Declaration by the Council and the representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 28 June 2001 on combating racism and xenophobia on the Internet by intensifying work with young people
Date: 2001-06-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union, Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: Internet, anti-discriminatory measure, public awareness campaign, racism, xenophobia, young person

12.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 196/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

DECLARATION BY THE COUNCIL AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF
THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL

on combating racism and xenophobia on the Internet by intensifying work with young people

of 28 June 2001

(2001/C 196/01)

The European Union is founded on the principles of liberty,
democracy, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms
law. Diversity and tolerance are democratic
and the rule of
values unanimously
in each
Member State.

recognised

respected

and

the

exploit

influences

Anti-democratic
to
communicate and disseminate their messages of racism, xeno-
phobia and other expressions of intolerance, taking advantage
of the fact that young people in Europe are frequent Internet
consumers. The initiative, enterprise, creativity and social soli-
darity of youth should be harnessed to counteract these anti-
democratic attitudes on the Internet wherever they appear.

Internet

Europe must combat all
forms of racicm, xenophobia and
related expressions of intolerance, at local, national, European
and worldwide level.

Therefore:

COUNCIL

THE
THE
GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING WITHIN THE
COUNCIL:

REPRESENTATIVES OF

AND

THE

(cid:151) WELCOME the European Commission’s communication
entitled (cid:145)Creating a safer information society by improving
the security of information infrastructures and combating
computer-related crime
(Europe 2002)(cid:146) and especially
welcome the European Commission’s initiative to examine
the scope for action against racist and xenophobic activity
on the Internet;

relevant

institutions and youth organisations

(cid:151) EMPHASISE the importance and responsibilities of schools,
other
in
in the
encouraging young people’s direct
development of democratic values, as well as in creating
opportunities for promotion of democracy, human rights
and tolerance;

involvement

(cid:151) EMPHASISE the need, among young people, to create an
understanding of the current laws concerning publication
and dissemination of racist and xenophobic materal on the
Internet and of
the importance of a critical review of
material found on the web, stressing the importance of
schools and other relevant institutions and organisations
in creating this understanding;

(cid:151) STRESS the need to involve and educate those working with
young people in order to increase their awareness and
related to intolerance and
understanding of problems
increase their ability to apply democratic values when
working with young people;

(cid:151) EMPHASISE the importance and the need for an exchange of
experience and information among the Member States, by
promoting the development of the existing programmes,
networks and institutions such as the European Monitoring
Centre on Racism and Xenophobia involving authorities at
national and local level as well as professionals in order to
develop best practice in this area and the Community
action plan on promoting the safer use of Internet;

(cid:151) STRESS that efforts should be employed to harness the
initiative and creativity of young people with a view to
rejecting
and
related expressions of intolerance to be found on the web;

and counteracting

xenophobia

racism,

(cid:151) EMPHASISE the need of encourage Internet service providers
based in the Union to provide means for the public to
report racist and xenophobic contents that they encounter
on the Internet;

(cid:151) EMPHASISE the need to encourage cooperation between
Internet service providers (cid:151) i.e. access providers and web
hosts (cid:151) and police and legal authorities in the Member
States, in order to combat racist and xenophobic material
on the Internet.