•HRES 1592 IH 
proportionately experiencing discrimination in housing, 
education, healthcare, employment, the criminal justice 
system, and access to political participation; 
Whereas the 2009 European Union Minorities and Discrimi-
nation Survey (EU–MIDIS), the first European Union- 
wide survey of ethnic minority and immigrant groups’ ex-
periences of discrimination and victimization in everyday 
life in the 27 Member States of the European Union 
found that persons of African descent experienced higher 
incidents than most other minority groups of discrimina-
tory treatment, racist crime, and victimization, and 
lacked an awareness of their rights; 
Whereas the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and 
Human Rights annual report on Hate Crimes in the 
OSCE region has identified racist violence and crime or 
hate crimes a continuing problem, the EUFRA has found 
an ‘‘upward trend in recorded racist crime within the Eu-
ropean Union’’, and the SOVA Center recorded over 70 
racist murders and 300 violent attacks in Russia in 
2009, yet in many countries adequate data collection on 
hate crimes and funds to assist victims with legal assist-
ance and financial support while recovering from violent 
attacks does not exist; 
Whereas prejudice and discrimination towards Black Euro-
peans has also been linked to changes in immigration and 
asylum laws as a result of anti-terrorism initiatives and 
the growth and mainstreaming of nationalist and anti-im-
migrant political parties and groups, including neo-Nazis 
and skinheads, who believe Europe should be a 
monoracial society or that other races are inferior; 
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Whereas the Open Society Justice Initiative 2009 report, en-
titled ‘‘Ethnic Profiling in the European Union’’, found 
that police officers in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, 
Germany, and the Netherlands routinely use racial 
profiling, including targeting Blacks, when deciding 
whom to target for stops, searches, raids, and surveil-
lance; 
Whereas Black Europeans encounter everyday racism, includ-
ing denials that racism exists despite the blatant use of 
stereotypes and derogatory terms to refer to Blacks in 
everyday language, the media, and textbooks; 
Whereas there have been numerous efforts by the public and 
private sector to address racial discrimination and in-
equality in Europe, including the introduction of anti-
discrimination and equality laws that include the legal 
support for special measures or positive (affirmative) ac-
tion, creation of equality bodies, media campaigns, and 
efforts to increase minority political participation; 
Whereas these efforts also include the June 1–2 Trans-
atlantic Minority Political Leadership Conference in 
Brussels following the successful April 15–16, 2009, 
‘‘Black European Summit: Transatlantic Dialogue on Po-
litical Participation’’ held in Brussels at which the Brus-
sels Declaration called for increased minority political in-
clusion; 
Whereas these efforts also include the September 9, 2008, of-
ficial launching of the Black European Women’s Council 
at the European Union headquarters and the September 
27–29, 2007, Vienna Declaration of the Black European 
Women’s Congress, which calls for Members of the Euro-
pean Union to enforce and implement laws to eradicate 
all forms of discrimination, provide anti-racist education 
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•HRES 1592 IH 
and training for personnel working in educational institu-
tions and the civil service, increase political representa-
tion, participation, and employment opportunities for 
Blacks, and address racial health disparities, including by 
providing cultural competency training to health profes-
sionals; 
Whereas, despite these efforts, international entities, such as 
the OSCE Personal Representative on Combating Rac-
ism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, EUFRA, the Euro-
pean Commission against Racism and Intolerance, and 
the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Ra-
cial Discrimination, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary 
Forms of Racism, Independent Expert on minority 
issues, and Experts Working Group on People of African 
Descent, have documented ongoing racism and xeno-
phobia, and racial and ethnic discrimination, and called 
for an increase in initiatives to combat racism and in-
equality; and 
Whereas, throughout the history of the United States, mem-
bers of both the public and private sectors have ex-
changed information on best practices for antidiscrimina-
tion measures and racial equality with committed parties 
in other countries, including recent initiatives such as the 
‘‘Joint Action Plan Between the Government of the Fed-
erative Republic of Brazil and the Government of the 
United States of America to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic 
Discrimination and Promote Equality’’, also known as 
the United States-Brazil Joint Action Plan Against Ra-
cial Discrimination: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
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(1) encourages the United States and the inter-
national community to recognize and honor the his-
torical and present-day contributions of Black Euro-
peans; 
(2) recognizes that, as a result of their skin 
color and ancestry, many Black Europeans have 
wrongfully experienced injustices in the public and 
private sector; 
(3) calls upon European parliamentarians, in-
cluding the Organization for Security and Coopera-
tion in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, to 
engage in efforts to promote racial equality and 
combat racial discrimination through efforts such as 
introducing legislation, speaking out in their par-
liaments against racism, increasing the political par-
ticipation of racial minorities, and working with 
Black European and other minority communities to 
develop relevant policies; 
(4) urges European governments and members 
of civil society and the private sector, in consultation 
with Black European communities, to develop and 
implement initiatives to combat racial discrimination 
and promote racial equality in Europe, by— 
(A) 
drafting 
and 
implementing 
anti-
discrimination, special measures, hate crimes, 
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migration and integration, and other laws and 
policies to address discrimination and dispari-
ties and promote equality, noting the rec-
ommendations of the United Nations Com-
mittee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimina-
tion, the Experts Working Group on People of 
African Descent (WGPAD), the European 
Commission against Racism and Intolerance, 
the European Union Fundamental Rights 
Agency (EUFRA), the United Nations Special 
Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism 
and Independent Expert on minority issues, the 
OSCE Personal Representative on Combating 
Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, and 
the Black European Women’s Council; 
(B) promoting and funding research, in-
cluding the collection of national census data on 
Black Europeans and their inclusion in the an-
nual reports of the EUFRA; 
(C) providing technical support, training, 
and funding to Black European civil society 
groups working to combat racism, discrimina-
tion, and inequality, and uphold basic human 
rights in Europe; 
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(D) introducing national measures to 
counter stereotypical images of persons of Afri-
can descent, by revising textbooks, increasing 
efforts to include Black Europeans in history 
and heritage institutions, and remembering vic-
tims of colonialism, slavery and other atrocities; 
(E) developing or increasing financial sup-
port for funds to assist victims of hate crimes 
with legal assistance and compensation when 
incapacitated due to physical or emotional inju-
ries; 
(F) developing specific initiatives that ad-
dress the special concerns of Black European 
women and youth; 
(G) actively promoting racial and ethnic 
minority participation at all levels of national, 
regional, and local government through the edu-
cation of civil and political rights, including the 
legislative process and advocacy of legislative 
issues relevant to racial and ethnic minority 
communities, development of targeted profes-
sional development and hiring strategies, in-
creased youth and community outreach, and 
self-organization and other empowerment initia-
tives; and 
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(H) recruiting, training, and hiring Black 
Europeans for professional positions in support 
of these initiatives; and 
(5) urges the Secretary of State to— 
(A) provide technical assistance and other 
support for European governments and mem-
bers of the civil society and private sector to 
fulfill the initiatives outlined above; and 
(B) increase support for the WGPAD. 
Æ 
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