elements of Comprehensive Monitoring Reports on Preparations for Accession to the European Union
27/10/2005- Comprehensive monitoring reports published this week on preparations by Bulgaria and Romania for accession to the European Union placed Roma rights issues at the centre of EU concerns about the state of preparedness of both countries for European Union membership. For use by policy-makers, practitioners and media, the ERRC summarises below issues the Commission has identified as in need of urgent work by the governments of Bulgaria and Romania in the run-up to accession. On general matters related to the adoption of international human rights instruments, listed under chapters on "co-operation in the field of justice and home affairs", the Commission noted, with respect to both countries, that there had been "no developments" since 2004 in the ratification of international human rights legal instruments. The Commission further expressed concern that Romania has not yet ratified Protocol 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms dealing with the general prohibition of discrimination, while Bulgaria has not yet even signed it. The Commission devoted attention to Roma rights issues specifically under a number of chapters, and most extensively those devoted to "protection and integration of minorities" and "social affairs and employment". These include detailed comments on current state of play in implementing EU law banning discrimination, as well as specific areas of concern with respect to the fundamental rights of Roma. The Commission notes that Romanian law still does not comply with EU Directives specifying the requirements, contours and content of domestic anti-discrimination law.
The report on Bulgaria reads as follows on "protection and integration of minorities":
"The effective and sustainable integration of Roma remains an issue of major concern. The efforts made by Bulgaria to implement the "Framework Programme for Equal Integration of Roma into Bulgarian Society" lack sufficient strategic approach, coordination and finance. This Framework Programme is still in its early stages, and related documents and action plans adopted by the government remain largely on paper. "Key reforms in combating discrimination in education, healthcare and housing are still outstanding. A long-term action plan in line with the "Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015" (launched in Sofia in February 2005) has been drawn up and contains objectives in the areas of education, healthcare, housing, culture and discrimination. Bulgaria needs to ensure that this action plan is properly resourced and implemented. "A number of cases were filed under the Protection against Discrimination Act, and in three cases the Sofia Electricity Supply Company was found guilty of treating Roma customers unfavourably in relation to non-Roma
customers. An independent Commission for Protection against Discrimination, as envisaged by the law, was established in 2005. "The strategic documents and programmes on the educational integration of children from the Roma minority have not significantly changed the situation on the ground. Initiatives aimed at attracting and keeping Roma children in school (e.g. free lunches, subsidised textbooks, teacher assistants in schools with Roma students, bussing programmes) were largely unsuccessful. Although an Agency for Educational Integration of Children and Pupils from Ethnic Minorities has been established, this body has not succeeded so far in fulfilling its main function, namely the coordination of efforts made by different ministries to enhance the educational integration of children from minorities. As already outlined in the 2004 Report, a number of Roma children of mainstream mental ability still continue to be placed in special schools following poorly controlled assessments.
"Many Roma continue to be excluded from access to healthcare services. A Health Strategy for Disadvantaged Members of Ethnic Minorities and an associated action plan were adopted in September 2005. The elaboration of this strategy and action plan forms an important part of the Framework Programme for Equal Integration of Roma into Bulgarian Society. Although several initiatives are ongoing with international donor support, a long-awaited National Housing Strategy for Roma has not yet been adopted. "A number of national employment programmes aimed inter alia at addressing long-term unemployment amongst Roma have continued. However, in order to increase their effectiveness, these initiatives need to be further combined with complementary measures such as family counselling and professional assistance in searching for a job. "In spite of the establishment of a new National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, the administrative capacity of the State structure dealing with minority issues continues to be weak. The body is not yet fully operational, and it remains to be seen whether the chosen structure will provide for the powers necessary for effective minority rights protection, including enhanced political influence and staffing. In particular, attention should be paid to ensuring sufficient consultation with Roma representatives with a view to developing and implementing the State policy on the integration of Roma. "The Bulgarian authorities should demonstrate, at all levels, that the country applies a zero-tolerance policy on racism against Roma or against any other minority or group and that this policy is effectively implemented."
The parallel chapter in the Romania report, the section devoted to "protection and integration of minorities", states as follows:
"Concerning the Roma minority, very limited progress was registered in the functioning of the structuresin particular the National Agency for Roma in its capacity as the reorganised Office for Roma issuesinvolved in the implementation of the 2001 Roma Strategy. The Joint Committee for Implementation and Monitoring remains very weak in terms of activity. Staffing should be further strengthened and, together with improved inter-sectoral coordination, budgetary resources should be significantly enhanced at central and local levels. The appointment, in July 2005, of a new head for the National Agency, coming from the Roma community and without political affiliation, is an encouraging sign of the government's willingness to begin integrating Roma organisations in the implementation and monitoring of the strategy. "Positive developments have been made in improving access of Roma to education and health sectors. The number of reported cases of police violence against Roma has begun to decrease. There have been reports of
cases of traffic accidents involving Roma victims being closed without a full investigation being carried out. The National Council for Combating Discrimination has imposed sanctions in cases of discrimination but, de facto discrimination against the Roma minority, especially at local level, continues to be widespread, in particular as regards housing and access to social services and the labour market (see also Chapter 13 - Social Policy and Employment). The Romanian authorities should demonstrate, at all levels, that the country applies a zero-tolerance policy on racism against Roma or against any other minority or group and that this policy is
effectively implemented. "Romania is participating in the "Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015" that was launched in Sofia in February 2005. It took over responsibility for the Secretariat of the Decade in mid-2005. A long-term action plan in line with the Decade has been drawn up and contains objectives in the areas of education, healthcare, housing, culture and discrimination. Romania needs
to ensure that this action plan is properly resourced and implemented."
As to "social affairs and employment", the other rubric of both reports under which the European Commission provides extensive comment related to Roma, these read as follows:
Bulgaria:
". Concerning employment policy, further efforts are necessary to effectively implement the priorities identified in the Joint Assessment Paper on Employment Priorities in a more coherent and efficient way, including the integration of ethnic minority groups, in particular Roma, on the labour market. There is a need to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Bulgarian Public Employment Services, in particular as regards organisational issues, staff training and strengthening of the human and financial resources available. Furthermore, there is a need to activate the important number of persons who do not participate in the
Labour Market.
". Enhanced efforts are required particularly in relation to health care and child welfare. The problem of inappropriate living conditions in institutions has also to be addressed urgently, including the need to improve the de-institutionalisation process and to further develop an alternative system of community-based social services. Moreover, further efforts are needed to improve the situation of vulnerable groups and promote their full integration into society, such as the Roma community, who face extremely high risks of poverty, exclusion and isolation across the country or the persons with disabilities by improving access to public areas, buildings and transport as well as to education and the labour market.
"Concerning anti-discrimination, the law on protection against discrimination is largely in line with the acquis in this area. Minor
adjustments are still necessary as regards instructions to discriminate and the legal standing of associations. The equality body required by the acquis has been established and legislation has started to be applied by Bulgarian courts in several cases to protect victims of discrimination. The Commission for Prevention of Discrimination has been established but it is not clear whether it has sufficient human and financial resources in order to perform its functions independently. Despite continuous efforts, the situation of the Roma minority still requires fundamental improvements."
Romania:
"In the field of public health, . further efforts are needed in the implementation of the National Plan of Action for the surveillance and control of communicable diseases, including strengthening the capacity of the National Centre for Communicable Diseases. The coverage of the surveillance system should be improved to reach out to the most vulnerable groups, such as the Roma minority. Access to health care, including preventive services, should be ensured for all citizens in order to improve the health status of the population. The health system is in need of reform to improve the efficiency and effectiveness. The persistent problem of ill-treatment in psychiatric hospitals needs to be addressed immediately.
"Concerning employment policy, further efforts are necessary to effectively implement the priorities identified in the Joint Assessment Paper of Employment Policy Priorities in a more coherent and effective way, including the integration of ethnic minority groups, in particular Roma, on the labour market. There is a need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Romanian public employment services and to effectively activate labour market measures.
". Analytical work and development of social statistics on poverty and social exclusion should be continued in line with the EU's commonly agreed indicators on social inclusion. Moreover, further efforts are needed to improve the situation of vulnerable groups and promote their full integration into society, such as Roma community, who faces extremely high risks of poverty, exclusion and isolation across the country, or the persons with disabilities, by improving access to public areas, buildings and transport as well as to education and the labour market. The efforts to develop an inclusive strategy that aims at closing and restructuring large residential institutions by developing alternative community-based services, support to families and smaller residential units have to be continued and reinforced.
". Legislative alignment in the field of anti-discrimination is still to be completed especially as regards the shift of the burden of proof in order to have in place an efficient anti-discrimination mechanism in Romania. The overall administrative capacity of the National Council for Combating Discrimination should be enhanced, including funding, transparency and general awareness of its activities, and its independence should be guaranteed. Its relationship with the National Agency for Equal Opportunities also needs to be further clarified. Effective implementation of the legislation on the ground is still to be ensured. Despite promising efforts, the situation of the Roma minority still requires fundamental improvements. Public expression of racism against vulnerable groups, such as Roma, should be brought to an end. Due attention should be paid to awareness-raising activities in order to eradicate prejudices and stereotypes in society.
". Access to health services, particularly for the Roma minority, needs to be enhanced, and immediate attention should be paid to the improvement of the health status of the population and to health expenditure. Improvement of the treatment of inmates in psychiatric hospitals and of the living conditions of the Roma minority must be prioritised. Unless significant additional efforts are made in the fields of public health, European Social Fund and social inclusion, there is a serious risk that Romania will not have duly functioning structures in place by the date of accession. In general terms, increased efforts are needed to strengthen the administrative capacity."
Aside from these primary passages of the two reports, Roma appear under a number of other EU concerns:
Concerning Bulgaria, the Commission report notes: "Roma children are still disproportionately represented among victims of trafficking." The report also states: "There continue to be reports of cases of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, including excessive use of firearms and force by the police. Reports indicate that ill-treatment of persons in custody disproportionately affects Roma. In a number of cases, investigations of complaints of police ill-treatment were not prompt, thorough and impartial."
Concerning Romania, the Commission report states: "There are still reports of ill-treatment by law enforcement personnel, including excessive use of force and use of lethal force in non-compliance with EU and international standards. As in the past, many of the victims were Roma. Judicial review of such complaints is rare and few disciplinary sanctions have been handed down in such cases. The legal maximum length of pre-trial detention appears to be respected, though there are still instances of pre-trial detainees being put in police cells with convicted criminals, which violates both domestic law and Romania's international treaty obligations. This situation should now be resolved urgently."
The full texts of the European Commission's comprehensive monitoring reports on Bulgaria and Romania
© European Roma Rights Center
INTERNATIONAL ROMANI UNION (IRU) BOYCOTTED OSCE'S CONFERENCE
24/10/2005- On October 20th-21st, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE) held a joint international conference on the implementation of policies and Action Plans for Roma, Sinti and Travellers, and measures against the anti-Gypsyism phenomenon in Europe. Instead of focusing on the policies and of the Action Plan, the IRU focused on their non-pariticpation because of an invitation that was sent at the last minute. The IRU boycotted the meeting declaring the lack of respect for the IRU by the OSCE. The late invitation sparked outrage among many involved with the IRU. President of the IRU Stanislaw “Stahiro” Stankiewicz stated that the [late] invitation for participation at the conference on the part of the Administration’s assistant, Nikolae George, is pointing that the organizers of the conference do not have basic respect toward the International Roma Union (IRU). Additionally, General Secretary of the International Romani Union Mr. Zoran Dimov stressed his support of the non-participation stating that the „IRU doesn’t have any intention to be only an organizational decoration at the conference and to only fulfill an empty place in the agenda.” The International Romani Union first appeared in 1971 with the first Roma World Congress held in London. Since then the IRU has aspired to be the major representative body for Roma worldwide. The IRU focuses on advocating for Roma as a collective ‘Nation;’ and works to organize the Roma World Congresses. The largest World Congress of the IRU ever held was in Prague in July 2000, at which time the lawyer Emil Scuka, Rom from former Czechoslovakia, became the President. Scuka was replaced by Stankiewicz as president in 2004 at the 6th World Congress in Italy.
© Dzeno Association
JEWISH FED. CONCERNED ABOUT NEO-NAZI DEMONSTRATION PLANNED IN PRAGUE(Czech Rep.)
The Czech Federation of Jewish Communities voiced its concern yesterday over reports that a neo-Nazi demonstration outside the German embassy in Prague is planned for October 28 to protest against the imprisonment of German Ernest Zuendel, jailed or publicly denying that the Holocaust occurred.
25/10/2005- The Jewish federation yesterday sent a letter to the authorities calling on them to prevent this provocation from taking place, one of its leaders, Jiri Danicek said. Danicek was for many years the chairman of the Prague Jewish Community. The organisers of the demonstration, to be held on the day when the Czech Republic marks the foundation of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, has announced the protest to the Prague City Hall as the law requires. Zuendel, who lives in Toronto, Canada, is accused of spreading hatred towards Jews through the Internet. He has repeatedly denied the existence of the Holocaust, which is a crime in Germany and many other EU countries. The Canadian police extradited him to their German colleagues in spring. Zuendel, 65, already spent two years in a Toronto prison. He emigrated to Canada in 1958 from Germany and the Canadian authorities have repeatedly rejected his requests for citizenship. The international B'nai B'rith Jewish organisation considers him one of the largest producers of anti-Jewish and neo-Nazi literature in the world.
© Prague Daily Monitor
MINISTER UNVEILS PLANS TO RESTRICT MARRIAGE MIGRATION(Belgium)
27/10/2005- The federal government has unveiled plans to restrict the number of foreigners entering Belgium for the purpose of marriage. Starting from 2006, immigrants who enter Belgium for marriage will be obligated to take out health insurance. Assessment periods will also be lengthened. The new measures unveiled by Interior Minister Patrick Dewael are designed to reduce sham marriages and restrict the number of marriage immigrants, Flemish daily newspaper 'De Morgen' reported on Thursday. Dewael said the ministry had almost finished drawing up the rough draft of the legislation, which he promised will adhere to European Union guidelines. He said for pragmatic reasons, the reforms to marriage unification legislation regulating unions between non-EU nationals and between EU nationals will be bundled together in one legislative proposal. Several regulations which are now spelled out in various ministry memos and instructions will also be given an official legislative status. The proposals will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting within the next few weeks before being lodged with the Council of State for assessment. Dewael said the legislation must be in place by the end of the year. Dewael refused to reveal definite details of the plan, but said the "measures will allow action to be taken against abuses of the family unification procedure". These measures will include compulsory health insurance for marriage immigrants and a longer period of assessment. The Liberal VLD minister said legislation has already been lodged in Parliament aimed at making fake marriages criminally prosecutable. A ministerial memo also aims to regulate information exchange between population register public servants to combat 'marriage shopping'.
© Expatica News
NETHERLANDS TO EXTRADITE HOLOCAUST DENIER
26/10/2005- An Amsterdam court has agreed to extradite Belgian Holocaust denier Siegfried Verbeke to face trial in Germany for claiming the Nazis did not murder six million Jews. On Wednesday, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that a court in Amsterdam had agreed to extradite Verbeke, who comes from Kortrijk in Flanders. He was arrested at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in August and charged with racism and xenophobia and of spreading negationist opinions on the internet. Germany had already asked Belgium to extradite Verbeke last year, but a Belgian judge refused the request. In his home country Verbeke has already been convicted of Holocaust denial. The appeals court in Antwerp sentenced him in April to a maximum one-year jail term and a EUR 2,500 fine for breaching negationist and anti-racism laws. Verbeke also faced similar allegations in the Netherlands, but Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner put the charges on ice, on condition that Verbeke was sent to trial in Germany. The 63-year-old Verbeke has been the head of the Free Historical Research centre (VHO) since 1983. The centre publishes books in which the Holocaust is denied or downplayed. Verbeke, who has become a well-known figure across Europe, has used the principle of freedom of speech to defend himself in the past, and is reported to hold links with various extreme-rights groups across the continent.
© Expatica News
DETAINEES KILLED IN DUTCH BLAZE
27/10/2005- At least 11 people have died, and 15 are in hospital, after a three-hour blaze in a detention centre at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The blaze broke out soon after midnight in the centre, which houses illegal immigrants and drug smugglers awaiting deportation from the Netherlands. Some of the 350 prisoners at the centre said guards were slow to respond to their cries for help.
Police said they were looking for some detainees who may have escaped. Witnesses described flames licking from the windows of the prefabricated complex, which is sited only yards from one of the runways on the east side of the airport. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said: "It's terrible if you hear about a fire of such size, 11 people dead. "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the wounded."
Warnings 'ignored'
The cause of the blaze is still unknown. "The 11 who died were detainees," said local Mayor Michel Bezuijen, but their nationalities and identities were not released. He said an independent inquiry would be set up, as well as the regular judicial inquiry, while a European prisoners' rights group said it would also investigate. MPs said they wanted an inquest to look at safety issues. Forty-three people were said to be in the wing that caught fire, where two dozen cells held up to two people each. There were some firefighters and police among the injured. One detainee at the centre told Dutch radio that guards had initially ignored their warnings of a fire and their banging on the cell doors. "We remained locked inside. We were shouting at the top of our voices until we were hoarse," he said. Speaking on Dutch television, a detainee described the growing panic. "First they said there was no problem, and they just kept us locked up," he said. "Our throats started hurting. We kicked, we screamed, we rang the bell of course. And then panic broke out." A spokesman for the prosecutors' office, Martin Bruinsma, told AFP news agency the emergency services had acted "very quickly", but that cell doors could only be opened manually, one at a time. The Dutch National Refugee Council criticised conditions at the centre, particularly the lack of an automatic system to open cell doors.
Escape
Some of the detainees have been transferred to other detention centres in the Netherlands. Helicopters were being used to search for several who are believed to have escaped from the centre. Police said three were arrested trying to escape. The complex is used for people arriving by plane who are refused entry to the Netherlands. Hundreds of cocaine smugglers, mostly from the Netherlands Antilles and other parts of the Caribbean, are detained at the airport every year, along with illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The Netherlands has one of the toughest immigration policies in Europe, and is in the process of deporting 26,000 asylum seekers who have been refused the right to stay. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, visiting the site on Thursday, said: "It's awful. I offer my condolences to the families."
© BBC News
DUTCH HELP OUT MALTA ON IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
28/10/2005- The Netherlands has agreed to take refugees from Malta, following the tiny island state's repeated calls for EU help with the boat loads of Sub-Saharan immigrants arriving on its shores. As a first step, the Netherlands will receive 30 refugees from the Mediterranean island group, with Dutch immigration authorities also offering to train their Maltese counterparts on handling migrant flows. "They have understood our position, and have agreed voluntarily to help us without anything in return", the Maltese foreign minister Michael Frendo told EUobserver on Friday (28 October), adding that media and political discussion of EU states facing immigration probelms has been somewhat unfair recently. "If Spain has a problem with Ceuta and Melilla, we have a crisis here in Malta", he said. "Italy, Malta and Libya, at the very heart of the Mediterranean Sea need assistance, and it is a matter for the whole of the EU and not for the three countries alone", he continued. The Czech Republic has also announced that it is willing to help Malta, while Ireland and Germany have also responded positively to the Maltese call. The island of Malta has 400,000 inhabitants but has received 5,000 refugees since 2002, a small sum on paper, but an enormous burden for the country, foreign minister Frendo indicated. "With a population of 400,000 people, for us to receive one immigrant is like Italy receiving 140", he said.
Tokens of solidarity
A spokesperson for the EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, said that bilateral agreements between member states were welcomed by the commission, although other measures will be needed to get a grip on illegal immigration at EU level. "We see these agreements as tokens of solidarity between member states, but re-settlement does not solve the issue in itself", he said. The commission is rushing to sign a "readmission agreement" with Morocco before the end of the year, and has also shown interest in starting negotiations with Algeria, a country from which large numbers of Sub-Saharan immigrants reach Morocco on their way to the EU. In readmission agreements, countries pledge to accept their emigrants back home. Russia has already signed such a deal, and Ukraine might soon follow suit. Meanwhile, EU leaders gathered in Hampton Court, UK, on Thursday showed support for a Spanish-French proposal on tackling illegal immigration, releasing €400 million to finance the plan. The commission plans to take the best bits of the various initiatives to establish a pan-EU policy on the subject, a spokesman said.
© EUobserver
POLICE ARREST SKINHEADS ACCUSED OF TRYING TO KILL GAY MAN (Brazil)
27/10/2005- A police statement said Eduardo Toniolo Del Segue, 25, and his wife, Edwiges Francis Barroso, 26, stabbed the man one month ago in Curitiba, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Sao Paulo. The victim, who was treated and released shortly after the attack, only managed to identify his assailants on Wednesday. The group of neo-Nazi skinheads allegedly led by Del Segue had been under investigation for more than a month for attacking Jews, blacks and homosexuals. Pro-Nazi books, flags and CDs were found in the couple's house, the statement said. Another nine members of the group were also arrested and charged with conspiracy and racism for diffusing anti-black and anti-gay propaganda. The promotion of racist ideas is a crime in Brazil punishable by up to three years in prison, the AP reports. Police are investigating possible links between the Curitiba group and skinhead groups in other southern Brazilian states - including Rio Grande do Sul, where three skinheads were arrested in May for allegedly punching, kicking and stabbing three Jewish students.
© News from Russia
REPORT: RACISM RIFE IN FRENCH MILITARY
28/10/2005- Ethnic immigrants face endemic racism and discrimination in the French army, a new study reports. Published by the French Institute for International Relations in Paris, the study finds recruits from mostly Muslim backgrounds face prevailing racism and mistrust, particularly when it comes to their cultural and religious practices. The institute largely based its report on roughly 100 interviews that took place between March and July 2004. The report is not due out until early November, but excerpts were published in Le Monde's Friday edition. One corporal in the French army, who gave a fake name "Hocine," recounted regular slights he received from his counterparts and senior officers over years of service. A typical slur, he said, was "Behave yourself, you're not in the housing projects anymore." A large chunk of France's ethnic immigrants come from the country's former North African colonies. Many have failed to break away from low-income housing projects, and experts say they are often marginalized in terms of educational opportunities and jobs. Today, these ethnic immigrants represent between 10-20 percent of French soldiers, a figure that is growing, the French Institute report notes.
© World Peace Herald
ZAPATERO OUTLINES PLAN TO RESOLVE IMMIGRATION (Spain)
28/10/2005- Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero outlined a joint Spanish-French policy to resolve Europe's immigration problems. Zapatero told other European Union leaders at a conference at Hampton Court outside London that immigration "cannot be left to the neighbour closest to the door". With reference to the recent controversy over the deaths of migrants at the Spanish-Moroccan border in North Africa, he added: "Immigration is not just a Spanish-Moroccan problem, it is a European one. It requires global cooperation." Zapatero had joined other EU heads of government for talks on economic challenges posed by globalisation. Tony Blair called the informal summit as the UK is the current EU presidency holder. Zapatero's emphasis on the immigration issue reflects rising concern in Spain about clandestine migration in the wake of a series of incidents along the border between Spain's enclaves in Ceuta and Melilla and the Moroccan border. Rabat admitted this week Moroccan police had shot dead at least 12 would-be migrants who tried to scale the fences and reach Spain. The expulsion by Morocco of hundreds of other migrants in the desert in the south or east of the country sparked worldwide concern. Zapatero said the EU should work towards repatriation agreements with migrants' countries of origin and boost aid for desperately poor African countries. "The origin of immigration lies in poverty, hunger and misery," said Zapatero.
© Expatica News
WATER QUALITY ON RESERVES DOES NOT MEET STANDARDS(Canada)
Many treatment plants inadequate. Operators often lack training.
27/10/2005- In First Nations communities across Northern Ontario, few treatment plants can produce water clean enough to meet the province's tough new standards. Half the people who operate those plants have outdated training — or none at all. So it's no wonder, observers say, that so many in these generally poor and often remote communities are advised to boil water before they drink it or use it for cooking and washing. The Kashechewan Reserve, 450 kilometres north of Timmins, where nearly half the 1,900 residents are being evacuated for health reasons, might be worse than most. Tests earlier this month revealed dangerous E. coli bacteria in its drinking water. That problem — now rectified, Health Canada says — is currently encountered in only four other native communities among the nearly 900 throughout Canada. Kashechewan's situation is made worse by the fact its eight-year-old drinking water plant is downstream along the Albany River from its sewage lagoon outfall. "That's a no-no," said Mohammed Karim, an engineer with the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corp., who co-ordinates training for treatment operators. "No plant should be designed that way." "How that was designed is beyond me," said Michael Nepinak, executive director of the decade-old corporation, which offers training and engineering support to First Nations. But in many ways, when it comes to water services, Kashechewan is like many other native communities: In Ontario, more than 50 are under boil-water advisories. The Canada-wide total is about 100.
From 1995 to 2002, the federal government spent at least $1.2 billion to improve drinking water quality in native communities. That included money to build or upgrade plants, improve maintenance and expand training. Four years ago, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada assessed 740 systems and concluded 29 per cent of them posed a potential high risk of poor water quality. Only 25 per cent were in the low- or no-risk category, the study's report says. The result was later confirmed by the federal auditor general. In 2003, Ottawa promised $600 million more over five years to deal with the problem. But those trying to cope with the issue say it's not enough. The nearly $2 billion spent or committed "is a very modest amount compared to what it should be," Nepinak said. Across Canada, "it could be tens or twenties of billions." Ottawa's estimate is less grand, but still substantial. The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development has suggested "another $1.9 billion to clean it up," said Ian Corbin, acting director-general of Indian Affairs' community development branch. Some money went into plants, like Kashechewan's, that were soon made obsolete by stringent water standards imposed after the Walkerton E. coli disaster. "The biggest problem is that plants aren't working the way they're supposed to," Karim said. Indian Affairs wants facilities to meet Ontario's post-Walkerton standards, but many of the recent plants "were not built to meet the regulations. ... They're not capable of meeting the drinking water guidelines."
On top of that, Ottawa hasn't provided funding to train all the operators, Karim says. There's enough for about half and it goes to those running high-risk plants. "The other 50 per cent are on their own." As well, spending is spread among several federal departments, Nepinak said. Health Canada notes that many First Nations, like other remote communities, often can't find or keep qualified operators. And boil-water advisories sometimes result from residents' complaints about the taste of bacteria-killing chlorine in drinking water "which results in (the) community turning off the chlorinator," ministry spokesman Paul Duchesne said in an email to the Toronto Star. Nepinak called Kashechewan — with its water treatment plant downstream from the sewage outfall — "an anomaly."
The American Water Works Association, based in Denver, says that arrangement "is not uncommon," and isn't a problem with effective sewage treatment. But the northern plant not only can't meet Ontario's new standards, but it also wasn't built to process the kind of water it receives, Karim says.
© The Toronto Star
DIÊNE DISAGREES WITH AMNESTY'S REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN BRAZIL
27/10/2005- Doudou Diène, special rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Intolerance, said, yesterday (26), that he disagrees with the report issued by Amnesty International (AI) on the human rights situation in Brazil. AI concluded that Brazilian government officials have failed to protect the human rights of the population since 1996. "After ten days in Brazil, I do not share this opinion. Brazilian leaders are aware of the obstacles and difficulties. If Brazil has not succeeded in restoring all human rights up to now, this can be achieved, given political will," the rapporteur said. The AI report voices concern over the "large number of homicides practiced by the police and the dissemination of torture and mistreatment" in Brazil. Diêne's visit to Brazil ended yesterday. He gathered data on the measures adopted by the country to confront racial discrimination. Diène's final report will be submitted to the UN in 2006.
© Agencia Brasil
Headlines 21 October, 2005
SCHOOL EXCLUDES HOMOSEXUAL TEACHERS(Denmark)
Public elementary schools are ready to follow in the footsteps of some Christian private schools and exclude homosexual teachers from their staff
21/10/2005- A public elementary school in southern in Jutland rejects job applications from teachers who openly say they are homosexual, daily newspaper JydskeVestkysten reported on Friday. At the Nørre Løgum Central School in the town of Løgumkloster, board chairman Bent Oluf Damm said he would not hesitate to reject homosexual applicants. 'It would confuse their worldview, since children inevitably stem from a man and a woman. That is the most natural and safe idea for a child, in my opinion,' said Damm, who has been a member of the board for twelve years and served as its chairman for eight. Damm said he was certain that other board members agreed with him, and the school did not find his opinion problematic. Heidi Martensen, the sitting school inspector, said she did not see that it posed any problems if the chairman's opinion influenced his choice of personnel. 'That's his opinion, and I don't think anyone else in the board sees it as a problem,' she said. The opinion, however, did not go down well with political parties and the national parent organisation School and Society. 'Would it also confuse their worldview if someone was leftist, fat, or a Catholic?' asked School and Society's vice chairman Solveig Gaarsmand, adding that the school's policy was illegal. Damm rejected her criticism. 'I'm not trying to break the law. It's a question of the many aspects I take into consideration in my evaluation of the person as a good teacher,' he said. The chairman of the Danish Teachers' Union said he would request local authorities to ensure that the school did not discriminate against homosexual applicants.
© The Copenhagen Post
MUSLIM ANGER AT DANISH CARTOONS
The ambassadors of 10 Muslim countries have complained to the Danish prime minister about a major newspaper's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
20/10/2005- A letter from the ambassadors said the cartoons published in Jyllands-Posten last month showed the Prophet as a stereotypical fundamentalist. Pictorial depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in Islam. A Danish government spokesman said Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was preparing a response. Danish Muslim community leaders who held talks with Mr Rasmussen in July complained about press coverage of Islam. At the time, he said he could not tell newspapers what to print - or what not to. On Thursday, the Jyllands-Posten reported that two illustrators who produced the cartoons had received death threats.
Rights
The daily published the series of cartoons, after a writer complained that nobody dared illustrate his book about Muhammad. "We must quietly point out here that the drawings illustrated an article on the self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world", the paper said. "Our right to say, write, photograph and draw what we want to within the framework of the law exists and must endure - unconditionally!" The ambassadors who signed the letter to the prime minister included a number of Arab countries, Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Indonesia. "We hope there will be understanding of Muslims' feelings about Mohammad. And we hope there will be an apology from Jyllands-Posten," Mascud Effendy Hutasuhut, counsellor at the Indonesian embassy in Denmark, told Danmarks radio.
© BBC News
NUMBER OF MUSLIM PUPILS GROWING DRAMATICALLY IN GREATER HELSINKI SCHOOLS (Finland)
Shortage of qualified teachers to be addressed from 2007
20/10/2005- The number of Muslim pupils in the schools of the Greater Helsinki area has outgrown the number of those studying the Orthodox faith. While the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has kept its top position, Ethics comes second, and the Islamic religion is the third. The number of Muslim pupils has grown at an annual rate of 20% in the course of the last three years. The growth is expected to continue for at least two to three years more. According to Ilona Kuukka of the City of Helsinki's Education Department, the children of immigrant families who have been born in Finland are now reaching school age. Typically, Muslim families have several children, and thus already two families can have enough children to meet the requirements to have an Islam class of their own. Although it is likely that the minimum size requirements will be modified in future, more study groups will have to be set up, since there is no sense in having children with a wide age-spread (7 to 13) all studying in the same unit. In the metropolitan region, pupils are taught general Islam, consisting of both Sunni and Shiah branches of orthodox Islam. However, some Muslims, particularly Shiahs, prefer to give religious instruction within their own community. There is a huge shortage of teachers of minority religions, as no such teacher training exists in Finland as yet. However, the University of Helsinki is planning to start the training of teachers of Islam in a couple of years. Teachers of other minority religions will be trained later. As a result of the shortage of teachers, there are no permanent posts, either. The current teachers are working part-time, and they are paid lower salaries than those with permanent positions. Muslim parents cling tenaciously to their right to have instruction for their children in their own religion. However, the children of the Tartar Muslim families, who came into Finland from Russia more than a century ago, sometimes take part in the classes of the Evangelical Lutheran faith or opt for a non-denominational Ethics class.
© Helsingin Sanomat
NO IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORS, THANKS(Norway)
Norway has a reputation for the utmost political correctness, but more than every other Norwegian would prefer not to have immigrants as neighbors.
20/10/2005- The report "Future Living" from Prognosesenteret (The Prognosis Center), an analytical firm for the construction and property market, asked 2,000 Norwegians how they lived and how they wanted to live in the future. Two questions asked for an assessment on whether the respondent was most at home in multicultural circles, and if immigrants should residentially integrated as well as possible with ethnic Norwegians. Over half agreed in maximum integration but only two out of ten felt they would be at home in such surroundings. Trend analyst and social anthropologist Gunn-Helen Øye at the Prognosis Center said the result was notable but not surprising, and reflects the "Norwegian duality" - the combination of political correctness with a preference for this to happen elsewhere. The study revealed that people under 30 are most likely to say they thrive in a multicultural setting, with 25 agreeing and 40 percent neutral. The next age group up, 30-39, are most skeptical, with 38 percent disagreeing with such a thought. Norway's western region was most receptive to living in an ethnic mix, but with only 23 percent saying this, the southern region was most opposed (45 percent). Those with the lowest income were most positive to living in multicultural neighborhoods, and the enthusiasm fell as earnings rose.
© Aftenpost
IMMIGRANT FRUSTRATION FOR MALTA
21/10/2005- As you walk the historic streets of the Maltese capital Valletta, there is little sign of the turmoil on the Mediterranean islands. Tourists mingle with shoppers in the ancient streets laid out in an unusual grid pattern. In the centre of the tiny city is the building that houses the Malta Emigrants Commission. From these offices, generations of Maltese migrants prepared to leave and start new lives overseas. But the main corridor is now packed with young Africans - men, women and children. These are not people who are about to leave Malta, they have just arrived. It is the first sign that everything is changing. We took to the air in a helicopter to see the scale of the change. As we lifted off it immediately became obvious. Dotted around Malta International Airport are barracks that were abandoned by the British Army when it left.
Plea for help
The buildings are full of newly-arrived immigrants, their washing hanging from the windows. The grounds are packed with military tents housing more of the asylum-seekers. In the first 10 months of 2005, more than 1,500 have come from Africa. The figures are small when compared to the large numbers arriving in other countries of the European Union, until you consider Malta's population. The islands of Malta are small, but full. Almost 400,000 people live there, making it the third most densely-populated country on earth. The increase of 1,500 is the equivalent of almost a quarter of a million arriving in the United Kingdom in 10 months. That is why the Maltese government is asking for help. "This is a huge problem by any standards, and if the current influx of illegal immigrants is maintained next year, Malta will find itself in big difficulties and it cannot handle this situation an its own," Brigadier Carmel Vassallo, the head of the armed forces, told me. The government is asking if some other EU countries cannot help by taking some of the asylum-seekers. Just a few hundred less would make an enormous difference. They are running out of places to house them. The new arrivals are having a disturbing affect on Maltese politics. While we were there, a new far-right party, the Alleanza Nazionali Republikana, staged the first anti-immigrant rally.
Mistake
We asked if we could look round the closed detention centres and were told that was not possible. When we approached the perimeter fence of one of them, we were angrily waved away. The conditions looked rudimentary, with a shortage of shelter and washing facilities. For eyewitness accounts of the centres, we spoke to some detainees who had been released. Hundreds of Africans - Somalis, Liberians, Sudanese and others - are living in the community in Malta. They are the ones who have been given the right to remain on humanitarian grounds. They are grateful for the help the Maltese have given them, but they say the conditions in the detention centres are very harsh. They also say something very unusual for immigrants. They all want to leave. They came to Malta by mistake. They were crossing the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy. Thousands make the journey each year in tiny boats. Many die, but some end up in Malta after running out of fuel, or losing their way. They have to claim asylum in Malta to avoid being sent home, and then they are stuck. Under EU rules, they have to stay in the country in which they first arrived. "It's like a trap," said Warsame Ali Garare, a well-educated Somali in his 20s. "You can't continue, you can't go back, and the Maltese don't want you here. The dream is to leave Malta. Everybody wants to leave." It is a kind of perverse reversal of the American immigrants' dream.
© BBC News
POLICE "TAKE WOMEN'S CRIME REPORTS LESS SERIOUSLY"(Sweden)
16/10/2005- Men and women are treated differently when they report crimes to the police, according to an investigation by Swedish Radio. Men who report crimes to the police have a significantly greater chance of having the incident progress further along the legal process than women, reported the SR programme Kaliber, which has analysed all police reports to a certain number of police stations around the country during two weeks in 2003. Every third report made by a man led to the police presenting preliminary investigation papers to the prosecutor, compared to one in four reports made by women. The pattern was the same even when serious violent and sexual crimes were excluded. "You have found a form of discrimination which we actually didn't know about," said professor of ciminology, Jerzy Sarnecki, to Kaliber's reporter. Ethnicity also affects the likelihood of an investigation being taken further. When the person reporting a crime has a foreign-sounding name, things progress more slowly. Swedish men have twice as much chance of having their case enter the judicial process as foreign women, according to the research. "Whatever way you look at the figures, you can see the differences. Swedish men are taken most seriously by the police, and immigrant women are taken least seriously," said Jerzy Sarnecki.
© The Local
BRUSSELS RALLY DEMANDS MORE ACTION ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS(Belgium)
17/10/2005- Leading rights activists in Belgium used World Women's Day on Monday to call for more to be done to tackle violence and poverty against women. Police said more than 2,500 women and men marched through the streets of Brussels on Sunday to mark Women's Day, which is celebrated worldwide. For their part, the organisers said as many as 5,000 people turned out for the demonstration which was peaceful and took place in a carnival atmosphere to the sound of music and drumming. Women's groups such as Vie feminine and human rights groups such as Amnesty International backed the march, as well as unionists and the Francophone and Flemish Women's Councils of Belgium, which is celebrating its hundredth anniversary this year. The marchers set off at 3pm at Mont des Arts and finished back there at 5.30pm. High profile women told the crowd progress had been made on women's rights but women were still a long way off from equality. Belgium's senate head, Anne-Marie Lizin, who used to be the president of the Women's Council of Belgium, said: "Unfortunately, at the level of the United Nations, we aren't seeing any more progress on conditions for women.
"Some religions don't recognise the rights of women." Lizin argued for women's groups to be given more support at a grass roots level. The current president of the Francophone Women's Council in Belgium, Magdeleine Williame-Boone, said it was still a problem in Belgium that abused women would not testify in court against men who attacked them. Seven women are raped every day in Belgium, she added. In terms of women in the workplace, Brigitte Wagner, head of the women's section of the Christian union CSC, stated: "For the last 20 years, we've been demanding equal salaries. There have certainly been improvements, but not enough. "The non-trade sector, where the majority of women work, is poorly paid. The result, since the men bring home more money, is that it's always the women that stay at home."
© Expatica News
TEACHER AND MUSLIM SCHOOL CLASH OVER HEADSCARF(Netherlands)
17/10/2005- A 32-year-old Amsterdam Muslim is challenging the decision by an Islamic school not to employ her because she refuses to wear a headscarf. Samira Haddad, a teacher of Arabic, has asked the equality commission to rule Islamic College in Amsterdam was wrong to demand she cover her head in order to work there. The case comes a week after Education Minister Maria van der Hoeven said she is in favour of a ban on wearing the all-covering burka in schools. Tunisian-born Haddad argued before the commission that she is not accustomed to wearing a headscarf in public. She said she had not encountered any difficulty when she completed an internship at an Islamic school in Rotterdam. She never had any problem either when she lived and worked in Islamic countries with her head uncovered. The headmaster of the Islamic College in Amsterdam said the school's statutes state explicitly that the rules of the Koran and the Sunni branch of Islam must be adhered to. Non-Muslim teachers can be granted an exemption. "If Miss Haddad was to declare she is not a Muslim then she could, in principle, could come and work with us," a member of the school board said. The equality commission is to deliver its judgement in eight weeks.
© Expatica News
ONE WOMAN'S WAR, MARYAM NAMAZIE(uk)
Maryam Namazie personifies the gulf between liberal apologists and those who really want equality
16/10/2005- A week ago, at a reception in one of London's dowdier hotels, Maryam Namazie received a cheque and a certificate stating that she was Secularist of the Year 2005. The audience from the National Secular Society cheered, but no one else noticed. At first glance, the wider indifference wasn't surprising. Everyone is presenting everyone else with prizes these days - even journalists get them. If coverage was given to all award winners, there would be no space left in the papers for news. On top of that, secularism is still an eccentric cause. Despite the privileges of the established churches, this is one of the most irreligious countries on Earth. The bishops have power but no influence, and the notion that you need a tough-minded movement to combat religious influence still feels quaint. Like republicanism, secularism is an ideal which can enthuse the few while leaving the many cold. The rise of the Christian right in the United States and the Islamic right everywhere, of faith schools and religious censorship is breaking down complacency. The 7 July bombings should have blown it to pieces. But the Ealing comedy caricature of a kind vicar, who may be a bit silly but remains intrinsically decent, is still most people's picture of the religious in England, not least because there is truth in it. (It's a different matter in Northern Ireland and on the west coast of Scotland, for obvious reasons.)
For all that, Maryam Namazie's obscurity remains baffling. She ought to be a liberal poster girl. Her life has been that of a feminist militant who fights the oppression of women wherever she finds it. She was born in Tehran, but had to flee with her family when the Iranian revolution brought the mullahs to power. After graduating in America, she went to work with the poor in the Sudan. When the Islamists seized control, she established an underground human rights network. Her cover was blown and she had to run once again. She's been a full-time campaigner for the rights of the Iranian diaspora, helping refugees across the world and banging on to anyone who will listen about the vileness of its treatment of women. When an Iranian judge hanged a 16-year-old girl for having sex outside marriage - I mean literally hanged her; he put the noose round her neck himself - Namazie organised global protests. Her best rhetorical weapon is her description of the obsessiveness of theocracy. The law in Iran not only allows women to be stoned, she says, but it specifies the size of the stones to be used; they mustn't be too small in case it takes too long to kill her and the mob gets bored; but mustn't be too big either, in case she is dispatched immediately and the mob is denied the sado-sexual pleasure of seeing her suffer. She's media-friendly and literate, not least because she runs the London-based International TV English whose programmes have a large following in the Middle East. Yet one of the most important feminists from the developing world has never been on Woman's Hour. I searched our huge cuttings database and could find only one mention of her in the national press over the past 10 years. Right-thinking, left-leaning people have backed away from Maryam Namazie because she is just as willing to tackle their tolerance of oppression as the oppressors themselves.
It was the decision of broad-minded politicians in Ottawa to allow Sharia courts in Canada which did it for her. They said if they were not established, the Muslim minority would be marginalised and to say otherwise was racism pure and simple. After years of hearing this postmodern twaddle, Namazie flipped. Why was it, she asked, that supposed liberals always give 'precedence to cultural and religious norms, however reactionary, over the human being and her rights'? Why was it that they always pretended that other cultures were sealed boxes without conflicts of their own and took 'the most reactionary segment of that community' as representative of the belief and culture of the whole. In a ringing passage, which should be pinned to the noticeboards of every cultural studies faculty and Whitehall ministry, she declared that the problem with cultural relativism was that it endorsed the racism of low expectations. 'It promotes tolerance and respect for so-called minority opinions and beliefs, rather than respect for human beings. Human beings are worthy of the highest respect, but not all opinions and beliefs are worthy of respect and tolerance. There are some who believe in fascism, white supremacy, the inferiority of women. Must they be respected?' Richard J Evans, professor of modern history at Cambridge, pointed out in Defence of History that if you take the relativist position to its conclusion and believe there's no such thing as truth and all cultures are equally valid, you have no weapons to fight the Holocaust denier or Ku Klux Klansmen.
Namazie is on the right side of the great intellectual struggle of our time between incompatible versions of liberalism. One follows the fine and necessary principle of tolerance, but ends up having to tolerate the oppression of women, say, or gays in foreign cultures while opposing misogyny and homophobia in its own. (Or 'liberalism for the liberals and cannibalism for the cannibals!' as philosopher Martin Hollis elegantly described the hypocrisy of the manoeuvre.) The alternative is to support universal human rights and believe that if the oppression of women is wrong, it is wrong everywhere. The gulf between the two is unbridgeable. Although the argument is rarely put as baldly as I made it above, you can see it breaking out everywhere across the liberal-left. Trade union leaders stormed out of the anti-war movement when they discovered its leadership had nothing to say about the trade unionists who were demanding workers' rights in Iraq and being tortured and murdered by the 'insurgents' for their presumption. Former supporters of Ken Livingstone reacted first with bewilderment and then steady contempt when he betrayed Arab liberals and embraced the Islamic religious right. The government's plans to ban the incitement of religious hatred have created an opposition which spans left and right and whose members have found they have more in common with each other than with people on 'their side'. As Namazie knows, the dispute can't stay in the background for much longer. There's an almighty smash-up coming and not before time.
© The Observer
LAWRENCE MOTHER HITS OUT AT POLICE(uk)
They're 'still racist' 12 years after Stephen was killed
16/10/2005- The mother of Stephen Lawrence has issued a searing attack on the government for failing to implement key lessons learnt after the racially inspired murder of her son. In Doreen Lawrence's first wide-ranging newspaper interview for years, the 53-year-old race relations campaigner said she still considers the police 'institutionally racist', seven years after a detailed inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Stephen's death produced a far-reaching framework for reform. Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death by five white youths at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993. The subsequent investigation was botched by the Metropolitan Police, which initially failed to treat the murder as a racist attack. Lawrence's attack on the government comes a day after the work and pensions minister Margaret Hodge re-ignited the race debate by saying that 'immigrants' should do more to integrate and that faith schools should be shut down if they did not allow children from other faiths to attend.
'These half-baked ideas may sound good at a conference on a Saturday morning, but she she needs to spell out what she means,' said Sir Bill Morris, former head of the TGWU union. 'Is she saying that Catholic and Church of England schools should be closed down as well? How will she enforce integration - and what are the penalties for failure? People are entitled to know.' While acknowledging certain improvements, Doreen Lawrence is fiercely critical of the last two home secretaries - in particular Charles Clarke, who last month disbanded a key committee charged with implementing the Macpherson report's recommendations for the Met. Her comments carry weight because of the shockwaves caused as the full picture of an incompetent and institutionally racist policeforce emerged in the study following Stephen's murder 12 years ago. 'A steering group was set up by Jack Straw to make sure the implementations happened, and he was very committed to it,' she said. 'When David Blunkett came in I felt he wasn't that committed to the steering group and there were times that we had to question the amount of time he attended meetings. 'Since Charles Clarke has taken over, it's even more obvious that it's not as important. He did try and say the government was still committed to improving race relations, but people from the black community don't feel that. I don't feel that.' Lawrence says the most important Macpherson recommendation yet to be implemented by the government is the publication for parents of racist incidents at schools. 'I can understand people don't want to start labelling schools racist, but at the same time unless you start addressing what's happening [you're not] going to eradicate what's going on,' she said. 'There's no policy. Nothing's been written. Nothing's implemented within schools, and that's down to the Department for Education and Skills. They've done nothing.'
The department said that all racist incidents must be reported to local education authorities, and that it publishes a guide to schools about how it should respond to racism, but that there are no plans to make incidents publicly available. Lawrence said her greatest concern was still the Criminal Prosecution Service's failure to bring fresh charges against her son's killers, despite a ?30 million investigation. Asked if the police were still institutionally racist, Lawrence pointed to the BBC documentary The Secret Policeman, which last year recorded Manchester policeman using highly racist language, including derogatory comments about Stephen and the Lawrence family. 'Sir Ian Blair [the Metropolitan police commissioner] would tell you things are completely different,' she said. 'But he is not on the ground. He's involved in a PR exercise. I still believe that there's a lot of racism in the police force.' Asked if the police's behaviour is shaped in any way by the increase in gun crime among the black community, Mrs Lawrence said: 'Everyone talks about black-on-black crime and shootings, but sometimes I wonder how did the guns get in the black community? Who put them there? 'But yes, in the black community we do need to take responsibility for our actions. We need somehow to re-educate our young people to the importance of life and what they are doing to themselves.' With the leading architect Marco Goldschmied, Mrs Lawrence is working on plans to build a City Academy in south-east London to be named after her son, specialising in architecture and the built environment. Stephen's ambition had been to become an architect. A Stephen Lawrence Centre will also open in 18 months' time to provide opportunities for talented but disadvantaged black youths who aspire to careers in architecture.
© The Observer
WHY MUSLIMS REJECT BRITISH VALUES(comment)
As ministers accuse Muslims of failing to integrate into mainstream society, a leading black intellectual and anti-racist campaigner calls on Tony Blair's government to face up to the reality of continued racism in Britain
By A. Sivanandan, Director of the Institute of Race Relations
16/10/2005- No country in Europe could be prouder of its multicultural experiment than Britain. But in the wake of the bombings of 7 July, multiculturalism has become the whipping boy. In a widely heralded speech, Margaret Hodge, the Work and Pensions Minister, blamed a surge in white, working-class racism on its black victims' failure to 'integrate', adding that 'promoting an understanding of other cultures should not involve abandoning British cultures and traditions', such as, apparently, school Easter bonnet parades, which she claimed have been eclipsed by Diwali celebrations. She was speaking to a debate which has moved so far to the right that the gains made by the black struggle are being jettisoned. Even the term 'coloured' instead of 'black' is up for rehabilitation. What's next? The replacement of 'racism' by 'colour bar'?
The road to assimilation, as opposed to integration, is already being cleared by scrubbing out multiculturalism. It is unlikely that Blair's Commission on Integration would have arrived at any other conclusion. But multiculturalism did not create segregation or ethnic enclaves. There is a failure to distinguish between the multicultural society as a fact of Britain's national make-up, arrived at through the anti-racist struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, and multiculturalism as a cure-all for racial injustice, promoted by successive governments. The first envisages a culturally diverse society. The second - not really multiculturalism, but what I term 'culturalism' - engenders a culturally divisive society. 'Culturalism' or 'ethnicism' was Margaret Thatcher and Lord Scarman's answer to the racism that ignited Britain in 1981. In his investigations into the Brixton riots, Scarman located the cause of the riots in 'racial disadvantage', the cure being to pour money into ethnic projects and strengthening ethnic cultures. As the institute of Race Relations pointed out at the time, the fight against racism cannot be reduced to a fight for culture; nor does learning about other people's cultures make racists less racist. Besides, the racism that needs to be contested is not personal prejudice, which has no authority behind it, but institutionalised racism, woven over centuries of colonialism and slavery into the structures of society and government. Scarman, however, denied its existence.
For 20 years, our analysis was largely ignored, until Sir William Macpherson unexpectedly gave it official currency with his 1999 report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence, finding institutional racism throughout the police force. But the notion was soon killed off again by the tabloids and the right. Now Tony Blair's government seems determined to undermine the functioning diverse society that exists in large parts of Britain, on the basis of a segregation theory conjured up to explain the alienation of Muslim youth. This theory is not borne out by the facts. First, in as far as the idea of segregation has validity, it applies not to the 7 July bombers, but to the generation of their parents, when it arose from racial segregation in public housing combined with the closure of the factories and foundries where they worked. Second, all of the bombers were well integrated. Abdullah Jamal, formerly Germaine Lindsay, was married to a white, English woman; Mohammad Sidique Khan was a graduate who helped children of all religions; Shehzad Tanweer, also a graduate, often helped in his father's fish-and-chip shop; Hasib Hussain's parents sent him to Pakistan because they felt he had fallen into the English drinking- and-swearing culture. Yet these young men were prepared to take their lives and the lives of their fellow citizens in the name of Islam. One reason, therefore, must be as Mohammad Sidique Khan stated it: the invasion and destruction of Iraq.
The more Blair denies his complicity in the destruction of Iraq and its part in the terrorist cause, the more he has to find other reasons for 7 July, and the more he engages in the politics of fear to erode democratic rights and civil liberties. Conversely, the sooner he owns up to the Iraq debacle, the sooner he will be able to address the most important element in apprehending terrorists: intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. Instead, his government substitutes authoritarian measures. The September 2005 anti-terrorist bill was the fourth counterterrorist measure in five years, expanding the definition of terrorism and creating new terrorist offences. The Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, hurried through parliament after 11 September, effectively abolished habeas corpus for foreign nationals. When the law lords ruled against this, the government merely replaced detention without trial with control orders. Now it has signalled it will extend them to British nationals, while the proposal to hold suspects for three months without trial is internment by another name.
Blair argues that 'the rules of the game have changed'. But the game is democracy, and one part of it cannot be changed without starting a chain reaction that damages the whole and debases British values. And yet Blair exhorts ethnic minorities to live up to these British values. When our rulers ask us old colonials, new refugees, desperate asylum seekers - the sub-homines - to live up to British values, they are not referring to the values that they themselves exhibit, but those of the Enlightenment which they have betrayed. We, the sub-homines, in our struggle for basic human rights, not only uphold basic human values, but challenge Britain to return to them. But the greatest threat to Western values arises from globalisation and market fundamentalism, changes that affect personal morality. For the market reduces even personal relationships to a cash nexus. And the transition from welfare to market state has made corporations rather than people the priority of government, which, in turn, replaces moral values with commercial values, caring with indifference, altruism with selfishness, generosity with greed.
Once there were great movements, within countries and internationally, against poverty and exploitation and all kinds of injustice - against capitalism and imperialism. Today, there are no great working-class movements, no Third World revolutions. Hence, struggles against poverty, against dictatorships and against foreign occupation grow up around religion, 'the sigh of the oppressed', and take on the characteristics of millenarian movements. At the same time, they give rise to distortions such as fundamentalism. Yet I am not without hope. I see Islamic fundamentalism as a passing phase, certainly in its intensity, because 7 July has also rebounded on the Muslim leadership and clergy in this country, demanding that they consider what is being done in the name of the Koran. And in the soul-searching that must follow, I see the first stirrings of the Islamic Reformation. From that may follow a profound and desirable shift in the anti-imperialist struggles waged by the Muslim world: away from individual acts of terror, to mass, collective action that finds common cause with the anti-globalisation, anti-imperialist movement beyond it.
© The Observer
ISOLATED AND VULNERABLE(uk, comment)
The Chinese in Britain do well at school, but that does not mean our lives aren't afflicted by racism
By Hsiao-Hung Pai hsiao-hung.pai@guardian.co.uk
19/10/2005- They say that we Chinese are doing best among the "ethnic British" because we're the most educated, with most of our under-30s being university graduates. And who doesn't like Chinese food? We are good citizens in this multicultural society because we contribute to the economy and stay out of trouble. But then we witnessed the 58 brothers and sisters suffocated in the back of a lorry in Dover. They told us it was just a small criminal-minded minority among us, who had brought the tragedy upon themselves. Four years later, 23 brothers and sisters drowned at Morecambe Bay. They told us it was just a small risk-taking minority among us. Blame the Snakeheads and forget about it. Then this summer a report revealed that we face many racist attacks. The victims are young and old, men and women, running takeaways and restaurants in high streets across Britain. So what will they tell us this time? The report, Racial Attacks on Chinese People, by the monitoring group Min Quan, details attacks from racial harassment to physical assaults. One man, Mi-Gao Chen, in Wigan, was killed; campaigners equated this to the murder of Stephen Lawrence, but it did not hit the headlines. The report also says police failed to respond to attacks, and in some cases even arrested the victims. Mi-Gao Chen's partner, Eileen Jia, was charged with affray and assault for defending herself against the attackers. After pressure from the Chinese community, the charges were dropped this month. Min Quan organiser Jabez Lam said the campaign is now looking at another 25 racial attacks on Chinese takeaways in the UK. The vulnerability of the Chinese catering trade and those who work in it is the bitter reality, in contrast to the rosy image of an affluent community. Many have started to ask: why is this happening to us? We work hard. There are only about 250,000 of us, and we never pose a threat. Jabez Lam believes that we are attacked exactly because we are so few, and so isolated. And we are isolated because we are self-sufficient; and we became self-sufficient because, from the time our migrant generation arrived here in the mid-19th century, and again on the 1960s, we were isolated. This vicious circle has shaped our history in Britain.
A Guardian survey earlier this year reflected the low level of "integration" among Chinese people, who felt least British among all racial-minority groups. Contrary to myth, the Chinese were not traditionally caterers. They entered this trade after the decline of their laundry businesses, when washing machines began to appear in homes and they were still excluded from mainstream employment. From then on, many people spent their working lives behind the restaurant counter or in the kitchen. Even today, when they retire the only social contact they have is with older Chinese people in Cantonese-speaking associations. The new generation of British-born Chinese - despite growing up and being educated here, and living a "British lifestyle" - still struggle with their identity. Young people often search for cultural "roots" to fill a gap left by being British but not really being treated as such. When I was working on a database of British-Chinese "achievers", I was often told that "the future lies with the younger generation, who will fit in". A Chinese Labour councillor told me the community must integrate more. But now more people are asking questions about why we're not becoming better represented in mainstream institutions. Some are beginning to fight for the rights of the less privileged, such as asylum seekers and undocumented workers, and challenging the British politics that has alienated so many. These are just the sort of good citizens we need.
Hsiao-Hung Pai's research study on unauthorised workers in Britain is to be published later this year.
© The Guardian
HOMOPHOBE KILLERS ARE LIKELY TO STRIKE AGAIN, WARN POLICE(uk)
17/10/2005- The killers of a man who was beaten to death in an "abhorrent and shocking" homophobic attack are likely to strike again, police warned yesterday. Jody Dobrowski, 24, a bar manager from south-east London was chased and brutally beaten by his killers who shouted homophobic abuse while they kicked and punched him in a wooded park area in Clapham Common, south London. Mr Dobrowski, who was found late on Friday night by passers-by was taken to hospital shortly after midnight where he died on Saturday from severe head, neck and face injuries. He is believed to have been gay although he had not formally told some family members. It is thought his attackers chased him shouting insults before cornering him and overpowering him - despite the fact that he was six foot four tall. Metropolitan Police investigators believe the two male suspects may have struck before and are "likely to strike again". Detective chief inspector Nick Scola, who is leading the investigation said it was a sickening attack with shocking levels of violence. He said no weapon had been recovered and believed most of Mr Dobrowski's injuries were a result of a sustained physical assault which took place in a secluded spot in the park which is a notorious cruising ground for gay men.
"The attack was abhorrent and the victim was assaulted violently. We are treating this as a homophobic attack. Words were overheard by witnesses. There were insults in London accents," he said. "This level of violence may well be a build up. The suspects may have attacked other people and this could be an escalation of violence. Logic suggests they have attacked before,'' he said. Around eight or nine people were in the wooded area between 11pm to 1am when the attack took place. Det Ch Insp Scola appealed for witnesses to come forward who may have seen the assailants running away after the crime took place. Bob Hodgson, from the Metropolitan Police's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advisory group warned that others were at risk from gay hate attacks if the suspects were not found. "It stands to reason that if people who are prepared to do this are left in the community, they can go out there and do it again. They have got a hatred of people and are likely to do it again," he said. "This is a time for people from the community to come forward if they know anything at all. If you don't come forward with what you know, you could potentially be putting other people at risk in the future. We need to work with police to solve this crime," he said. He urged other victims of homophobic attacks in the gay community - which is thought to have high levels of unreported hate crime - to come forward.
The two suspects were described as white, aged around 20, one six foot with shaved hair and the other shorter and stockier. Mr Dobrowski, who worked in a Clapham bar before becoming bar manager in a venue elsewhere in London, had been visiting friends in the area whose home he left at 10.15pm. He was wearing a black top with a fur-lined hood when he was found. Police said they could not rule out the possibility that he had been cruising in the area. Police reassured the community or any witnesses who could aid the investigation they would not be identified or criminalised for being in the popular gay haunt. A few weeks ago there were reports of an attempted garrotting in the same area.
© Independent Digital
EVENT HONORS GYPSY VOLUNTEERS(uk)
19/10/2005- A Gypsy from Liverpool who is helping to create an information pack about his culture following the death of his son in a racist attack was today being honoured at the House of Lords. Patrick Delaney was joining more than a dozen Gypsies at the event in London which aimed to recognise the voluntary work carried out by Gypsies and Travellers around the UK. Mr Delaney was invited to the "Playing a Part in Communities" reception after joining a team who are trying to diffuse inter-racial tensions by producing an information guide about the Gypsy culture. He is carrying out the work after his son was killed in a racism-fuelled attack two years ago. The reception was set up to mark the Year of the Volunteer campaign's "Citizenship and Community Month". At the event Mr Delaney was being joined by a number of fellow Gypsies including Richard O'Neill, from Manchester, who performs important work for health, including founding National Men's Health Week and Bridie Jones, from Canterbury, who works with local schools and police to improve relations with the Gypsy community and prevent bullying. Also attending the reception was Siobhan Spencer, from Matlock, Derbyshire, who helped create "Pride Not Prejudice", an annual forum helping to break down barriers between Travellers and the police. Andrew Ryder, policy worker for the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition, which was awarded the Liberty Human Rights Award in 2004, said: "Gypsies and Travellers have the lowest life expectancy and the highest child mortality rates in the UK and according to Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, they probably suffer the most discrimination in this country. But many of them continue to volunteer their time for the benefit of their and the wider community. "Hopefully by having their voices heard at the highest court in the land some of the stereotypes will be broken. "Gypsies and travellers will perhaps get the praise they deserve, allowing their community as a whole to take pride in knowing that the work being done is appreciated." The event was also featuring live traditional music and was being hosted by Lord Avebury, Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Traveller Law Reform and Julie Morgan MP, chairwoman of the group. The Year of the Volunteer is backed by the Home Office and led by CSV and the Volunteering England Consortium.
© Romano vodi
SPORT SCORES IN INTEGRATING BRITISH COMMUNITIES
21/10/2005- A small Asian boy frantically laces up his soccer boots at the entrance to one of London's most notorious housing estates on a sunny October morning. His mother, wearing a Muslim headscarf, stands nearby, leaning against a sign that says "Welcome" in 15 languages. The sign is a greeting to the once-shunned Broadwater Farm, where a policeman was hacked to death 20 years ago during a riot between the mostly black community and the police. Since then, sport has played a major role in the estate's transformation into a positive example of integration in Britain's increasingly multicultural society. "We have 39 different nations here and we have an open policy for everybody," said Clasford Stirling, a youth worker who has organised weekly soccer training sessions for hundreds of children on the estate. "We don't look at colour or what culture you are. You come here under the umbrella of sport. The main aim wasn't the level of football, but it was to get kids off the street." The challenge of integrating Britain's many ethnic groups leapt to the top of the political agenda in July after four British Muslims -- three of them ethnic Pakistanis -- blew themselves up on London's transport system, killing 52 people. Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), warned Britain was "sleepwalking our way to segregation". He singled out sport as one way of halting this. Broadwater Farm -- a typical London estate of high-rise buildings, concrete pavements and hemmed-in green spaces -- offers an uplifting example of how that can work. On match days, boys in smart blue-and-orange kits chase footballs across the estate's large recreation ground, as their parents shout encouragement. Cries ring out in dozens of languages but the coaches speak English.
Improving integration
Broadwater entered Britain's black book of problem estates in 1985 when around 500 mainly black youths rampaged through the streets, attacking police, looting and setting fires in some of the worst scenes of racial tension in decades. Now, the estate is held up as an example of how to integrate different communities -- and its success can be seen every weekend when around 200 children turn up to soccer training to compete for places on the Broadwater United teams. Coach Stirling says that since 1980, around 40 players have gone on to sign for professional clubs. But the biggest plus has been bringing once-wary communities together. "You are integrating communities and then they go back into their communities and say 'you know, the Caribbean culture is not that bad or the African culture is not that bad'," he said. Complicating the task for those seeking to use sport to help integrate Britain's Asians is the dearth of role models. Soccer is widely supported and played by British Asians, but their involvement at the top of the game was described as "lamentable" in a recent report by the Asians in Football Forum. Only four Asians play in the Premier League's 20 clubs. Analysts cite cultural and family issues as reasons for this absence of Asians, who make up four percent of the population. Cricket has been a more fertile ground for Asian players -- who had a headline-grabbing role model in Indian-born Nasser Hussain, who captained the English side between 1999-2003. England's recent victory over Australia in the Ashes cricket series has raised the profile of a sport which is hugely popular in the Asian subcontinent, and at least one international cricketer is looking to use that to get more Asians involved. Pakistan fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar told Reuters he wants to put himself forward as a role model for British Asians. "If you ask most kids the name of politicians they probably wouldn't know but they definitely know who (Andrew) Flintoff is and who (Kevin) Pietersen is and they're interested in what they have to say," he said, referring to two England players. "So I'm asking people to stand forward. We all have a responsibility, those with a (household) name and those without to try and bridge the gaps between the different communities."
Tackling stereotypes
Britain's Asians have traditionally been less interested in rugby but in Bradford, a northern English city which saw high levels of immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 1970s, the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA) aims to change this. It wants to raise the sport's profile among the Asian community and show clubs that Asians can be successful. "The idea is to work primarily with south Asian communities ... but also to work alongside mainstream communities so they can filter, play and integrate," Ikram Butt, who helped set up BARA in 2002, told Reuters. "We felt key social issues like low educational achievement, drugs, racism, alcohol abuse, and cohesion were all major factors and we felt that sports could address that." BARA now has over 200 senior members from all backgrounds who are signed to either amateur or professional clubs. The absence of role models is something that Stirling, working with the boys on Broadwater Farm, is all too aware of. While there has been some improvement in soccer where hundreds of black players have reached the game's pinnacles, he says the involvement of Asians was still seen as a "huge no no." "Some clubs still have a preference in just taking blond-haired blue-eyed boys," he said. "The FA (Football Association) may not agree with me but I'm on the ground, at the so-called grassroots."
© Reuters
'NORTHERN IRELAND PLAGUED BY RACISM'
Northern Ireland is facing a racism crisis it was claimed today as the shocking rise in race crime was highlighted at a conference in Belfast.
21/10/2005- The Anti Racism Network (ARN) conference gathered together campaigners from across Northern Ireland for a three-day meeting. They were not there to shout about what was wrong but to try to find solutions which could right the wrongs, said Barbara Muldoon of the ARN. "We want this conference to be a call to people that this is a deadly serious crisis. "It is one of the top five crises people in Northern Ireland are facing." Latest figures from the Police Service of Northern Ireland show that racist incidents and crimes in Northern Ireland doubled between 2002/03 and the following year and nearly doubled again over the next 12 months.
In 2002/03 there were 226 racial incidents, the next year 453 and the next 813. Ms Muldoon said there were no quick solutions and no easy answers to tackling the problems of growing racism. Attacks on homes and people came because there was a public perception refugees were flooding into the province, she said. "I think a lot of this has been fuelled by the rhetoric we hear from politicians across the water, that everyone coming in are bogus scroungers. "People who are here who are not white are assumed to be asylum seekers and that is just not right, last year there were about 100 asylum seekers," she added. She said there was a huge debt to be paid to migrant workers for what they did, the NHS would grind to a halt without them. But even then there were issues of unequal treatment over pay and treatment at work. "There are Philippine nurses who suffer racism at work and them go home and get attacked. "The trade union movement has been weak on this, they don`t take it seriously.
"Homes have been attacked by arsonists and petrol bombed and it is only by a pure miracle that many people have not been killed." The conference is being addressed by representatives of minority ethnic communities, the Traveller movement, together trade unionists involved in campaigning for the rights of migrant workers. Ms Muldoon, an immigration specialist, is highlighting the problems created when work, but not workers, can be moved around the world. "Big business and multi-nationals travel the globe creating poverty, exploitation, environmental disasters and despair wherever they go without passports or restrictions and yet ordinary people can`t decide to travel or settle wherever they want. "The reality is that a coat sewn in a sweatshop for slave wages in Africa has more rights top be here than the poor person who made it."
© UTV
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS BANNED IN SLOVAK LEGAL SYSTEM
19/10/2005- The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic has decided that anti-discrimination legislation is unconstitutional due to its efforts to allow affirmative action in Slovakia. The Constitutional Court ruled against the legislation as a result of the parliament’s addition of Article 5 of the European Commission, which legalizes affirmative action as a tool to combat social inequalities. The constitutional discrepancy was taken to the court by the Slovak government, represented by Minister of Justice Daniel Lipsic, as a final effort to validate their position of anti-discrimination law. Supported by the government, Lipsic explained to the court his belief that giving advantage to Roma for access to the educational system would in turn disadvantage non-Roma. The Constitutional Court said that the constitution of the Slovak Republic does not give advantage to any persons based on ethnic or racial origin. Consequently, the help given to Roma will not depend on a law; rather, it will depend on what government is in power. Klara Orgovanova, the governmental officer to Roma communities, said that the present affirmative action projects are in accordance to international law. Orgovanova believes these current projects will continue and that the Slovak government will terminate these projects only when disadvantaged groups gain equality in Slovak society. Additionally, vice-Premier Pal Csaky has voiced his disapproval of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, saying “it is not such good news.” These comments by Csaky and Orgovanova indicate inconsistencies within the Slovak government regarding Roma policy. While Slovak politicians have mixed feelings regarding the ruling, all Roma activists and political representatives have remained united in their position. They believe this court decision to be a tragedy for Roma people and is a step backwards. This is a very uncommon situation that all Roma representatives have a unified stance on an issue. However, Roma have not benefited from the government as a result of Roma unity. It seems that the criticism towards Roma for not having a single position on their goals and needs is a only a pretext by the Slovak government for not giving honest help.
© Dzeno Association
SPANISH POLICE HUNT AUSTRIAN NAZI
Spanish police are hunting a former Nazi concentration camp doctor - known as Doctor Death - believed to be hiding in northern Spain.
17/10/2005- Aribert Heim, 91, who worked in the Mauthausen camp, is the second most wanted Nazi suspect alive. Authorities in Catalonia province say he could be somewhere on the north eastern coast or the Balearic Islands. A spokeswoman said Dr Heim's exact location was not known, despite Israeli reports that an arrest was imminent. A spokeswoman for Catalonia's autonomous police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, told the BBC that an investigation was underway. "They are looking for this person along the Catalan coast but it could be that he is Ibiza, Mallorca or Menorca," she said. "There is an extradition order out for him and if he is found that will be carried out." Austrian-born Dr Heim is wanted in Germany and Austria for the deaths of hundreds of inmates by lethal injection at the Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen concentration camps.
Justice
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said at the weekend that an arrest was expected soon. Dr Heim's research included surgery without anaesthesia and injecting prisoners with gasoline, poison and lethal drugs to see how much their bodies could take before dying, the paper said. He is listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as the second most wanted Nazi alive, after Adolf Eichmann's top assistant Alois Brunner. Dr Heim had worked in Germany after the war but disappeared in 1962 prior to plans to prosecute him. German interior ministry spokesman Rainer Lingenthal declined to comment on the investigations to capture the doctor. But he told the Associated Press: "You can imagine that, as far as all German authorities are concerned, there is the utmost interest in one of the last big notorious criminals possibly receiving his just punishment after all."
© BBC News
MOROCCO 'DID NOT DUMP MIGRANTS'
17/10/2005- Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammad Benaissa has denied accusations that his country has dumped sub-Saharan African migrants in the Sahara desert. A group fighting for Western Saharan independence said it had taken in more than 90 Africans wandering in the desert after Morocco expelled them. But Mr Benaissa said the allegations were propaganda orchestrated by the Polisario Front and its ally, Algeria. The migrants accuse Moroccan security forces of ill-treating them. Morocco's government also accused neighbouring Algeria of responsibility for recent unrest on the frontiers between Morocco and Spain's two enclaves in North Africa, during which at least 10 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were shot dead. Last week, Morocco came under widespread criticism over its tactics during mass attempts by the migrants to storm the frontier between Morocco and the Spanish territories.
Mr Benaissa said reports that it had removed and then abandoned some of the migrants in the Sahara desert without food or water were untrue. He accused Algeria of failing to control the trafficking of illegal immigrants across its borders. Algeria backs the Polisario Front, the separatist movement of the disputed Western Sahara territory annexed by Morocco in 1975. ''Both Algeria and the Polisario launch propaganda against Morocco on a so-called humanitarian basis. This is part of the publicity and the campaign Algeria is launching against Morocco to deviate attention from the real issue, the Sahara issue," Mr Benaissa said. "The Moroccan government never, ever dumped any individual, man or woman, anywhere.'' Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa intent on crossing illegally into Spain spend months or even years on a perilous journey through the Sahara desert, only to be moved back and forth across the Morocco-Algerian border by police. This has been happening for years, but came to light after reports by Medecins Sans Frontieres that around 1,000 sub-Saharan Africans had been dumped on the desert border by Moroccan police. MSF said the men, women and children had been abandoned without water and were in need of urgent medical attention.
© BBC News
PM PLEDGES TO SPEED UP LEGALISATION OF CLANDESTINE BRAZILIANS(Portugal)
The process to regularise the visa situations of about 14,000 Brazilians living in Portugal under a bilateral immigration accord is being speeded up, Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates said during a summit with Brazilian leader Lula da Silva.
21/10/2005- Speaking after a Luso-Brazilian leaders' summit in the northern Portuguese city of Oporto, Sócrates said half the 30,000-odd immigrants from Brazil who registered under a 2003 accord have now been legalised by Lisbon's immigration authorities. The process to regularise Brazilians in Portugal under the 2003 bilateral agreement "shows undeniable progress", said Sócrates, adding that estimates in Lisbon and Brasilia of the numbers of illegal immigrants from Brazil in Portugal could be lower than thought. "Many of the Brazilians who have not responded to letters to legalize themselves could have already left Portugal, or returned to Brazil", said the Portuguese leader. He also announced that special immigration channels will be introduced at Portuguese airports for all nationals of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), which includes Brazil, to send a message "to the Brazilian community that they are welcome to contribute to Portugal's economic development". More information on entry conditions to Portugal will be placed in Portuguese Consulates in Brazil, as well as travel agencies and tourism offices, said Sócrates. Speaking in reply, Brazilian President Luis Inácio "Lula" da Silva, who inked the 2003 immigration accord with Portugal's then prime minister, José Manuel Durão Barroso, was more guarded in praising the legalization scheme, signalling that Brasilia wants freer reciprocal movement of citizens from both countries. "A little has already been achieved over the immigration issue, but we have to improve our relations", said Lula, adding that some Brazilians have not responded to requests to regularize their stay in Portugal "because they are afraid of problems at work". "Our goal is that the entry of Portuguese into Brazil and Brazilians into Portugal is done as if each person is entering their house, without asking permission from anyone". In his meeting with the Portuguese government chief, Lula said he had asked for an end to the euros 1,000 fine imposed on Brazilians who delay their residency visa applications. Sócrates said he would raise this question with Internal Administration Minister António Costa. Some 85,000 Brazilians currently live legally in Portugal, making them the largest immigrant community in the country in front of immigrants from Ukrainian and Cape Verde, totalling about 70,000 in each case.
© The Portugal News
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF INTEGRATION(Germany)
Germany's administrative court ruled Thursday that an inability to write German may no longer be used as a reason to deny immigrants citizenship.
21/10/2005- The landmark ruling of the federal administrative court in Leipzig was delivered in the case of a Turkish man whose application for German citizenship was rejected because he failed German writing tests -- even though 42-year-old Nihat M. speaks the language fluently and has been living in the country for 27 years.
A "satisfactory knowledge"
Germany's new immigration legislation, which came into effect on January 1, 2005, says that a foreigner must possess a "satisfactory knowledge" of German in order to be eligible for a German passport. That includes being able to write in German. But judges of the federal administrative court decided to set the bar relatively low, ruling that a basic command of the German language needed to deal with authorities, read simple texts and maintain a general conversation was sufficient to fulfil the language requirements laid out in Germany's immigration legislation -- and deeming it unlawful for state authorities to require applicants for German citizenship to pass writing tests.
The tricky process of integration
But that was exactly what was required of Nihat M., who runs a small restaurant in Stuttgart. When he proved unable to write a postcard without any grammatical mistakes -- a test authorities can now request in the absence of any language proficiency certificates -- he was denied a German passport. "He passed most of the German test," said his lawyer Ursula Röder Thursday. "But he fell down on written skills. He's been doing fine in Germany for decades, and managing to run his own business, but obviously writing a postcard without making any mistakes is very difficult for him." Baden-Württemberg's administrative court had turned down his application for citizenship on the grounds that the new immigration law was designed to promote better integration of foreigners in Germany, a process dependent on an adequate knowledge of German. But Röder argued that for Nihat M., integration was impossible without a German passport. "He wants to be able to vote here after decades living here, he wants to take an active part in public life," she said. "And he's right. That's what integration policies are all about, that was the whole point of the new laws."
100 percent skills not necessary
The judges agreed, and decided in her client's favour. Perfect written skills in the language are not necessary, it said, so long as applicants can speak and understand German adequately. "Candidates must be able to give active response to written texts -- either alone or with the help of another person - and that response has to be in writing," said court spokesman Wolfgang Sailer. "But he may seek help from another person when writing in German. So candidates don't have to have one hundred percent perfect skills when writing without help." "I'm very pleased for my client, but I'm also pleased that there is now some clarity in the rules," said Ursula Röder. "As the authorities themselves say, there are a large number of cases like this, and they were simply waiting for a ruling before processing these applications. I believe it is very, very important that we now have a national guideline." A Palestinian applicant who's lived in Germany for twenty years was less lucky. Illiterate even in his own language, the court decided he should be refused citizenship on the grounds that he is unable to read German.
© Deutsche Welle
POLISH POLITICIAN PLAYS ANTI-GERMAN CARD
Conservative Lech Kaczynski played on Poles' lingering fears of Germany to try to woo voters for the presidency when he presented a report on the devastation caused by the Nazis in Warsaw in World War II.
18/10/2005- In today's money, Nazi Germany caused at least 45.3 billion euros ($54 billion) in damage to the Polish capital during the war, Kaczynski, who is mayor of Warsaw, said as he presented a report on the 1939 - 1945 Nazi occupation. "We are only talking about material damage," Kaczynski, who is Warsaw's present-day mayor, told reporters at a briefing. Although Kaczynski, who is trailing liberal candidate Donald Tusk in the race for the presidency, which goes to a second round on Sunday, denied he was using the lingering animosity between Poland and Germany to try to win votes, political analyst Stanislaw Mocek read the opposite into his tactic. "It is surely no fluke that he presented this report today. It is clearly a new element of his campaign," said Mocek of the Polish Academy of Sciences. "Kaczynski is trying to win over older voters who still vividly remember the war. To the young, the past doesn't mean much," he said. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Donald Tusk, presidential candidate from the Civic Platform party"He is also trying to win votes in the west of the country, in regions that were German before the war," said Mocek. Tusk scored a clear win in the west in the first round of the vote.
"Not linked in any way"
But Kaczynski insisted the report was not tied to the election. "Work on this report was begun in May 2004; it is not linked in any way whatsoever to the electoral calendar," he told journalists, before recalling his suspicion of Poland's large neighbour to the west, Germany, and stressing that Poland "needs a president who speaks out decisively, not a president who is open to compromise, as the German press presents Donald Tusk." The report, nearly 700 pages long and entitled "Warsaw's Losses Between 1939 and 1945," was commissioned in response to announcements that Germans who were expelled from areas in western Poland at the end of the war intended to seek compensation for property they had to leave behind. "If Germany insists on rewriting history, if there are more demands for compensation...we have a weapon to defend ourselves with this report," Kaczynski said. "There was no other city in occupied Europe which lost more than half its inhabitants and was more than 80 percent destroyed, as was Warsaw," he said. "The Germans cannot be allowed to present themselves as the second victims of World War Two after the Jews."
Strategy already used
Fanning the abiding distrust of Germany has already been used in the election campaign. Last week, Kaczynski's election team accused Tusk's grandfather of fighting in the German army in World War II, an accusation Tusk said "overstepped the bounds of decency" -- and which cost Kaczynski's campaign chief Jacek Kurski his job. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Nazi troops march into Poland in 1939World War Two started with the German invasion of Poland, and accusations of collaborating with the Nazis during the war still hit home, more than half a century later. "Kaczynski always puts himself forward as the only good guy," said Mocek. But neither his accusations about Tusk's grandfather being in the Wehrmacht, nor the report on Nazi destruction in Warsaw, appeared to have done the conservative presidential candidate much good. Five days before the second round, opinion polls put Tusk in the lead with around 58 percent of the vote, with Kaczynski about 15 points behind him.
© Deutsche Welle
FRANCE, SPAIN TACKLE IMMIGRATION CONTROL PROBLEM
17/10/2005- French prime minister Dominique de Villepin said Monday he backed a Spanish proposal for a conference of European and African states to address the problem of immigration. "France supports the Spanish idea of a European-African conference on immigration," de Villepin said following talks in Barcelona with his host, Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The issue came to a head last month with a series of assaults by thousands of sub-Saharan African immigrants on fencing at the Spanish border surrounding the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. At least 14 people died in their attempt to leap over the fencing after trekking across vast swathes of Africa to northern Morocco. Last week, Morocco and Spain mooted the idea of an EU-African conference bringing together countries affected by immigration after Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos visited Rabat. Zapatero and Villepin used Monday's summit talks in Barcelona to touch on immigration as they dealt with a range of cooperation issues. Zapatero told his French counterpart that illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa was an issue that concerned the whole of Africa and Europe and one that Spain and Morocco could not deal with alone. "Europe refuses to take the African immigrants, but Spain and Morocco cannot play the role of EU policeman on their own," a Zapatero spokesman told AFP, adding it was "time to act" to solve a "humanitarian drama." The Spanish daily ABC had earlier reported that the French and German interior ministers had complained "this week" about Spanish immigration policy, saying that "25,000 illegals from black Africa have crossed the Pyrénées in the past few months" to France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Quoting police experts, ABC said another 25,000 were still in Spain. According to the paper, French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy had dubbed the Spanish government the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" in terms of immigration while the paper quoted German counterpart Otto Schily as saying that "massive (immigrant) regularisation has the knock-on effect of attracting new illegals." ABC did not reveal when the two men made the reported comments.
© Expatica News
GAYS TO BLAME FOR WARSAW BOMB SCARE?(Poland)
20/10/2005- A dozen fake bombs scattered around Warsaw caused panic and traffic snarls in the Polish capital on Thursday, and a mysterious gay rights group has claimed responsibility. A previously unknown group called the Gay Power Brigade sent a five-page letter to media outlets, saying the bomb hoax was a statement against Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, who banned a Gay Pride parade in the city. The mayor is also a candidate in Sunday's presidential election. "You paralyze our life, we'll paralyze yours," the group's e-mail letter said, as reported by the Mail & Guardian newspaper. "Electing Kaczynski would mean the destruction of Poland, a divided Poland, shaken by Kaczynski-wars which aim to win total power," it added. "I think this claim is also a fake," Kaczynski said during a press conference, adding that he didn't think gay rights groups would have been able to carry off the hoax. The city has offered a reward of 100,000 zlotys ($31,000) for information leading to the arrests of those who planted the fake bombs. Police reportedly found 13 suspicious packages throughout the city that were thought to be bombs, but none of them contained explosives. According to press reports, the suspected bombs caused huge traffic jams in the city center, as anti-terrorist squads closed several streets to inspect the suspicious packages. Kaczyinski, of the conservative Law and Justice party, faces Donald Tusk, of the liberal Civic Platform party, in the runoff presidential election Sunday.
© Planet Out
NEVER AGAIN PRESIDENT WINS POLCUL FOUNDATION PRIZE(Poland)
19/10/2005- Marcin Kornak, founder and president of the anti-fascist „Never Again” Association, won the prize of POLCUL, Independent Foundation Supporting the Polish Culture in memory of Jerzy Boniecki. The prize (awarded since 1980) is “to recognize individuals in Poland actively committed to shaping civil society, with their attitude and work showing respect and tolerance for others”. Its founder, Jerzy Boniecki, co-worker of Parisian “Kultura” and member of Amnesty International, lived in Australia. He was a businessman, poet and activist of Polish community. Marcin Kornak was recognized „for his activity for tolerance and overcoming discrimination and xenophobia”.
M. Kornak founded Anti-Nazi Group (pol. GAN, Grupa Antynazistowska) in 1992 in Bydgoszcz. Since 1996 he has been a president of „NEVER AGAIN” Association and editor-in-chief of a magazine under the same title, devoted to issues of racism, neofascism and xenophobia, and editor-in-chief of “Stadium”, a magazine for anti-racist football fans. He initiated and coordinated campaigns “Music Against Racism”, “Let’s kick racism out of stadiums” and project “Brown Book”. Born in 1968, Marcin Kornak uses a wheelchair since he had an accident when he was 15. He won nationwide renown as a poet, author of lyrics for underground rock bands and promoter of the alternative culture. “Marcin Kornak is one of the most prominent representatives of Polish public life, whose voice against intolerance and discrimination is important and widely heard” – said Prof Barbara Weigl, representative of the Foundation – “It was an honour for me to recommend his name for POLCUL prize”. „This recognition is for me and, as I think, for the whole „NEVER AGAIN” Association, a due acknowledgement for issues we address – fight with racism, neofascism, chauvinism and intolerance.” – said the prize-winner – “I take it also as an obligation of persistence in our uneasy and often thankless work”. „For the greatest successes of “NEVER AGAIN” Association in the recent times I reckon our fight with racism in the Internet, which we carry on together with INACH (International Network Against Cyber Hate) within the framework of campaign R@cism Delete” – adds Kornak – “As well as the very impressive development of campaign “Let’s kick racism out of stadiums”. These days we are very engaged in running in our country Week of Football Against Racism in Europe and leading this campaign in the whole Eastern Europe, including Azerbaijan and Armenia”.
The prize will be presented on November 5th in House of Polonia at Krakowskie Przedmieœcie in Warsaw.
© Football Against Racism in Europe
ANTI-RACISM POSTER BY POLISH FOOTBALL CLUB
20/10/2005- Kolporter Korona Kielce have become the first Polish football club to produce a full team antiracist poster. Produced with FARE partner Never Again, the poster will be distributed as part of FARE Action Week. Korona hit the headlines earlier this season when sections of their fans began racially abusing their own players. Rather than brush it aside, the club courageously confronted the issue, banning several individuals from their stadium. With the help of Never Again, the incidents sparked a national debate, prompting other clubs to take the issue more seriously.
© Football Against Racism in Europe
SLOVAK FOOTBALLERS CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM
17/10/2005- Slovakia will take part in the European Week against racism in soccer which wants to protest against the demonstrations of racism and intolerance at soccer stadiums, representatives of the Slovak Soccer Association and the People Against Racism organisation said today. "Soccer is of course only a mirror of the society and we cannot expect than any activities in soccer will do away with racism as such," said Daniel Milo, head of the People Against Racism. "Yet soccer may be a means that breaks the imaginary borders between people of different races, ethnicities, cultures," Milo added. Slovak first-league footballers will publicly present a symbolic red card with the inscription A Red Card for Racism before every match. The first occasion will be the Champions League match in which Artmedia Bratislava plays in Scotland against Glasgow Rangers. The anti-discrimination campaign, organised by the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), will last until October 25.
© Romano vodi
FOOTBALL: THE DISREPUTABLE GAME (Romania)
Bigots and hooligans in Romanian soccer stadiums seem unfazed by the spotlight of publicity.
By Filon Stan, Bucharest-based journalist working with the television news channel Antena 3.
19/10/2005- Ninety minutes of expletives and incitement to violence: that, in short, was the key story of what would normally have been one of the most high-profile games in Romanian football last season, between Steaua Bucharest, winner of the European Champions Cup in 1986, and Rapid Bucharest, winner of the Romanian championship in 2003. That game this March produced unprecedented displays of verbal nastiness by fans of both teams. Amid the sea of insults and abuse, some Steaua supporters distinguished themselves by aiming their vitriol specifically at Roma. Before and after the match, they shouted anti-Roma slogans; in the stadium itself, they hoisted large posters reading (for example) ?We hate and we?ll always hate gypsies.? As if all that were not enough, the stadium?s official announcer, Gabi Safta, joined in, shouting anti-Roma slogans into his microphone, calling Rapid?s supporters ?crows? and ?gypsies.? Cristi Bivolaru, the head of international relations at the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) and an observer for the European football authority UEFA, said that he was appalled by Safta?s behavior. He had, he said, never witnessed such behavior by an announcer in any European stadium. The criticism leveled at them and the team by the FRF and the roughly 1,000 euro fine, the maximum allowed by law, imposed by the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) has clearly not cowed Steaua's fans. When Irish side Shelbourne visited for a UEFA Champions League qualifying match this summer, two black players were jeered by home fans, leading UEFA to fine Steaua 19,500 euros and order the team to play its 29 September match against Valerenga of Norway at least 250 kilometers from Bucharest. Over the past couple of years, racist and xenophobic behavior in Romanian football stadiums has intensified, reaching unmatched heights. This fever of racism, aimed mainly at the Roma, seen as the most disruptive minority in the country ?has finally prompted authorities to step in. However, many both at home at abroad say little is being done to root out the problem.
Difficult conditions
Bad behavior during games against teams from abroad may draw the most international attention, but the problem is most acute in the domestic league, where stadiums often turn into cauldrons of racist and xenophobic speech. In some cases the fiery invective has been stoked by the clubs' management. The owner of Steaua, for example, Gigi Becali, is notorious for racist comments. As the presidential candidate for a minor party in last year's elections, he said he would give financial aid to Christian churches but not to synagogues. "I don't hate [Jews], I have nothing against them, but if I could, I would make them get baptized," he said. This January, Becali refused to buy the Senegalese player Gueye Mansour from the Romanian team Politehnica Timisoara unless Mansour, who is Muslim, converted to Christianity. (Mansour turned down Becali?s conditions.) Another worrying development is that football hooligans in recent years have begun taking their racist outbursts and wrath out onto the streets. In 2002, on their way to a football match, some 200 Steaua fans beat several Romani women and children. "Gypsies out of Romania," they shouted, according to Ciprian Necula, coordinator of programs with the Romania-based nongovernmental organization Romani Criss. The same day hooligans vandalized several houses where Roma live. Steaua fans can dish out abuse but sometimes they have to take it too. During a 2004 match, supporters of another of Bucharest's top teams, Dinamo, shouted, "Steaua, team of Hungarians, Gypsies, and Kosovars. Don't you have kikes?" In another notorious case of racism directed at players, the mayor of the southern city of Craiova, Antonie Solomon, furious over the poor form last season of the town?s flagship team, Universitatea Craiova, threw a public tantrum at the expense of a number of African and Brazilian players, complaining that the team will never compete at top level as long as it recruits 'crows' via the Internet. Solomon was sanctioned for his racist comments and ordered by the CNCD to pay a fine of about 300 euros.
Sending messages
The government set up the CNCD in 2002 as part of a package of anti-discrimination measures. The agency monitors compliance with the law and is empowered to impose fines on violators. It can also propose new legislation. In 2004, the then government went further, taking a decision that obliges match organizers to video violence by spectators and to ban the display of religious, racist, discriminatory, obscene, or 'politically violent' messages. For all these efforts, little has been achieved thus far. Some say that violence and hate speech in stadiums is hard to control. "You can't solve these things this way [by levying fines]," said Dumitru Dragomir, the president of the Professional Football League (LPF), the body in charge of organizing the national football competitions. "You must educate people. It's a difficult job. How can you fine 10,000 people at once? When they start shouting as a group, there is nothing you can do, Dragomir told the Romanian Mediafax news agency. On 31 August, during the match for the Romanian Supercup between Steaua and Dinamo, police had to intervene several times to stop clashes between fans. In all, they imposed fines worth some 1,500 euros on 26 people for shouting racist slogans and expletives or for throwing objects on to the pitch. So far in 2005 the national anti-discrimination agency CNCD has issued nine warnings and punished teams 10 times with fines, most for racially motivated behavior by fans. After last season's rancorous Steaua-Rapid match, the CNCD accused Steaua's management of "passivity" in failing to take action against racist chants. Similar sentiments were expressed after the Shelbourne match. Steaua "did not do enough against this kind of misconduct among its fans," UEFA announced. Steaua has been unwilling to concede any failings. After the Steaua-Rapid match, the CNCD imposed a 1,000-euro fine on the club, a 500-euro fine on announcer Safta, and ordered both teams to play their next games behind closed doors. However, Steaua and Safta both successfully convinced the courts to lift their fines. Steaua officials said they would seek one million euros from the CNCD in compensation for lost ticket sales and television rights from the closed-door match.
Next steps
Some contend that bad behavior in stadiums is an isolated phenomenon. Disruptive football fans are mostly uneducated teens who cannot in any case be brought before a court, the LPF's general secretary Valentin Alexandru said. "The FRF condemn and reject any kind of racism and xenophobia in sport," federation spokesman Paul Zaharia said after UEFA's punishment of Steaua. "On the other hand, these kind of actions are not a large phenomenon" in Romanian football, he said. The president of CNCD, Csaba Asztalos, maintains that the FRF itself is partly to blame. "The image of Romanian soccer is in deep crisis and Steaua pays now for the FRF's lack of reaction [to racist behavior] over the past several years," Reuters reported him as saying. "The FRF, the [Romanian] Professional League, and the clubs failed to take efficient measures to eradicate the plague of discrimination," he said. However, the increasing number of incidents in stadiums is prompting the FRF to take the problem more seriously. UEFA has a standing offer of up to 30,000 euros annually to help the federation implement programs aimed at eradicating stadium violence. But first the FRF must come up with its own strategy and present concrete proposals, something it hasn't been able to do. Given the overt racism heard from the lips of team owners and politicians, the lack of a game plan against racism is perhaps unsurprising. However, the FRF will unveil an anti-discrimination program drawn up in cooperation with the police, Bivolaru says. In Romania's NGO community, many are skeptical that the fight against racism and xenophobia will produce quick results. This job requires long-term efforts on the educational front, they say. "It's a dream to see stadiums without shouts against Roma," says Gelu Duminica, president of the Bucharest-based Romani NGO Impreuna (Together).
© Transitions Online
FOOTBALL STARS GIVE ANTI-RACISM BACKING
20/10/2005- 'Kick racism out of football' - that was the message conveyed by UEFA, Europe's top clubs, star players and anti-racism campaigners at this week's UEFA Champions League matches. As part of UEFA's Unite Against Racism campaign, European football's governing body made use of its premier club competition to make a stand against racism during the Action Week organised by its partner, Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). At all 16 Matchday 3 games played on Tuesday and Wednesday, Europe's biggest stars backed the message against racism. Each team was accompanied on to the pitch by children wearing Unite Against Racism T-shirts, and tannoy announcements were made before each game. Fans in the stadiums and millions of TV viewers heard the message that racism has no place in the game. FARE's annual Action Week against Racism and Discrimination has grown over the last five seasons into European football's biggest anti-racism campaign. Alongside activities at professional clubs and leagues, the Action Week is giving fans, minority groups and grassroot football teams across the continent the opportunity to come together. "The partnership with FARE is one of our privileged partnerships," said UEFA's communications and public affairs director William Gaillard. "Football cannot solve European racism or discrimination problems alone - but it can ring the alarm bell. Because football is the No1 sport, what the players say and what UEFA does has an influence on young people - the people we have to reach for the future to stop racism."
© Dansk Boldspil-Union
KYRGYZ REFUGEES LONG FOR RECOGNITION
Poverty and lack of legal status hit women hardest in the refugee community.
By Aida Kasymalieva, correspondent for Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz service of RFE/RL, in Bishkek
20/10/2005- Eight years after the Tajik civil war, some of the refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan say they continue to face discrimination because they have been unable to take out citizenship there. In this community, which is overwhelmingly of ethnic Kyrgyz origin, women find themselves further marginalised by poverty and lack of education. Most of the Kyrgyz refugees live in the Chui region around the capital Bishkek in the north of Kyrgyzstan. Some have gone back to Tajikistan or acquired Kyrgyz passports over the years, but for those still in limbo the lack of a local passport – which here is used as an essential form of ID rather than just for foreign travel – is a serious obstacle in almost every area of life. “We are deprived of everything,” said Altynay Jamalova, 27, who lives in Vasilevka, a village near Bishkek largely inhabited by refugees. “We can’t obtain a certificate of [high-school] education and then find a job. We can only do unskilled labour for miserable pay, and even that is too much for us. In order to lease land, we also need documents! So we can’t even feed ourselves.” Most of the refugees came from the high mountain plateau of the Pamirs in eastern Tajikistan, where Kyrgyz communities lived by raising livestock, mostly yaks that are one of the few animals to thrive at such high altitudes. There were about 65,000 Kyrgyz in Tajikistan in the last Soviet census of 1989. Many left for Kyrgyzstan during the 1992-97 Tajik conflict, and while thousands have gone back, in part helped by a United Nations programme, it is unclear how many now live in Tajikistan. Bazarkul Kerimbaeva, the head of the refugees office at the Kyrgyz foreign ministry’s migration department, told IWPR that of the 18,000 people granted refugee status as a result of the Tajik civil war – 90 per cent of whom were ethnic Kyrgyz - several thousand had gone back home. Of those who remained, 7,000 had been granted Kyrgyz citizenship, and just 3,000 refugees remained. However, Sapar Bekkeldiev, coordinator of Booruker-Urmat, a non-government organisation that helps migrants, suggests the official figure of 3,000 may be a gross underestimate, since those Kyrgyz who came into the country after the end of the Tajik conflict were not accorded formal refugee status by the authorities in Bishkek. “We always talk about ‘refugee rights’. But in this case, a great many people have come from Tajikistan, and some of them do not have refugee status at all. They were denied this status after 1997. But people continued to come here from Tajikistan after that date,” said Bekkeldiev. “We recently conducted a questionnaire-based poll of ethnic Kyrgyz from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China. This showed that 36,000 people have been unable to acquire a Kyrgyz passport….. It would be more correct to talk of the problems facing ‘ethnic Kyrgyz from Tajikistan’ or ‘migrants’.”
Whatever the actual figures, the thousands of Kyrgyz from Tajikistan who remain without passports find doors closed to them from the moment they are born. The lack of ID means women cannot give birth in maternity hospitals, babies cannot be receive a birth certificate. As the children grow up, they can attend school but cannot get a leaving certificate. “I gave birth at home, under primitive conditions with the help of a medicine woman. Thank God, my child and I survived,” said one of the refugees, 23-year-old Matluba Shakirova. “My relatives are not well-informed enough to know anything about rights, and they aren’t rich enough to ‘reach agreement’ with the doctor [pay a bribe]. They wouldn’t let me into the maternity hospital because I didn’t have a [passport] document. “Now my child is growing up without a birth certificate. We can’t go to a doctor to get him examined. What should I do if he falls seriously ill? Treat him with folk remedies?” Another right that the refugees say they are denied is legal marriage and the protections that affords. Matluba’s neighbour, 27-year-old Minovar, recalled, “When we got married, we didn’t receive a marriage certificate. If my husband leaves us, he may simply throw us out. No one can force him to pay alimony or give his wife part of his property. And our children have had no right to anything since the day they were born. They do not officially exist in Kyrgyzstan.” The Booruker-Urmat group estimates that two out of every five refugee children, most of them girls, come from families too poor to send them to school. Eighteen-year-old Mairam Ikramova is illiterate after attending just one year of school back in Tajikistan before her family became refugees. “We didn’t have the money to by clothes, pens and exercise books,” explained Mairam’s mother Apal Hamitova. “Out of my children, it’s not just Mairam who didn’t go to school - neither did the younger ones. Now they’ll probably remain illiterate all their lives. How can they catch up on what they’ve missed?” As well as economic reasons, girls’ education is inhibited by conservative values among the Kyrgyz refugee community. Maksat and Muborak Alieva, aged 16 and 14 respectively, arrived from Jirgatal in Tajikistan nine years ago, when the civil war was still under way. They too live in Vasilevka. Because the village used to be inhabited by ethnic Russians and Germans, who have emigrated in the years since Kyrgyzstan became independent, the only school still uses Russian rather than Kyrgyz as the teaching medium, which only compounds the problem of getting families to allow their daughters to attend. In a village with several hundred residents, the Aliev sisters are the only female refugee children to go. “Of the ‘Tajik Kyrgyz’, only my sister and I go to school. No one studies – about 90 per cent of the ‘Tajik Kyrgyz’ girls don’t get a high-school education,” said Muborak. “It’s hard for us too, because according to our traditions girls are supposed to wear headscarves, which is forbidden in schools in Kyrgyzstan. We don’t know what we should do: get an education or please our families.”
Ainura Sharafidinova, 17, dropped out of the Vasilevka school recently, and says, “I don’t go because I don’t know Russian. And my friends and acquaintances from Tajikistan don’t go to school either. It’s time to think about getting married.” Maksat concluded sadly, “The lot of the girls from Tajikistan is to work in the fields, go about in long dresses and never to contradict the men in the family. The men don’t like it if girls even go to school, let alone university.” Zievidin Badirov, who heads Booruker-Urmat’s information centre, says another tradition – the abduction of young women for forced marriage – is an additional factor deterring parents from sending their daughters to school. “Nowadays, girls are not attending school because of barbaric traditions. Back in Tajikistan, they [Kyrgyz] did not have the tradition of bride-stealing,” said Badirov. “But in recent years they too have learnt to steal brides, as the local Kyrgyz do. Now they hover outside the school gates watching the girls. Even 14- and 15-year-olds get abducted. To avoid this fate, the girls stop going to school, and their parents make an early arranged marriage for them.” Poverty not only stops young women from studying, but forces them to do heavy unskilled labour – especially as many of the men in rural areas are away in Russia working as migrant labour. “We go to the field every day and work there in teams,” said 30-year-old Zinakan Abdraimova. “What about the lads? They go off to Russia to work. And elderly men are not supposed to work.” Suyun Kurmanova, a journalist who also works with Sezim, a women’s crisis centre, argues that the refugees’ poor economic prospects and their lack of legal status are interlinked. “There are more infringements of women’s rights among the refugees. Their living conditions are much worse than for local Kyrgyz…. Their first priority is to feed and clothe themselves. But education and other things are naturally postponed indefinitely,” said Kurmanova. “They were not met with open arms in Kyrgyzstan. Many of them live for years without documents and are unable to acquire citizenship. Sometimes, because they don’t have documents, women cannot go to maternity wards or hospitals. The head of the Adilet human rights organisation, Cholpon Jakupova, says that the refugees from Tajikistan are suffering the same kinds of problems that others face in Kyrgyzstan, only more so because they are at the bottom of the heap.
“As a rule, the lower the level of income in the family, and the lower the level of education, the earlier girls are married off,” said Jakupova. “What is happening in our society is reflected more strongly among vulnerable groups.” At the end of May, the Kyrgyz parliament ratified an arrangement that will simplify the procedures for people from Tajikistan to renounce that identity and acquire Kyrgyz passports. But this is an inter-government agreement with Tajikistan, whose parliament has yet to approve it. “It has taken a long time for the refugee agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to come into force,” said political analyst Nur Omarov. Above all, the refugees need to be given citizenship – because they are all our Kyrgyz brothers. Only then will they be able to find jobs, get some privileges and enjoy the rights of citizens of Kyrgyzstan. “Many of them currently lead the lives of people unwanted by the state, and this increasingly worsens not just the position of women, but general human rights among their community.” The refugees still hoping to get Kyrgyz passports say it is now too late to consider the alternative option – going back to Tajikistan. “We spent all our money and sold all our property to get here,” said Jamalova. “It’s even more difficult over there [Tajikistan] than it is in Kyrgyzstan, especially as we are ethnic Kyrgyz. We may be a bit different from local Kyrgyz, but this is our historical homeland. Bazargul Dilmuratova, 80, added, “Who would be waiting for us there? To return to Tajikistan, we’d need a great deal of effort and money, and we are so tired of all this moving around and the warfare. “We just hope life in Kyrgyzstan will work out, that we’ll be given passports, and that we will be able to work and find our way out of this poverty.”
© Institute for War & Peace Reporting
NATIONALIST RUSSIAN MPs TO SUE ACTIVIST AFTER ACCUSATION OF NAZISM
19/10/2005- The leadership of the left-wing nationalist Motherland faction in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, has asked the Prosecutor General?s Office to take action against Ella Pamfilova, a prominent Russian human rights activist, after she accused party members of Nazism, RIA Novosti reported. During a televised discussion about nationalism on Oct. 10, Pamfilova said: ?I would say there are many people in the Motherland faction who speculate on these issues. And although they deny it, we know that they are sick, unfortunately, with more than just nationalism, because healthy nationalism is characteristic for all nations, but with what I would define as Nazism.? A spokesman for faction leader Dmitry Rogozin said both he and Valentin Varennikov, another senior Motherland member, wanted to sue the activist for slander. ?Let them file the suit,? Pamfilova said in response. ?I think I did the right thing. I welcome their move and take great satisfaction from it. I absolutely do not regret what I said, and believe it would be very good if the case made it to court.? Some Motherland members have become infamous for their radical actions. For instance, in January 14 of MPs from the faction were among 20 who signed a letter to the Prosecutor General demanding a ?ban on all Jewish organizations? because they were ?extremist?. About 500 other people, mostly journalists and editors of nationalist newspapers, joined the MPs in describing the Jewish religion ?anti-Christian and inhumane, whose practices extend even to ritual murders?. The letter also read: ?The whole democratic world today is under the financial and political control of international Jewry. And we do not want our Russia to be among such unfree countries.? The letter was condemned by Israel and the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Prosecutor?s Office did not respond.
© MosNews
YOUTHS ARRESTED IN VORONEZH OVER MURDER OF FOREIGN STUDENT(Russia)
19/10/2005- Police in the Russian city of Voronezh have arrested 14 people over the murder of a Peruvian student by a mob of young men, a police spokesman quoted by AFP said Tuesday. ?The 14 arrested men are part of the same group and are all students aged between 17 and 22 and have all confessed their guilt,? regional police spokesman Igor Suchkolov told AFP by telephone. The arrests follow the murder of Enrique Angeles Hurtado, 18, a student at the city?s architecture academy, by a group of 15 to 20 men wielding knives and metal bars on Oct. 9. The murder drew charges from students and rights groups that Russian authorities were failing to prevent racist attacks, which have been on the rise in Russia in recent years. Two other students, an 18-year-old Peruvian, Alexander Manuel Navarro, and a 30-year-old Spaniard, Mario Potigno Rodriguez, were also hospitalized after the attack, which took place in the grounds of a sports centre in the city. Officials in Voronezh have played down the extent of race crime in the city. Hurtado?s death is being investigated as ?hooliganism? - a legal formula that carries far lighter prison sentences than hate crime. On Tuesday there came news of a fresh attack on a foreign student, a 23-year-old Albanian man studying at the Voronezh state university. A suspect has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and attempted theft, the Itar-Tass news agency cited a prosecutor in the Komintern district of the city as saying. Suchkolov said police had seized knuckle-dusters, metal bars, bats and sticks from the 14 men held over Hurtado?s death. He said that the suspects were from well-off families and had claimed to be maintaining law and order. ?They explained that they wanted to combat drug use and criminality in the region,? Suchkolov said. The officers involved in the investigation have been rewarded for their work, he added.
© MosNews
THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE WARNED DEFENDERS OF ANŽALIKA BORYS(Belarus)
17/10/2005- Miensk city prosecutor’s office made an official warning to activists of a number of national minorities and religious confessions that sent a letter to the President of the country in August with the appeal to protect Anžalika Borys, legitimate head of Union of Poles in Belarus that was not recognized by the authorities.
On August, 6, in Miensk, there was a meeting of prominent representatives of German, Polish, Ukrainian, Roma and Tatar minorities together with activists of Catholic youth and Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. They signed an appeal to president Łukašenka with the demand “to stop illegal actions on activists and leaders of Union of Poles in Belarus and to start a dialogue with legal leadership of the organization headed by Anžalika Borys”. The Presidential Administration gave no answer to the appeal. However it got about that at the beginning of October the prosecutor’s office launched an investigation on the instructions of the committee of religions and nationalities. According to Mikola Kalinin, a well-known activist of Roma movement and lawyer, participants of August meeting were called to city prosecutor’s office recently. The authorities could not find him (he was at a seminar in Czech) and they were searching for him. “When I came back I went to city prosecutor’s office to head of the department of performance of legal acts, Pavał Jelisiejeǔ, says M. Kalinin, I was asked questions about my participation in meeting of August 6. They accused me of acting on behalf of ‘Belarusian Roma Diaspora’ organization, but I never acted on the behalf of this organization and have nothing to do with it. According to Jelisiejeǔ, on the next day of adoption of the appeal Aleh Kasloǔski, the leader of this organization, came to the republican prosecutor’s office with official claim against me and demanded to take measures against me”.
On August 11, the participants of August meeting received ‘official warning’ about inadmissability of violation of the Law of the Republic of Belarus (‘On public organizations law’) signed by N.Siemižon, deputy prosecutor of Miensk. In addition to the mentioned accusation of acting on behalf of Belarusian Roma organization Kalinin was charged with acting on behalf of unregistered organization (multinational and multi-confessional initiative ‘Zhoda’). “However, this does not correspond to the facts also, I never acted on behalf of this organization, - says Kalinin, - Moreover no program documents were adopted at this meeting, and the consultations between the participants were to be continued. The information about the creation of the initiative that appeared on a web page was unexpected for us. It was submitted by Alaksandar Ziałko, the participant of the meeting, who declared that he was ‘the executive secretary of the initiative’, however no one elected him”. According to M. Kalinin “in spite of strong pressure on people who signed the appeal in protection of Anžalika Borys no one has taken his or her signature back and no one is going to do that”. “In this case we are the observers of extreme persecution on nationality. Even extraordinary persecution – a person is forced to give up his nationality. Why can’t Kalinin speak in public on behalf of Roma minority if he belongs to it?” – commented on the situation Jury Čavusaŭ, a lawyer.
© The Assembly of Belarusian pro-democratic NGOs
PRESENTATION OF BELARUSIAN ROMA ORGANIZATION "EKHIPEN"
Roma organization "EKHIPEN" now the unique independent roma organization in republic Belarus. The roma organization "EKHIPEN" unites highly educated repsentatives of roma people. We support democratization of the Belarus society as a whole and for democratization interethnic relations in Belarus. For today in republic Belarus there is no developed policy concerning national minorities. In Belarus rigid discrimination against roma. The authority does not give due attention to social problems of the citizens. To romas from Belarus have same problems, as in roma in all East Europe. In Belarus this problem simply try to not notice. Authorities do not carry on dialogue with roma. In Belarus were it is artificial the roma organizations which have no authority between roma. Position of national minorities in Belarus is really unique that belarussian government ignore a problem of people, the citizens, including citizens belonging to national minorities. Here 10 years the state does not doing anything for position of the roma. The authoritative political mode affects negatively position of all citizens, including roma people. The roma peoples cannot stand outside of those event which going now in Belarus. The authority has created the government organizations which doing nothing for roma. Roma organization "EKHIPEN" the unique independent roma organization. We shall work for attraction of attention of experts and the public to problems the roma in territory of Byelorussia and abroad. Our activity will be directed on formation at citizens and rising generation with respect and the careful relations to the historical roma past, as compound and an integral part of national culture of Byelorussia. We will work for revival of national and household traditions, the folklore creativity, traditional crafts, national suits, singing and dancing art, preservation and development of roma language. We already work on popularization, studying and development of roma language, a cultural heritage and national creativity, teaching of roma language at schools in places were roma community are living, to do festivals, concerts, exhibitions, sports and other actions. Belarus now the unique country in Europe, in which there is no roma school or roma classes. We work on development of interethnic dialog which will be based on humanism and respect to cultural traditions of peoples occupying Byelorussia. We want to participate in a political and public life of republic Belarus. We support democracy in Belarus, we support tolerance, for interethnic and intercultural dialogue between peoples. Roma organization "EKHIPEN" se the future of Belarus in structure of the European union. We do not want to be cut off from the world community. Primary activity of our organization is directed on struggle against discrimination.
But Baht sastipen!!!
© Ekhipen
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: PROTECT ROMA FROM RACISM!
19/10/2005- With the European Commission due to release its annual monitoring reports on Bulgaria and Romania on 25 October, Amnesty International calls on the European Union to keep up pressure on the two accession countries on some crucial outstanding human rights concerns. Amnesty International welcomes the positive developments in human rights protection and promotion in both Bulgaria and Romania in the past years but says these countries still present areas of concern where individuals' rights are violated in breach of international human rights standards. The human rights organisation has regularly informed the Commission of its concerns.
In a briefing paper released today, Amnesty International highlights its concerns in both countries over problems relating to the rights of people with mental disabilities, ill-treatment by law enforcement authorities and discrimination against Roma communities.
Amnesty International invites the EU to urge the Bulgarian and Romanian governments to:
- guarantee the human rights of the mentally disabled by establishing an effective system for monitoring psychiatric institutions, including the recording of all deaths of patients and residents in such institutions;
- curb the use of excessive force by the police, by ensuring that full and impartial investigations are conducted into all cases of shootings by law enforcement officials, ensuring that the results of such investigations are made public and that perpetrators are brought to justice;
- prevent racism and discrimination against the Roma populations by effectively ensuring that discriminatory and racist actions do not go unpunished.
The briefing paper "Bulgaria and Romania: Amnesty International concerns in EU accession countries" is available here.
©
Dzeno Association
LAUNCH OF EUROPEAN CIVIL LIBERTIES NETWORK
An online network of groups concerned with civil liberties, democracy and equality has been launched to counter unprecedented attacks on freedoms in Europe.
By Jenny Bourne
19/10/2005- The European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) brings together groups and individuals who seek to create a European society based on freedom and equality, personal and political freedom, freedom of information and equality rights for minorities. And to mark the launch of the group, which has been co-ordinated by Tony Bunyan, director of the British-based Statewatch, an online collection of essays has been published. The Essays in Defence of Civil Liberties (which will be added to) currently contains contributions on the 'war on terror', EU border controls, denial of children's rights, ASBOs, public corruption, globalisation, 'speech crime' and deportation. A.Sivanandan and Liz Fekete, authors of the latter two pieces, are founding members of ECLN, as are other leading human rights figures such as Gareth Peirce.
The founding groups behind ECLN include:
*Statewatch (London)
*IRR's European Race Audit (London)
*CILIP (Berlin)
*Mugak (Spanish Basque country)
*Komitee gegen Schnuefelstaat (Bern)
*Hellenic League for Human Rights (Greece)
*Access to Information Programme (Sofia)
*VD AMOK
*Komitee fur Grundrechte und Demokratie (Germany).
The ECLN website includes details of new research, campaigns, conferences and demonstrations, a searchable database, an automated email 'alerts' system as well as background information on the network.
© Institute of Race Relations
UN LEARNS ABOUT ACTIVITIES TO COMBAT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION(Brasil)
19/10/2005- In order to become acquainted with the Brazilian government's activities to combat racial discrimination, the special United Nations (UN) rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Intolerance, Doudou Diene, met yesterday (18) with the minister of the Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality, Matilde Ribeiro. The rapporteur said he wished to visit Brazil to observe the progress achieved in the area of combatting racism, the solutions that have been found, and the problems that still need to be resolved. Among the major projects presented by the minister to the UN rapporteur were the affirmative actions to prevent racism in the country and programs in the areas of work and education, especially Law 10639/03, which makes the teaching of black history and culture mandatory in the schools. Diene has to submit an annual report on racism around the world to the UN Human Rights Commission, as well as specific reports on the countries he visits. He affirmed that his visit has two motives: Brazil's multi-ethnic composition and the historical racism the country presents.
© Agencia Brasil
Headlines 14 October, 2005
THE MURDER IN VORONEZH AND VIOLENCE AGAINST FOREIGN STUDENTS IN RUSSIA
By Rafal Pankowski
14/10/2005- The recent murder of a Peruvian student in the Russian university city of Voronezh is yet another incidence of racist terror against “foreign-looking” individuals, frequently students from other continents who have come to Russia to study. In this edition of ICARE News we have collected a number of articles on the latest racist killing in Voronezh as well as several other recent cases of racist attacks on students in Russia. It has to be noted, that the latest tragedy became a widely discussed subject in the Russian media. One can hope this debate will help to prevent similar tragic cases in the future. Human rights and anti-racist groups in Voronezh and elsewhere are campaigning to curb racist and fascist violence. Not so long ago such calls were ignored, now they are finally heard in public. While there are still occasional absurd utterances about the “non-existence” of racism in Russia from officials, there is an increasing level of recognition of the problem of racism on the official level, including from the president of the Russian Federation. Viewers of Russian TV news in the last days have noted a massive amount of strong-worded statements acknowledging and condemning racist violence. In the words of Nikolai Butkevich writing in “The Moscow Times” (also in this edition of ICARE News, “Getting away with Hate”) “Russian officials have over the past few years begun to openly talk about the need to combat neo-Nazi extremist gangs, racism and anti-Semitism”. It comes late but it is important. Now the words need to be followed by deeds.
©
I CARE News
STUDENTS IN WESTERN RUSSIA HOLD PROTEST RALLY AGAINST RACISM
15/10/2005- About 200 Russian and foreign students are holding a March Against Hatred to protest racism in western city of Voronezh, where a Peruvian student was killed in a suspected racist attack earlier this month and two other foreign students were heavily beaten, Interfax reported. About 200 students gathered in afternoon to march from the city center to Revolution Avenue. The rally was organized by the Youth Human Rights Movement’s Voronezh branch. Organizers said that city authorities had banned the rally, but law enforcement agreed to stop traffic along the main square. The goal of the march is to show foreign students and the public that there are forces in the city that oppose neo-fascism, xenophobia and racism, and are prepared to show solidarity with foreign students in dramatic situations.
© MosNews
STUDENT FEAR IN RUSSIA'S "CAPITAL OF RACE HATRED"
By Andrew Osborn, Independent
A southern Russian university town which is popular with British students has been described as a "crucible of race hatred" following what looks like yet another student's murder at the hands of foreigner-hating skinheads.
13/10/2005- Eighteen-year-old Enrique Urtado, a Peruvian, was set upon last Sunday in the city of Voronezh by a group of 15 to 20 young men who beat him and his friends with metal poles and wooden stakes. Mr Urtado was stabbed twice and died on his way to hospital while two of his friends, also foreign students, were taken to hospital. The two survivors said at least three of the attackers were skinheads. Researchers are warning that Voronezh has become one of the country's main skinhead recruiting grounds. Elements of the Russian media have called it "the Russian capital of race hatred", saying that Moscow and St Petersburg were vying for the title but that Voronezh has now won. Mr Urtado and his friends are reported to have lain in pools of their own blood for at least an hour before they were given aid. His death has drawn strong condemnation from Russian politicians who say they are worried that a wave of skinhead violence against foreigners in general and students in Voronezh in particular is damaging the country's image.
Russia is estimated to be home to more than 50,000 skinheads, and anti-foreigner feeling is reported to be on the rise. Gabriel Kotchofa, president of the Foreign Students Association in Russia, said that Mr Urtado was the 13th foreign student to lose his life in a racially motivated attack in the past five years. Human rights groups say that 44 people were murdered in racist attacks across Russia last year. Most of the serious attacks on students have taken place in Voronezh, a depressed city 300 miles south of Moscow that is famous for its aircraft factory, its high unemployment rate and the fact that it hosts some 1,200 foreign students. Voronezh has long been a popular destination for Russian-language students from the UK on their year abroad, with the universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Bath all offering students the chance to study there. In Soviet times, the city, which has a population of about 900,000, enjoyed a reputation as a quiet provincial backwater, the capital of the surrounding Black Earth region. But today it is more associated with violence against foreigners. The authorities have admitted that there have been 45 attacks on foreigners this year alone.
Mr Urtado's murder has prompted the Russian Ministry of Education to send a special representative to evaluate whether the city should still be recommended as a place to study for foreign students. His murder has also been strongly condemned by the Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and a unit of detectives from Moscow has been dispatched to Voronezh to help with the investigation. The account of the murder emerged yesterday as the trial of two Voronezh youths charged with brutally beating two Chinese students in June began. In another high-profile case, a 24-year-old from Guinea-Bissau, Amaro Antonio Limo, who was last year stabbed to death in Voronezh by a skinhead gang. Three young men were convicted of his murder and sentenced to up to 17 years in prison. It is rare, however, for the Russian police to admit that such attacks are carried out "on racial grounds" and in Mr Urtado's case the local authorities have played down suggestions that the attackers were skinheads, preferring to call the incident "hooliganism".
© Rusnet
FOREIGN STUDENTS ATTACKED IN VORONEZH WANT TO LEAVE CITY
12/10/2005- The foreign students who were attacked in Voronezh last weekend want to continue studying in another Russian city, Ramirez Yegorov, consul-general at the Peruvian embassy in Russia, said on Wednesday. The consul said he had met with the students and their condition is "satisfactory". However they told him it would be "hard for them to be in the city where their comrade had died". The Peruvian embassy will consider the possibility of transferring a Peruvian and a Spanish students to another Russian city. The students were attacked by skinheads, Yegorov said. The students told him there were "young men" with shaved heads among the
assaulters. "It is necessary to find these bandits. Authorities must do everything for that," he quoted one of the attacked Peruvian
students as saying. The consul believes that the problem of racism in Russian society "unfortunately exists". He recalled that two years ago in Voronezh "a Peruvian student was attacked, but the case was closed". The diplomat said the body of the killed student, Angeles Hurtado Enrique, will be sent home within the next few days.
Earlier in the day, Voronezh region prosecutor Alexander Ponomarev said there are grounds to believe that the murder of the student from Peru will be solved. The regional Prosecutor's Office has begun a probe on charges of murder and hooliganism. The region's best law enforcers are investigating the crime. The prosecutor said the investigators "will pursue all leads, including murder out of national, racial hatred." Ponomarev said several suspects have been detained in the case. "They are being interrogated, and after that the investigators will decide whether or not charges should be brought against them," he said. At the same time, Ponomarev declined to provide details of the detention "in the interests of the investigation".
A Peruvian student was killed as a result of the attack. A group of young men of up to 20 people attacked the 18-year-old student and his friends. The attackers beat the students with sticks and metal rods, killing Enrique, a student of the Academy of Architecture. His
compatriot Lavaro Hayala Alexander, 18, a student of the Medical Academy, received brain injuries. Spanish citizen Potino Rodriguez
Mario, 38, a trainee at the philological department of Voronezh State University was also injured. Another student, a Voronezh resident who was with the foreigners, was also hurt. Russian Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Novikov is personally overseeing the investigation of the crime. Two foreign students have been killed and over 10 got various injuries as a result of attacks by young thugs in Voronezh over the last two years. A student from Guinea-Bissau Amaru Antonio Lima was killed in the city in 2004. The perpetrators were found and sentenced to long prison terms. Students from Angola, Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau and China were attacked in the city in early 2005. A total of 45 crimes were committed against foreigners in Voronezh during nine months of 2005, Ponomarev said.
© ITAR-TASS
RUSSIAN GANG KILLS PERU STUDENT
11/10/2005- One foreign student has been killed and two others injured in what appears to be a racially motivated attack in central Russia. Authorities say that a group of around 15 youths attacked the three foreign students at a sports complex in the city of Voronezh. Earlier this year, a human rights group warned that racism was growing at an alarming rate in Russia. Prosecutors have yet to indicate a motive for the latest attack. One of the students , a Peruvian national, was killed and the other two, from Spain, are in hospital with serious head injuries.
Spate of violence
Voronezh is a big college town: since Soviet days it has hosted hundreds of foreign students every year. But it seems to be acquiring a rather ugly image as a place of racial intolerance. Over the past six years, at least seven foreigners have been killed in what appear to be racially motivated attacks. A year ago, a group of skinheads murdered a student from Africa. They were caught and convicted. According to the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, racism and xenophobia are on the increase in Russia. They say there have been three times as many fatal attacks in the first six months of this year, compared with the whole of last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the seriousness of the problem. In a televised question and answer session last month he apologised to foreigners who have been attacked, and promised to end racist activities in Russia.
© Rusnet
BODY OF KILLED PERUVIAN STUDENT TO BE SENT TO PERU
13/10/2005- The body of killed Peruvian student Angelis Hurtado Enrique will be sent from Voronezh to Peru on Thursday,
Consul General of the Peruvian Embassy to Russia Ramirez Egorov said on Wednesday. According to him, "it became possible after the Peruvian Embassy to Russia authorized a forensic expertise that is needed for the investigation on the causes of the young man's death." On the same day the farewell ceremony with the Peruvian student will be held at the Voronezh Architectural University that paid all expenses for the transportation of the body of the killed student.
Three foreign students were attacked in Voronezh on October 9. A big group of local hooligans beat them brutally with sticks and metal rods. Student of the Architectural University Angelis Hurtado Enrique, 18, died from injuries. Two his friends got serious injuries and are staying in hospital. During the conversation with the consul they said they want to leave Voronezh and move to another Russian city to continue their studies. Two foreign students were killed and more than ten got various injuries in the attacks of local hooligans in Voronezh for the last two years. Students from Angola, Rwanda, Guinea Bissau and China were attacked in 2005 alone.
© ITAR-TASS
NO POLITICS BEHIND MURDER OF PERUVIAN STUDENT - VORONEZH GOVERNOR
10/10/2005- Governor of Russia's Voronezh region Vladimir Kulakov said there is no political motivation behind the murder of the Peruvian student, because a Russian citizen was injured during the attack together with foreigners. It is only by joint efforts of law-enforcement bodies, militia groups and units of student volunteers that the safety of foreign citizens can been ensured, Kulakov said. He said it is inadmissible that the Olympic sport and health center where the student was killed has no police posts. All police forces should join the manhunt for the attackers, the governor said in a statement. Kulakov expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of the victim and the injured students.
The attack on three foreign students and a young man from Voronezh was staged on Sunday night near the Olympic recreation center in the outskirts of the town. A group of some 20 young men, armed with sticks and iron rods, attacked two Peruvians, a Spaniard and a Russian. Angelis Hurtado Enrique, 18, from Peru, a student of the Academy of Architecture, died as a result of the injuries. Lavaro Hayalo Alexander, 18, also from Peru, a student of the Medical Academy, and Potino Rodriguez Mario, 30, a practical student of the philological department of the Voronezh University, were hospitalized with cranial injuries. A Russian student from Voronezh was also injured, but he refused to be taken to hospital after medical aid was given to him right on the spot.
It was not the first time foreign students were attacked in Voronezh because of racial intolerance. A student of the Medical Academy from Guinea-Bissau was killed there in 2004. The criminals * three young men * were sentenced to long prison terms. Printed materials of nationalistic character, which belonged to them, were found during the investigation. Students from Angola, Rwanda, and China have been attacked in Voronezh this year. Alexander Ponomaryov, Prosecutor of the Voronezh Region, took the case under his personal control. Speaking at a press conference after the incident, he said "such crimes must not remain unpunished." Ponomaryov said he had ordered the investigators to report to him daily on progress in the criminal probe.
© ITAR-TASS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING VOLGOGRAD MAN IN RACIST INCIDENT(Russia)
12/10/2005- Allegedly responding to racist taunts, a foreign student in Volgograd (identified in one report as an African-American) shot a 22 year old local resident twice in the face, according to an October 6, 2005 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. After passing by three local residents, the student reportedly heard a racist epithet, and after confronting one of them, Dmitry Mitrokhin, shot him in the face twice with a gun that fires rubber bullets. Mr. Mitrokhin was taken to a hospital, where he is recovering. He claims to have not insulted the student, who was arrested and charged with “hooliganism.”
Commenting on the incident, Sova put it into the larger context of racist violence directed against dark-skinned migrants and students in Russia, and the sometimes inadequate response to this violence by police:
“We have earlier noted incidents of armed defense against racist violence, provoked most of all by the inaction of law enforcement agencies. That fact that in this incident, what sparked such an act of 'defense' was nothing more than an insult demonstrates the development of negative tendencies and confirms that most pessimistic predictions of experts.”
Background Information
© FSU Monitor
RACISM IN RUSSIAN
By Alexei Terekhov, Anastasia Berseneva and Novyie Izvestia
5/10/2005- On Sunday in Voronezh a citizen of Rwanda studying at a local institute was beaten and robbed. This is just another episode in a long chain of attacks on foreign students that happen in various Russian cities almost every day. Three months ago, Novyie Izvestia wrote that many young people having come from Africa and Asia to study are ready to leave Russia forever unless law enforcement here starts taking their security seriously. Since then, a large number of students, paying considerable money for their education, have left the country. However, it turned out that federal authorities consider the problem exaggerated in the minds of the public, and do not intend to take special measures to protect foreign students. “It only seems as though the number of attacks against foreign citizens has increased, but in reality there are fewer of them,” a high-placed source in the Interior Ministry told Novyie Izvestia on conditions of anonymity. “The problem is that practically every incident involving a foreign student gets wide public resonance, and that’s why it seems there are so many.”
A number of embassies, however, would find that arguable. “We continuously remind our students that they are under a constant threat,” said a representative of the Indian embassy. “Every April we send out a special letter to schools and colleges where we warn about neo-Nazi aggression. Even in India they know about attacks on students, the press writes about it all the time. And that is why citizens of our country refuse to go to Russia. But a lot of students, despite their fear, still travel to Russia. Higher education is valued in India, especially medical education....” A representative at the Guinea-Bisau embassy said that the diplomats are also informed about frequent attacks on students, as well as the students themselves. Still, they inform newly arrived students of the danger. “We warn them, give them advice on how to act, not to go out late at night, avoid conflicts,” a source at the embassy said. “But what can a young person do if he is attacked by a whole crowd?” The Federal Education Agency, which advises foreign students, is aware of the problem, but talk about the issue with care. “We have no instructions on providing security to foreign students, and it is not our duty to inform them of any danger,” said international education vice director Viktor Petrenko. “This is the job of law enforcement authorities and embassies. After all, we can’t tell students that they’re going to get killed here. We only send out lists of necessary documents, medical information, and the amount of money they need to take with them.”
Education officials admit that regular attacks against students can provoke massive departures. “Many are already picking up their documents and asking to be transfered. So far, only to other cities. A majority of these requests are coming from Voronezh and Rostov,” said Petrenko. “However, apart from attacks, students’ decisions are also influenced by other factors. For example, after the fire at the International Friendship University many picked up their documents and returned to their home countries. But the number of people who want to study in Russia is not decreasing, if not increasing. Every year, foreign students bring about $200 million into Russia. And we have to admit that if there’s a massive withdrawal, this number will decrease. But right now this is not happening.”
The State Duma also believes that so far the issue of providing security to foreign students has not reached the federal level.
“There is a security problem with foreign students in separate regions, in Moscow and Voronezh, for example,” said Viktor Ilyukhin, deputy chairman of the parliamentary security committee. “But on a whole, there is no such problem in Russia. In Siberia, for example, guests are treated warmly, it’s calm there. So it’s not necessary to view students as a specific category needing special protection. All the problems should be resolved on a regional level.”
Although Voronezh has good grounds to be counted among the most dangerous cities for foreign students, while local racists and hooligans attack anyone from Africans to Chinese to French, Voronezh authorities have no realistic program for protecting them. Plans are very broad and are mostly words, while representatives in the mayor’s office and the police cannot name any measures to prevent attacks. No massive departure of students from Voronezh has yet been noticed. But two Chinese students who survived an attack by football hooligans said that they’re leaving for their vacation, and they don’t know if they’ll return to Voronezh or not.
“Attacks against students in Rostov happen constantly. Only the police doesn’t care,” said Alex, a black student from Congo. “Recently skinheads broke into a dormitory of a medical university. They blocked the front door and beat up anyone who didn’t hide. We didn’t call the police – we know from experience that it’s useless.” However, the rector of the Rostov Medical University, Viktor Chernyshov, rushed to assure Novyie Izvestia that law enforcement authorities guard the dormitory. In response to that, the student laughed: “A policeman appeared only after the June 4 incident,” he said. “Before that, there was no one but a woman porter.”
“We have documented complaints of racism from foreign students,” said a source at the local police precinct. “But you have to understand that we can’t put a policeman beneath every window.”
“When I was coming to Russia, I couldn’t imagine that just because my skin is black, I was someone’s enemy,” said Lamar Crawford, an African American from Pennsylvania who is studying Russian at the Volgograd State University. “I can’t say I’m afraid to study here. But it is scary to go out at night.” In Vladivostok, it’s usually Chinese and Japanese students that come under attack. In March of 2002, Japanese student Furakawa Takasi was found killed in his own apartment. Three days earlier, he had met three young people, who later killed him for his camera and lap top. After the incident, a part of the foreign students at the Far East State University picked up their things and went back home. The next year, the university experienced a shortage of students – many simply refused to come to Vladivostok. But one of the most dangerous places for foreign students is St. Petersburg. After the killing of Vietnamese student Wu An Tuan, his teacher, Natalia Rusakova, said that the attacks have been going on for years.
In early March, the foreign students sent an open letter to the St. Petersburg governor, the regional police chief, and the prosecutor, telling of yet another attack on three students from the Pavlov Medical University on February 22, on the same block where Wu An Tuan was killed. The students demanded that at least a police post be set up on the square, so that those under attack knew whom to turn to for help. But neither the police, nor prosecutors, nor university authorities have taken any measures.
© MosNews
“RIGHTS OF FOREIGN STUDENTS IN RUSSIA” – NEW WEBSITE
A special website "Rights of foreign students in Russia" has just been opened in order to assist foreign students in Russian Federation and it will be maintained by Youth Human Rights Movement (with assistance of the Ombudsman Institute in RF and some other human rights organizations). The web-site contains all necessary information to help foreign students in Russia (including hotlines with police officers).
© Rights of foreign students in Russia
WHY HUNGARIAN WOMEN CAN'T FIGHT FIRES
13/10/2005- A Hungarian woman can die for her country as a frontline soldier, but not save lives as a firefighter. Neither can she become a metal worker, or a locomotive engineer. Although there is no law barring women from such professions, employment is regulated by an enactment enforced in 1998. This says that "women can't be employed if it involves activities to their disadvantage," explained Gy? Szentes, deputy spokesperson at the National Directorate for Disaster Management. The enactments say that women can't work with pneumatic drills and can't pursue any activity that involves the lifting of more than 10 kilograms, work under pressurized circumstances, or anything that has to do with special chemical substances. Although fire fighters are not mentioned specifically, women are prohibited not only because it would be difficult to build separate facilities, but also because "physically and mentally they are set up differently than men and they [women] would not be able to endure such stress," said Szentes, ignoring the fact that women are employed as firefighters in the UK and the US. (Indeed, Szentes seemed unaware of this fact until told so by The Budapest Sun. According to the Women in the Fire Service, Inc , "Today, some 6,200 women in the US work as career firefighters and officers.") He added, that they could have high-ranking positions at a fire department, without actually fighting fires. "I can't emphasize enough that these regulations are only to the advantage of women and are not directed against them," explained Szentes. But Under Secretary Attila Mesterhẩ at the Ministry of Youth, Family and Equal Opportunities, seemed less sure of the benefits. "The enactments were useful a few years ago, and they still could be, but a more modern form is needed. It is a dilemma because, on the one hand, I think women should be able to decide for themselves, but, on the other hand, I think that we as a society are responsible as well, and therefore some kind of regulations are needed.
© The Budapest Sun
ARRESTS IN KILLING OF CONGOLESE STUDENT
7/10/2005- Three suspects in the murder earlier this month of a Congolese student in St. Petersburg may be responsible for several other murders and assaults in the city's Kalinsky district, according to a September 26 report by the local news web site Fontanka.ru. Several of the arrested men have previous convictions, some related to attacks on non-Russians. The attack on the Congolese student, which resulted in his death on September 13, sparked protests from the city's foreign student community, especially since city officials refused to characterize the killing as race-motivated. The head of the city police crime squad, Vladislav Piotrovsky, seemed to blame the victim in a statement to the press shortly afterwards. However, evidence has surfaced that points to a racist motivation for the crime. One suspect had a swastika on his cell phone and at the time of his arrest was wearing a racist T-shirt. Police later found out that the suspects tried to attack three other Africans a few days before the murder, but the intended victims managed to escape. Two other unsolved murders of non-Russians in the city are now being examined for a possible connection to the suspects. The suspects were originally arrested in connection with a September 20 attack on a Jordanian, according to a September 26 article in the local newspaper “Vecherny Petersburg.” Police in that case as well pointed to motives other than racism, theorizing that the attack was an attempted robbery. The author of the article, however, pointed out that police have not said exactly what the suspects robbed and why they did not take some of the victim's jewelry if they intended to rob him. With evidence mounting that their early public assertions were incorrect, local officials are wavering a bit. A spokesman for the City Prosecutor's Office told the press on September 26 that the murder of the Congolese student might have been a racist killing. On the other hand, he added, it may simply have been “a murder provoked by a hooliganistic mood” and claimed absence of evidence that the suspects belong to an extremist group.
© Bigotry Monitor
TESTERS CHECK HUNGARIAN COMPANIES ON DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES
On September 29 the “For Diversity. Against Discrimination.” campaign organised a workshop in co-operation with the Hungarian Equality Authority and NEKI (organisation giving legal advice for victims of discrimination). In a full day training course, 24 NGO representatives, including members of the Hungarian National Working Group for the EU-campaign, were taught brand-new methods of examining the recruitment practices of Hungarian companies. To begin with, they learned what opportunities the new Hungarian anti-discrimination law offers in combating discrimination at the workplace. Secondly, they experienced different discriminatory situations themselves in a role-play and found out about the different forms of discrimination that take place, for example in job interviews. Hungarian anti-discrimination law now allows qualified testers to scrutinize companies undercover in cases where discriminatory recruitment practices are suspected. People who feel that they have been discriminated against when applying for a job can now turn to the Equality Authority or NGOs working in this field. They then send out testers to the suspected company in order to prove their case.
© STOP DISCRIMINATION
BLOOD AND HONOUR IN HUNGARY
October 2005- The ban imposed on the nazi Blood&Honour (B&H) organisation by a Budapest court last December could now be lifted, on appeal, by the Hungarian High Court and Constitutional Court. B&H was dissolved because it was because it had violated Hungarian laws regulating clubs and associations. The nazis were also found to be in non-compliance with the Hungarian constitution and international legal agreements by openly professing fascist views and because “at their events, they do not respect those human rights which everyone deserves and because they make offensive declarations about others”. B&H’s leader Endre János Domokos is prepared for the ban to be upheld and has informed the media about his plan to establish a new outfit within three months. Disbanding that could take another three years. András Szabó, a retired member of the Constitutional Court told the liberal Budapest weekly Hetek: “In Hungary, if the fascist character of an organisation can be proved, then it must be dissolved according to the (1947) Paris peace agreements”. Szabó is convinced, that B & H has abused the right to form an association. For the Hungarian Constitutional Court, however, the right to hold opinions is regarded as greater than the right to human dignity. As a result, Szabó believes that cases like B&H case will continue to come before the courts until the Hungarian parliament introduces legislation to outlaw the expression of hatred.
© Searchlight
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND MEMBERS OF CIVIL SOCIETY JOIN ROMANI FAMILIES(Czech Rep)
Threatened with Forced Eviction in Bohumin (ERRC Press release)
5/10/2005- A number of parties concerned at as-yet unchecked racial segregation in the field of housing in the Czech Republic yesterday spent the night in the flats of four families threatened with forcible expulsion from their homes in the northern Czech town of Bohumin. The families concerned have been under threat of forced eviction since June, when municipal officials informed them that, following expiry on June 30 of their rental contracts to stay in a hostel for low-income and other poor families, they would have to move out, along with approximately 250 other inhabitants of the hostel. The majority of the persons affected are Romani. Until issued with eviction orders, they have been long-term legal tenants of the building. An appeal on behalf of the families by five non-governmental organizations including the ERRC, sent to Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek on June 30, remains as yet unanswered and without any apparent effect.
Under intense pressure and harassment by municipal officials, most of the families have now left the building, despite having been provided with no reasonable alternative housing. Some have emigrated from the Czech Republic, having abandoned hope of a life with dignity in the country. The failure to secure the basic well-being of the persons concerned calls into question the Czech Republic's compliance with a number of its international law obligations. However, four families, including the family of Mrs. Renata Scukova, stayed on, and brought legal challenges against the evictions. Mrs. Scukova was moved to challenge the evictions after municipal officials urged her to separate from her husband Stefan so that she might move into a shelter for single mothers. By way of retribution, the city of Bohumin has undertaken a number of arbitrary acts against the families, including engaging a private security company to guard the door of the hostel and to block anyone but persons living there including close family members from entering the building. For the services of this security company, the city of Bohumin has issued monthly bills to the families concerned. In July, this bill was 76,549 Czech crowns, or approximately 2580 Euro, to be divided among the families. Mrs. Scukova's family's share of this and other bills, only for the month of July, was 27,802 Czech crowns (approximately 940 Euro).
In addition, as a result of these measures, Mrs. Scukova, who previously was a fastidious rent- and utilities-payer, has now accrued approximately 110,000 Czech crowns of debt (approximately 3710 Euro). She and her family will not be eligible for social housing in the Czech Republic until this debt is repaid. She now must also endure the public humiliation of Bohumin municipal officials, who regularly call her a "non-payer" in the media, as part of efforts to garner public support for expelling her into homelessness. In so doing, local officials inflame anti-Romani sentiment, by encouraging existing widespread stereotypes of Roma abusing social benefits. On September 15, a court in Karvina ruled against Mrs. Scukova's appeal against the eviction order, and gave her 15 days to move out. She will appeal the decision as soon as it is issued in writing. Along with 15 other persons, she remains in the hostel.
The threatened expulsion of these families from their housing is part of a dramatic expansion of efforts at racial segregation in the field of housing in the Czech Republic in recent years, a problem of which the Czech government is aware. The Czech government informed the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2002 that, "Although the Czech Republic has been systematically striving to prevent all forms of racial segregation, some municipalities have adopted, within their separate competencies, certain measures whose consequences show some symptoms of segregation." Despite this fact, as of 2002, "No changes occurred in the housing legislation concerning protection against discrimination. Housing laws still lack non-discrimination provisions, even the declaratory ones. Prohibition of discrimination is not stipulated even in the laws and regulations applying to the allocation, renting, privatization or sale of municipal apartments." This situation remains true today, and no government programme exists to reverse racial segregation in the field of housing. As a result, a number of concerned parties have come to the assistance of Mrs. Scukova and the other Romani families threatened with eviction in Bohumin. In the night of October 4, persons including the Czech government's Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Svatopluk Karasek and members of his staff; Deputy Ombudsman Ms. Anna Sabatova; as well as members of the civil organisations Life Together, League of Human Rights and the European Roma Rights Centre, spent the night as guests of Mrs. Scukova and the other three families concerned, in flats in the hostel in Bohumin. The action was intended as a gesture of solidarity with these and other victims of racial segregation in the Czech Republic. It also aimed to bring public attention to this emergency.
The action "Guests of Mrs. Scukova" was not without opposition. Acting on the orders of municipal officials of Bohumin, security guards refused to allow the guests to enter the building including Mrs. Scukova's attorney, who requested to meet with her client in private. Despite an obvious breach of law, police refused to remove the seven security guards concerned in the evening hours of October 4. It was only after the intervention of the deputy director of police of the Northern Moravian region of the Czech Republic that security guards finally allowed Mrs. Scukova's guests and members of her close family to enter the building, four-and-a-half hours after they had first arrived.
Commenting in the Czech weekly Respekt on his reasons for undertaking the action, Life Together Director Kumar Vishwanathan said, "I decided to support them. I was thinking constantly of Mrs. Ratzova, who was expelled from a hostel in Slany in exactly the same circumstances two years ago. She then wandered around the whole country, searching in vain for some kind of accommodation. After four months, when she was at the end of her strength, she gave up her children into state care. Completely ruined, she moved in with her mother and her psychologically ill brother, who some time thereafter killed her. This woman lived a normal existence with her children, when there suddenly came a powerful assault on her life. She was kicked around like a balloon and then entirely abandoned. When I look at the situation in Bohumin now, I can't help but think of her."
Persons wishing to express concern at recent developments in Bohumin, as well as at housing segregation in the Czech Republic generally, are urged to address correspondence to:
Mr. Jiri Paroubek
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Urad vlady CR
Nabrezi Edvarda Benese 4
118 01, Prague 1
Czech Republic
Fax: (420) 257 533 053
© European Roma Rights Center
LIMITED EXIT(Romania)
Bucharest builds a higher wall of red tape to stem illegal migration.
By Razvan Amariei, TOL?s correspondent in Bucharest.
14/10/2005- New rules meant to cut down on illegal migration are also complicating the lives of Romanian tourists and businesspeople. The rules were so strict that Bucharest was almost immediately forced to lighten them after complaints from ordinary citizens and the Hungarian government, but only on travel outside the wealthy core of the European Union. Under the previous system in operation since 2002, Romanians did not need a visa to visit the Schengen countries for up to 90 days provided they had sufficient funds to support themselves during the trip. They also, at least in theory, had to show a return ticket, proof of insurance if traveling by car, travel insurance, and an official invitation or tourist voucher, or a specified sum of money. The measures were demanded by the countries of the Schengen space ? the 13 "old" EU member states of continental Europe, joined by Norway and Iceland, where most interior border checks have been abolished ? to cut down on illegal migration and crime.
Show me the money
For those visiting the EU or other Western countries, the minimum amount required was 500 euros, plus 100 euros per day. As newspaper columnist Adrian Papahagi, wrote, ?you needed 3,000 euros to stay on your own for a month in Western Europe: a year?s average income for a Romanian and a monthly salary few Westerners are making.? Even so, most Romanians would bring the money instead of vouchers or an invitation even if they had those documents. ?It was easier this way. Booking a hotel through a local agency was many times more expensive than finding a room on the spot. And a strict schedule could ruin your holiday,? explains Dan Petre, a 28-year-old journalist who said he always takes his vacations abroad. ?Every summer I go to my sister?s in Italy. But why ask her to officially invite me and make her spend a lot of money on paperwork when I could just show some cash on the border?? says Aurora Tarcea, 47, from Craiova. There was one major flaw with the system though: most people didn't have that kind of money. Some would borrow it for the trip and return it later. Others lied about the length of their trip. An officer who patrols the border with Hungary, Vlad S. recalls, ?This trick worked better for those leaving by car, but people traveling by train, bus, or plane used it too: they would buy a return ticket for a trip of five days and simply change it upon arrival. ?Or they wouldn?t,? he adds, ?if they were planning to stay abroad for good.? Official sources cite estimates of as many as two million Romanian citizens currently living abroad, most in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Even if many have now legal status, most began as illegal immigrants. Since the beginning of this year, 6,000 Romanians have been found guilty in Western European courts, most for violating immigration rules.
Tough rules
Statistics like these are the main reason why Romanian travelers' carefree days are now over. Under the new rules, it is no longer possible to just produce a wad of cash at the border. The health and auto insurance requirements still apply, and travelers still have to show a return ticket. The good news is that the monetary minimum has been cut sharply to 30 euros per day for the EU and other rich country destinations and 20 euros per day for other countries Romanians don't need visas to visit. The down side for all Romanian travelers in the first days under the new system, whether holidaymakers or business people, was that they had to have a pile of other documents to show where they were headed and for how long. The authorities seem happy about the new rules. The deputy chief of the Romanian Border Police, Vasile Motoc, said the rules are ?an attempt to discipline the Romanians,? and Interior Minister Vasile Blaga told the media, ?the project is 99.99 percent accepted by civil society.? But others are less sure. Tom Gallagher, an academic specializing in Romania, commented, according to the news portal Hotnews.ro, "If Romania was a breeding ground for armed terrorists and extremist politicians, some of the restrictions would have been understandable. Romania is, at present, one of the most peaceful countries in Europe.? Many ordinary travelers complained that the regulations became an insurmountable obstacle from day one. In the first four days of the new system, more than 10 percent of Romanians who wanted to cross the border were sent back by border police. ?I was going shopping in Szeged, but our border police in Nadlac asked for an invitation. Maybe I will find a store in Hungary to invite me to shop there!? an infuriated man from Arad county told Realitatea TV after he was turned back by Romanian border guards. At first, Romanians making brief trips by air to Western capitals were asked to show proof of accommodation even if they had a return ticket for the same day. ?It?s absurd, but it happened. I had to talk with the chief of the checkpoint to let me go through,? a Bucharest man who said he was traveling on business told TOL.
The Hungarian authorities, concerned that the new rules would hamper the mobility of the 1.5 million-member Hungarian community in Romania, soon asked Bucharest to look into the situation. Romanian television showed clips of Hungarian Interior Minister Monika Lamperth complaining that ?the new restrictions limit the travel possibilities for ethnic Hungarians in Romania and for all Romanian citizens.? Bucharest took notice and modified the new system on only its fourth day of operation. As of 4 October, documents such as invitations, hotel reservations, business certificates and so on are no longer needed for countries outside the Schengen zone. Yet this is little solace for the more than half of Romanian travelers who make the Schengen zone their final destination, as statistics for 2004 show. That is, for those who wish to abide by the new rules. Others may take advantage of the fairly relaxed border checks to travel first to one of the new EU members and from there enter the inner core of Schengen countries. ?I was worried I wouldn?t be able to return to work in Spain without an invitation. But I will say at the checkpoint that I?m going to Budapest and then I?ll take the train to Vienna and further west,? one young man from Bistrita-Nasaud county said. The man, who understandably did not wish his name to be used, said he spends most of the year working without papers in the Barcelona region. And the onerous paperwork demands on business travelers to the Schengen zone, even those on the list of Romania?s 300 richest people, have not been lightened. They must have a certificate issued by the local branch of the National Trade Register to prove they are real entrepreneurs. They also need an invitation from a company or institution in the destination country, tickets for trade fairs and similar events, or other documents that demonstrate the existence of business or professional ties. Mihai Ionescu, secretary general of the National Association of Romanian Importers and Exporters, said, ?It?s worse than it was before visas were eliminated. At least then we could get a visa for one year. Now, the regulations are unclear and we don?t know for how long the certificate issued by the Trade Register is valid.?
EU labour market: closed for business
The new travel rules may be causing frustration and annoyance for many, but all will change in 14 months' time when Romania enters the EU (or in 26 months if the EU applies a safeguard clause in the accession treaty and postpones Romania's entry by a year). Or will it? From that day on, Romanians will be free to travel throughout the Union with only minimal identity documents. But in all likelihood they won't be able to work without a permit in many countries for at least two years and up to as many as seven years. Such limitations are in effect in most of the EU for workers from the eight former communist countries that joined the Union in 2004. ?Only in seven years' time will we be completely sure our citizens will be free to work anywhere within the EU?s borders,? a senior official dealing with the Romanian diaspora was quoted as saying in the daily Jurnalul National. It seems that even becoming a member of the world's biggest and most prosperous economic zone won?t bring an end to a condition commonly diagnosed in this country, ?the humiliation of being a Romanian.? The result is all too easy to predict: freedom to travel combined with harsh restrictions on holding a legitimate job will simply swell the ranks of Romanians working in the gray and black markets.
© Transitions Online
CAMPAIGNING IN POLAND’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TURNED DIRTY
12/10/2005- Campaigning in Poland’s presidential election turned dirty Tuesday as conservative Lech Kaczynski’s Law and Justice (PiS) party attacked liberal front-runner Donald Tusk with charges that his grandfather fought in Hitler’s army. Tusk rejected the accusation outright, saying it "overstepped the bounds of decency." He was answering Kaczynski’s campaign chief Jacek Kurski, quoted by the weekly newspaper Angora as saying "serious sources in the Pomerania region (where Tusk hails from) say that Tusk’s grandfather volunteered for the Wehrmacht." WWII began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, 1939. On Sunday, Kaczynski finished a close second to Tusk in the first round of the presidential election and the run-off is set for 23 October.
Claim denied
Tusk said both his grandfathers had fought in the Polish resistance during the war, and had spent part of the conflict in German concentration camps on Polish soil. "All those who raise a hand to smite the dead are not worthy of respect or power," Tusk said. Although his feelings had been badly hurt, he did not intend to return such "blows below the belt." But he did add that someone who "couldn’t control his own staff" should not be president of Poland. Kaczynski sought to distance himself from the accusations attributed by the weekly to his campaign manager. "I am not responsible for this type of campaigning, and I will pay the consequences of what was said," he told reporters. "I am going to apologise to Tusk," he said.
Close race
Tusk finished the first presidential round with slightly more than 36 percent of the vote, with Kaczynski nipping at his heels with 33 percent. A poll published Tuesday showed that Tusk, a free-market liberal, has built significantly on his lead over Kaczynski since the first round, and would reap 56 percent of the vote in the run-off, against 44 percent for his conservative rival. As Tusk and Kaczynski fight it out for the presidency, their parties are in talks to form a coalition to govern Poland. Kaczynski’s conservative, Roman Catholic PiS finished first in legislative elections held last month, with Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) just a few points behind.
© The European Jewish Press
RACIST INCIDENTS DURING UEFA CUP MATCH (POLAND)
By Marcin Kornak
KRAKOW. On 29 September, during the second (revange) UEFA Cup qualification match between Wisla Krakow and Vitoria Guimaraes racist fans of the polish team hung a banner on a fence with the symbol of Celtic cross (a racist symbol of white power) with the picture of the hooligan on it and the sentence: "Fanatics of the White Star" (White Star is a nickname of Wisla Krakow). Same flag was hanging on Krakow's Wisla stadium during Champions League qualification game between Wisla and Panathinaikos - 9 August. On the match against Victoria the racist fans of Wisla displayed also a banner with a “Confederation” symbol used by the racist south during the XIX-century civil war in the United States.Nowadays the symbol is used, among other groups, by the Ku Klux Klan. The flag appeared a few times before, usually during home league matches of Wisla Krakow.
© NEVER AGAIN Association
RACIST FAN CONDUCT COSTS SPARTA(Czech Rep)
23/9/2005- AC Sparta Praha must play their next UEFA Champions League home match behind partially closed doors as the result of the racist conduct of their fans during the Group B game against AFC Ajax in Prague on 14 September. The Czech club have also been fined €32,000 by UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Committee. The decision - which can be appealed against by midnight CET on Monday 26 September - will apply to Sparta's game against Arsenal FC on 18 October. Sectors H37 to H62, and D45 to D68, will be closed as the racist chanting was ascertained as coming from those areas. The UEFA delegate for the Sparta-Ajax match reported that home spectators made monkey chants on three occasions when Ajax forward Ryan Babel was in possession of the ball. Sparta admitted that hard-core supporters were responsible for the chants, adding that the club had done their utmost to convince those fans to cease racist actions. With respect to the organisation of games played behind partially closed doors, UEFA rules stipulate that no spectators are allowed to enter the closed sectors. The host club are not permitted to reduce the contingent of supporters or invited guests from the visiting side in an attempt to allocate more tickets to local fans. However, police, security personnel and people responsible for the stadium infrastructure are unaffected by the ruling.
© UEFA
RUSSIA: ARE SOCCER HOOLIGANS BEING USED BY KREMLIN?
Russian politicians' love affair with youth movements continues to deepen with the emergence of new youth groups seemingly every other month. Parallel with this trend has been a growing -- but less visible -- cooperation with soccer fan clubs.
19/9/2005- At the formal level, a Moscow city government committee approved a decree last week providing an estimated $3.5 billion rubles ($123 million) in 2006 for the creation of an association of fans of various sports clubs, the Civil Transition patriotic youth movement, and a youth TV channel. At an informal level, the pro-Kremlin youth movements Walking Together and its successor Nashi have been linked with various soccer fan clubs, whose members they reportedly use for security and other purposes.
Why soccer? One reason is that soccer attracts a young following, while politics in Russia does not. Most sociological research has shown over the past 10 years that less than 1 percent of Russian youth participate in public movements, according to "Profil" of 20 December 2004. With their courtship of soccer fan clubs, Russian political authorities may be stepping where earlier counterparts feared to tread. In the early 1980s, Soviet law-enforcement officials were so alarmed by the growing zeal of Russian soccer fans and their adoration of British soccer hooligans that they started to crack down on any emotional displays by audiences during games. According to "Novye izvestiya" on 15 April, during matches, fans were banned not only from chanting or singing songs, but even applauding too fervently. Young people wearing the scarves of the clubs they favored were immediately under suspicion by the law-enforcement agencies. The disintegration of the Soviet Union helped dampen any remaining passion for soccer until the mid-1990s, when fan clubs experienced a rebirth.
One of the first Russian political leaders to see the political possibilities for an alliance with soccer fans was Vladimir Zhirinovskii, head of Liberal Democratic Party of the Russia (LDPR). Speaking on the basis of anonymity, a young Moscow-based soccer hooligan identified only as Vasilii told "Komsomolskaya pravda" on 20 December 2004 that Zhirinovskii's team actively courted devotees of Dynamo Moscow. "They financed trips for out-of-town matches, published several fan books, paid for parties," Vasilii said. "LDPR figured that attracting Dynamo fans to their enterprise would raise their party's rating among youth." Vasilii said that LDPR never tried to use the fan club to provide security, although Walking Together did.
According to Vasilii, fans of CSKA (Central Sporting Club of the Army) participated for money in the riot that occurred in central Moscow in June 2002 following Russia's loss to Japan in the World Cup. The riot happened just before the first reading in the State Duma of the law on political extremism. "The media was full of talk about youth extremism. And suddenly before the second reading there was disorder on Manezh Square with attempt to break into the State Duma building," Vasilii said. "Who brings a sledgehammer to watch a soccer match?" -- Russian police officer
Of course, Vasilii, if he indeed exists, was speaking anonymously, but suspicions about the violence have been voiced from any variety of different people. Soon after the incident, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov called the event a "well-planned escapade" and Communist legislator Vasilii Shandybin said that he believed the riot was a "specially planned action, timed to coincide with the Duma's discussion of the law on political extremism. "Izvestiya" on 11 June 2002 reported comments by a police officer, who was on the scene during the rioting, in which he wondered where rioters procured the sledgehammers and gasoline that they used to vandalize cars and storefronts. "Who brings a sledgehammer to watch a soccer match?" the unnamed officer said.
And suspicions persist two years later. In a talk show on Ekho Moskvy on 19 May, soccer trainer and player Aleksandr Shmurnov said he felt the incident "was to some measure a planned political action." "If it had only been about soccer, then it would have continued for 15 minutes and then everything would have dispersed or run out of steam." In an interview with "Izvestiya" on 8 September, Oleg Pilshchikov, director the Moscow city's Committee for Family and Youth Affairs, dismissed any possibility that Mayor Yurii Luzhkov's government wants to use soccer fans for any nefarious purpose. "There were suspicions that we are gathering soccer fanatics under our banner in order use them as fighters during the [upcoming] Moscow City Duma elections," he admitted. However, he explained that their goal is more innocent. "Our aim is to make every young Muscovite an active member of society," he said.
Meanwhile, officials from the Nashi youth movement and its predecessor, Walking Together, deny having any connection to soccer fans at all. Konstantin Lebedev, press secretary for Walking Together, told "Komsomolskaya pravda" in December 2004 that his organization "does not cooperate with any kind of fan grouping." However, Aleksei Mitrushin, leader of the CSKA fan group Gallant Steed, has been identified in a number of articles as the director of the northeast branch of Walking Together and as a Nashi coordinator ("Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 27 April, "Komsomolskaya pravda" on 14 March, and "Ekspert," on 5 September).
From its very beginning, stories about Nashi have been heavy with references to brawny soccer hooligans, and activists at competing organizations have been more than willing to name names. Sergei Shagrunov, head of the Motherland party's youth group ,and Vladimir Abel, a top official with the National Bolshevik Party (NBP), both identified Roman Verbitskii, the head of Spartak Moscow's Gladiator fan club, as the head of Nashi's regional-development department in articles in "Kommersant-Daily," "Moskovskii komsomolets," and "Vedomosti." "Ekspert" reported on 5 September that Verbitskii and another leader of the Gladiators, Vasilii Stepanov, aka Vasya the Killer, have attended meetings at the Kremlin with other Nashi members. However, Nashi press secretary Ivan Mostovich told "Kommersant-Daily" on 31 August that he does not know any Roman Verbitskii.
Despite these denials, media stories alleging a connection between soccer hooligans and Nashi continue to proliferate. Verbitskii's name in particular has featured in recent stories about a 29 August incident in central Moscow. About 30-40 masked men armed with baseball bats and some wearing symbols of the Nashi youth organization attacked members of the NBP, Avant-Garde Red Youth, and youth organizations from the Motherland and Communist parties. Aleksandr Averin, an NBP activist who was a victim in the incident, said he saw Verbitskii among the attackers. NBP official Abel told "Kommersant-Daily" on 31 August that this is not the first attack on the NBP in which Verbitskii has played a part. "Criminal charges involving a certain Roman Verbitskii have been filed in connection with three previous incidents," he said. The daily also cited an anonymous police source that Verbitskii was present at the attack.
So far, neither Verbitskii nor anyone else has been charged in this attack. Also, reports in gazeta.ru and "Novaya gazeta" this week suggested that they are not likely to be. Writing in "Novaya gazeta," No. 68, Yabloko youth-branch head Ilya Yashin, citing an anonymous police source, reported that presidential-administration official Nikita Ivanov visited the police station where the group of men suspected of taking part in the attack were being held and arranged for them to be quickly released without following regular police procedures. According to Yashin, Ivanov, 31, is nominally the deputy head of the administration for interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries at the presidential administration, but his department is in fact primarily concerned with youth policy and preventing an Orange Revolution. So far, only gazeta.ru has echoed Yashin's claims about Ivanov's activities that day, and Ivanov's office has declined to comment.
According to most detailed accounts of the Russian soccer fan clubs, the young men share certain prejudices, such as a hatred for persons from the Caucasus, but they lack any broader political agenda. Their role models are British soccer hooligans. Bill Buford, an American journalist who went undercover with fans of Manchester United's Red Devils, suggested that British hooligans seek an ecstatic, sex-like release from mass violence. Similarly, "Komsomolskaya pravda" wrote that Russian soccer fanatics "are directed not by political convictions but by the search for strong sensations." In their search for an adrenaline rush, they aren't likely to be easily controlled by anyone -- regardless of their bureaucratic rank within the Kremlin or without.
© RFE/RL
PUTIN VOWS TO MAKE SKINHEADS DISAPPEAR FROM THE MAP(Russia)
7/10/2005- “We shall do the utmost to make skinheads and fascist elements to disappear from the country's political map,” President Vladimir Putin said in a televised phone-in broadcast on Russia TV on September 27. “I can only bring my apologies for the incidents that have already taken place.” He was responding to an unidentified foreign student’s question, read aloud by correspondent Natalya Semenikhina from the call center. The student said that members of Nazi organizations often attack foreigners in Russia and he wondered how in such circumstances he and his colleagues could keep their trust, respect, and friendship toward Russians.
Putin said that both he and the Russian public are concerned about the issue. “Unfortunately, Russia is a part of the modern world, and we see the growing number of such manifestations in practically all countries of the world,” he added. “This is a common disease.” The only medicine that can counteract it, he said, is society’s rejection of such manifestations.
The nearly three-hour-long call-in program – his fourth since becoming head of state, according to “The Moscow Times” – covered a wide range of issues. Among the 60 questions, “carefully screened” wrote “The Moscow Times,” the one by the foreign student (and Putin’s response) received scant attention in the news media that gave other issues a great deal of attention. The human rights group Memorial said that in Vorkuta, security guards assaulted its local co-chair and her husband when they tried to join the televised audience.
© Bigotry Monitor
PROBLEMS OF ROMA COMMUNITIES IN THE NORTH-WEST OF RUSSIA
Problems in Kotljary-Romani communities have been the topic of articles published in our Bulletin on a number of occasions. Human rights activists at the Northwest Centre for the Social and Legal Protection of Roma have recently been focussing their attention on three such communities, usually called by their old-fashioned name, “tabor”. These are: the Romani settlement near the Peri station in Leningrad Oblast, the large Romani community on the outskirts of Chudovo in Novgorod Oblast, and the youngest compact Kotljary settlement in our region, located in Arkhangelsk.
12/10/2005- In Northwest Russia, these are still the only three places where large groups of Kotljary Roma live according to their traditional customs. In other regions of our large country are scattered tens more of these distinctive settlements – in Volgograd and Perm, in Vladimir and Tambov, in Samara, Tula, Moskovskaja Oblast, and Uljanovsk. And in many other cities in Povolzh, the Urals, Siberia, and the Caucasus many thousands of colourful, distinctive Kotljary live according to their own unique lifestyle and social framework. To the outside world, they are known as “Moldavian Gypsies”. And this designation is undoubtedly fair: the ancestors of modern Russian Kotljary lived in Moldavia and Romania. Kotljary are also well known in other countries, where they are called “Kelderash,” which has the same meaning in Romanian that “Kotljar” has in Russian -- “coppersmith”. When Roma still moved from place to place and mended copper pots, their appearance caught the attention of everyone around, becoming a dramatic and distinctive part of the lives of city and village-dwellers. This is how the writer Yurii Dombrovskii describes the arrival of a tabor in a pre-Revolutionary provincial town “Sailing along the high street came narrow, winged wagons with tops made of waterproof grey tarpaulin; carts with chintz curtains and unbelievable silk roses blooming from the faded-pink fabric – about a half a pood on each; then came carts without curtains but thronging with the same roses, garlands, ribbons, and whole sheaves pouring down … And people went along the sides of this procession – first tall, black, sunburned men in beaked caps, shining boots and red, belted shirts. They held whips. Behind the men came women, swaying, smoking, spitting and talking amongst themselves. Their dresses were elaborate and impressive: with wide, flowing and clinging skirts gathered in countless pleats and cascades of colours, first soft rose hues, then bold crimson. The girls – nimble, quick, big-eyed -- moved together in a clutch like young she-goats. They went merrily, swinging their arms, each with a flower behind her ear, scarves draped over her bare shoulders, necklaces, bugles, beads and coins on her neck. The whole procession shone, rang, shimmered…
And the carts went on and on… and suddenly everyone uttered a cry: a great, bright sun rose up and burned over the steppe, the high street and the tabor. It appeared, turned, gathered a burning bundle of white rays, blinded everyone, and then burned out. And then I understood: it was the tabor’s own trademark – “mending copper pots and basins”. Surprisingly, Kotljary-Roma have changed little in the hundred years since the episode described by Dombrovskii. Anyone who has encountered a group of Romani women on the road would immediately recognise the Kotljary women in the author’s sketch. And although Romani men rarely wear red shirts or carry whips nowadays, they have nonetheless preserved their own set of distinctive traditions -- from earliest childhood, boys learn to mend things made of metal; nearly all men living in tabors earn their living by repairing pipes and stove parts and working with metal. The main change that has taken place in the lives of these unique people is that they have been forced to give up their travelling lifestyle. Today, in order to see the multicoloured fabrics, curtains, frills and other fancy decorations associated with Romani tabors, one must peek inside a spacious Romani home – since the 1956 order that forced Roma to adopt a settled lifestyle, Romani carts can no longer be seen on the roads. After this order, many Romani families that had previously been travellers received permanent registration and state housing – usually rooms in barracks. But Kelderari Roma persisted in doing things their own way – they only settled in private houses built in accordance with their own ideas about what proper housing should be. First and foremost, Kotljary Roma chose and still choose to live compactly and, where possible, separately from the rest of the local population. Kotljary build their own houses, concerning themselves first of all with the spaciousness of their dwelling places. The southern traditions of this Romani group are evident in the architectural styles they employ. And although Kotljary have been living in Northern Russia for many generations, the thick walls and small windows characteristically used to conserve heat in the north have not been introduced to Kotljary tabors. Tall, wide houses are scattered through the tabor seemingly at random, like tents. Often, small, seemingly temporary shacks are found between the large houses, built for the grown children of the owners who have started their own families. The population of a tabor is generally unable to grow beyond its plot of land. As a result, communities grow denser and more crowded and houses become closer and closer to one another, often violating fire and sanitary regulations.
Such is the case in large Romani communities in Leningrad Oblast (Vsevolozhskii Region) and in Novgorod Oblast (Chudovo). Thousands of people live in these Romani villages in such overcrowded conditions that in the trampled down spaces between homes, not even grass can grow, much less trees. Here there are no vegetable gardens, usually abundant in rural areas, no children’s playgrounds, no places for adults to relax or children to play. On the streets and paths between houses, washing is hung out to dry, children play, a few cars are parked, and young people, along with all the tabor’s other residents, celebrate weddings and other holidays. Beyond the borders of these villages, unsettled forests and hills can often be seen. The problems facing Romani communities are, as a rule, very complex and cannot be solved by the residents of the villages or local authorities alone. Too many agreements have gone unfulfilled for decades; laws on the use of land and housing underwent radical changes at the dawning of this new century. As a result, the Romani citizens in our region and the authorities who must make decisions and take adequate measures in these difficult circumstances have both become hostages in this situation. Unfortunately, although authorities in various, far-flung regions of Russia have encountered identical problems, each much solve them on its own. As a rule, governors and heads of local administrations don’t even know that analogous problems exist in neighbouring regions. Meanwhile, there are no federal or regional programmes that take these communities into account or offer universal solutions for the problems facing them. Local authorities are forced to find their own ways of coping. In Leskolovskaja Oblast (Vsevolozhskii Region) it was proposed that the tabor put forward its own candidate for local office and vote for him at the election. “We have an interest in this matter and so do they,” said the head of the Leskolovskaja administration L. A. Gnatovskii. “The Roma would then have their own deputy -- it’s only natural that they should since they have a large community here. The deputy would be able to protect their interests and solve problems. For the first time, we would have a colleague from their community and we would inform him about all decisions and circumstances. By being present at meetings, he would always be up to date on all matters and would serve as a link between the authorities and the tabor.” It’s possible that this approach, in which tabor matters would be solved alongside the problems of other groups in Leskolovskaja Volost, could prove to be the most integrated.
The project of establishing a dialogue between Roma and the authorities in Chudovo (Novgorod Oblast) began a bit differently. The new head of the city administration V. Ja. Zuev and his advisers and deputies decided to propose that the Romani community (which consists of more than one hundred homes, of which only two are officially registered) break off from the town to form a separate, self-governing administrative unit. That is, the Roma wouldn’t just elect one deputy to the local council – they would elect all of them, including the chairman, from their own community. This would grant legal status to the tabor’s existing practice of electing a baron and deputy barons responsible for making all decisions on matters affecting the tabor. Some kind of status is indeed essential for any leader of a Romani community, inasmuch as the institution of baronhood is in no way recognised on the legislative level. That is, a baron who actually represents a large community of people is, in a legal sense, just another private individual without any real authority. This issue has come up repeatedly during the round table discussions held by Memorial to address problems facing compact Kotljary communities. Memorial’s staff members and lawyer M.N. Nosova have proposed other ways of legalising the barons’ status – from registering them as social organisations representing the interests of the tabors’ residents to establishing national-cultural autonomy for individual Romani groups. The initiative started by Chudovo’s administration differs from similar suggestions in that it puts the future Romani leader in a much tougher position than if he were simply chairman of a social or national organisation. If he were to become the head of a local government, the tabor’s representative would be responsible for a budget and for the debts of those living in his region or village. On the other hand, with his help, such a village could officially obtain government grants and subsidies, secure benefits for large families and handicapped people, rebuild damaged roads, and build municipal and social facilities that that tabor lacks (baths, child care facilities and kindergartens, schools). After all, it is not only the tabor residents’ duties to state institutions and city services that sometimes go unfulfilled (as the local authorities and companies responsible for providing energy, water, etc. so often complain). We mustn’t forget about the state’s unfulfilled duties to its citizens, who are deprived of nearly all social welfare and benefits. The Chudovo administration’s proposal is problematic, but it is also tempting.
New mayor of Arkhangelsk A. V. Donskoi has proved to be the least able to find a way out of this difficult situation and arrive at a logical, acceptable solution. We have written before about the tense situation facing a group of Kotljary in this city. The hundred people who arrived there from Volgograd signed a land-rental agreement for a plot in Varavino-Faktorija in 2004. They began building their homes, and some received official registration at their new address. After moving in, they began living in their difficult but familiar manner – their children started school, a few people got married, several young families had children, and one family even had twins. But an anti-Roma campaign that began in the press and spread to the city government threatened the happy family life of this small tabor. While still a mayoral candidate, A. V. Donskoi spoke out harshly against the existence of the new Romani community in the city. The arguments the candidate made in his dash to power cannot be called anything but racist and slanderous. Despite the results of checks and statements made by police officers, which proved the absence of criminal elements in the tabor, Donskoi and his team continued to make proclamations about the “criminal ethnicity,” drugs and child thieves. Tabor residents, living in cold and half-constructed temporary houses, came under threat of having their homes demolished and being evicted. The newcomers had to live through their first winter in Arkhangelsk without light or heating. Many had small and even newborn children.
Despite drawn-out court cases in which city hall has tried to make legal its intention to deprive the Roma of their lifeblood, and the Roma have tried to demonstrate the illegality and inconsistency of city hall’s actions, hope remains that it will still be possible to reach an agreement with the authorities. It seemed unbelievable that, having become mayor, the head of a city as large and important as Arkhangelsk, Donskoi would decide to repeat his unfounded accusations against the Roma. Such behaviour during an election campaign, when accusations and even name-calling are a common part of the fight for power, is one thing. It is quite another thing when such behaviour comes from the mayor. And so the fact that the mayor and several of his deputies appeared at a round table discussion dedicated to the problems facing the Romani population in Varavino-Faktorija gave hope to the other participants in the discussion. Alas! Donskoi’s decisiveness did not waver when he took his new role as mayor. Before several video cameras and dozens of journalists’ microphones, he insisted that he had made clear “his positions,” that is that the Roma, as a dangerous and undesirable group, would be forced to leave the city. At an earlier meeting with colleagues, he formulated his position in the following way: “Roma do not know how to do anything good. If the case regarding their eviction becomes too drawn out, a police officer should be sent to lean on them. We have to make problems for them or else they’ll make problems for us...” (A. Kuleshov, “The Question of the Roma Still Hasn’t Been Answered by the Mayor,” Inter-regional Internet newspaper “Nashe Slovo”). Comments made by the mayor’s deputies about social welfare issues and education left us with strange and inconsistent impressions. They began by making excuses, explaining that the Roma had been provided with all necessary services – medical care, schooling, and so on. It is unclear why city hall officials took such a defensive position on certain issues when they had made clear their inability to discuss the main issue at hand. As if it were of importance whether children were allowed to attend school in a city where they were not permitted even to live.
The positions of local human rights activists were also contradictory. The Arkhangelsk human rights representative N. P. Akhamenko wrote a letter to the mayor calling on him to observe the rights of Romani citizens, reminding him of the Russian constitution and the Law on National-Cultural Autonomy, and also proposing to discuss what compensation city hall could offer the Roma if they voluntarily left Arkhangelsk. Her colleague N. Ditjateva’s comments were in a completely different vein: “Today I give my support to Aleksandr Viktorovich (Donskoi). I believe that not just any compromise will get us out of this situation. Suppose we decide to give the land to the Roma and let them stay in the city. Then we will have to provide security for them -- Special Forces officers.” The idea of putting such officers outside the tabor is nearly identical to the mayor’s suggestion of “leaning a police officer” on the tabor. It is impossible to believe that the one suggesting it is an advocate of human rights, whose professional duty is to protect people and their rights from this sort of authority. Thankfully, there exist more independent human rights organizations. Many of these have turned their attention to the problems in Arkhangelsk, and if the authorities there continue to discriminate openly against people on the basis of their ethnicity, they will find that the case before them concerns not the rent of one and a half hectares of swampy land on the edge of the city but moral detriment and offence to the national dignity of Russian citizens. The relationships between local authorities and Romani communities are at times strained and are different in each case that we have observed. The most important thing is that members of Romani communities themselves and more and more local officials have begun to understand that without coordinated action and mutual support, the problems facing Kotljary communities will not be solved in the foreseeable future.
© Memorial
BOOK OF MEMORY DEDICATED TO WWII ROMA EXPERIENCES ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED(Russia)
10/10/2005- The 60th anniversary of victory over fascism has just been celebrated. May 9 is a special day for the Romani people. This people, proclaimed "racially inferior" by Hitler’s pseudo-scientists, was destined for annihilation. Among the Nazis’ victims were half a million Roma who were shot, buried alive, and tortured in concentration camps.
Piercing are the war stories that elderly Roma still recall today!
Nina Klementevna Kozlova (from Pushkinskie Gory) tells us: “The Germans arrived in our village. They took us in stages – they went in cars, we on horses. It was just us Roma – father, mother-in-law, six children. Father wanted us all to throw ourselves into the lake – with the horse and cart and everything. He wanted to drown himself and all of us. He said, “They’re going to shoot us anyway.” But the neighbor, a Russian, noticed and said: “What are you doing? You’ll execute your family and yourself. Don’t interfere with God’s plan.” And so we managed to get by the lake – that man saved our lives. Then they loaded us onto a train and took us to Latvia. The Latvians started to divide us up: some they took for workers, some to dig trenches. They took me and my sisters and father to the trenches. So we dug and dug, and we were just tiny little things, we were hungry and wanted to eat, we didn’t have any energy. Papa looked at us and cried: “Children, dig, or else they’ll shoot us.” -- “Dad, we can’t.” – “Dear, they’ll shoot us, just dig a little.” And we were crying, and father looked at us and cried. He was so upset, but he couldn’t do anything.”
The “Book of Memory,” which will tell about the part Roma played in World War II and about the sufferings they endured, will soon be published. Nikolai Bessonov, author of the extensive work, searched out archival documents and collected the invaluable accounts of those who remember the war. The remembrances of people from our region – Northwest Russia – will also be included in the book. The Grokhovskij family, for instance, provided photographs of one of their family members, Georgij Aleksandrovich Grokhovskij (1925 – 1999), who fought in the war and was a veteran of labor. He lived in Leningrad and went to the front as a volunteer during the Blockade. He fought on the Leningrad front as a telegraphist. He attacked the enemy and was wounded. For his services he was awarded honors and medals, including the Order of the Patriotic War, first class. After the war, G.A. Grokhovskij worked in the Kozitskij Factory as a radio technician and mentored young people.
Now it is of utmost importance to preserve eyewitness accounts of the war and to record the memories of the older generation. We would be happy to publish letters or memoirs of those who remember the war years, as well as photographs, in our Bulletin. We would ask all our readers to send in stories about friends and relatives, family histories, and other related materials. This information is of particular importance now – it will help us to learn more about our history.
Millions of our countrymen were victims of fascism. How painful it is to see neo-nazi movements gaining strength in a country that fought for victory over fascism! Nearly every day we hear about skinheads attacking Roma, Asians, and Africans. Again there are calls to divide people into those of “full human value” and those who are “substandard,” once again “outsiders” are being blamed for our problems. There have also been efforts to reinterpret history: some assert that the Holocaust was made up by the Jews and that the number of victims of fascism has been exaggerated. It has become absurd: In Latvia veterans of the SS hold holiday celebrations. It appears that in the course of trying to “forgive and forget,” we have been cast 60 years into the past and forgotten at what cost fascism was defeated.
We often hear older Roma say, “Everyone hates us, they want to destroy us – just like Hitler did.” Those who were able to survive the terrible war years now, 60 years later, fight for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. As we remember the dead and wish good health for our veterans on Victory Day, we should take time to recall that, today, there is no place for the racial or national hatred that led mankind to the tragedy that was World War II.
© Memorial
EUROPEAN JUSTICE AND THE RIGHTS OF RUSSIAN ROMA
As it is well-known, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and actively signs and ratifies many conventions and agreements obligating Russia to ensure that the rights and freedom of its citizens are protected. The same protections apply to those who are not citizens but who are on Russian territory for one reason or another.
By Stefanija Kulaeva (Stefanija Kulaeva spoke with Olga Tseitlina)
10/10/2005- One must avoid the common misconception that the defense of human rights is purely negative, that is, that the state somehow promises not to violate someone’s rights – not to kill, not to deprive of freedoms, not to torture, steal, deny legal defense, or discriminate. Of course, all these requirements are guaranteed by European human rights law. Each relates to one of the articles of the European Human Rights Convention – the most important European law, compliance with which is monitored by the European Human Rights Court (Strasbourg), which investigates complaints regarding violations of the Convention’s articles and delivers verdicts on every case it considers to be founded. When the European Court finds a state guilty of violating one of the statutes of the European Convention, the decision becomes a precedent and must be taken into account in national legislation in the future and considered law (or an amendment to existing laws).
But alongside these important European laws addressing what is forbidden, there are many other laws that define what is required. For example, the “Convention on the Protection of National Minorities” is very important in defending the rights of Roma. Russia ratified this convention, thus promising to pass a number of laws on the national level and guarantee compliance with many additional requirements related to the particularities of the position of people belonging to national, religious or language minorities. Laws guaranteeing the absence of discrimination in education, work, and social and medial help must be in effect in countries that have signed and ratified this convention. Moreover, the state’s obligation is not simply to declare that it is theoretically possible for such groups to benefit from the blessings of a civilized society but also to guarantee real things: qualified teachers and native-language textbooks for use in schools attended by national minorities, the creation of conditions that allow those belonging to language minorities to communicate in their native languages in all government institutions, providing places for minorities to hold cultural and religious activities, financing and supporting publications made by members of various minority groups in their national languages.
The Russian Federation is a multi-cultural country. Tens of groups living in Russia are national minorities, and far from all of them have territorial autonomy. Even autonomous republics frequently have national problems, but matters with “landless” peoples are even more complicated. We know how frequently Russian Roma struggle with direct and indirect forms of discrimination – with what difficulty they get an education, how few chances they have to find good jobs, how they are at times denied social and medical assistance, the problems they face with accommodation.
Even more terrible is the fact that Roma do not feel that they are protected by the state, even in matters of life and death. Vulnerability to aggression from racists frightens “non-Russians” in our country just as much as the threat of violence from the guardians of the peace themselves – those who work in the country’s power structures. None of this is recorded in the rosy picture of a harmoniously developing multi-ethnic society that our authorities regularly report to the European Council. On ratifying the convention on the protection of national minorities’ rights, Russia had to prove that it had a legislative basis for carrying out the demands of the “Framework Convention” (the name of which reflects the fact that the statutes of the convention are composed from already existing anti-discrimination laws). The authors of the Russian national report (2000) affirmed that the Russian Federation possessed the necessary legal basis, using highly general laws as evidence (in the spirit of “no one can be denied his rights because of his nationality or religion”). Of course, such laws were very progressive in the beginning of the 20th century, when, after Tsarism, the official persecution of people belonging to other nationalities and religious groups ended. But the new century demands more precise and practically applicable formulations that would allow minorities to stand up for their rights in court and which would force employers, police officers, government officials, and teachers to think long and hard before encroaching on anyone’s rights. Anti-discrimination laws of this sort have long been in effect in many European countries, and they truly change how minority groups are treated, even in places where some peoples (including Roma) have been persecuted for centuries.
The European Consultation Committee on carrying out the “Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities” noted in its evaluation of the Russian report (2002) that the Russian Federation’s anti-discrimination legislation is inadequate. The absence of any evidence that existing legal norms had ever been applied in court to defend members of minority groups also upset the Committee. It was recommended that Russia pass additional anti-discrimination laws and guarantee their effective use. Each country must report on its compliance with the “Framework Convention” once every five years. This considerably long period is given so that each country will have time to consider the committee’s recommendations and correct any non-compliances. The Russian Federation is scheduled to make its next report in March 2005. But what has changed since the last report? Not a single new anti-discrimination law has been passed on the national level. The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, apparently ashamed of our city’s record number of racially motivated crimes, did pass a reasonably fair “Law on Interethnic Relations in St. Petersburg.” But St. Petersburg, after all, does not make reports to the European Council, and we have not heard of the law being applied in our city. Nonetheless, the Russian Federation’s report reads: “...the currently existing legislative basis allows us to protect the legal rights of national minorities in the Russian Federation adequately...” It goes on to tell rather confusedly about the RF’s successes in guaranteeing the rights of native peoples of the North and Far East. A far from complete list of Russian minorities is also provided. Roma are not listed... And few of the minorities listed were favored with a single word describing their current position.
According to the European Council’s regulations, the state’s report is followed by an alternative report composed by social and human rights organizations. Doubtless, the alternative report on Russia will reveal quite a few scandalous facts that human rights activists have collected over the last few years – information on violations of the rights of minorities throughout our country, in the Caucasus and in Siberia, in big cities and villages, in the Far North and in Kuban. Materials on discrimination against Roma in Russia will certainly find a place in the alternative report – the Northwest Center for the Social and Legal Protection of Roma and our colleagues from other Russian and international human rights organizations will make sure of it. Informing international legal institutions about the actual state of affairs in their country is the responsibility of human rights activists, but the results of their informative work is not felt by those who suffer from discrimination immediately. Thankfully, there are also more effective mechanisms of protection, at least when the problems at hand are concrete. We asked Olga Pavlovna Tseitlina, a St. Petersburg lawyer who is well acquainted with defending the rights of national minorities, including Roma, about ways of obtaining legal assistance and the right to fight for equality in the human rights court in Strasbourg.
S.K: Olga, a year and a half ago, at my request, you took it upon yourself to represent the interests of Northwest Center employee Aleksandr Klein, whose 23-year-old wife Fatima Aleksandrovich died in 2002 at the Pskov police station. It seems that this was the first case related to Roma rights in our region that went all the way to the court in Strasbourg. Tell us about this case please.
O.T: We conducted the case with the European Roma Rights Center. Human rights activists from Budapest took an interest in the case from the very start because they believed that Fatima Aleksandrovich, who was detained in Pskov and died inside the city police station, was not only a victim of the arbitrary rule of the police but also of ethnic discrimination as a Romani woman. Together with her husband Aleksandr Klein – an unrecognized victim in the case – we demanded that a criminal case be opened against the police for intentionally causing the death of Fatima Aleksandrovich. She entered the police station alive and well and as a result we are left with a disfigured corpse and a weak story from law enforcement agencies that she jumped from the window. Unfortunately, a timely and serious investigation of the causes of Aleksandrovich’s death was not carried out. As a result many pieces of evidence and testimony were lost. A criminal case was not opened. According to definitions set out in the European Convention, conducting effective investigations is primarily the responsibility of the state.
In connection with the lack of an effective and independent investigation of the circumstances of Aleksandrovich’s death, and also due to the many violations of correct procedure that took place, we have reason to believe that she was killed intentionally and that the inaction of law enforcement bodies is dictated not by their desire to investigate the case and punish those guilty but by a desire to hide the crime committed by the police. By acting as they did, the police violated a number of articles of the European Convention on human rights: Article 2 – the right to life, Article 3 – on the illegality of torture and other inhumane treatment, and Article 13 – on the absence of effective investigation. In the preliminary letter that we sent to the European Human Rights Court, we justified our complaint on the basis that these articles had been violated. Now the European Roma Rights Center is preparing their charge -- they might add Article 14, on the unacceptability of discrimination, to the list of violated articles.
S.K: On a related matter, we would also like to hear your opinion on the European Human Rights Court’s decision in the case of Nachev vs. Bulgaria. It seems that this case was the first in which the court ruled that the 14th Article as well as the 2nd Article of the Convention had been violated.
O.T: Yes, I was present at the hearings on this case. The court’s ruling was remarkable. The police not only killed a person who was fleeing from them by shooting him in the spine, they also called him a “dirty gypsy” in the presence of a witness, expressing hostility toward the victim because of his ethnicity. The court considered this sufficient basis for ruling against Bulgaria for violating Article 2 (for violating the man’s right to life) as well as Article 14 (for ethnic discrimination). This precedent has already become a legal norm; it will necessarily be used in other cases in which violation of the right to life is accompanied by discrimination.
S.K: So you’re saying that contesting the rulings of local authorities in the European Court in Strasbourg is a real chance for Roma to defend themselves from discrimination and from the arbitrary rule of the authorities. The only bad thing is that the whole procedure takes a great deal of time. Some situations are just too urgent.
O.T: There are also a few ways of getting faster decisions. In extreme cases, when, for example, a person’s right not to be sent (deported, extradited) to a country where his or her life and liberty are in danger (a serious issue for Roma today) the person should appeal to the Court directly. A short, faxed letter, headed “Rule 39. Urgent,” should inform the court of what has happened, make reference to rule 39 of the court’s regulations, and ask that the court halt the expulsion (deportation, extradition). If the appeal is successful, the court will immediately take measures to stop the expulsion, at which point a formal case can be brought.
S.K: When a ruling on deportation is made officially in the court?
O.T: One can even appeal to the court when a decision has been issued by the administration rather than the courts. If we believe that the person against whom a decision has been made might be sent to a country where he will be punished cruelly or where there is danger to his life or health, then we simply appeal to the Strasbourg court by fax, making reference to Article 3 of the European Convention. Within literally five days, they make a decision on whether to halt the expulsion, deportation, extradition, etc. Of course, it is better if the decision is made in court; one has to contest a court’s ruling in order to exhaust all possible means of defense offered by the national government. But sometimes a person is going to be deported or extradited during the complaint procedure. For example, they wanted to send one person we were defending to Turkmenistan. Before the public prosecutor’s office had made a decision on the deportation, we employed the Rule 39 procedure of the Court’s regulations and appealed to the European Court who issued an urgent ruling that the applicant’s deportation should be halted. He had been under arrest, but he has been released because we made the appropriate appeals. The deportation process has been stopped – he cannot be deported and so he must be released. Although a decision as such on his deportation had not been made by the general prosecutor’s office, and it was, accordingly, never appealed in court, the fact that he had already been detained for deportation made it possible for us to appeal to the European court because the measure on deportation had already been passed.
This is of great importance to Roma, and here’s why: Article 18.8 of the legal code (KAP) says that a citizen can be expelled from the Russian Federation or sent to the territory of another subject of the RF for lacking registration. Moreover, it often happens that a person is deported to a country of which he or she is not a citizen. Court rulings do not even indicate where a person should be sent – only that they should be expelled from the territory of the RF. This is a serious issue for citizens of the former Soviet Union who have no documentary evidence that they are citizens of a particular state but have been living on Russian territory for many years. They have all the rights and responsibilities of a citizen, but because they lack registration they are not recognized as Russian citizens. They are refused new passports and are not included in processes of legalization because they have no documents confirming their identities. The result is a vicious circle. But if the person comes from Turkmenistan or Tajikistan, for example, where there are a mass of human rights violations and where the person may be in danger, especially if he or she belongs to a national minority (Romani, for example), then he or she may appeal to the European court and say that expulsion (deportation, extradition) could present a serious threat to his or her life and liberty. If the person is to be sent to Turkmenistan, for example, he could be imprisoned and possibly tortured. In this case, one should appeal to the European court on the basis of rule 39 of the court’s regulations. You have to use this procedure because it is the fastest and most effective. Within 3-5 days, the court will make a ruling on whether to prevent the extradition or not and will inform the Russian administration accordingly. Then the administration cannot deport the person and he or she can stay on Russian territory until the case is resolved in the European court. This is a long procedure that takes up to several years and at least three years. The following precedent exists: a person was detained, but now he has been freed. This means he can stay in Russia, not in detainment, and wait for a decision from Strasbourg. And if rule 39 had not been used he would long ago have been sent to Turkmenistan since he had already been detained for deportation.
Moreover, this rule can be used when we believe that Article 8 of the Convention has been violated, that is, if, for example, the person’s wife and children are Russian citizens. Deportation would be an illegal interference in private and family life. This, too, could be important for Roma. Many of them have families but have not got passports, sometimes the authorities illegally refuse them passports. They have no documents confirming their identity and the authorities try to deport them to a country where their life and freedom will be under threat – this would be a violation of not only Article 3, but also Article 8 because in the situation the unity of the family is violated. In this case, it is imperative to appeal to the European Court and make reference to these articles of the Convention. The procedure is free of charge. Appealing to the Strasbourg court is free, and if a person is unable to pay for his defense, the court will pay for the services of his lawyer. The person should fill out a special “legal aid” form, send a declaration that he has no means to pay for his defense. He needn’t do anything special to prove this. He should just sent proof such as pay slips. If the person has no such proof, he need only fill out a special declaration provided by the court and sign it. For example, “I work in such and such organization and have the following income / have no income / have no work / have children, a wife, my mother, etc. in my care. If confirming documents are available, you should enclose them and ask the court to allocate funds for your legal costs. Then the European court will pay for your lawyer’s work.
S.K: It that because even in urgent cases it’s better if a lawyer makes the appeal?
O.T: That’s not necessary at all. When the appeal is being examined and during correspondence with the court, a person must be represented by a lawyer, but the initial statement can be very brief, one to two pages plus court or administrative rulings that confirm the statement. For example, the statement could say that a person is being deported or extradited to his or her country of origin or to another country that is unsafe for the person, but our administration has nonetheless decided to deport him and the court has ruled to this effect.
S.K: And how are mass deportations viewed from a legal perspective? I know that rulings on deportation should always be made on an individual basis and that there have been a few instances in which the Strasbourg court found Italy and Belgium guilty of illegally deporting whole tabors of Roma.
O.T: This would be a violation of Article 4 of Protocol 4 of the European Convention, on the illegality of collectively deporting foreigners.
S.K: So how should we view the Tabor police operation that was carried out last year in St. Petersburg? When Roma who were living here illegally, Ukrainian citizens, were deported en masse from the Russian Federation... And where were they sent – to another country?
O.T: Yes, they were taken to the Ukrainian border somewhere near Kharkov. There were also cases of mass deportations of Tadjiki and Uzbeki Roma. Buses were brought directly to their settlements and all the Roma were taken away.
S.K: If it was a collective expulsion or deportation it was definitely illegal. It is also possible, however, that individual documents were prepared for each of them, and because they were told nothing about it they didn’t know what rulings had been passed on them and as a result could not appeal the rulings. This violates other articles of the Convention – Article 1 of Protocol 7 on the rules for carrying out administrative matters, that is, violation of the norms of national legislation. --In conclusion, I would like to ask: despite the difficulty and length of appealing administrative rulings in the European court in Strasbourg, do you believe that this means of resolving problems is correct, necessary, and useful?
O.T: Yes! Of course – it is the only means of effectively protecting not only the rights of individuals but also human rights in general. So that we never have to repeat the events of 1937.
© Memorial
PUTIN PUTS NBP IN FIRING LINE
From Jean Raymond, for Antifa-Net in Moscow
October 2005
Russian president Vladimir Putin has designated the nationalist-revolutionary National Bolshevik Party (NBP) as the number one enemy of his regime after a ban on the party was lifted by the Supreme Court on 16 August. The NBP, led by provocative writer Edouard Limonov, made a strategic and tactical shift a few months ago by seeking joint activities with the Communist Party and even with liberals. The last example of this evolution is its support for the local elections candidature of the imprisoned former financial oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In addition, NPB activists have multiplied the kind of direct actions that they began with their occupation of the health ministry offices in Moscow in August 2005. The change of line provoked a sharp response from the Putin administration as early as last December when police raided the party’s Moscow HQ, followed by a legal offensive in which seven party activists were jailed for five years for the health ministry invasion. Another thirty-nine will soon go on trial for their occupation of the presidential administration offices at the end of last year. The Putin-led offensive culminated with the now-overturned ban on the NBP. The Kremlin’s moves against the NBP have not, it seems, just been legal.
On 29 August, a gang of masked men, armed with baseball bats and gas guns attacked a group of young NBP activists attending a meeting with the youth from the right-wing bloc Rodina and from AKM (Red Youth Vanguard) at the Moscow offices of the Communist Party. Some of the attackers were wearing the T-shirts of Nashi, (“Ours”), a self-styled anti-fascist youth movement radio-controlled by the Kremlin. Several of the injured NBP members were taken to hospital. The 25 attackers, meanwhile, were arrested – making their escape in a bus – and detained by police for a few hours before being released, according to the opposition daily newspaper Kommersant. The same paper accused fans – members of the “Gladiators” hooligan mob – of the football club Spartak of the attack. During the spring, a journalist from the magazine Gorod exposed the overlap between certain football supporters’ clubs in Moscow and the Nashi movement and predicted a campaign against the NBP whose boss, Limonov, is now promising violent retaliation.
© Searchlight
ANTISEMITISM SURGES IN RUSSIA
By Mara Vladimirova for Antifa-Net in Moscow
October 2005
During the commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland in January this year, the website of the newspaper “Rus’ pravoslavnaya” (Orthodox Russia) published a petition signed by five hundred people (among them twenty State Duma deputies) appealing to the Prosecutor-General to launch a ban on all religious and ethnic Jewish organisations in Russia. The petition provoked disgust and criticism from Jewish and human rights groups. And president Vladimir Putin, speaking during the commemoration events at the Auschwitz death camp itself, publicly apologised to the world community and surviving ex-prisoners of the Nazi regime for the existence of antisemitism in Russia. Several days, later the “ban them all” petition was retracted but that was not the end of the story… In fact, on 21 March another petition – with the excruciatingly long-winded title “Appeal to the Prosecutor General of Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov, because of increasing use against Russian patriots of article 282 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation (‘Stimulation of national hatred towards Jews’)” – was lodged at the Prosecutor General’s Office. The text of this petition, it turned out, was more or less the same as the January petition.
One difference, however, is that in the new petition the juridical demands were much better formulated, spearheaded with a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office to launch a probe into the Shulhan Arukh – a code of Jewish halachic law compiled the 16th century – to ascertain whether it consitutes racist incitement and anti-Russian material. The petition also urged the authorities to check the activities and structures of the two main Jewish umbrella groups in Russia, the Congress of Jewish Religious Organisations and Communities of Russia (KEROOR) and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR), which have published the Shulhan Arukh and use it in Jewish religious schools.
Over 5,000 people signed this appeal, among them two leading figures in the Russian Orthodox Church and several editors of various nationalist newspapers in Russia, some of whom have been previously prosecuted for xenophobia and antisemitism. These include Igor Kolodezenko, Alexander Turik, Stanislav Terentjev and Boris Mironov. As soon as the petition appeared, activists from the “For human rights” movement lodged their own demand with the Prosecutor General for punishment of the petition’s authors under the anti-racist Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code. Incredibly, the authorities actually complied with the demands of the “5,000” racists by carrying out an examination of the Shulhan Arukh, even if, on 11 June, Moscow District Prosecutor Sergei Ulyanov subsequently rejected the demand to ban the holy Jewish book. It was not the only thing that Ulyanov rejected, as he refused to open any investigation into those behind the petition. With reference to Michael Nazarov, one of the petition’s initiators, the Prosecutor’s office claimed there was no criminal act involved because “there was no direct incitement of hatred and no offence against ethnic or religious group”. This decision rendered Putin’s apology at Auschwitz almost worthless.
It should be added that the Prosecutor’s decisions were based on enquiries made by the director of an institute for preschool education, a psychologist with no expertise in history or the study of religion and culture. Though the psychologist looked at the expressions used by Nazarov in the petition, referring to “the morality of Jewish fascism” or claiming that the “aggression of Judaism is close to Satanism”, the Prosecutor concluded that the use of this florid antisemitic language was not enough reason to charge Nazarov for instigating national or racial hatred. At the same time, human rights activist Ruslan Linkov was told by the Prosecutor’s Office in St Petersburg that there was nothing offensive to Jews in Nazarov’s use of the word “Yid” and Nazarov himself boasted to journalists that the decisions of the Prosecutors in Moscow and St Petersburg were a victory for him. There is no doubt that the failure of the Prosecutors to look at what is staring them in the face will set off another wave of antisemitic propaganda in Russia. Nazarov, getting more brazen by the minute, demanded on 22 June, that the Moscow district court should charge three rabbis, Alexander Shajevich, Zinoviy Kogan and Berl Lazar, the President of the Russian Jewish Congress, Boris Slutzker and the Director of the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, Alexander Brod, for offending his dignity and defaming his professional reputation.
In August, journalists revealed that, on 10 January, just four days before the first antisemitic petition, the Russian Constitutional Court received an appeal from one Vladimir Grjaznov urging that the Old Testament should be considered “a chauvinist and fascist document” and as “propaganda for the superiority of the Jewish nation”. Grjaznov went on to call for the forcible closure of all synagogues in Russia. This was not the first time he had lodged such an appeal. He did so in 2003 but both the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Constitutional Court ignored him. The antisemitic card is without a doubt being played by major political forces in Russia as politicians chase after votes. In the January petition, MPs from the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the right-wing bloc Rodina all put their names down and these parties have not disowned those MPs who signed the petition. Indeed, Rodina in St Petersburg officially backed the January petition two months after its launch. The fact that 2005 began with a barbaric antisemitic petition has led to numerous acts of vandalism and aggression against Jews in Russia. On 14 January, the same day as the petition first appeared, a group of youths attacked a Jewish family and two rabbis travelling with their children on the Moscow underground. One of the rabbis was seriously injured. By the summer, violence really began to escalate and, in July, the People’s Patriotic Party of Russia held a meeting in Kursk, ironically the scene of the crushing defeat of Hitler’s Panzer armies in WW2, at which the main slogan was “Jews out!” Also in July, nationalist extremists from the Slavic Union burned Jewish literature, arranged before being lit, in the form of a swastika. Soon after, on 10 July, unknown arsonists torched a Jewish religious centre in Penza.
The violence has continued with more vandalism in August. For example, anti-semites desecrated Jewish cemeteries in Tver and Smolensk, while another fifty gravestones at a cemetery in Dimitrovo-Cherkassakh were daubed with swastikas and a further eight smashed. After this desecration took place, antisemitic leaflets were pasted up all over the cemetery to demonstrate that the attack was well planned by people who were not just mere hooligans. In another appalling incident, ten Jewish gravestones were shattered in Smolensk on the day when local people commemorated victims from the Jewish ghetto set up by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
In spite of the constant and understandable emigration of many of its members, Russia still has one of the biggest Jewish communities in the world and around 30% of Jews in Russia regardthemselves religious Jews. While some of their leaders have praised Putin and his government for encouraging religious tolerance, human rights groups do not agree and are arguing ever more strongly that the authorities are failing miserably in their duty to bring to justice and convict the perpetrators of antisemitic and racist violence in Russia.
© Searchlight
STOP THREATS AGAINST RELIGIOUS MINORITIES(Georgia)
1/10/2005- The Liberty Institute is alerting the international community on continued violations of religious freedoms in Georgia. According to the latest findings, increasingly more people are being attacked on religious grounds in Georgia. Authorities also continue to ignore or provoke violence occurring against religious minorities. For the past four months, the number of complaints from religious minorities has significantly grown, showing the inadequate attention given to this issue. The frequency of attacks on religious minorities temporarily decreased after March 2004, following the arrest of Basili Mkalavishvili, one of the leaders of the Orthodox extremist groups responsible for violent mob attacks. However, the number of aggressive attacks on religious grounds has increased by three times compared to last year’s figures, reported Georgia’s Public Defender. New Orthodox extremist organisations have also become active in Georgia. In July 2005, the Public Defender also stated law enforcers often do not respond according to the law when they receive reports on violent attacks against religious minorities. Recently, the house of the Pentacostal leader, Nikolai Kalutski became the target of aggressive attacks. A blockade, organised by the Society of the Perish of St. King David Agmashenebeli, mobilised up to 100 people to block the Pastor’s house in May 2005. The violence against religious minority communities is accompanied by the seizure of their preaching houses and churches, particularly against Catholics, Armenian Orthodox and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Six Catholic churches in Tbilisi and the regions Gori, Kutaisi and Akhaltsikhe were placed under control of the Orthodox Patriarchy of Georgia, following the dissolution of the USSR. Catholics were forbidden to perform services in historically Catholic churches while, under the guise of so-called repair works, Orthodox priests destroyed the Catholic heritage within the occupied buildings. For instance, in the Akhaltsikhe village of Ivlita, one of the oldest Catholic churches in Georgia (XIIIcent.) was occupied by an Orthodox priest. As a result, the church’s Catholic icons and graves of French missionaries were destroyed. Intolerance to religious freedom is demonstrated by the state’s inability to resolve property issues for religious minorities. The Armenian Church recently demanded the restitution of its rights to Norasheni Church (Tbilisi). In Kvareli (East Georgia), Baptists are still deprived of the right to restore a church burnt in 2003. Jehovah’s Witnesses were also prohibited to repair their place of worship in Kutaisi. Liberty Institute urges the international community to condemn violations of religious freedom, and speak out against religious violence in Georgia.
Resources:
Liberty
Forum 18
© Civil Society Watch
GUARDED BY EXTREMIST(Norway)
Oslo police will examine a security firm's control routines after a well-known neo-Nazi took part in the safety measures surrounding a royal appearance.
7/10/2005- Anti-racism magazine Monitor uncovered the scandal, which took place during Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit's appearance at a TV appeal to aid women victims of violence in underdeveloped nations, newspaper Dagsavisen reports. Erling Alexander Kristoffersen, a high-profile extremist with a prior conviction for violence and a former leader of the neo-Nazi Boot Boys, managed to get a security job with the firm Prosec. Kristoffersen, who stood watch outside the venue, the Jakob Cultural Church, currently fronts the web site for the group Nasjonal Motstand (National Resistance), which has an agenda of replacing the current government with a 'national alternative' and sending foreigners home. Managing director Kenneth Isaksen at Prosec said that their hiring routines had let them down. "We don't hire people with a criminal record in a security service. This person had only worked for us for eight hours, which was probably the reason why we had not managed to check his record with police. Originally he was not intended for security service and was fired immediately when we learned that he had a conviction and served prison time," Isaksen said. Isaksen said that Kristoffersen had not had any direct responsibility for the royal couple's safety, but was supposed to prevent drug addicts and alcoholics from entering the church, and to watch a NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) van parked in the area. Kristoffersen's lawyer Vidar Lind Iversen confirmed that his client had only worked a few shifts for the security company, and that he was still active in extremist circles.
© Aftenpost
MAYOR CANDIDATE ESCAPES RACISM CHARGES(Denmark)
Police will not press charges against the Danish People's Party's mayor candidate for her derogatory comments on Muslims on her campaign website
14/10/2005- Louise Frevert, the Danish People's Party's mayoral candidate in Copenhagen, will not be charged for the attacks on Muslims posted on her campaign website last month, national broadcaster DR reported on Friday. The comments, which compared Muslims with cancer tumours in Danish society and implied that all Muslim men were potential rapists, were also printed in a book in Frevert's name before the parliamentary elections in February. Frevert's website editor has accepted the responsibility for the statement, and is currently being charged with breaking the so-called anti-racism paragraph of the Criminal Code. The Danish People's Party announced, however, that the police had decided not to press charges on Frevert. She said she was relieved over the decision. 'It's a weight off my back. I've said the whole time that it wasn't me who did it. So I can't help feeling happy,' Frevert said, adding that the police had brought her in for questioning on one occasion. Socialist MP and spokesman on equal rights Kamal Qureshi, who was among the people who reported Frevert to the police, said he found the decision shocking. 'It's simply impressive, that a politician like Louise Frevert can get away so easily from statements put forward in her name and she defended for days in public,' Qureshi said. He said the police must be afraid to press charges against an MP and mayoral candidate. 'It looks like the police are afraid to interfere, since the politician in question comes from the government's powerful support party,' Qureshi said.
© The Copenhagen Post
DUTCH MINISTER CONSIDERS BURKA BAN
10/10/2005— Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk is to investigate the possibility of banning the wearing of the burka in specific situations. A total ban on the Muslim garment that covers the entire body is not possible, the minister believes. Verdonk has ordered her officials to study whether the burka could be banned at certain times and in specific locations on security grounds. She outlined her ideas to parliament on Monday. She was responding to right-wing independent MP Geert Wilders, who called for a ban on the wearing of burkas in public. He argued that the burka is not "woman friendly" and it prevented quick identification of the
wearer. The burka - associated with Afghanistan and other strict Muslim societies - covers the woman from head to toe and even conceals her eyes.
© Expatica News
MOROCCO FLIES OUT DUMPED MIGRANTS
Morocco has sent the first of several planes full of illegal West African migrants to Senegal.
10/10/2005- The migrants accuse Morocco's security forces of ill-treating them. The flight with 140 migrants arrived from Oujda, near the Algerian border. Hundreds of migrants were dumped there after trying to enter or being expelled from Spanish enclaves in North Africa. Amid growing international concern, humanitarian groups have criticised Spain for expelling the migrants. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is visiting Morocco to discuss the crisis as it reviews its deportations policy. A government official in the Melilla enclave said no more deportations were planned at the moment. The aid agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres, said on Friday it had found more than 500 migrants abandoned by Moroccan police in the Sahara desert without food or water, some of whom had been illegally expelled by Spanish police.
Big dilemma
Twenty-eight-year-old Aboubakar Diallo from Mali said he was ready to go home after failing to make it into Melilla. "It's tough here... it's hell on earth, lack of water, no food and live ammunition to face. We get treated like animals," told AFP news agency. The migrants who remain in one of the enclaves, Melilla, say their treatment at the hands of the Moroccan security forces was appalling, the BBC's Chris Morris in Melilla says. They have appealed to Spain not to deport anyone else back across the border. Spain and Morocco have taken a tougher line against the migrants in the last few days, after thousands of people tried to storm the high razor wire fences which surround Melilla and Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants made it across, but at least 11 were killed. That prompted Spain to deport some of the new arrivals back to Morocco, a move denounced by humanitarian groups. They say hundreds of other migrants caught on the Moroccan side of the border have been taken further south and dumped in the remote desert region near the airport at Oujda. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the two governments to treat the migrant groups humanely. The European Union and UN are sending teams to Morocco amid growing concern about how the authorities are treating immigrants. The issue presents a big dilemma for Spain, but it could also become a political problem for the Socialist government, our correspondent says. A new opinion poll says illegal immigration now tops the list of issues which concern Spanish voters the most.
© BBC News
SPAIN REVIEWS MIGRANT DEPORTATION
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is to visit Morocco for talks on how to handle migrants seeking to enter Spain's North African enclaves.
10/10/2005- The Spanish government is reviewing its policy on deporting illegal migrants from Melilla and Ceuta back to Morocco amid mounting international concern. A government official in the Melilla enclave said no more deportations were planned at the moment. Humanitarian groups have criticised Spain for sending people back. Another plane full of illegal migrants from sub Saharan African left Melilla on Sunday, but it was bound for the Spanish mainland. The migrants who remain in Melilla say their treatment at the hands of the Moroccan security forces was appalling, the BBC's Chris Morris in Melilla says. They have appealed to Spain not to deport anyone else back across the border. Spain and Morocco have taken a tougher line against the migrants in the last few days, after thousands of people tried to storm the high razor wire fences which surround Melilla and Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants made it across, but at least 11 were killed. That prompted Spain to deport some of the new arrivals back to Morocco, a move denounced by humanitarian groups. They say hundreds of other migrants caught on the Moroccan side of the border have been taken further south and dumped in a remote desert region. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the two governments to treat the migrant groups humanely. The EU and UN are sending teams to Morocco amid growing concern about how the authorities are treating immigrants. The issue presents a big dilemma for Spain, but it could also become a political problem for the Socialist government, our correspondent says. A new opinion poll says illegal immigration now tops the list of issues which concern voters the most.
© BBC News
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION INTO PORTUGAL `A PROBLEM THAT WILL NOT GO AWAY'
10/10/2005- Portugal has been warned it faces an ever-increasing problem with illegal African immigrants crossing over its borders. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said last week that illegal immigration is "a problem that will not go away" and that Lisbon should consider carefully improving its defences against the rising tide of African immigrants entering the country. This latest warning comes in the wake of the deaths of five people during a night of clashes on the Spanish-Moroccan border last Tuesday. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero met his Moroccan counterpart Driss Jettou in Seville this week for talks on the problem following the unrest on Morocco's border with Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast. Five people died before dawn when hundreds of would-be immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to storm the bor der fence around the enclave, just across the Strait of Gibraltar that divides Africa from mainland Europe. The European Commission joined with the IOM in calling for Portugal and Spain to bolster cooperation to avert similar incidents occurring. However, Portugal and Spain's troubles are by no means unique among their fellow member states that border the Mediterranean. All face a daily challenge trying to contain illegal immigration. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 10,500 illegal immigrants from Libya and Tunisia landed in the first half of 2005 on Italy's southern island of Lampedusa. Only last month 235 stowaways were smuggled into Malta leading to the country's government appeal for humanitarian aid from Brussels. "Two hundred and thirty five stowaways landing in Malta is the equivalent of 23,500 arriving in Sicily", Malta's Interior Minister Tonio Borg told Reuters. Greece is really beginning to feel the pinch over illegal immigration from Africa and Asia. In the first half of this year 23,490 illegal immigrants have been rounded up and placed in detention camps. From 2000 to 2004, nearly 400,000 asylum seekers and 5,000 suspected traffickers have been detained after landing on the dozens of Greek islands scattered across the eastern Mediterranean. According to the Greek customs authorities, the majority have been smuggled in via Turkey itself an aspiring EU member state. But while Brussels is recommending its member states to toughen up their border controls, the United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights are accusing Greece, Italy and Spain of not doing enough to protect the interests of illegal immigrants by refusing them the opportunity of seeking asylum.
© The Portugal News
CONFERENCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PLAN FOR ROMA AND SINTI PEOPLE
14/10/2005- The OSCE will be holding a joint international conference on the implementation of policies and action plans for Roma, Sinti and Travellers, and measures against the anti-Gypsyism phenomenon in Europe. This conference will take place in Warsaw, Poland on the 20th and 21st of October, 2005. The conference will focus on the implementation of the Action Plan for Improvement of the Situation of the Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area; the Council of Europe's relevant recommendations on Roma and Travellers; and European Union standards. Almost two years ago the Action Plan for Improvement of the Situation of the Roma and Sinti was institued by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE). However, the Dzeno Association feels that little seems to have been done towards implementing this plan, and worse, government officials seem to have no idea that the document even exsists. The action plan sets forth guidelines for eliminating discrimination and providing policies for police to follow concerning the proper treatment of the Roma and Sinti people, and for ensuring that Roma and Sinti people are included in decisions concerning health care, education, and public life. Part of the problem may be that the public itself has not been included in the discussion of the problems or possible solutions. Because of this oversight, there is little possibility for public pressure on governmental officials to begin enforcing a document that all 55 members states have signed and thereby promised to enforce.
Read the full-text document (in English)
© Dzeno Association
GAY LEADERS SEEK TO BRIDGE RACIAL DIVIDE(usa)
9/10/2005- Each year, Dyana Mason kicks off the summer with two road trips: one to Washington's black gay pride celebration in May and a second to its predominantly white June counterpart, Capital Pride. Mason, director of an advocacy group called Equality Virginia, is not alone. Through the fall, similar celebrations will unfold across the nation, underscoring a racial rift some say splinters gay America when a united front is needed most. National gay and lesbian groups are responding with marketing campaigns and old-fashioned schmoozing to win over minority gays, many of whom argue white activists want their votes on gay marriage and other national issues, but rarely include poverty, racism and other minority concerns on their agendas. "We have this rainbow of unity - 'We're all in it together,'" said Earl Fowlkes, president of the International Federation of Black Prides. "Truth be told, it's not that way." His group represents more than 23 annual black pride celebrations drawing thousands of black gays to New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other cities. Such culture-specific celebrations are on the rise as the face of gay America shifts from the white male stereotype. Roughly 4 million gay or lesbian adults live in the United States, according to the Gay and Lesbian Atlas, compiled by the Urban Institute. Among them are large groups of Hispanics and blacks; in Los Angeles, for example, the group found Hispanics lead 32 percent of all same-sex households. In the South, black gays head more than a quarter of gay households in South Carolina and Mississippi. The numbers say minorities are just as prevalent as whites. So why, then, do their faces number so few at national gay rights events? In 2000, the Human Rights Campaign set out to answer that question, surveying leaders in several communities of color across the country. "Their perceptions of us were rich, white male elitist organization with low investment in issues facing the multicultural community," recalled Donna Payne, senior diversity organizer with the HRC, the nation's largest gay rights advocacy organization. In addition to creating Payne's position, leaders began to showcase work by black, gay filmmakers in their Washington store, establish a gospel social and an outreach program to mentor gay youth at historically black colleges. Perhaps most importantly, top brass at the Human Rights Campaign began frequenting black pride parades and parties. "Overall, we understand that we have to be able to have room under the umbrella for everyone," Payne said. Despite the changes, frustrations linger. For one, Latinos shrink from organizations that think translating documents into Spanish is enough, said Noemi Perez, a Virginia activist who has worked with gays.
"You can't just transplant an individual who is Latino," she said. "That is a big piece of the puzzle as to why it's hard for these organizations to bring the communities to the table." Hispanics and blacks say they feel distanced from a national gay rights agenda focused on same-sex marriage. Fowlkes and Perez named "existence issues" such as poverty, discrimination and job stability as primary for minority gays - not wedding bells. "If I don't have the money I need to have food in my refrigerator or to get on a bus to get to work, the whole issue of the right to marry, that's secondary," Perez said. "The lives of the folks on 'Will and Grace' are not necessarily reflective of the lives of gay Latinos." But for some minority gays - and heterosexuals - distance from the white mainstream stems from a notion that race trumps all. It's an age-old idea that leaves many viewing themselves as black or Hispanic first and gay second. "We (have) formed our own institution - that being the prides, our social organizations, our social clubs," Fowlkes said. "All the things our parents and grandparents did to react to racism in their day." With anti-gay measures gaining ground nationwide, the argument for uniting across racial lines is strong. Gay marriage bans were approved in all 11 states that held referendums last fall, including Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky. In Richmond, Mason's staff is taking baby steps to diversify. The flagship Virginia gay rights group hosted an awards dinner in April with Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Still, Mason lists a concern of many white gay leaders: In areas where minority gay communities are not well-organized, reaching across racial lines is nearly impossible. "We don't have a Richmond black gay pride, for example," she said. "We don't have that type of opportunity for us to really find who these folks are."
© Associated Press
Headlines 7 October, 2005
UNION PRESIDENT ATTACKS IMMIGRANTS(Malta)
6/10/2005- The re-elected General Workers' Union president, Salvu Sammut, yesterday dedicated nearly half his speech at the congress to a fierce attack on illegal immigrants, claiming they were "taking jobs from Maltese workers". Mr Sammut said Malta may be forced to take measures which were not necessarily "just and humane" to solve the illegal immigration crisis. Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo walked out of the congress as a sign of protest, later condemning Mr Sammut's comments as inflammatory and unacceptable coming from the president of the country's largest trade union. "First we had Maltese prostitutes, then we had Russian prostitutes and now we have immigrant prostitutes (prostituti klandestini) who earn double the minimum weekly wage of a Maltese worker," Mr Sammut said. "We cannot forget the dangers of undetected diseases which may spread among the population." Mr Sammut said one should not forget the frustration felt by the Maltese who see an illegal immigrant being given precedence at hospital. "It is understandable when an elderly person, a Gozitan or a person with a disability is given precedence over a Maltese person in a government department. But that an illegal immigrant is given precedence is not acceptable. This is fuelling fear and racist sentiment among people," Mr Sammut said. "The illegal immigration problem is becoming more acute and alarming and will suffocate us very soon."
Mr Sammut said the circumstances which Malta found itself in were not allowing its people to live up to their reputation as a generous nation. "The first illegal immigrant who landed in Malta was St Paul. At least he gave us a Christian culture and left after three months. But what good are modern illegal immigrants doing us? They need food, clothing, education and social services and they want to give birth to their races among us," Mr Sammut said. Reacting to the comments made by Mr Sammut, the AD chairman said a series of popular misconceptions about illegal immigration were being inflated by the extreme right-wing "lunatic" fringe. "It was impossible to remain and appear to approve in the slightest manner any report that may be made of a speech inflaming racial tension in the country. "In this situation everybody with a responsibility for leadership should strive to present the facts as they are and to address the challenges in a rational manner," Dr Vassallo said. It was therefore unacceptable that the president of the country's largest trade union addressing 700 delegates should claim that immigrants were taking Maltese workers' jobs, exposing the Maltese to undetected diseases and jumping the queue at hospital, Dr Vassallo said.
The authorities had for years transmitted the message that immigrants were dangerous criminals by escorting them to hospital in handcuffs. "These people would greatly prefer not to be treated like criminals whenever they are in need of medical attention and exposed to the irritation and hatred of the Maltese," Dr Vassallo said. A self-respecting union should have addressed the exploitation and near slavery to which many migrant workers are exposed. "No self-respecting trade unionist could possibly inflame workers against other workers who are evidently at a greater disadvantage than themselves and who are facing the same illegal exploitation," Dr Vassallo said. "It is utterly intolerable that the president of the GWU on such an occasion should hint ominously that the solution to the immigration crisis would be 'neither just nor humane'," Dr Vassallo said.
©
Times of Malta
RACIST ACCUSATIONS HAMPER MAYOR CANDIDATE(Denmark)
The Danish People's Party's candidate for the Copenhagen mayor post faces a police investigation and scrutiny from her superiors after publishing derogatory comments about Muslims on her website.
4/10/2005‑ Derogatory comments about Muslims have brought Louise Frevert, the Danish People's Party's Copenhagen candidate for mayor, under the close scrutiny of party leadership and police alike. Last week, Frevert was reported to the police for posting derogatory comments on Muslims on her website. A number of articles stated that young Muslim men, even if they were born in Denmark and spoke Danish, harboured fundamental attitudes that were incompatible with Danish society. 'Whatever happens, they feel it's their right to rape Danish girls and stamp out Danish citizens,' the article stated. 'Our laws forbid us to kill our enemies in public, so our only remedy is to fill our prisons with these criminals.' The article on Frevert's website went on to recommend that Muslim criminals be sent to prisons in Russia. In another article, Muslims were compared with cancer cells, which could only be treated with chemotherapy or surgically removed. The comments prompted Social Democratic city council candidate Lars Rasmussen to report Frevert to the police for violating the country's anti‑racism law. 'Her comments sound like something she heard from the Nazi Party,' Rasmussen said. The Danish People's Party's leadership did not seem to like the connotation. 'This is not the party's policy, and it never will be,' DF vice chairman Peter Skaarup said. Frevert seemed to have gotten the message. 'I can understand that these articles have caused a stir. It was not my intention, and I apologise,' she said in a press release on DF's website. 'I will make sure that the comments will be removed from the website.' Shortly after removing the articles, however, Frevert recanted and declared that she had not written them herself. Instead, her website's editor had written and posted them in her name. However, similar passages were also found in a book written by Frevert, published in the run‑up to parliamentary elections last February. Conflicting explanations offered by Frevert about who authored the statements led the Danish People's Party vice‑chairman to call for an investigation. 'We will now go through the material to take a look at it. We will also speak with Louise Frevert about who has written what,' said Skaarup. Skaarup expected the analysis to take a few days: 'It's quite a bit of material. I don't think there is anything dramatic in it, but it is clear that we have to study it.' Skaarup would not offer a comment on whether Frevert would be excluded from the party.
©
The Copenhagen Post
SLOVAK OFFICIALS RELEASE FALSE AND MISLEADING INFORMATION CONCERNING COERCIVE STERILISATION(Press release)
ERRC Urges Prime Minister to Issue Prompt Correction and to Lead in Ensuring that Victims Receive Justice
4/10/2005‑ Acting in response to the publication by the Slovak General Prosecutor’s office of extremely misleading information concerning the coercive sterilisation of women – including Romani women ‑‑ in Slovakia, the ERRC yesterday sent a letter to Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, urging him to undertake a number of matters including: (1) publicly correct the information issued by the Slovak General Prosecutor; (2) affirm that the Slovak government remains committed to justice for any and all identified victims; and (3) in light of the evident bad faith demonstrated by members of the Slovak Attorney General’s office, to demonstrate leadership in matters related to providing justice to victims of coercive sterilisation in Slovakia.
On 21 September 2004, the ERRC submitted, under a confidential complaint mechanism available before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW Article 8 procedure”), details concerning procedures undertaken by Slovak medical officials with respect to 49 Romani women. This complaint included details of 22 cases of sterilisation performed without any form of consent; 23 cases of sterilisation in which consent to sterilisation was obtained by coercion; and four cases in which sterilisation had been performed following consent secured absent the provision of information regarding alternative contraceptive measures. In a communication of 1 August 2005, the CEDAW declined to conduct an Article 8 inquiry into the matter, primarily as a result of the entry into force, on 1 January 2005, of a new Act on Healthcare, including provisions to ensure “ethical medical practice as well as access to a patient’s file”. The CEDAW communication states, however, that while it would not at present conduct an inquiry into the matter, under the Article 8 procedure, “it remains concerned that there may have been individual cases of sterilisation of Roma women without consent or with consent obtained by coercion and that, within this context, the issues of responsibility and redress have so far not been sufficiently addressed.” The Committee further advised the Slovak government “to pursue and appropriate consideration of these questions”. This decision, issued confidentially to the ERRC and the Slovak Government has, in the week foregoing, been dramatically misrepresented by Slovak officials in public statements. In addition, the views of a number of European expert bodies which have expressed extreme concern at the actions of Slovak medical officials have also been misrepresented by Slovak officials. A summary of wrong, misleading or otherwise manipulative information disseminated by Slovak authorities and widely quoted in the Slovak media in the past week follows below:
According to the Slovak news agency SITA from September 29, 2005, Mr. Jozef Centes, Vice President of the Criminal Division of the Slovak Attorney‑General’s Office, made statements that “illegal sterilisation of Romani women has never happened in Slovakia” and claimed that the same conclusion had been reached by a UN Committee after examining the issue upon request submitted by the European Roma Rights Centre. The statements of Mr. Centes were welcomed, endorsed and repeated by a number of Slovak officials, and have been widely quoted in the media. As of October 3, the Internet website of the Slovak General Prosecutor’s Office included a news item, containing extensive misleading information on the issue, including for example the following: “The non‑existence of evidence of the crime of genocide has been affirmed also by an independent parliamentary survey by the Inter‑European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD), Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for Social, Health and Family Affairs Christine McCafferty, as well as the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Alvaro Gil‑Robles”. The statement of the Slovak General Prosecutor is formally correct solely because none of authorities listed, including the ERRC, have alleged the crime of genocide in Slovakia in connection with these practices. Indeed, the Slovak General Prosecutor opened investigation into the crime of genocide – which carries with it a very high burden of proof ‑‑ against the explicit recommendation of a number of parties, and apparently for the sole purpose of dismissing the claims.
In actual fact, every one of the officials listed above has expressed concern at practices of sterilisation of women carried out absent informed consent in Slovakia, as well as in particular the targeting of Romani women for coercive sterilisation. In one example of statements misrepresented by the Slovak General Prosecutor, in 2003, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Alvaro Gil‑Robles stated, following visits to Slovakia: “On the basis of the information contained in the reports referred to above, and that obtained during the visit, it can reasonably be assumed that sterilizations have taken place, particularly in eastern Slovakia, without informed consent. The information available to the Commissioner does not suggest that an active or organized Government policy of improper sterilizations has existed (at least since the end of the communist regime). However, the Slovak Government has, in the view of the Commissioner, an objective responsibility in the matter for failing to put in place adequate legislation and for failing to exercise appropriate supervision of sterilisation practices although allegations of improper sterilizations have been made throughout the 1990’s and early 2000.” The foregoing statement was reiterated in the High Commissioner’s Preliminary Report on the Human Rights Situation of Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe, dated May 4, 2005, to which was added the comment “I remain concerned that sufficient consideration has not, at least as yet, been given to the question of responsibility for the violations that have already occurred as well as providing redress for the victims”. The Commissioner further concluded that “The issue of sterilizations does not appear to concern exclusively one ethnic group of the Slovak population, nor does the question of their improper performance. It is likely that vulnerable individuals from various ethnic origins have, at some stage, been exposed to the risk of sterilization without proper consent. However, for a number of factors, which are developed throughout this report, the Commissioner is convinced that the Roma population of eastern Slovakia has been at particular risk.”
Similarly, an independent study mission of the Inter‑European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD) after, as noted above, agreeing with all parties that the practices alleged likely did not amount to genocide, concluded, “Participants did find, that in most cases Romani woman were sterilized without sufficient information to make an informed consent. This is due to the fact, that hospital doctors do not consider it their duty to inform the woman, even when they should have realised that the patient has not attended prenatal care, where this information is supposed to be given and will also not attend post natal care. In cases of emergency the patient is also not informed. This is open to very strong criticism.” Since plausible documentation was first brought forward in 2003 that practices of coercive sterilisation of Romani women have recently taken place in Slovakia, high‑level Slovak authorities have repeatedly misled the Slovak public on the nature and dimensions of the issue. Indeed, Slovak authorities have even threatened prosecution of the authors of “Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom in Slovakia”, the first comprehensive study published on the matter. To date, although some Slovak officials have occasionally acknowledged the practice, justice has been denied to victims.
The ERRC letter to Prime Minister Dzurinda of October 3 was copied to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which remains in the course of the most recent very disturbing developments in Slovakia described above.
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European Roma Rights Center
SERBIAN PRESIDENT BLASTS GOVERNMENT ON FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF MILOSEVIC'S OUSTER
5/10/2005‑ Serbia's pro‑western president on Wednesday accused the Balkan republic's conservative government of betraying the ideals of a popular uprising that led to the ouster of former president Slobodan Milosevic exactly five years ago. Boris Tadic wrote in the Politika daily that the coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was reviving "political violence" and "persecution of opponents" similar to the one that existed in Serbia during Milosevic's autocratic rule of more than a decade. "Hardly anyone in Serbia today has the right to be satisfied," Tadic said. "Everything that had burdened Serbia under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic is back again." Tadic's criticism of Kostunica illustrates the deep divisions that prevail among the leaders of the anti‑Milosevic coalition five years after the former president was toppled on Oct. 5, 2000. Back in 2000, Milosevic's attempt to annul Kostunica's triumph at a presidential vote drove hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Belgrade and other Serbian cities, forcing him to concede defeat and step down. The pro‑democracy leaders, including Tadic and Kostunica, promised then to work together to bring Serbia out of isolation and economic misery left by Milosevic. But the key players soon split, with Kostunica drifting away from the liberals in the bloc. Years later, Kostunica faces fierce criticism from the former allies for his political alliance with Milosevic's Socialists and alleged support of the former president's warmongering policies. "Serbia's government has publicly denounced anti‑fascism ... while it tolerates public displays of racism, anti‑Semitism and ethnic hatred," a group of liberal politicians and intellectuals said in a statement Wednesday.
Former reformist Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic added that "this government has revived the system that was toppled on Oct. 5." But Kostunica rejected the accusations late Tuesday in an interview on the state run Serbian television. The Serbian premier cited a decision by the European Union earlier this week to start talks on establishing closer ties with Serbia, as evidence that things were moving forward. Kostunica on Wednesday visited the miners outside Belgrade who played a key role in the 2000 changes by launching a strike. Kostunica told the miners that "Oct. 5 opened the way to changes in Serbia and creation of a democratic state that can live like the rest of the world." Still, Serbia remains one of the poorest countries in Europe: every third Serb is jobless, inflation is a rampant 14 per cent and the average monthly paycheque amounts to the equivalent of $250 US. In addition, the republic is politically unstable, and ties with Montenegro ‑ junior partner in the Serbia‑Montenegro union ‑ have worsened. Tadic conceded in his text in Politika that Serbia has moved toward the EU, but noted that "negotiations will be slower and harder for us" because of Kostunica's reluctance to apprehend the remaining UN war crimes suspects, particularly the top fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic. Tadic declared that last week's 48‑hour detention of the first post‑Milosevic justice minister, Vladan Batic, showed that Kostunica's authorities have "crossed the line" that had divided them from Milosevic's policies. In a sign of protest, Tadic's opposition Democratic Party also threatened on Wednesday to walk out of the Serbian parliament, in a move that could further fuel political tensions. "The government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica does more to convince the people that things are not as bad as they seem than to offer a clear vision how to solve the problems," Tadic said. "The government is much more interested in staying in power at any price."
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Associated Press
PARIS IMMIGRANTS ARE HARDEST HIT BY HOUSING CRISIS(France)
4/10/2005‑ The night has been cold but Rama Kanoute and her family will sleep outside again, crouched on a pile of mattresses, their belongings beside them. French police evicted Kanoute, her husband and two children last month from the run‑down apartment they squatted in for years but she has vowed to stay on the cobblestones in front of the house until Paris city authorities offer them a permanent home. "All I want is dignity, a place to live," said Kanoute, whose parents came from Senegal, a former French colony. Dozens of families of African origin have been expelled from Paris squats in the past few weeks. Anti‑racism groups say their expulsions show the difficult plight of immigrants and their descendants in France, where many live a half‑life on the fringes of society, discriminated against for jobs and housing because of their origins. In the past five months, fires in crowded and dilapidated Paris buildings have killed almost 50 people, many of them immigrants and children. The deaths shocked a city best known abroad for its spacious boulevards and historic monuments, lifted the lid on living conditions for immigrants and exposed a grave housing shortage. Conservative Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy called for squats and run‑down buildings to be closed after the fires. The ambitious Sarkozy, who is the government's No. 2, has also angered opposition parties with vows to get tough on immigration ‑‑ comments many see as an attempt to win over right‑wing voters in his bid to become president in 2007. Officials say Paris has about 60 unsafe squats and around 1,500 families live in apartments that are considered unhygienic. Many poor people say they have no choice. "Rather than staying outside with our children, we came in," Kanoute said. "The walls were damp and moldy. There was no electricity in the bathroom. I have been washing in the dark for years."
Discrimination
In 2004, there were 4.5 million immigrants aged over 18 in France, making up 9.6 percent of the population, according to the national statistics office INSEE. The interior ministry has said there are between 200,000 and 400,000 illegal immigrants in France, seen as a kind of "promised land" to unemployed youths in former African colonies. In Paris, more than 100,000 families, many immigrants, are waiting for permanent social housing, officials say. For now, they live with friends or stay in shabby hotels or squats. Rene Dutrey from Paris' Green party, which is a partner in the city government, says it is hard to say how many of these are foreigners but a majority of those living in unhygienic flats have an immigrant background. "They are the most vulnerable," he said. "They face discrimination on the private housing market because many landlords don't want black people. And they are discriminated against because they don't have the resources." Others say the discrimination extends to the job market. "Many immigrants are doing the work the French don't want," said Jean‑Pierre Dubois from the LDH human rights group. "They are more likely to take on short‑term contracts." In 2004, unemployment was at 9.9 percent, with about 28 percent of France's African population out of work, official data shows. "Immigrants more often hold no‑qualification jobs, which are most affected by unemployment," INSEE said in a study. Kanoute, who has lived in France all her life and works in a retirement home, said it did not surprise her that the main victims of the recent fires were immigrants. Two fires killed 24 people in derelict houses in Paris at the end of August. Twenty‑four people were also killed when a hotel housing immigrants went up in flames in Paris in April. "It's always Africans. Always, always, always," Kanoute said, watching her children play around their makeshift camp. "We are the ones who get up in the mornings to work in buildings ... It's African women cleaning up the mess of politicians in their offices in the morning. And at night, we come back to our derelict homes. Is that normal?"
Immigration debate
After the fires, the government vowed to make land available to build more than 20,000 homes and said it would provide 50 million euros to renovate decrepit buildings. But opposition parties and anti‑racism groups have said the measures will not be enough to solve the housing crisis, pointing out that the recent expulsions and strong government rhetoric on immigration only risked feeding xenophobia. Sarkozy, who cracked down on crime during his first stint as interior minister from 2002 until 2004, has said France needs the same dynamism to fight illegal immigration. He has floated the idea of introducing immigration quotas according to job skills, and has vowed to step up expulsions. "By accepting people to whom we unfortunately cannot propose work or housing, we are finding ourselves in a situation where we are having tragedies like this," Sarkozy said just hours after the most recent fire, causing a storm of criticism. Dubois said Sarkozy's comments risked turning immigrants into scapegoats. "He is taking the line of the extreme right to build his presidential election platform for 2007," he said. The Greens' Dutrey called on the government not to close squats without offering people a new home: "These families are already afraid of burning alive. Now are also afraid of being expelled at 6 a.m. in the morning." Kanoute said she would not move to of one of Paris's shabby hotels, where many other expelled squatters were now living. "It's a poisoned trap. I might have to stay there even longer than I did in this mess. I dream of having a house, where my children have a room like their friends, a desk, a bed, a TV."
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Reuters
EXTREME GROUP FACE JAIL FOR RACISM(uk)
4/10/2005‑ Five members of an extreme right‑wing group who plotted to produce material stirring up racial hatred against blacks and Jews were facing jail today after admitting the offence. The five plotted to publish Stormer, the magazine of extreme right group the Race Volunteer Force ‑ an offshoot of infamous race hate group Combat 18. They were involved in advertising the group's aims of racial intolerance, revolution and use of violence on their website and in the magazine Stormer. Their targets were Jewish, Muslim and black people living in Britain. The material produced included bomb making instructions and praise for racist nailbomber David Copeland. The men were charged after a national police operation Attend involving six police forces in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Surrey, London, Merseyside and Manchester. The men who pleaded guilty to being involved are Nigel Piggins, 39, of Holtemprice Street, Hull; Jonathan Hill, 33, of South Croft, Oldham, Lancashire; Steven Bostock, 27, of Westmorland Road, Urmston, Manchester; Michael Denis, 30, of Ashdown Way, Tooting, south London; and Kevin Quinn, 40, of Ouseland Road, Bedford. Elizabeth Hunt, 36, a mother‑of‑three from Merseyside, was also charged with being involved but the decision was made not to proceed against her following the pleas of the other men. They had been due to stand trial at the Old Bailey today but entered pleas of guilty after legal argument. No date for sentence has yet been set.
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FOOTBALL UNITED AGAINST RACISM (uk)
4/10/2005‑ FOR 12 days during October the football world comes together in a united message against racism. Clubs, schools, local authorities and all Premiership, Championship and Coca Cola League clubs from across the country will be holding a variety of events in a national anti‑racism week of action to send out a message against racism and in celebration of diversity in the game. And in the Huddersfield Junior RCD League it is Westend and Space who will be supporting the week which runs from October 13 to 25. On Saturday, October 15, Westend are holding a `Westend Olympics' morning at their Salendine Nook High School home (9.00am). Players will be given a country to represent and will take part in a number of track and field events to determine the `Westend Olympic Champion'. The event is being sponsored by Latitude, the United Kingdom's leading search marketing specialist.
Latitude's Head of Marketing Jackie Danicki, said:
"Latitude work in an environment that is blind to the colour of people's skin, and therefore are pleased to be given the opportunity to support an organisation such as Westend, who play such an active role with the young people in our community."
Ricky Thwaites, chairman of Westend, was very pleased to receive financial backing for the event, and said:
"Since our formation in June 1991 Westend have never tolerated racism of any kind, and the marvellous support from Latitude for our `Olympics' will enable us to provide refreshments, badges, wristbands to all participants and prizes for the winners. The event will be organised by Richard Boustead, who has arranged similar highly successful events during his time coaching young footballers in the USA. Richard has recently returned to play for Westend's District League team and is one of the many ex‑Westend Juniors who are now playing every Saturday for the open age team. Ricky was quick to praise the men's open age squad, who have volunteered to help throughout the morning. "Most of them have come through the ranks at Westend and have been taught good values," he said. " I am very pleased to see that they are now putting something back into the club that gave them such a wonderful start to their football careers."
Space, who are coached by former District League and Emley player Milton Brown, are holding an Under 14 five‑a‑side tournament at Bradley Mills Sports ground, Barr Street, off Leeds Road, on Monday, October 24. During the day there will be displays and information celebrating the contribution to football of ethnic minorities and information on how to tackle racism in football. There will also be other attractions, including a penalty shootout competition, football quizzes and raffles. The event kicks off at 11.00am and cost of entry is £20.00 per team.
The Huddersfield RCD Junior League is firmly against any sort of prejudice, as President Laurie Platt points out. "The League exists to give young people the chance to play football, whatever their ability, background, colour or religion. "Racism or prejudice will not be tolerated in any form and we are pleased that two of our clubs are involved in this national event."
More about the FA's "Kick it Out Week"
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IC Network
YOUTHS ARRESTED FOR RACIST ATTACKS ON ASIANS (uk)
A gang of racist youths that targeted Asians and blacks in recent weeks has been arrested in southeast London ‑ a move welcomed by anti‑racism campaigners who, however, warned that such attacks were on the rise.
5/10/2005‑ In a swift action, Bexley Police rounded up 15 youths on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm to black locals. One attack left a 17‑year‑old boy in need of hospital treatment after he was kicked viciously in the head. Another incident left a 16‑year‑old boy suffering with facial injuries after being set on by a large group of youths. A 32‑year‑old Asian man was also assaulted after confronting youths who threw stones at his car and, on Sep 19, a 15‑year‑old and his older brother had their car stolen by youths who shouted racial abuse. The older brother, who is 20, was struck with a wrench during the robbery. Acting borough commander of Bexley Police, Superintendent Martin Bragg, said all of the attacks were characterised by outbursts of "racially abusive language" by the perpetrators. Officers had acted quickly to reassure the community that this behaviour "will not be tolerated and to ensure that those responsible are held to account for their actions". The National Assembly Against Racism welcomed the arrests and urged the authorities across Britain to be "extremely vigilant" as racist attacks continued to increase in the wake of the July 7 bombings. An assembly spokeswoman said several racist murders over recent months, coupled with the overall 600 percent increase in incidents of racial and religious hate crime and abuse, meant that "no‑one can afford not to take this problem seriously. Politicians must also be very careful about the comments that they make to the press, particularly on the subject of multiculturalism." "Lately, there have been attacks on the principle of multiculturalism in Britain, but this can lead to racists attacking people from ethnic minorities," she insisted.
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Hindustan Times
DON'T CALL US COLORED, TREVOR (uk)
Why is the c‑word any less offensive than the n‑word? Campaigners are furious with Trevor Phillips for turning back the clock on racism.
5/10/2005‑ In a speech to a Conservative Party fringe meeting the Commission for Racial Equality chairman appeared to give the go‑ahead for white Britain to use the word 'coloured.' But in the week when a TV programme grappled with the word 'nigger' some are asking why it is any more acceptable to use the c‑word than the n‑word. In a made‑for‑the‑media speech Phillips told the Muslim Forum meeting: "Is it really offensive to call someone coloured?" As Phillips reopened the debate about whether it is acceptable to call people 'coloured' Channel 4 screened a programme in which Ashley Walters, known as Asher D in his So Solid days, explored the n‑word. Mr Walters began by admitting he used the word as a term of kinship with other black people, but as he began to understand the word's history and the effect it still has today he changed his mind.
Apartheid
Race experts are furious that Phillips has courted headlines with his comment about the word 'coloured' which, like the n‑word, is laden with negative connotations. The word is seen in some quarters as not merely a throwback to decades past, when racism was more even more explicit, but as an insulting term which divides communities. In southern Africa the word 'coloured' is applied only to mixed‑race communities who were encouraged by former white rulers to remain separate from, and feel superiority over, indigenous black people. The apartheid regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia guaranteed 'coloureds' second place in society above the black population. Today, while the c‑word is sometimes used to describe all African and African‑Caribbean peoples, it is also used to specifically describe those of mixed‑race.
Ignorance
Phillips speech will be particularly galling for those who have fought for years against words like 'half‑caste' and 'coloured' to assert their identity as being Black. Blink editor Lester Holloway said: "I am appalled that this word has been winched out of the ground, rotting and putrid, by Trevor Phillips. "It has a lot of baggage. Where it is used innocently, that innocence inevitably goes hand‑in‑hand with a lot of ignorance. "The word also takes us back years to an era when signs saying 'No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs' hung on windows. We should not allow Trevor to turn back the clock. If he likes the word 'coloured' and doesn't like the word 'multicultural' we have to wonder what's going on."
Segregated
Lee Jasper, director of equalities for London mayor Ken Livingstone, said: "Trevor Phillips has got his facts wrong. All evidence points to the fact that Britain are becoming less, not more, segregated. "Any chair of the Commission for Racial Equality who does not know whether councils should print documents in several languages, or holy days like Yom Kippur should be respected, or whether 'coloured' is an appropriate term, should seriously consider whether he is in the right job." Phillips speech also attracted reservations from the Institute of Race Relations and the Muslim Council of Britain. Simon Woolley, head of Operation Black Vote, said: "Trevor's attempt to bring people together would ultimately have the opposite effect."
Ghetto
The controversy comes two weeks after Phillips hit the headlines with a speech claiming Britain was sleepwalking towards New Orleans‑style ghettos. Some commentators suspect Phillips is playing to the chattering classes rather than considering the effect his words are having on Britain's black communities. Last April Phillips said the word 'multiculturalism' was "Not helpful." Last week the right‑wing think‑tank Civitas echoed those sentiments and went further, blaming multiculturalism for hampering the fight against terrorism. Reacting to the latest comments Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "No one disagrees with the importance of a shared society. "But it's all too easy to bang on about shared language and rather harder to stand up for non‑negotiable values such as ... freedom from arbitrary arrest."
Trevor Phillips speech to Conservative Party Conference Muslim Forum
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Black Information Link
DEEPLY OFFENSIVE TO USE TERM ‘COLORED’ (uk, Press release)
Anti‑racist campaigners reply to Trevor Phillips: 'It is deeply offensive to use the term 'colored'
5/10/2005‑ The latest comments by the Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality at the Conservative Party conference caused anger and dismay amongst anti‑racist campaigners. His comments come at a time where racism and racist attacks are on the rise: since the bombings in London in July, there has been a recorded 600% rise in racist attacks, including murders and more recently, an opinion survey carried out by MORI for the Greater London Authority showed attitudes towards black communities and migrants shifting in a more rightwing direction of intolerance, although there is still a majority opinion in favour of outlawing religious discrimination for example (56% as opposed to 32% who said they would oppose such a ban).
Milena Buyum, Vice‑Chair of the National Assembly Against Racism said:
‘These comments send us back to a time when the idea of having a Commission for Racial Equality had to be fought for. It predates the Race Relations Act 1976, and harks of the pre American civil rights movement, when black people had to die to achieve equality and respect under the law. Trevor Phillips is simply wrong. Far from opening up a healthy debate, his comments o__er comfort to those on the right who already want to undermine gains made against racism, such as the anti‑discrimination legislation and the Lawrence Report. By sparking a debate on integration he negates the fact that places like London are succesful because of multiculturalism ‑ where difference is respected and celebrated ‑ and has been affirmed by successive polls of Londoners.'
Dr Richard Stone, advisor to the Lawrence Inquiry and President of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality said:
'During the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, there were six 'areas' of police activity which together led the Inquiry to the conclusion that institutional racism had been a significant contributing factor to the 'collective failure' of the officers to try hard enough to find the killers. One of key areas uncovered by the barristers acting for the CRE was the absence of awareness by many officers that 'coloured' was a word considered by many Black people at the time to be offensive in describing themselves. Acceptable words to describe difference change over the years. It is not for me, as a white man, to tell Black people what is acceptable now and what is not, 12 years on from the time of death of Stephen Lawrence. If Trevor Phillips tells me we have moved on from 'coloured', I have to acknowledge what he says. Other friends and colleagues tell me they disagree with him. I look for guidance in this sensitive field. I can respond to his remark that we do not have to cancel an important committee meeting to be held on Yom Kippur, just because one member of the committee is Jewish. To start on what is acceptable/ unacceptable to do on Yom Kippur cannot be dealt with by one short sentence from the Chair of the Commission for racial Equality. If the topic is salmon fishing in Scotland, then probably the Jewish committee member might fell s/he has little to contribute to the discussion. Then again, it could well be that the Jew lives in Scotland because he loves salmon fishing. If the committee is split 50:50 on a major matter of policy, then it is unacceptable to exclude the Jewish member by holding the meeting on Yom Kippur. I fear that Trevor's example of Yom Kippur will suggest to many Jews a scant concern or interest for their role in society. I have never suspected that of Trevor, and I hope that this superficially offensive example will be explained away in more depth by him very soon.'
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NAAR
AUSTRIA 'PROUD' OF STANCE ON TURKEY
4/10/2005‑ Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, says he's 'proud' of the tough position Austria staked out in crisis talks on the launch of negotiations with Turkey to join the European Union. Schuessel told Austrian state broadcaster ORF late Monday night that Austria succeeded in ensuring that all candidate countries ‑Turkey included‑ will be required to meet the same exacting conditions for EU entry. Austria had blocked the start of accession talks before finally withdrawing a demand that mostly Muslim Turkey settle for the possibility of something less than full EU membership. The alpine republic had faced fierce pressure from the EU's 24 other member states. Austria takes over the EU's rotating six‑month presidency on Jan. 1, raising questions about how Vienna will administer the bloc after alienating much of Europe with its unsuccessful attempt to scuttle the start of accession talks with Turkey. Allegations of resurgent racism and xenophobia hounded Austria, particularly after it pressed for the EU to open membership talks with Croatia ‑a fellow Roman Catholic country and longtime Balkan ally‑ at the same time it was casting aspersions on Turkey. On Monday, the EU also agreed to formally launch negotiations with Croatia. ``For Austrians, negotiating with Turkey and not with Croatia is like swearing at church,'''' the Belgian newspaper De Standaard wryly observed in a commentary on Tuesday. But Vice‑Chancellor Hubert Gorbach of the centrist Alliance for the Future of Austria, which shares power with Schuessel's center‑right Austrian People's Party, stood by the country's tough stance on Turkey.
``Austria was the only country which wanted a clearer definition of the negotiation mandate," he said. Schuessel told ORF there was ``no connection" between the country's hard‑nosed approach at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg and this past Sunday's elections in the southern province of Styria, which Schuessel's party wound up losing. Only one in 10 Austrians supports EU membership for Turkey, and critics had accused the government of using the issue to gain political support going into the elections. Schuessel dismissed the allegations as ``considerable nonsense,'''' and he said Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, deserved a medal for bravery for staking out a tough position in Luxembourg. Plassnik told reporters in Luxembourg that Austria, which is home to Europe's third‑largest Turkish expatriate community, ``has good bilateral relations with Turkey.'''' ``There are more than 250,000 Turks living in Austria. We live in harmony together,'''' she said. Austrian media reported Tuesday that Bulent Arinc, the speaker of Turkey's parliament, told his Austrian counterpart Andreas Khol in a meeting in Ankara that Turks were ``disappointed'''' over Austria's attitude. Alfred Gusenbauer, head of the Opposition Social Democrats, described the outcome on Tuesday as ``better than nothing,'''' but he criticized Schuessel's Government for having toed the EU line on Turkey for the past year, only to break ranks at the last minute. ``It would have been better to have done something earlier. Perhaps then Austria would not have stood alone,'' Gusenbauer said. Many Austrians, struggling to contain record 6 percent unemployment, worry that EU membership would unleash a flood of cheap Turkish labor into their country. There were similar fears when the EU expanded last year to take in eight Eastern European nations, but the immigration crush never materialized.
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Associated Press
TURKEY SENTENCES ARMENIAN WRITER
7/10/2005‑ A journalist in Turkey has been found guilty of insulting Turkish identity and given a suspended six‑month jail sentence by a court in Istanbul. Hrant Dink, of Armenian‑Turkish descent, wrote a newspaper column, which he argued, was aimed at improving relations between Turkey and Armenia. The prosecution interpreted one part as an insult, but Mr Dink has said he will appeal against the ruling. The verdict follows criminal code reforms as Turkey seeks to join the EU. The reforms were intended to improve freedom of speech in Turkey. The article written by Mr Dink addressed the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during Ottoman rule in 1917. Armenians, supported by several countries, want Turkey to recognise the events as a genocide. Turkey rejects that description, saying the deaths occurred in a civil war in which many Turks were also killed. A paragraph in the article calling on Armenians to symbolically reject "the adulterated part of their Turkish blood" was taken as offensive. The judge ruled that Mr Dink's newspaper column implied that Turkish blood was dirty. He is the editor of a bilingual Armenian‑Turkish newspaper, Agos. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford said the judge ordered a suspended sentence as it was Mr Dink's first offence. But the nationalist lawyers who brought the case were disappointed. "There was an obvious humiliation and result of this case should be at least two and a half years or three years criminal charge," one said. "But I think that Turkish courts are under big pressure due to these European Union accession talks." Mr Dink's lawyer Fethiye Cetin said the ruling showed how little had changed under Turkey's new criminal code, despite international and internal pressure. "There was no crime here," she told the BBC. "We expected our client to get off." Our correspondent says human rights lawyers believe his case shows there are still no‑go areas for discussion here and the new laws leave substantial room for interpretation. Mr Dink says he will appeal against the ruling. But if he cannot clear his name, he will leave the country. "If I'm guilty of insulting a nation," he told the BBC, "then it's a matter of honour not to live here."
© BBC News
AMSTERDAM MAYOR NAMED BY TIME AS EUROPEAN 'HATE BUSTER'(Netherlands)
3/10/2005‑ Time Magazine has named Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen as one of the European heroes of 2005. He is the only Dutch person in the list published by Time this week of 37 "extraordinary people who illuminate and inspire, persevere and provoke". Cohen, 57, was born into an intellectual Jewish family; his paternal grandparents perished at the Bergen‑Belsen concentration camp. He was appointed mayor of the Dutch capital in 2001. The European edition of Time names Cohen as one of its three "hate busters" of 2005. The magazine writes that Cohen knew his city risked a spiral of racial violence on 2 November last year when Muslim extremist Mohammed B. shot and killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh for insulting Islam. "But Cohen was not about to let this outrage pass in silence. He called on Amsterdammers to 'kick up a ruckus and make yourselves heard'," Time writes. An estimated 20,000 people assembled on Dam Square and banged pots and drums to protest at the killing. "The Muslim community did not need to be asked. They took the initiative themselves to join in and condemn the murder," Cohen says. Time says the "inflammatory tone and language" of some Dutch politicians alienated the country's almost one million Muslim minority, while Cohen's inclusive approach was widely credited with helping keep reprisal attacks against the Muslim community in Amsterdam so low. A report by the Anne Frank Foundation counted 106 reprisals across the country, but only one incident was reported to Amsterdam police. "Cohen was incredibly successful in defusing the tension in Amsterdam," Hans Dijkstal, a former leader of the Liberal VVD party, says in Time. French international soccer star Thierry Henry and Arab‑Israeli soccer player Abbas Suan were also named as "hate busters" by Time.
© Expatica News
COMMISSION ACCUSES VERDONK OF HAMPERING WORK(Netherlands)
4/10/2005‑ The independent commission investigating the implications of the tough Dutch asylum laws has disbanded. The commission said on Tuesday it had decided to halt its work on behalf of the association of Dutch municipalities (VNG) because it was being obstructed by Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk. The VNG said the minister had refused to give the commission access to agencies and civil servants involved in the deportation of failed asylum seekers. The opportunity to visit asylum seekers awaiting deportation was also denied, the VNG claimed. The chairman of the commission, Schelto Patijn, handed back the assignment to the VNG, which is to discuss the issue at the end of the month. The commission was formed to investigate complaints from local authorities about the decision to expel 26,000 asylum seekers who have re‑established their lives in the Netherlands while waiting for a decision from the Immigration Service. Verdonk said on Tuesday that the commission was superfluous and that it was intolerable that a commission set up by local authorities would seek to supervise the work of her officials. It was up to parliament to do that, she said.
© Expatica News
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED ON THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY(Greece, press release)
Foreigners shot on the border, asylum‑seekers detained in metal containers, Roma forcibly evicted from their homes in Athens ‑‑ these are some of the examples of consistent pattern of human rights violations, Amnesty International reveals in a report today.
5/10/2005‑ The report, Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area, highlights the failure of the Greek authorities to combat discrimination. "People living on the margins of society ‑‑ asylum‑seekers, migrants, Roma and members of other minorities ‑‑ are the most likely victims of discrimination in all its forms.Most often, their tormentors are representatives of the state," Olga Demetriou, Amnesty International's researcher on Greece, said. Amnesty International's report focuses specifically on the failure of the state to comply with international human ri
