(Brussels, 21 March) While the EU celebrates the Year of Equal Opportunities for all, racism and discrimination remains severe and widespread as a fundamental human rights problem across the EU, says Amnesty International on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
"Besides the very real threat of verbal abuse and physical violence, there are citizens who cannot lead a normal life - find a job, rent a house or simply walk down the street without being stopped and searched - just because they have the "wrong" colour or ethnicity," said Dick Oosting, Amnesty International’s EU Office director.
In a letter to the EU Commission, Council and the European Parliament, (available at [Links nur für registrierte Nutzer], the human rights organization urged that concrete measures are implemented to end racist discrimination that, as EU Commissioner Franco Frattini recently stated: "is tremendously on the rise in Europe".
"We have seen what racism has done to Europe in the past, there is a historical responsibility to tackle this issue with utmost priority. European citizens are clearly concerned about this problem which affects the daily lives of millions of people," said Oosting.
Whilst welcoming initiatives such as the Year of Equal Opportunities, Amnesty International is concerned by the glaring gap between pledges and actual practice. Not even half of EU member states have implemented national action plans against racism or ratified the Protocol that would allow taking to court cases of discrimination.
Over the past two years Amnesty International has extensively documented how laws and practices discriminate foreign nationals and ethnic minorities across Europe. How in France and the UK Muslim communities are increasingly targeted, how in Greece, Spain and Italy the rights of asylum seekers and migrants have been curtailed, and how in several central European countries Roma communities are denied their economic, social and cultural rights.
"All these examples show that discrimination is a key human rights problem for Europe. It cuts across and aggravates abuse in the important areas where human rights are at risk, especially counter-terrorism and irregular immigration", said Oosting.
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Das Problem das von vielen hier kleingeredet und unter den Teppich gekehrt wird, scheint von AI ganz anders gesehen zu werden