In its 2019 report published on Thursday 27 February, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), established by the Council of Europe, sounds the alarm and warns against the growing influence of ultra-nationalist and xenophobic policies.
These are fuelling rampant Islamophobia and Antisemitism while creating an increasingly hostile environment for NGOs working with vulnerable groups, ECRI's experts note.
The elections, both to the European Parliament and to several national parliaments, have made it possible to measure, on the one hand, the rise in popularity - and in the number of seats - of ultra-nationalist parties and, on the other hand, the adoption of more restrictive migration policies in the programmes of a growing number of traditional political parties.
The election campaigns in 2019 have shown that xenophobic, racist and homo/transphobic discourse is increasingly present and can even set the tone on social networks.
"Insults and degrading remarks about members of minority groups that in the past would have been deemed unacceptable can now frequently be encountered on the Internet”, the ECRI notes, adding that hate speech is spreading outside the digital sphere and is becoming part of everyday life.
This situation is aggravated by the fact that Equality Bodies suffer from a lack of human and financial resources and lack the competence to support victims and represent them in court.
“The important role of community- based organisations and civil society in general, is not yet fully recognised and supported”, which is a “growing concern” for the ECRI.
The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on discrimination is another aspect mentioned in the report. So far, cases of deliberate discrimination are rare, but examples of unintentional and/or indirect discrimination are multiplying and can be explained, in particular, by a lack of mechanisms to detect and prevent discrimination.
“This issue of AI and its possible negative consequences is set to become increasingly important”, stressed Greece's Maria Daniella Marouda, ECRI's new Chair, referring to the risks linked, for example, to facial recognition.
See the report: http://bit.ly/3ci9yB1 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)