In 'Carnet des droits de l’homme' published on Tuesday 25 July, Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, says Europe must fight afrophobia (dislike of black people) that goes back to the days of colonialism and the slave trade.
After making an alarming report on his visits to the Council of Europe’s 47 member states which documents - a rise in hate speech even among some political leaders, implications for social cohesion and under-representation of black people in the political class and the rise of racism in sport, particularly football, labelling Africans as economic migrants despite the humanitarian crises raging in Africa – he called on European countries to take a proactive approach, starting by accepting their past.
Nils Muižnieks says the position of black people in Europe needs to be strengthened. He recommends; - banning racial profiling in police work, collecting national data broken down into ethnic and racial groups based on voluntary self-identification, as recommended by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Court of Human Rights; - reinforcing bans on discrimination in access to healthcare, housing and jobs; - measures to tackle hate speech and racism in sport; - banning all forms of segregation of schoolchildren; - and increasing the participation of black people and other ethnic minorities in political life, the civil service and decision-making processes at national and local level. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)