Press

René Cassin is pleased to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

As an organisation that is actively involved in campaigning to end discrimination against the Gypsy and Traveller Communities, we welcome the statement made today by the European Union Agency For Fundamental Rights ('FRA'), which recognised that the Roma are the ethnic group most discriminated against in Europe.

The FRA said as follows:

"We, the signatories of this statement, believe that to combat racism and xenophobia proactively, States should ensure, inter alia, that:

• barriers to education, health care, housing, and employment are removed. Such policies should include the reintegration into mainstream schools of Roma children currently enrolled in special schools, and desegregation in the area of housing;
• adequate data are collected about the participation of vulnerable groups in these areas, in order to target policies better and to allow their impact to be assessed;
• legislation prohibiting racially motivated crime is introduced and enforced, along with training for law-enforcement officials in preventing and responding to these offences;
• measures are taken to address discrimination on other grounds in addition to ethnicity;
• national bodies responsible for the protection of human rights are mandated and adequately resourced to monitor the prevalence of racism and related intolerance and to take measures to promote equality, including advice and support for victims;
• measures are taken to increase awareness of rights and complaints mechanisms, in order to address low reporting levels;
  journalists are provided with training to challenge prejudice and stereotypes, in order to encourage informed and nuanced public debate; and
• educational programmes and awareness-raising campaigns are designed to challenge prejudice and stereotypes and strengthen a climate of mutual tolerance and intercultural dialogue.

Our institutions stand together to support and assist States in finding sustainable solutions at local, national, and European levels, through the provision of data, research findings, specialist advice, and coordinating support, on the basis of our complementary fields of expertise."
As a member of the Fundamental Rights Platform, which participates in contributions by civil society to the FRA,

René Cassin is pleased that this issue of ongoing discrimination and chronic exclusion is being highlighted, and we hope to work with the FRA to improve the situation for Gypsy and Traveller communities.

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Article in the JC about our very own Simone Abel. Read here.

Limmud 2010: John Ging speaks to British Jews. John Ging, head of UNRWA in Gaza, speaks to Jewish delegates at the Limmud Conference of Jewish Learning. Also featuring is "Postcards from Gaza" a unique Palestinian run Gaza photo exhibition. Film by Elliott Tucker.