P9_TA(2022)0057

Role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism

European Parliament resolution of 8 March 2022 on the role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism (2021/2057(INI))

(2022/C 347/02)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Treaty on European Union, in particular the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh indents of the preamble, Article 2, Article 3(3), second subparagraph, and Article 6 thereof,

— having regard to Articles 10 and 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

— having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 21 thereof,

— having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights, including the third principle on equal opportunities and the corresponding action plan,

— having regard to Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (1) (the Racial Equality Directive),

— having regard to Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (2),

— having regard to the establishment in June 2016 of the EU High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance,

— having regard to the Commission communication of 22 May 2018 entitled ‘Building a stronger Europe: the role of youth, education and culture policies’ (COM(2018)0268),

— having regard to the Commission communication of 18 September 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: EU anti-racism action plan 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0565),

— having regard to the Commission communication of 3 December 2020 entitled ‘Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: An Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation’ (COM(2020)0784),

— having regard to Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) (3),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 establishing Erasmus+: the Union Programme for education and training, youth and sport (4),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 establishing the Creative Europe Programme (2021 to 2027) (5),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/888 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 establishing the European Solidarity Corps Programme (6),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/692 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (7),

— having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights,

— having regard to the Council recommendation of 12 March 2021 on Roma equality, inclusion and participation (8),

— having regard to Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008 on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law (9),

— having regard to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ fundamental rights report of 9 June 2020 and to its second EU minorities and discrimination survey of 5 December 2017 and related report and summary entitled ‘Being Black in the EU’ of 23 November 2018 and 15 November 2019 respectively, which describe the experiences of racial discrimination and racist violence among people of African descent in the EU,

— having regard to the Commission communication of 12 November 2020 entitled ‘Union of Equality: LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0698),

— having regard to the Commission communication of 3 March 2021 entitled ‘Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030’ (COM(2021)0101),

— having regard to the Council conclusions of 15 November 2018 on the Work Plan for Culture 2019-2022 (10),

— having regard to the EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation for 2020-2030 of 7 October 2020,

— having regard to the Commission communication of 5 October 2021 entitled ‘EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life (2021-2030)’ (COM(2021)0615),

— having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2020 on the anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd (11),

— having regard to the Council recommendation of 22 May 2018 on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching (12),

— having regard to its resolution of 26 March 2019 on fundamental rights of people of African descent in Europe (13),

— having regard to its resolution of 17 September 2020 on the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies: combating negative attitudes towards people with Romani background in Europe (14),

— having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2021 on children’s rights in view of the EU Strategy on the rights of the child (15),

— having regard to the infringement proceedings initiated by the Commission in relation to non-conformity with the Racial Equality Directive for discrimination against Roma children in education (infringement numbers 20142174, 20152025 and 20152206),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) (16),

— having regard to its resolution of 23 November 2021 on EU sports policy: assessment and possible ways forward (17),

— having regard to the Commission proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts (COM(2021)0206),

— having regard to its resolution of 11 November 2021 on the European Education Area: a shared holistic approach (18),

— having regard to the study drawn up by the Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies of its Directorate-General for Internal Policies in October 2021 on the role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism,

— having regard to the general policy recommendations of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe, in particular recommendation No 10 of 15 December 2006 on combating racism and discrimination in and through school education,

— having regard to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance roadmap to effective equality of 27 September 2019,

— having regard to the Commission’s sixth evaluation of the Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online,

— having regard to Goal 10 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: reducing inequality within and among countries,

— having regard to the Conference on the Future of Europe,

— having regard to the recommendations issued by the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services in October 2021 on the new Code of Practice on Disinformation,

— having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education (A9-0027/2022),

A. whereas discrimination and racism undermine human dignity, life opportunities, prosperity, well-being and often safety; whereas racist stereotypes have a tendency to continue over generations; whereas discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin is prohibited in the EU; whereas migrants, refugees and asylum seekers among others are subjected to racism and discriminatory behaviour;

B. whereas according to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (19), racial discrimination and harassment remain commonplace throughout the European Union; whereas racial, religious and ethnic minorities in particular are too often subjected to harassment, violence, racial and ethnic profiling, including by law enforcement, and hate speech, both online and offline; whereas the majority of hate-motivated racist and xenophobic incidents are not reported by the victims (20); whereas racial and ethnic minorities in the EU face structural discrimination and in some cases segregation in certain areas of daily life, including housing, healthcare, employment, education and judicial systems;

C. whereas the EU anti-racism action plan 2020-2025 refers to structural racism as the discriminatory behaviours which can be embedded in social, financial and political institutions, thereby impacting on the levers of power and policymaking;

D. whereas the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights defines structural discrimination as the rules, norms, routines, and patterns of attitudes and behaviour in institutions and other societal structures that represent obstacles to groups or individuals in achieving the same rights and opportunities available to the majority of the population;

E. whereas migrants, refugees, political asylum seekers and members of racial, religious and ethnic minorities have limited access to the labour market and are often subjected to labour exploitation;

F. whereas it is demonstrably clear that the collection of good-quality data is one of the most effective ways to analyse social problems — both quantitatively and qualitatively — and is instrumental for devising, adapting, monitoring and developing evidence-based public policy responses to those problems;

G. whereas racist and xenophobic attitudes are embraced by certain opinion leaders and politicians across the EU, fomenting a social climate that provides fertile ground for racism, discrimination and hate crimes; whereas this environment is further fuelled by extremist movements such as fascist and extreme right-wing movements which seek to divide our societies; whereas these acts run counter to the common European values and ideals of democracy and equality which all the Member States have undertaken to uphold;

H. whereas many minority groups have to endure police violence, including collective punishment and racial profiling; whereas specific measures are needed to combat this phenomenon; whereas as a result of deficiencies with the rule of law and criminal justice, the victims of police violence have insufficient protection and access to justice and often face persecution at the hands of the state authorities; whereas racism against ethnic and racial minorities has led to violence and killing;

I. whereas the way in which people are portrayed in the media, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, can reinforce negative stereotypes with racial connotations; whereas the cultural sector and the media have the power to promote inclusion and to fight racism and combat such stereotypes;

J. whereas the fight against offline and online racism and discrimination in our societies, both overt and latent, needs to be stepped up and is a shared responsibility; whereas the European Union and its Member States need to further reflect on, commit to and continue their work on tackling the structural racism and discrimination faced by many minority groups;

K. whereas disinformation often targets minorities and instigates social unrest; whereas an independent and pluralistic media that promotes balanced narratives serves to foster inclusive societies;

L. whereas solidarity and respect for human life and other human beings are values handed down from generation to generation; whereas school education plays a crucial role in this process;

M. whereas access to education and educational attainment is an issue for racialised communities throughout Europe; whereas segregation in education remains a significant issue in Europe; whereas the placement of children in segregated schools and the discriminatory practice of placing children of ethnic and racial minorities in schools for children with mental disabilities continues to persist in some Member States;

N. whereas schools have an instrumental role to play in providing experience on the value of diversity, promoting inclusion, combating racism and reducing racial stereotypes and prejudice;

O. whereas it is important for children and young people to see that they are represented throughout society, including in the education they are given, in the cultural and sporting clubs and activities in which they participate, and on the internet and media they consume;

P. whereas although sport plays a key role in social, cultural and educational life and has the power to unite people from a variety of races, ethnicities and religions, and although it can be used to bring together communities and engender the values of equality, accessibility and respect, there have been repeated racist incidents at sporting events and within sport generally across Europe, and many challenges related to racism; whereas the radicalisation that is occurring in sport-related groups must be identified and combated;

Q. whereas the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately affected those from racial and ethnic minority communities, giving rise to, highlighting and exacerbating inequalities including in culture, media, education and sport; whereas hate-motivated harassment and hate crimes increased significantly at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic;

General context

1. Stresses that racism exists in all areas of our daily life and can take many forms; calls for a zero-tolerance approach to this issue; recognises that different groups, communities and individuals are subjected to racism, xenophobia and discrimination; acknowledges that each specific form of racism has distinctive features, with certain forms of racism more prominent in some Member States than others on account of historical or political factors, among other reasons;

2. Acknowledges the EU anti-racism action plan; welcomes the inclusion of a dedicated section on education and specific references to media, sport and culture; calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt a holistic approach and provide adequate funding and resources in order to achieve the plan’s commitments without prejudice to funding for existing programmes and actions, while upholding European values;

3. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the anti-racism coordinator is given adequate resources and that the work of mainstreaming racial equality throughout EU policies is shared by all DGs;

4. Looks forward to an assessment of the existing EU legal framework to combat discrimination, racism, xenophobia and other types of intolerance; calls on the Commission to assess the implementation of this framework, to determine how to improve it where needed, and to take part in a regular dialogue and exchange of best practices with Member States and stakeholders, particularly those representing the concerns of people affected by racism and racial discrimination;

5. Recalls that national action plans are an effective tool to respond to racism, racial and ethnic discrimination and related intolerance in the Member States, as they enable concrete action to be taken in response to specific situations; regrets the fact that only 15 Member States have such plans in place ( 21 ) ; urges the Commission to publish the planned common guiding principles for the implementation of national action plans against racism and racial discrimination as well as other tools to assist efforts at national level; calls for specific objectives reflecting the full diversity of society in culture, education, media and sport to be included in the development of those plans; considers it necessary, in this regard, to collect and exchange best practices across the Member States in order to facilitate the development of their national action plans and to promote the exchange of experiences between national agencies;

6. Welcomes the publication and implementation of specific EU guidelines on the collection of equality data based on racial or ethnic origin, as defined by the Racial Equality Directive as data that is voluntary and anonymous and ensures the protection of personal data, self-identification and consultation with relevant communities; calls on the Member States to adapt national statistics and to remove barriers from, facilitate and improve — where relevant — the systematic collection of good-quality robust, disaggregated and country-specific data on equality in order to identify the roots of racism and discrimination and work to combat it and to support evidence-based policies at both national and EU levels; calls on the Commission and the Member States to use this data to develop policies to attain racial justice and for this data to be accessible to the public, while fully respecting the fundamental right of privacy, the protection of personal data and the relevant EU legislation including the Racial Equality Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation ( 22 ) and the proposed ePrivacy Regulation ( 23 ) , as well as relevant national legal frameworks;

7. Welcomes the commitment to diversity and inclusion within Erasmus+, Creative Europe, the European Solidarity Corps, the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, the New European Bauhaus initiative, ESF+ and the European Youth Guarantee; emphasises the need to systematically follow and analyse the contribution of each of these programmes to the fight against racism and to create an overview of good practices; calls on the Commission to ensure that the recently published inclusion strategies are mainstreamed across all relevant EU programmes and educational, cultural, media and sporting initiatives and to monitor their implementation and impact;

8. Welcomes the Commission’s acknowledgement of the need for an intersectional approach to policymaking; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the relevant anti-racism objectives are implemented across all policy areas;

9. Notes with concern the lack of agreement in the Council on the Commission proposal of 2 July 2008 for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation ( 24 ) ; urges the Member States to reach a common position on this as soon as possible; backs the Commission to encourage progress towards achieving the unanimity required in the Council in order to adopt this proposal;

10. Encourages further collaboration between the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the equality bodies of the Member States, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and governments and stakeholders, notably those representing the concerns of individuals and groups affected by racism and racial discrimination; calls on the Member States, in particular, to implement the recommendations of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance in full;

11. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to bolster their support for the UN Alliance of Civilizations with a view to strengthening international, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and cooperation;

12. Stresses that limited access to technologies and digital infrastructure in education, culture, media and sport risks creating a new form of discrimination and inequality, which needs to be properly and swiftly addressed by the Commission and the Member States;

13. Calls on the Member States to organise helplines, mediation bodies and staff training in order to properly address and report on violence or other incidents of a racial or ethnic nature in education, culture, media and sport;

14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to devise an enhanced strategy to promote the integration of people from rural, mountain and isolated areas, notably young people and women, in education, culture, media and sport, while developing and investing in local and adapted infrastructure;

15. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to devise a coherent action plan to properly address the risk of discrimination faced by mobile workers and their children in particular, including limited access to good-quality education, culture, media and sport;

Culture

16. Highlights that European societies are home to increasing cultural diversity and a growing share of foreign-born populations and their descendants; believes that culture, education and sport are fundamental to foster a society that is open and welcoming to all; deems it important to acknowledge the contribution and legacy of these people to European culture and knowledge throughout history;

17. Acknowledges that racism is deeply embedded in society and intertwined with its cultural roots, heritage and social norms; highlights, therefore, the important role that culture can and must play in combating discrimination and racism and promoting social inclusion, diversity, equality and tolerance; stresses the importance of fostering intercultural learning;

18. Notes the immense contribution made by diverse communities to Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity;

19. Regrets the existence of barriers to the participation of minorities in culture, namely stereotypes, prejudices, segregation and ghettoisation; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote initiatives towards more diverse participation in the cultural sector for racialised communities and individuals, notably by using funding from all the relevant programmes to eliminate such barriers; calls for greater support for existing channels and the creation of support networks and outreach activities, including for those in suburban, rural, outermost and other disadvantaged regions;

20. Calls on the Member States to launch initiatives designed to encourage people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to take part in cultural events, such as voucher schemes or similar endeavours;

21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve monitoring and evaluation, including by testing, sharing and exchanging participatory tools and best practices, which can demonstrate the effects of promoting inclusion and non-discrimination and combating racism through culture and help to create more inclusive policies;

22. Calls on the Member States and the relevant stakeholders to foster diversity in cultural institutions among both employees and management, by introducing eligibility and award criteria in organisations that receive public funding and ensuring that all workers are paid from the beginning of their careers;

23. Welcomes the work of the Open Method of Cooperation (OMC) Working Group of Member States’ Experts on gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors; calls on the Member States to include in the next work plan for culture an OMC Working Group of Member States’ Experts on combating racism through arts and culture; calls on the OMC Working Group to produce a study on the role played by culture and the creative sector in promoting racial equality within their sectors;

24. Welcomes the inclusion of the people and places most in need as one of the strategic axes of the New European Bauhaus; requests that this initiative take into account the social inclusion of migrants in order to give them equal access to opportunities;

25. Strongly supports the acknowledgement by certain Member States of the need to restore cultural works and artefacts to their places of origin, as this would serve to promote a respect for and mutual understanding of one another’s cultural heritage, as well as enhance its value, not least through public access to those works and artefacts; calls for the necessary research, studies and exchanges to be undertaken for the establishment of coherent programmes to restore cultural works and artefacts to either their countries of origin or other appropriate cultural institutions, as designated by the state of origin, in line with the relevant international conventions for the protection of cultural heritage; encourages the Commission to facilitate dialogue to promote the sharing of best practices between Member States, non-EU countries, museums and other cultural institutions;

Education

26. Acknowledges the decisive role of education and training in tackling structural racism and discrimination, building inclusive societies, debunking prejudices and stereotypes, and promoting tolerance, understanding and diversity; highlights the role of the new European Education Area in the fight against all forms of discrimination inside and outside the classroom, especially in developing good-quality and inclusive spaces for education;

27. Underlines the fact that particular elements of European history, including colonialism, slavery and genocide, in particular the Holocaust, together with other manifestations of racism, continue to have a lasting impact on today’s society, including in education systems and the development of educational curricula; suggests that educational curricula be revised to explain the history of our societies through a focused and contextualised approach in order to better understand its links with the present and work to eradicate the stereotypes that are leading to the discrimination witnessed today;

28. Stresses the need to set aside greater space in history curricula to objective and factual learning about different racial or ethnic ideologies, their forms and their origins, including slavery, colonialism and fascism and the misuse of science for the justification thereof, as well as their consequences and possible remnants in present times;

29. Encourages the Member States to foster the development of diverse and inclusive educational curricula and educational tools or activities to ensure that authors, historians, scientists, artists and other figures from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds are included in these and other key materials;

30. Emphasises the role of education in promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination; underlines the importance of forging synergies between citizenship education across Europe and EU policies to fight racism and discrimination; encourages the Member States to attach greater emphasis to education about the history of the EU in order to foster cohesion; believes that these areas should be integral parts of citizenship education curricula;

31. Calls on the Member States to promote the languages, culture and history of minorities in school curricula, museums and other forms of cultural and historical expression, and to recognise the contribution of their culture to European heritage; calls on the Member States to develop coherent and consistent measures, backed by appropriate funding, to stimulate, support and promote the arts and culture of racialised and ethnic groups and to research and preserve the material and intangible heritage of the culture of traditional communities;

32. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote multilingualism as an important tool that brings people together;

33. Underlines the importance of providing proper support for the children of mobile workers across the Member States to allow them to learn their native language and learn about the culture of their own country and new country of residence in order to ensure better integration;

34. Calls for a deepening in the study of common humanities, history, philosophy, languages and literature, which may help to promote the spirit of European concord; calls for history curricula to employ a focused approach to the history of racial and ethnic communities living in Europe in order to encourage a broader and more factual perspective on European and world history and forge a better understanding of the interactions between different continents before, during and after European colonisation; calls for history books to emphasise the contributions made by racialised communities to the development and shaping of Europe today;

35. Calls on the Member States to actively combat bias in school books, in educational tools, in films and news programmes for children and young people, and in sport; calls on the Member States to include these targets in the implementation of the European Year of Youth 2022;

36. Strongly condemns the practice of racial and ethnic segregation in schools, which is still present in Europe; warns that such practices lead to marginalisation, early dropouts, low enrolment rates and the creation of parallel social spaces, perpetuate structural discrimination and hamper equal access to quality of life; calls on all Member States to introduce or strengthen inclusive policies to prevent marginalised groups of learners from pre-school to higher education from being placed in separate schools, educational institutions or classes, whether intentionally or not, to promote social inclusion with the guarantee of equal opportunities for all, and to ensure that all children enjoy equal access to quality education and extracurricular activities including culture and sport; encourages the Member States to actively promote the inclusion of children from minority groups in schools and local communities and to safeguard the secular nature of public education, while respecting cultural and religious identities;

37. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take steps to support children from racial and ethnic minorities and precarious socioeconomic backgrounds on their pathways to excellence by helping them get involved in extracurricular activities (e.g. arts and sport) at a high level, enabling them to get into schools that meet their particular needs, providing good-quality education opportunities, and making the necessary funding available;

38. Calls on the Member States to guarantee the right to education for every child and to establish measures to combat and prevent early school leaving and ensure gender-equitable access to good-quality, inclusive education from early childhood to adolescence; calls on the Commission to design new funding tools or sub-programmes, which should be complementary to the measures taken by the Member States, with the aim of providing targeted and tailored support in quality education for children aged three and over who have to contend with extreme poverty and are not eligible for existing or future EU educational and social inclusion funding initiatives, such as Erasmus+, the Child Guarantee or ESF+;

39. Recognises the importance of teaching children and young people to make them aware of the negative impact of intolerance and developing their critical thinking skills; underlines the need to ensure that education on human rights begins from a very early age and that teaching material reflects the diversity and pluralism of society and does not include any racist content;

40. Calls on the Commission to promote research on early warning systems and effective teaching methods to fight racism and discrimination in schools, taking heed of the best practices from around Europe, and to promote the dissemination of results in order to eradicate bullying on racial grounds;

41. Calls on the Member States to ensure that teaching staff from racial and ethnic minority groups enjoy equal and fair access to teaching and education positions in all levels of education and that measures are put in place to ensure that both educators and learners are protected from racial discrimination in the school system;

42. Decries the structural discrimination suffered by thousands of refugee children in Europe, who have had little or no access to education; affirms that segregated classes in reception camps, which are often run by volunteers, cannot be a substitute for schooling; calls for the compulsory education of refugee children in the school system of the host country to be made a prerequisite for accessing EU funding in the field of migration;

43. Calls on the Member States to provide suitable training for teachers, irrespective of their subject, their specialisation, the age of their students, or the type of facility in which they will be teaching, in order to equip them with the skills and cultural abilities they need to promote inclusion and tolerance and to combat discrimination in the education system; calls for all educators and youth workers to be given time to partake in initial teacher education and continuous professional development focused on teaching in a multicultural and multiracial context, including training on unconscious bias; calls on the Member States to introduce lifelong learning programmes for civil servants and state security forces in particular in order to eliminate racist and xenophobic behaviour;

44. Recalls that artificial intelligence (AI) systems intended for use in education and vocational training and processes to recruit educational staff are in some cases considered ‘high risk’; calls for proper risk assessments to be undertaken before such tools are used;

45. Stresses the importance of remembrance activities in the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme and the need for sufficient funding and visibility for projects designed to commemorate, research and educate about defining events in recent European history and to raise awareness among European citizens of their common history, culture, cultural heritage and values, thereby enhancing their understanding of the EU and its origins, purpose and diversity;

46. Acknowledges that mobility programmes such as Erasmus+ are a boon to educational, social, personal and professional development and have helped to foster an understanding of other people; encourages the continuous endorsement of such programmes;

47. Underlines the value of EU citizenship education for mutual understanding and social cohesion, a conviction shared by the citizens that provided their input to the Conference on the Future of Europe, which will also be taken into consideration in the conference conclusions due for publication this year;

48. Stresses the importance of the recognition of non-formal and informal education and the automatic recognition of diplomas and qualifications as key tools to open up opportunities for individuals from racial and ethnic groups, to tackle structural racism and discrimination and to foster diversity;

49. Recognises the importance of role models in educational attainment; encourages the creation of a pan-European platform of individuals and collectives of people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds who can share their experiences with learners;

50. Emphasises the importance of raising awareness among the general public and across public opinion of the diverse nature of our societies through teaching and other relevant materials;

51. Calls on the Member States to refrain from making budget cuts to education programmes, as doing so may leave less room for discussions on cross-cultural awareness and anti-racism ( 25 )

52. Underlines the importance of EU-funded social programmes, notably school meal schemes, for the integration of socially disadvantaged children and young people;

Media

53. Underlines the importance of representation and diversity in the development of inclusive societies; recalls that the media have a responsibility to reflect societies in all their diversity and regrets the lack of racial and ethnic diversity at many media outlets; calls on the cultural and media sectors to eschew practices that perpetuate or reinforce negative stereotypes about ethnic and racial minorities and encourages them to show members of these communities performing positive roles; calls on the relevant stakeholders to address diversity and representation within their organisations, including by creating a figure responsible for diversity and implementing initiatives designed to improve media professionals’ literacy on issues of diversity and inclusiveness in order to better reflect the independent and pluralistic nature of their tasks;

54. Welcomes the Commission’s communication and awareness-raising campaign to foster diversity in the audiovisual sector both off- and on-screen; calls for this campaign to focus on the diversity and history of racialised and other marginalised communities and to highlight how achieving racial justice can contribute to a more cohesive, peaceful and democratic Europe for all;

55. Welcomes the fact that the European Digital Media Observatory has been tasked with tackling disinformation and action targeting minority communities; stresses the urgent need to put greater emphasis on the development of critical thinking, media literacy and digital skills in education programmes; highlights the crucial effects that media literacy campaigns and initiatives may have in mitigating racial discrimination narratives propagated through disinformation; highlights the need to provide young people with analytical and operational tools in order to recognise and combat the spread of hate speech online;

56. Urges the Commission to ensure that the definition of hate speech offline or online and the criminalisation of hate crime is fully and correctly transposed into the national laws of the Member States, and to launch infringement procedures where necessary;

57. Welcomes the sixth evaluation of the Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online and the progress made in removing online hate speech; regrets the fact, however, that while the average rate of notifications reviewed within 24 hours remains high (81 %), it has fallen since 2020 (90,4 %), and the average removal rate has fallen to 62,5 % since 2019 and 2020; urges the Commission to continue its cooperation with platforms to eliminate hate speech online and to make improvements on removal rates, transparency and feedback to users;

58. Expresses its concern about the spread of AI- and algorithm-enabled hate speech and disinformation that includes racial and discriminatory content; notes that hate speech and disinformation cause immediate disruption to our societies; calls for efforts to counter such activities, in particular by designing dedicated AI and algorithms with the ultimate goal of stemming the tide of hate speech and disinformation and mitigating its repercussions;

59. Observes that English is prevalent in the development, deployment and use of AI, including content filters; warns that online hate speech is also practised in other languages, whose content filters are less effective; calls for measures to fight hate speech in all languages;

60. Welcomes the practice established by certain international audiovisual providers to add disclaimers about harmful and racist content ahead of media broadcasts; encourages the development of such practices within the European audiovisual sphere;

61. Notes that some Member States have audiovisual regulatory bodies with the power to issue sanctions following programmes that promote discriminatory or racist content; encourages the Member States to empower their regulatory agencies in this sense; calls for the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services to be given access to resources to properly coordinate the national agencies in collecting and sharing good-quality data, as well as in monitoring such tasks; calls on the Commission and the Member States to discontinue EU and state funding for media outlets that are found by competent regulatory authorities to be in contravention of legal standards for promoting hate speech and xenophobia;

62. Condemns the racist rhetoric of certain media outlets that stigmatise racialised communities, for example by targeting migrants as being the source of various economic and social problems and giving disproportionate coverage to crimes committed by migrants; calls on the Member States to take effective measures to prevent media from spreading stigmatising rhetoric, hate speech, false narratives and negative portrayals of particular ethnic or racial groups, which serve only to dehumanise the individuals concerned;

63. Stresses the need to increase the accountability of digital platforms and social networks in order to combat the spread of incitement to racial hatred and anti-migrant and anti-minority sentiment;

Sport

64. Stresses that sports clubs and federations have a crucial role to play in combating racism, including through awareness-raising; recalls that sport and team sport in particular is a driver of social inclusion, equality and the promotion of EU values, as referred to in the Erasmus+ regulation; welcomes the provision of EU and national funding to enable those in poverty, especially minorities and children, to take part in sporting activities;

65. Notes that racism is mentioned under the sector-specific priority on partnerships for sport in Key Action 2 of the 2022 annual work programme for Erasmus+ and that grassroots sports initiatives focusing on inclusion and the fight against racism can be funded under the new small-scale partnerships scheme; calls on the Commission to assess these initiatives and to systematically monitor the number and type of sports projects whose main focus is the fight against racism, and the amount of funding allocated to them; calls on the Commission to promote the inclusion of migrants and people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds in grassroots sports clubs;

66. Welcomes the efforts made by NGOs and grassroots organisations in various Member States to use sport as a way of bringing people together and fostering a collective memory with the aim of fostering respect and inclusion; calls on the Commission to develop a database of best practices in sports education and the media in order to promote their development across the EU;

67. Recognises that greater attention should be paid to the representation of diverse groups in sport generally and in managerial positions at sporting organisations, including women and those who have fewer opportunities such as refugees, ethnic and racial minorities and the LGBTIQ community; urges international, European and national sports governing bodies and stakeholders to implement measures on diversity and inclusion, in particular to address the low numbers of women and ethnic minorities in leadership positions and on boards; calls on the Member States to develop inclusive sports policies with the appropriate funding to ensure that sport is accessible to all, regardless of ethnicity, race, disability or socioeconomic background;

68. Insists on a zero-tolerance approach to racism, hate speech, violence and other racist behaviour in sport and urges the Commission, the Member States and sports federations to develop measures to prevent such incidents and to adopt effective penalties and measures to support victims, as well as measures to protect from retaliation athletes that denounce racism or speak out for diversity;

69. Urges the Commission to develop recommendations or guidelines in sport in order to combat racism in sport at local, regional, national and European levels and foster inclusion and respect, including for those that need specific attire, at all levels of sport; invites sporting organisations and stakeholders at all levels to actively contribute to such a code, to subscribe to it, and to incorporate it within their statutes; encourages organisations to raise awareness of such a code and its content among their members and their families, and the wider public;

o

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70. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22.

(2) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16.

(3) OJ L 95, 15.4.2010, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 189, 28.5.2021, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 189, 28.5.2021, p. 34.

(6) OJ L 202, 8.6.2021, p. 32.

(7) OJ L 156, 5.5.2021, p. 1.

(8) OJ C 93, 19.3.2021, p. 1.

(9) OJ L 328, 6.12.2008, p. 55.

(10) OJ C 460, 21.12.2018, p. 12.

(11) OJ C 362, 8.9.2021, p. 63.

(12) OJ C 195, 7.6.2018, p. 1.

(13) OJ C 108, 26.3.2021, p. 2.

(14) OJ C 385, 22.9.2021, p. 104.

(15) OJ C 474, 24.11.2021, p. 146.

(16) OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 21.

(17) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0463.

(18) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0452.

(19) EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Second European Union minorities and discrimination survey — main results, 6 December 2017; Second European Union minorities and discrimination survey: Muslims — selected findings, 21 September 2017; Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism — second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU, 10 December 2018; Second European Union minorities and discrimination survey: Roma — selected findings, 29 November 2016; Second European Union minorities and discrimination survey: being Black in the EU, 23 November 2018.

(20) Ibid.

(21) As of 2019, according to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights report of 9 June 2020.

(22) OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1.

(23) Commission proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications (COM(2017)0010).

(24) COM(2008)0426.

(25) The role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism, European Parliament Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies, October 2021, p. 13.