|
|
South Africa 2001
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance
|
|
The meeting of NGOs from Eastern and Central Europe
Warsaw, 15 –18 November
2000
STATEMENT BY THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEETING OF NGO FROM EASTERN AND CENTRAL
EUROPE WARSAW, NOVEMBER 15-18, 2000 ADDRESSED TO THE WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST
RACISM (WCAR)
We, representatives of 115 non-governmental organizations from the countries
of Eastern and Central Europe, including all the countries of the former
Soviet Union, gathered in Warsaw on November 15-18, 2000, as participants
in the preparatory process for WCAR. We fully endorse recommendations adopted
by the European NGO Forum in Strasbourg (October, 2000) and the NGO Conference
in Moscow (October, 2000) and urge WCAR to take their contents into consideration
during debates at the Conference. We condemn the growth of racism and discrimination
based on race, color of skin, gender, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origins, ethnicity, birth or other ground
and the persistent climate of intolerance in the region and recommend the
following:
1. WCAR should take into account the specificity of racist manifestations
in our region, where roots of aggressive nationalism, ethnocentrism and
discrimination are different from roots of racism in other parts of the
world connected to the colonial past, slavery and slave-trade.
2. We strongly oppose any tendencies to limit the scope of authority and
competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD). We urge WCAR to strengthen the role of the United Nations in dealing
with racism and racial discrimination, specifically with regard to the
work of CERD, by:
-
Ensuring CERD’s efficacy as a state monitoring body by introducing effective
sanctions in cases where CERD’s Concluding Observations are not complied
with by governments of the International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) states parties within a reasonable
period of time;
-
Introducing a mechanism of judicial review by CERD via making CERD’s decisions
with regard to individual complaints to ICERD state parties legally binding,
as well as by providing for enforceable sanctions in cases of failure by
states to comply within a reasonable period of time;
3. WCAR should strengthen the role of CERD by:
-
Introducing a transparent process in the appointment of CERD members on
the basis of criteria such as proven competence and distinguished achievement
in anti-racism and providing for NGO input into selection process in each
country;
-
Providing adequate funding to ensure legal aid to individual complainants;
Televising all CERD sessions in which country reports are reviewed so they
can be broadcast for the purpose of public education and oversight; translating
the reports of these sessions into all official UN languages; and recommending
that states provide and widely circulate print versions of these proceedings;
4. We urge WCAR to recommend that CERD consider issuing a General Comment
to:
-
interpret racial discrimination as constituting “degrading treatment” within
the meaning of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as
construed by the European Court of Human Rights;
-
interpret the concept of “racial discrimination” as including both “direct
discrimination,” and “indirect discrimination” as this term is defined
in the European Council Directive 43/2000, “implementing the principle
of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin”
of June 29, 2000;
-
instruct that for the purposes of consideration of individual communications
pursuant to Article 14 of the International Convention on Elimination of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD), once the complaint sets forth a prima facie
case of discrimination, the respondent government bears the burden of showing
that the challenged law or practice has an objective and reasonable justification;
-
interpret the duty of states to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination,
pursuant to Article 2.2 of ICERD as implying, in certain cases, positive
action as remedy for systemic discrimination;
5. Acknowledging that the geographically diverse, transnational Roma community
is Europe’s most disadvantaged ethnic group, which has suffered racist
abuse and systemic racial discrimination, culminating in the destruction
of the Kosovo Roma, we recommend that the UN confers the status of a non-territorial
nation to the Romani people, providing for adequate representation in relevant
international governmental organizations. The Roma should, inter alia,
receive a seat in the United Nations, participate as elected officials
in the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe and in the constitutive organs of these organizations. We also recommend
that WCAR urge governments to adopt legislation and policies ensuring Roma
participation in public administrations, at both central and local levels.
6. Taking into account discrimination on ethnic basis manifested in deportation
of peoples, in particular Crimean Tartars and Meskhetian Turks in the former
USSR, as an extreme manifestation of the state racism, we recommend that
WCAR urge governments to adopt adequate legislative and policy measures
to ensure full rehabilitation, compensation to and repatriation of these
peoples.
7. Acknowledging the grave problem of religious discrimination, including
those against non-traditional religions, where the roots and causes are
similar to those of racial and ethnic discrimination, we urge WCAR to recommend
that ICERD states parties adopt effective legislative standards to provide
protection from religious discrimination and ensure effective mechanisms
for the implementation of such standards.
8. As the problem of anti-semitism is pervasive across the region, we recommend
that WCAR advise the governments of all states where this particular problem
is relevant, especially Central and Eastern European states including the
countries of former Soviet Union, that education on Holocaust be introduced
into school curricula as one of the recommended measures and adequate preventive
mechanisms be elaborated.
9. As the problem of language-based discrimination, including elimination
of the system of education in minority languages, is particularly relevant
to a number of countries in our region, we urge WCAR to initiate at the
level of UN bodies and other intergovernmental organizations a process
of development of international standards aiming at:
-
prevention of use of official linguistic policies as a tool for exclusion
and marginalization of a part of the permanent population (minority, majority,
non-citizens, etc);
-
protection of linguistic minorities;
-
prevention and elimination of discrimination based on linguistic criteria.
10. Being deeply concerned about the problem of persistent statelessness
of large groups of permanent residents in a number of countries in our
region, we recommend that steps be taken at the level of UN bodies and
other intergovernmental organizations to intensify elaboration of international
standards aiming at:
-
prevention of use of institutes of citizenship, naturalization, immigration
and legal status of persons, who are not citizens of the states where they
permanently reside, as a tool for discrimination and exclusion of a part
of the permanent population;
-
protection of de jure and de facto stateless persons;
-
prevention and elimination of arbitrary restrictions based on citizenship.
11. We are concerned about the fact that in a number of countries in our
region the so called “passport system,” that includes the institute of
registration of residence and temporary stay and police supervision over
implementation of and compliance with this regime, is used as an instrument
of discrimination and persecution of national minorities. We recommend
that WCAR call on the respective countries’ governments to expeditiously
eliminate those elements of the “passport system” that are conducive to
discrimination, primarily the above-mentioned registration of temporary
stay and police control over registration regime.
12. We would like to stress that migration, particularly labor migration,
is a very significant factor in our region. As discriminatory practices
are used with regard to migrants and asylum seekers, we advise that WCAR
encourage creation of a Working Group targeting such issues as migration
and granting of asylum or citizenship.
13. The situation of groups subject to double discrimination evokes special
concern. Persons discriminated against on the basis of race/ethnicity/religion,
on the one hand, and gender, age, disability, migration and other distinct
factors, on the other hand, are particularly exposed to grave violations
of their rights. We recommend that WCAR call for adoption of international
legislation targeting prevention of double discrimination. We also advise
that the WCAR bring this problem to the attention of ICERD state parties
and encourage them to adopt adequate national legislation and policies.
14. We recommend that WCAR urge states to take appropriate measures to address
the crucial neglected needs of women in our region who are strongly affected
by xenophobia and intolerance and are victims of forced prostitution, trafficking
in women, and extreme poverty; the feminization of poverty, which has resulted
from the economic transition and globalization, testifies to the fact that
women are constantly exposed to human rights abuses; in addition, they
suffer from racial, ethnic, gender and religious discrimination during
armed conflicts, including rape, forced pregnancy and sexual violence intended
to change the ethnic composition of the population.
15. Taking into consideration that mechanisms conducive to discrimination
of the disabled are in many respects similar to mechanisms instrumental
to racial and ethnic discrimination, we recommend that WCAR call for development
and adoption of a Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
against the Disabled
16. We want to place on record that the Russian Federation government pursues
the policy of state racism with regard to the Chechen people. We believe
that manifestations of cruelty and persistent annihilation of civil population,
torture and arbitrary in the territory of the Chechen Republic fall under
the definition of a crime against humanity. A large campaign of instigation
of hatred is realized with regard to the Chechen people across the whole
territory of the Russian Federation. Mass persecution and discrimination
against nationals of Caucasus are taking place. In society, “enemy image”
is formed with reference to the Chechen people. We recommend that WCAR
urge interstate bodies, governments and non-government organizations to
exhort pressure over the Russian Federation with the purpose of ensuring
creation of effective mechanisms to provide for securing lives, rights
and freedoms of the Chechen people, investigation of all the war crimes,
access of international observers and independent mass-media to the territory
of the Chechen Republic and implementation of effective measures on peaceful
regulation of the conflict.
17. Persisting atrocities within the framework of internal armed conflicts
happening along ethnic lines, in the Caucasus and in the Balkans, testify
to the indispensability of new international uniform standards providing
for international responses in cases where states commit gross human rights
violations during armed conflicts. Therefore, we recommend that WCAR insist
on adoption of adequate uniform standards concerning internal armed conflicts,
including prevention, political regulation, humanitarian intervention,
peace-keeping and protection of civilians.