Cities and Combating Racism:
The View from ECRI
Nils Muižnieks
Chair, ECRI
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What is ECRI?
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Council of Europe’s independent anti-racism
monitoring body, established 1993
47 countries/experts + secretariat in
Strasbourg
Broad, evolving mandate: “combating
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia,
antisemitism and intolerance in greater
Europe from the perspective of the
protection of human rights”
ECRI’s Working Methods: Country Reports
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Gathering information on:
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International and national legal framework
Work of equality bodies
Discrimination in various realms (labour market, housing,
access to goods/services, education, health, justice, etc.)
Racist expression and violence
Work of police and law enforcement
Climate of opinion and political discourse
Situation of vulnerable groups
ECRI’S Working Methods:
Contact Visits and Dialogue
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Contact visits of 3 days to 1 week every 5 years
Dialogue with authorities during drafting of reports
Formulating recommendations and identifying
issues of priority concern
Transmitting reports to authorities and publication
Interim follow-up 2 years after
Occasionally – statements about urgent situations
ECRI’S Working Methods:
Work on General Themes
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Collecting best practices
General Policy Recommendations (13 so far,
latest on “anti-Gypsism”)
Commissioned
research
(e.g.,
political
discourse, ethnic data, impact of crisis)
Conferences (e.g., freedom of expression)
Regular seminars with “equality bodies”
ECRI’s Working Methods:
Cooperation with Civil Society
 Organization of national roundtables
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Promoting dialogue between authorities and
other stakeholders
Raising awareness of challenges to address
Regular exchange of information with NGOs
 Active work with media
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(Re-)Current Challenges
Most common target groups:
 Roma
 Muslims
 Immigrants, asylum-seekers, refugees
 Blacks and other visually distinct groups
 Jews
Emerging Challenges (I)
 Impact of the crisis:
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Direct: budget cuts affecting programmes for
vulnerable groups, equality bodies
Indirect: toughening of migration debate, fertile
ground for racist groups
Shift in immigrant integration debate:
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From “right” or “need” to “duty” or “obligation”
Key: non-discrimination, non-stigmatization
Emerging Challenges (II)
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Right-wing populist parties = fixtures
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How best to cope? Suppress public funding,
prosecute hate speech, self-regulation, political
strategies (exclude, defuse, engage, adopt, etc.)
New media and racism
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How best to cope? Legal measures, complaints
mechanisms,
self-regulation,
international
cooperation
ECRI & Cities: Overlap with ECCAR
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We agree! Cities = main focus of mixing, try to
visit cities beyond capital
ECRI’s recommendations addressed to govts.,
but action often required locally
ECCAR’s 10 point plan: similar to ECRI’s focus
(e.g., discrimination, civil society involvement)
ECRI
urges
ratifying
Convention
on
Participation in Public Life at Local Level
ECRI & Cities: Overlap with ECCAR
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Monitoring and data collection
Employment: equal opportunities, dialogue
between social partners, work on GPR
Housing: research on exclusion, development
of affordable social housing
Education: challenging exclusion (esp. Roma,
newcomers), teacher training (GPR 10)
Hate crime: legislation, penalty enhancement,
training
Intercultural Dialogue and Cooperation?
 Key to overcoming social distance, which
breeds prejudice and discrimination
 ECCAR Action Plan #9: “Promoting cultural
diversity”: audiovisual material, cultural
projects, public space, “memory politics” –
excellent!
 ECRI’s work complements ECCAR
Two Council of Europe resources on
intercultural dialogue with ECRI input:
 White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue
“Living Together as Equals in Dignity”
(2008)
 Report of the Group of Eminent Persons
“Living Together: Combining Diversity
and Freedom in 21st-Century Europe”
(2011)
White Paper: Some Key Points
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Need to combat barriers to intercultural
dialogue: ignorance of language, discrimination,
poverty, exclusion, racism, intolerance
Learning/teaching intercultural competences:
democratic citizenship, language, history
Creating spaces for intercultural dialogue: town
planning, cultural activities, museums/heritage
sites, media, sport, workplace, etc.
Report “Living Together”: Some Key Points
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Extending citizenship and voting rights
Key role of authorities, celebrities and those
with access to media
Need for realistic picture of situation of
migrants, Europe’s current/future needs
Specific needs of Roma
Fair treatment and burden-sharing on asylumseekers
ECRI’s approach to Intercultural Dialogue
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Discrimination as barrier to dialogue
Combat segregation in education, elsewhere
due to other reasons (e.g., settlement patterns)
Change the climate of opinion
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Penalise racist expression & ban racist organizations
Suppress public financing for racist parties and
restrict their access to public broadcasters
Training and awareness-raising
Self-regulation in politics and media
Addressing barriers to dialogue through
empowerment
 Language training for migrants and
minorities
 Assistance in pass citizenship,
integration tests
 Promoting minority involvement,
participation and representation
ECRI encourages integration: a two-way
process of mutual recognition between
majority population and minority groups
 Integration ≠ assimilation
 Key elements: freedom from racism, nondiscrimination, equal opportunities for all,
freedom of religious beliefs and cultural
practices, diversity, respect for others
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Intercultural dialogue in some ECRI GPRs:
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GPR 10 on education: policies to avoid
separation, minority staff recruitment,
interpretation and/or language courses for
parents, mediators, diversity in textbooks,
teacher training;
GPR 12 on sports: policies to promote minority
access/representation, sports outreach
activities to bring people together, mechanisms
for reporting/ dealing with racist behaviour,
avoiding stereotyping in advertising
Cooperation between ECRI and ECCAR?
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Please send us information/research on racism
and measures to combat it in cities!
Please receive our delegations on contact visits!
Please participate in our roundtables!
Possible cooperation on thematic work?
For further information contact:
Secretariat of ECRI
Council of Europe
E-mail: [email protected]
Visit our website: www.coe.int/ecri