lunes, 4 de abril de 2011

Proposal: European Network against Hate Crimes

Movement against Intolerance promotes a new project named “European Network against Hate Crimes” with the objective of giving a collective response to one of the most serious problems that exists in Europe, and which receives little attention, which affects hundreds of millions of people belonging to vulnerable groups of immigrants, refugees, the Roma population, and the LGTB community, among others.
The Network is sponsored by the project Stop Hate Crimes in Europepresented by Movement against Intolerance in the “Penal Justice” Program and is approved and subsidized by the Directorate General of Justice, Liberty, and Security of the European Commission and relies on the collaboration of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED; National University of Distance Education), Unión Progresista de Fiscales (UPF; Progressive Union of Public Prosecutors), the Police College of Finland, and the Associação Portuguesa de Apoio à Vitima (Portuguese Association of Support to Victims). A project that will study legal instruments in Europe, draw up a Protocol for protection and attention to hate crime victims, identify good practices, create an on-line Database with legal sentences and which will be the start of a European Network against Hate Crimes.
The Network considers as an objective that the fight against Hate Crimes be a priority for public institutions and civil society in Europe, so that they draft concrete measures for prevention and victim support, draft adequate legislative reforms to provide us with better efficiency in stopping this blight, establish mechanisms for the exchange of good practices and information, and definitively make Europe into a space free of attack driven by hatred and intolerance.
The Network hopes to complement and work actively with the existing Networks, but specifically in such cases and relying on NGOs working in this field. In the first phase, we want to create a system of alerts and supportive response, and campaign jointly with relevant political actors to achieve the objectives mentioned.
During recent years in Europe, there has been an increase in violence and crimes directed toward specific groups such as immigrants, ethnic minorities, religious, cultural, and ideological groups, people of certain sexual orientations, indigents, etc. The social, political, and institutional conditions, often permissive and with non-existent or ineffective legal instruments, are creating gaps and spaces in the European democracies for the strengthening of neo-Nazi, racist, and xenophobic organizations which, with an open and transnational character, take advantage of the opportunities created by Rule of Law, means such as the Internet, and the improvement of communication to increase their criminal activity taking advantage of the lack of coordination, mutual understanding, and agility of the European legal systems.
We invite engagement and intervention, we invite participation in the European Network against Hate Crimes

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