CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Europe: Racism on the Increase

Brussels. March 14th, 2010. -  Surveys carried out over the last few weeks show disturbing data on the discrimination against immigrants and reveal "how high the figure of concealed racist-motivated crimes is", according to humanitarian organizations.

Racism and xenophobia are more widespread in Europe than experts had thought. A survey conducted a few months ago among immigrants and members of ethic minorities in the 27 countries of the European Union by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency found that 12% of the interviewees declared to have been the victim of racist violence in the last 12 months. From this group, 89% didn’t go to the police, because they didn’t expect to receive help.

According to the report, there’s resignation among minorities and immigrants and frequently a lack of "confidence in mechanisms to defend victims." The text adds that minorities are especially discriminated against in Italy and Greece, and denounces that the worst discrimination is suffered by the 12 million members of the gypsy ethnic group Romany, followed by African immigrants. Last year, one out of every two Romany gypsies, who live particularly in the new EU member nations of central and southeast Europe, was the object of discrimination.

With respect to Germany, people coming mainly from Turkey and Yugoslavia were consulted about their experiences -52% of the Turkish immigrants and 46% of the ones coming from the Balkans affirmed that xenophobia is "very" or "quite" widespread in Germany, while 75% of those interviewed from the two groups also said they didn’t know of any organization that could help them in case of difficulties.

The attempts at normalizing migration flows with the hardship of the economic crisis, as backdrop in 2009, and the option of racist and discriminatory discourse, contrast on the European political agenda around immigration.

So much so that the governments of France, Germany (with the largest proportion of migrants from countries outside the EU) and Spain have been the target of criticisms against state policies on migration, which doesn’t relieve the remaining industrialized countries, important recipients of labor force, of responsibility.

According to the Eurostat office for statistics, some 20 million foreigners lived, in 2008, in nations from the European Union, which is equivalent to 3.9% of the total population.

However, the prevailing stance of the European Union is that of imposing an increasingly restrictive legislation on non-natives, for which it openly resorts to discourses implying a review of old policies of social and cultural integration.

Governments like that of Great Britain, on the other hand, make people believe that immigration is a key factor in the increase of unemployment and the very few possibilities of work for natives, with the purpose of justifying the toughening of migratory laws. (SE) (Cubaminrex – Granma)

 

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