Strasbourg, 02/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Europe's advisory committee for the protection of national minorities at the Council of Europe expressed concern in an opinion published on Thursday 1 October about the constant rise in hostility to immigrants in Germany, pointing out that the trend was perceptible before the start of the current migration crisis.
In the opinion (on the period 2010-2015), the committee says anti-immigrant feeling was already on the rise in Germany before the arrival of refugees from Syria, The committee points above all to demonstrations of thousands of people under the banner of 'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamification of the Occident' (PEGIDA is its German acronym).
The opinion also addresses other questions, such as the need to promote equality for Sinti and Roma in economic life. It praises the federal German agency for tackling discrimination for the considerable initiatives it has taken to raise public awareness about tackling discrimination.
The committee reminds Germany to put an end to ethnic profiling and to take measures to boost trust between members of minorities and the police. In this connection, it recommends that the authorities ensure that the racist nature of various crimes is systematically reported by the security services. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)