Human
rights news: January 2004
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27 January 2004 |
:: NEWS :: |
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Council of Europe: Five new reports on racism |
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Strasbourg, 27.01.2004 - The Council of Europe's expert body on combating racism, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), today released five new reports examining racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance in Belgium, Bulgaria, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland. ECRI recognises that, in all of these five Council of Europe member countries, positive developments have occurred. At the same time, the reports detail continuing grounds for concern for the Commission. These new reports form part of a third cycle of monitoring of Council
of Europe member States' laws, policies and practices in order to combat
racism. ECRI's country-specific reports are available in English and in
French on the internet site www.coe.int/ecri and in the national language
of the country concerned by contacting ECRI's Secretariat. They examine
if ECRI's main recommendations from previous reports have been followed,
and if so, with what degree of success and effectiveness. The third report states that many of the recommendations in ECRI's second report have not been implemented or have been implemented only partially. For instance, the new Denominations Act passed in 2002 does not remedy all the shortcomings as regards freedom of religion in Bulgaria. The European Court of Human Rights has received an application concerning the creation of a Macedonian political party. There are still stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination against minority groups, particularly Roma, as well as against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Lastly, there are still serious problems connected with the excessive use of firearms and force by the police against Roma. A large majority of Roma continue to face serious financial and social problems, live in very deprived neighbourhoods and are hard hit by unemployment. There is still a widespread problem of segregation of Roma children in schools, and, so far, the implementation of the Framework Programme for Equal Integration of Roma in Bulgarian Society, which the government adopted in 1999, is still in its early stages. In this report, ECRI addresses a series of recommendations to the Bulgarian authorities. In particular, it recommends the ratification of Protocol No.12 to the European Convention on Human Rights and other international instruments concerned with combating racism and intolerance. ECRI draws the authorities' attention to the need to respect freedom of religion, on the one hand, and the freedom of association of Macedonians, on the other. In connection with criminal law, ECRI recommends that the authorities take steps to ensure that criminal law provisions designed to combat racism are more strictly implemented. With regard to civil and administrative law, ECRI recommends that the authorities implement the Act on the protection against discrimination and set up the Commission for the protection against discrimination as soon as possible. ECRI urges the Bulgarian authorities to intensify their efforts in order to improve the situation of Roma in all fields, particularly in economic and social matters. Furthermore, ECRI encourages the Bulgarian authorities to continue their efforts to improve the situation of other minority groups, including Turks, Macedonians and Pomaks, as well as the situation of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It recommends the continuation of human rights training for officials who come into contact with members of these minority groups and awareness-raising among the general public and the media of the issues of racism and intolerance. With regard to the police, it advocates amending the legislation on the use of firearms and closely monitoring the situation as regards the excessive use of such weapons and of force against Roma. ECRI recommends combating the segregation of Roma children in schools and implementing, as soon as possible, the Framework Programme for Equal Integration of Roma in Bulgarian Society, ensuring that suitable strategies are introduced at regional and local level. To read the ECRI Third Report on Bulgaria, click here. |