 What is ECRI?
 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 ”

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ECRI’s Working Methods: Country Reports
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:
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Contact Visits and Dialogue
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
 Collecting best practices
 General Policy Recommendations (13 so far, latest on “anti-Gypsism”)
 Commissioned research (e.g., political discourse, ethnic data, impact of crisis)
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Conferences (e.g., freedom of expression)
Regular seminars with “equality bodies”

ECRI’s Working Methods:
Cooperation with Civil Society
 Organization of national roundtables
 Promoting dialogue between authorities and other stakeholders
 Raising awareness of challenges to address
 Regular exchange of information with NGOs
 Active work with media

(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:
 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:
 From “right” or “need” to “duty” or “obligation”
 Key: non-discrimination, non-stigmatization

 Right-wing populist parties = fixtures
 How best to cope? Suppress public funding, prosecute hate speech, self-regulation, political strategies (exclude, defuse, engage, adopt, etc.)
 New media and racism
 How best to cope? Legal measures, complaints mechanisms, self-regulation, international cooperation

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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
 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!
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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
 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
 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
 Discrimination as barrier to dialogue
 Combat segregation in education, elsewhere due to other reasons (e.g., settlement patterns)
 Change the climate of opinion
 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

 Intercultural dialogue in some ECRI GPRs:
 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?
 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?

Secretariat of ECRI
Council of Europe
E-mail: combat.racism@coe.int
Visit our website: www.coe.int/ecri