DANISH NGO-PAPER

FOR THE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM

Danish NGO’s have through an open process co-operated to create this paper. We have used the draft political declaration as the starting point for contents of the paper. The papers principle purpose is to map out important issues and targets to the discussions and political outputs of the NGO-forum against racism as well as on the Council of Europe’s Conference (Strasbourg, October 2000). We welcome other organisations to use the paper in their own work to develop positions.

We strongly recommend that the issues in the paper are considered during the NGO-forum and European Conference against racism.

The following organisations have contributed with comments on the official draft:

  • Danish Association for International Co-operation (MS)
  • Danish United Nations Association
  • The Documentation and Advisory Centre on Racial Discrimination (DRC)
  • The Danish Refugee Council
  • Federation of ethnic minority organisations(ELO)
  • Women’s Council in Denmark

This contents of this paper is also inspired by the position paper from The Danish Centre for Human Rights (August 2000), the Position Document from the Norwegian NGO Working Group and recommendations from The Danish Board for Ethnic Equality.

These organisations have (by sixth of October 2000) endorsed the recommendations:

  • Danish Gymnastics- and Sports Association (DGI)

Danish United Nations Association

  • Danish Palestinian Friendship Association
  • FACTS – People for Freedom and Tolerance
  • Frit Oplysningsforbund
  • Save the Children, Denmark
  • SOS against racism, Denmark
  • Federation of ethnic minority organisations (ELO)
  • Women’s Council in Denmark
  • Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Danish section.

These organisations have (by sixth of October 2000) partly endorsed in the recommendations:

  • DanChurchAid. DanChurchAid fully supports the content of document, but are of the opinion that paragraph 4 compared to the previous draft, has lost importance significantly by the deletion of specific reference to particularly vulnerable groups in Europe, such as the Roma people.
  • The Danish council of organisations of disabled people (DSI). DSI does not support a specific ombudsman against discrimination. DSI supports an ombudsman for all citizens.

General comments

1. It is of great importance that the declaration is expressed in concrete and measurable terms. Otherwise it will be difficult to hold the governments accountable for the implementation of the issues agreed upon.

2. The allocation of financial resources is a necessary precondition to assure the implementation of the declaration.

3. In order to prevent racism the role of politicians must be focused on; the draft should contain a general recommendation to politicians to explicitly commit them selves to be in favour of multicultural societies and reject any form of racism.

4. The term “vulnerable groups” should be defined in the political declaration. We recommend that term should explicitly include the elderly, children and people with disability belonging to an ethnic, religious, linguistic or national minority, and it should be made clear that the definition is not exhaustive. Likewise it is important to politically and legally to define the terms racism, racial discrimination and intolerance.

Legal protection

5. Women often suffer severe discrimination not only because of their racial or cultural origin, but also due to the unequal gender relations in society in general. It is therefore important to stop trafficking, violence and sexual exploitation of women. Gender specific reasons for seeking asylum and political participation must be recognised and respected.

6. Legal measures must guarantee ethnic minority groups against discrimination. A complaints board or a specific ombudsman against discrimination are possible solutions.

7. All governments must be held accountable for acting in accordance with article 4.1. in the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

8. All governments have an obligation to ratify and inform about those protocols giving access for individuals to lodge a complaint with committees that are connected to the respective instruments. All states must ratify the ICERD as well as ratify the new changes to the convention. All states must ratify the International Convention on Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families (1990). Member states of the Council of Europe should adopt and sign the draft protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights for a general prohibition of discrimination. All European states must ratify the European Convention on Human Rights.

9. Children must be considered as individual subjects with a demand for individual case evaluation and for the protection that is supposed to be granted to all human beings by human rights conventions. A qualified guardian must promptly be appointed for every unaccompanied minor seeking asylum.

Policies and practices

10. Governments are obliged by every means to promote policies aiming to prevent all forms of racism. They are also obliged to critically go through policies and legislation, including laws on registration in order to fulfil this condition.

11. Governments are obliged to ensure independent human rights institutions which are permitted to check up on the compliance of human rights conventions.

Based on recommendations from Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) governments must develop national standards for the battle against racism and discrimination. Every part of society should be involved in the actions taken.

12. Governments are obliged to ensure equal legal treatment with cases of discrimination and in the protection of individuals against reactions on grounds of such cases. Should discrimination occur the nations are obliged to ensure compensation or rehabilitation for any harm suffered.

13. The labour market is probably the main source in the battle against racism. The feeling of contributing to the society instead of being turned into a social client is of great importance also for immigrants. Therefore the political declaration should promote ethnic diversity in the labour market.

14. Familylife, equal access to housing and the freedom of settlement must be a right for all inhabitants.

15. Islamophobia ought to be explicitly mentioned in the same context as anti-Semitism.
Education and awareness-raising

16. A greater focus should be put in the area of education; the educational system as a whole must reflect multicultural values. Both adults and children with minority background must be guaranteed the right to be taught, as well as read and write their own language and the freedom of religion must also be supported by school curricula so that no single religion is given preference in the schools. The transfer of grades and of educational diplomas must be easier accessible.

17. Various occupational groups including law-enforcement personal must receive human rights education.

Information, communication and the media

18. The power of the media is immense; therefore it is of great importance that the media covers societies widely and reflects the diversities not only between cultures but also within cultures in a differentiated and dignified way. Codes of conduct should be developed in this area.

19. The internet represents great possibilities of communication and exchange of information between people of all ages and cultures. However the internet can also be misused, i.e. in spreading racist propaganda. It is therefore essential that steps are taken to avoid spreading of racist and other offending and illegal material on the internet. Governments must adjust existing legislation so that racist propaganda on the internet is met with the same reactions as racist statements in a written or spoken form.

20. Governmental institutions and public authorities should observe principles of transparency and accountability towards civil society and society at large in issues concerning migration and integration.

Immigration and asylum policies.
21. All inhabitants regardless of citizenship must have the same economic rights and duties. That is, all inhabitants must have the right to work, to run business and to receive public economic benefits.

22. Nations must acknowledge the right to seek asylum as a human right. The responsibility for the evaluation of cases of asylum cannot be transferred to parties outside the governmental sphere.

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