Strasbourg, 19/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has published five new reports on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance in five states that are members of the pan-European organisation. EUROPE would recall that ECRI is charged with examining developments in society, legislation and the administrative practices of the 41 COE member countries and publishes regular reports on the situation in each. ECRI observes that positive developments have occurred in the five countries studied but details continuing grounds for concern.
Belgium: Antiracist laws are still very rarely applied, discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin in employment is still frequent and there is widespread exploitation of racism in politics by extreme right-wing political parties. ECRI also points out the occurrence of manifestations of racism and intolerance on the part of "some law enforcement officials".
Bulgaria: ECRI's concerns relate particularly to the situation of the Roma/Gypsy population, which has been the target of ill treatment by police and discrimination in many fields of life, including education and employment.
Czech Republic: The high incidence of discrimination against members of the Roma/Gypsy community and the widespread lack of communication between the authorities and the majority population on the one hand and members of the Roma/Gypsy community on the other are cause for concern, deems ECRI.
Hungary: Here too, ECRI voices concern about the situation of the Roma/Gypsy population. Although membership of neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing parties is currently relatively limited, ECRI considers that care needs to be taken to counter any expressions of intolerance or anti-Semitism in political discourse and public debate.
Switzerland: Violent expressions of racism and intolerance remain sporadic and a rise in anti-Semitism seems to have peaked, observes ECRI. Intolerance is nonetheless present in Swiss society, which often fails to recognise that the concept of multiculturalism covers more than the traditional linguistic plurality of the country. ECRI notes a danger of a worsening of certain attitudes in the population around issues such as the presence of asylum seekers or the status of the large non-citizen population in this country.