ECRI urges Europe’s governments to address trends in racism and intolerance
Press Release – Strasbourg, 25.10.2013 – European countries need to come to terms with their multicultural identity and acknowledge the important role that immigration plays in the economy, asserted the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in its annual report just published.
Acute financial instability and a subsequent increase in resentment and prejudice against immigrants, Muslims and Roma people in particular, are some of the worrying trends identified during ECRI’s country visits in 2012. ECRI notes that xenophobic parties have attracted increasing support and representation in the parliaments of several European countries, and a marked rise in racially motivated hate speech via the internet.