It’s been a year since #BLM (Black Lives Matter) protests were successful in pushing the EU to create an EU Anti-Racism Action Plan. To truly start tackling racism over the next year, over 40 organisations have got solutions. We hope to work constructively with the European Commission to deliver change!
Rather than being protected by police, many racialised communities are victims of racist policing and violence. The families of Stanislav Tomas, Adil or Ousman Sey are still waiting for justice, as are many more. We’re calling on the Commission to put an end to police brutality, discrimination and violence by extending the Race Equality Directive (RED) to cover law enforcement.
As President von der Leyen stated last year, it is time “to build a truly anti-racist Union – that goes from condemnation to action.” The Commission has promised to ensure that all Member States put forward National Action Plans Against Racism (NAPARs). With COVID-19 devastating our communities in some of the worst ways, we’re calling for these action plans to be finalised, and delivered by 2022.
It’s time racial justice is mainstreamed in ALL policy areas. Racism does not happen in a vacuum. It’s structural. Let’s include racial justice in climate, digital, economic, education, employment, foreign, defence, gender, migration and security policy. With the increased targeting, arrests and outright banning of anti-racism activists and organisations across Europe, we’re calling on the European Commission to closely scrutinise developments in the Member States and provide concrete support for anti-racist human rights defenders and organisations at risk.
We’re calling for the EU Coordinator on Anti-Racism to work together with civil society in the organisation of the EU Anti-Racism Summit under the French Presidency in March 2022 and to ensure a dynamic and interactive meeting with a focus on structural racism, as well as high-level participation including the President of the Commission and Heads of States.
We want to see the EU Coordinator on Anti-Racism ensure meaningful and regular dialogue between the European Commission and civil society organisations led by racialised groups, communities and organisations.
Finally, it’s time that racialised people are properly represented in the EU institutions and agencies.
We’re calling on the relevant bodies of the various institutions to put forward its proposals on creating a safe positive environment and strategy that will increase the representation of racialised people and others from underrepresented communities.
To read the manifesto and see the list of civil society organisations, go here.
This statement is in cooperation with ENAR (European Network Against Racism), Equinox (Initiative for Racial Justice) and ERGO Network (European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network).
