European Parliament resolution on the European Union's position at the World Conference Against Racism and the current situation in the Union
Date: 2000-09-21
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: anti-discriminatory measure, international conference, racial discrimination, racism, social policy, xenophobia

C 146/110

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

17.5.2001

Thursday 21 September 2000

23.
Calls on the Commission and Member States to coordinate their external services so as to ensure
that complementarity is effective on the ground; with this in view, calls on the Commission to take
account of the objective of complementarity in its planned measures for decentralising and reforming the
delegations;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission, and to the parlia-

24.
ments of the Member States.

16. Racism

B5-0766/2000

European Parliament resolution on the European Union’s position at the World Conference
Against Racism and the current situation in the Union

The European Parliament,

% having regard to Articles 6, 7 and 29 of the EU Treaty and Article 13 of the EC Treaty,

% having regard to the relevant international legal instruments of the UN, the ILO, Unesco and the
Council of Europe, with particular reference to the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities,

% having regard to its resolutions, in particular that of 16 March 2000 (1), and the report of its commit-

tee of enquiry, on racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism,

% having regard to the adoption on 29 June 2000, with the European Parliament’s support, of the
Council Directive 2000/43/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irre-
spective of racial or ethnic origin,

% having regard to the European Union’s establishment of the European Observatory on Racism and

Xenophobia in Vienna,

A. whereas the number of reported violent racist attacks on immigrants and people belonging to minor-

ity groups in the Member States has increased;

B. having regard to the electoral successes of racist and xenophobic parties,

C. whereas there is a close correlation between the increase in the number of reported attacks and in the
activities of extreme right-wing political parties and movements, and whereas those parties and move-
ments are using new world-wide information technologies in pursuit of their objectives,

1.
Expresses its support for the European Conference to be held by the Council of Europe from 11-
13 October 2000 in Strasbourg on the subject ‘All different, all equal’, the European contribution to the
World Conference Against Racism to be held in 2001;

Notes that racism and xenophobia are prevalent throughout the world and that such forms of racial

2.
discrimination constitute one of the most serious violations of human rights;

3.
Calls therefore on the Council, in compliance with the principles and requirements in this area laid
down in the Amsterdam Treaty and the future European Charter of Fundamental Rights, to present a
common European Union position at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism;

Considers that this common position of the European Union should reflect the Union’s commitment
4.
to work, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty, for a better understanding of the causes and
effects of racism and xenophobia and for the implementation of a policy of preventing and punishing
such behaviour;

(1)

‘Texts Adopted’, Item 17.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 146/111

Thursday 21 September 2000

A better understanding of racism and xenophobia

5.
Considers it essential to gain a better understanding of the issue of racism and xenophobia in the
European Union and looks in particular to the Commission and the European Monitoring Centre on
Racism and Xenophobia to gather, in conjunction with the relevant NGOs and through the RAXEN Eur-
opean information network, the maximum possible amount of relevant information on this issue and to
come up with indicators that are as objective and accurate as possible;

Recommends furthermore that greater synergy be achieved in the work carried out in this area by
6.
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission Against Racism
and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe and the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia;

Stepping up preventive action against racism and xenophobia

Calls on the Council to ensure that the Member States take the necessary steps to include teaching
7.
based on historical fact of the dangers of racism, xenophobia, intolerance and anti-Semitism and the value
of diversity as a compulsory part of school curricula and teacher training programmes;

8.
Calls on the Council to ensure that the Member States endeavour, in cooperation with media orga-
nisations, to take initiatives and launch campaigns seeking in particular to inform and raise the awareness
of young people about the consequences of regimes which pursue racist policies and that, in general, those
campaigns reflect the diversity of a multi-cultural society, inter alia so as to familiarise European citizens
with foreign cultures and their positive contribution to Europe’s economy and culture;

9.
Calls also on the Council and the Member States to take all appropriate steps to combat the eco-
nomic, social and cultural exclusion from which the most vulnerable groups suffer, which calls for an
active employment and social policy, particularly for young people;

Calls on the Council and Member States to urge the UN to propose suspension from membership

10.
of those members which continue to allow gross racial discrimination in their internal affairs;

11.
Takes note of the decision of the Member States concerning the lifting of the sanctions against
Austria, welcomes the fact that the Wise Men have been asked to develop a mechanism within the EU
which would allow the Union to control and evaluate the commitment and the concrete action of its
Member States as regards the respect of common European values;

Calls on these Member States which have not already done so to adopt or strengthen anti-racist
12.
legislation on the principle that ‘racism is a crime’, whether in terms of actions, statements or messages
(particularly on the Internet);

Calls on the Council to make the fight against right-wing extremism, racism, anti-Semitism and

13.
xenophobia into a priority of European and national policy,

Effective punishment for racial and xenophobic discrimination

14.
Asks the Council to show the same determination as the Portuguese Presidency in attempting to
secure the adoption of the two proposals (employment directive and action programme) still outstanding
from the initial package submitted by the Commission with a view to taking action to combat discrimina-
tion and, in general, to implementing fully the provisions of Article 13 of the EC Treaty;

15.
Calls on the Member States to establish training programmes for police and judicial officials and in
particular for the services which deal with migrants at borders (including knowledge and understanding of
foreign cultures, prevention of racist behaviour, education in tolerance);

16.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give greater encouragement to action pro-
grammes seeking to combat right-wing extremism, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and to give
political, practical and financial support to initiatives emanating from civil society, particularly NGOs and
local authorities;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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17.5.2001

Thursday 21 September 2000

17.
Asks the Council furthermore to step up, in accordance with Article 29 of the EU Treaty, police
and judicial cooperation between the Member States in combating racism by adopting a framework deci-
sion to replace the joint action adopted in 1996, which has not led to any real progress to date, and points
out that it is essential for mutual assistance to cover action to crack down on racist behaviour on the
Internet;

18.
Calls on the Council and the Member States to bring their influence to bear on the political parties
to sign and comply with the ‘Charter of European political parties for a non-racist society’, to condemn
intolerance and xenophobic or racist statements or behaviour, and to refrain from electing candidates who,
or cooperating with political groups which, defend racist or xenophobic objectives;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give particular encouragement to youth work

19.
and European youth exchange programmes and to expand the EU-wide encounter programmes;

20.
Calls at the same time on the Council to explore, in conjunction with the relevant Member States,
how to extend the legal scope for taking action against political parties whose racist and xenophobic
programmes jeopardise the principles of non-discrimination in their countries;

21.
Condemns the attacks on people belonging to minority groups and immigrant communities and
calls on the Member States to take appropriate measures to counter the rising tide of racist violence in
the Member States and to step up European and international cooperation and exchange of information on
the activities of extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi groups;

22.
Calls on the Council, Commission and Member States to monitor the use of new information tech-
nologies such as the Internet by extremist and neo-Nazi groups, to prosecute those who use them for
purposes of incitement to racial violence, and to debate this issue at the 2001 World Conference against
Racism with a view to world-wide cooperation under the aegis of the United Nations;

23.
Calls at the same time on the Member States to send a visible signal of solidarity by improving
protection for victims of racist attacks and to demonstrate exemplary practice in dealings between public
servants and people of different race, language, ethnic origin and religion or philosophy, and calls on the
Commission and Council to build on the positive experiences of the European Year against Racism and
Xenophobia, and to establish new programmes to support in particular local operators in the social field;

24.

Calls for an increase in the amounts allocated to budget headings for combating racism,

25.
Asks the Council to recommend that all Member States and applicant countries withdraw any
remaining reservations they may have about the implementation of the UN International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, signed on 21 December 1965;

Calls for the candidate countries, during accession negotiations, to undertake to guarantee the pro-

26.
tection of minorities residing on their territory, particularly Gypsies;

Asks the Council to recommend that the Member States sign and ratify Protocol No 12 to the

27.
European Convention on Human Rights;

A European external strategy to combat racism and xenophobia

28.
Asks the Council, on the understanding that the European Union will take resolute action to com-
bat racism and xenophobia as set out above, to conduct, inter alia in accordance with Articles 11 and 49 of
the EU Treaty and Article 177 of the EC Treaty, its development policy (in particular in the ACP coun-
tries), its commercial and foreign policies and the negotiations with the applicant countries on the basis of
a firm determination to combat all forms of racism;

Calls therefore on the Council to base the common position which it intends to present on behalf
29.
of the European Union at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism on the views expressed above and
to submit that position to Parliament beforehand and in good time for its consideration;

Calls on the Council to organise a joint meeting with representatives of the European Parliament,

30.
Member States and ACP to formulate a common approach to the 2001 Conference;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 146/113

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Thursday 21 September 2000

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments

31.
of the Member States and the Council of Europe.

17. Prevention and control of organised crime

B5-0506/2000

European Parliament resolution on the Council’s action plan for ‘the prevention and control of
organised crime: a European Union strategy for the beginning of the new millennium’

The European Parliament,

% having regard to the Council’s action plan for ‘the prevention and control of organised crime: a Eur-

opean Union strategy for the beginning of the new millennium’ (1),

% having regard to Title VI of the EU Treaty, and in particular Article 29 thereof,

% having regard to the Presidency conclusions of the Tampere European Council of 15/16 October

1999, and in particular points 41-62 thereof,

% having regard to the Commission’s draft ‘scoreboard’, with the aid of which progress in carrying out
the measures required to achieve an area of freedom, security and justice, where they relate to the
Union-wide fight against crime is assessed,

A. whereas organised crime has substantially increased within the EU over the last decade, and whereas
in the fields of cyber crime, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, drugs and arms, child pornogra-
phy, money laundering, corruption and fraud in particular action is urgently needed, and whereas the
European Union must adopt a harmonised definition of organised crime which includes these fields,

B. whereas Title VI of the EU Treaty rightly describes the combating of crime, organised or otherwise, as

essential to the progressive establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice,

C. whereas within the sphere of Title VI of the EU Treaty, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam,
consultation is required only for the adoption of specific legal acts (Article 39(1)), but whereas in
Article K.6, second paragraph, of the EU Treaty, as amended by the Treaty of Maastricht, consultation
was required ‘on the principal aspects of activities’ in respect of cooperation in the fields of justice and
home affairs, and whereas one of the basic principles underlying the Treaty of Amsterdam was to
strengthen Parliament’s position,

D. whereas the control of organised crime is a central concern of the European public, given that orga-
nised crime can use its considerable financial strength to infiltrate the politics, police and economy of
a State and hence undermine society as a whole,

E. whereas, in some third countries, organised crime has already infiltrated certain sectors within public
bodies, the economy and the financial world, and whereas this requires the Member States to exercise
greater vigilancy and to adopt a more rigorous approach to the political, trade and economic relations
which are to be established (or which have already been established) with those countries,

(1) OJ C 124, 3.5.2000, p. 1.