Europe 'failing to confront growth in racial violence'
By Stephen Castle in Brussels
14 April 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=629168

European governments were accused of complacency and
of failing to confront the scale of racist violence
after a report said only a handful of nations
collected proper information.

The document also highlighted a surge of attacks on
racial minorities and global events, with Muslims
being targeted after 11 September and more
anti-Semitic attacks following crises in the Middle
East.

Yesterday's report from the European Monitoring Centre
on Racism and Xenophobia said that only six EU
countries monitored the scale of violence properly,
and demanded a comprehensive system. Greece, Italy and
Portugal have "no official criminal justice date on
racist crime/violence" and Spain released only limited
data for 2001.

Most of the 10 countries that joined the EU last year
have little record-keeping and in the EU as a whole,
"no two countries have data that is strictly
comparable," the report said.

Beate Winkler, the centre director, said: "If you are
not collecting data, it seems that you do not have a
problem. My message to those governments is to give a
clear lead, take the problem seriously and face
reality".

The report identifies the groups most vulnerable to
racist violence as illegal immigrants; Jews; Muslims;
North Africans; émigrés from the former Yugoslavia;
refugees and asylum-seekers and Roma. There was clear
evidence "that attacks on Muslim communities increased
in the months following 11 September" and some victims
were wrongly identified as Muslims.

The document adds: "There is also evidence from a
number of member states, such as France, Belgium,
[the] Netherlands, that attacks on Jewish people and
Jewish property have flared up in response to
conflicts in the Middle East."

According to the research, the main perpetrators tend
to be "young males; members of extremist politically
motivated organisations and others not affiliated to
such groups." In Britain - praised for its record
keeping - media and NGO reports "indicate some
evidence of increased violence directed at people who
are or are presumed to be Muslim".


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