Rome, June 09: For some time leaders of the 47-nation Council of Europe has been alarmed over the backlash in Europe against immigration and the hostility directed at some minorities, notably Muslims and Roma.
Earlier this year the Council named nine “eminent persons,” mostly ex-government ministers, to study the problem, and they drew up an action report, entitled Living Together, that was recently released after a meeting in Istanbul. The group, headed by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, presented 59 “proposals for action,” the first 17 being labeled “strategic recommendations” to European institutions and member states.
One of the guiding principles is that, provided they obey the law of countries in which they live, immigrants should not be expected “to renounce their faith, culture or identity.”
Two people who have been involved in work of the Council (a body separate from the European Union that specializes in human rights, law and culture issues) discussed the report on Tuesday at a meeting held in London under rules that prohibit naming them.
They noted that, increasingly, Roma and Muslims have been marginalized and demonized and xenophobic political parties have been gaining strength. Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper recently calculated that 17 anti-immigration parties have gained representation in various European parliaments.
The speakers acknowledged that some of the ethnic majority of European whites—especially those who are poor and unemployed—feel threatened by immigration. But one blamed tabloid newspapers in Britain and elsewhere for feeding anti-immigrant sentiment as numbers of immigrants have expanded hugely in recent years. They now account for 10 percent of the French population and as much as 25 percent of the population in some large European cities.
In recent months British Prime Minister David Cameron, German President Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have all pronounced multiculturalism a failure. At the meeting of “eminent persons” in Istanbul, this term was put aside entirely because “nobody knows what it means,” one speaker said.
The group was unable to come to any agreement about moves in some European countries, particularly France, to ban the burka and other face coverings by Muslim women. “Even among people of like liberal mind, this is an issue on which there is no agreement,” one speaker said.
A guiding principle for treatment of immigrants, this source said, was equal liberty under one law—no exceptions for immigrants who want to impose Sharia law, Jewish family law or similar measures. But he said immigrants need access to citizenship, which will enable them to have a voice in framing national laws.
The “eminent persons” report calls on people in leadership positions to speak up for the principles the Council of Europe supports, and made clear this includes not just politicians but footballers, pop stars, church and other religious groups, educators, the mass media, employers and trade unions.
“In practice, successful integration is brought about nine out of ten times at the local level,” one speaker said.
He said some of the most harrowing testimony heard by those who compiled the report came from Roma, who number 10 to 12 million across Europe. They told of villages in Hungary that have “a nice school” for Hungarian children and a “dirty,” poorly financed school down the road for Roma. Some also told of forced sterilization in some countries.
One speaker said those seeking to deal with problems caused by immigration should minimize compulsion and maximize persuasion, and emphasize combining diversity and freedom.
The two speakers did not shy away from the prospect that recommendations such as those of the Council of Europe often prove difficult to implement. But they offered no clearcut formula for making sure these recommendations do not wind up in a dustbin.
–Agencies