NEWS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF JEAN LAMBERT

LONDON'S GREEN MEP MARKS INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

18 March

London's Green MEP, Jean Lambert, has called upon her fellow MEPs to mark this year's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by sending a strong and common message on the Parliament's continuing commitment to eradicate racism from the EU landscape.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid "pass laws". Proclaiming the Day in 1966, the United Nation's General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

Mrs Lambert said; "Racists across Europe continue to traffic their hatred throughout the Union. We, as Parliamentarians, have drawn attention to the transnational dimension of racist acts and organisations and the corresponding need for a response at the European level. A response that will make their hate filled crimes more difficult to commit and enable our Governments to tackle them more effectively. The Council Framework Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia moves us into that direction and would be a strong legislative tool in our common fight."

Members of The Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup in the European Parliament are therefore calling for the Parliament's support in urging the European Council to move towards agreement on the Commission's proposal for a Council Framework Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia (COM (2001)664 final).

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Press Contact Alex Rowe 020 7 407 6280 / alexrowe@greenmeps.org.uk

Notes to Editors
1 An upcoming report of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), a specialised EU agency, will highlight the fact that racist violence continues to be a problem across the EU. The report comes to the conclusion that there is a need to enact and approximate legislation on racist violence in EU Member States in order that racist/xenophobic violence is punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties. If the Framework Decision were to be adopted by Member States it would reinforce criminal law measures against racist violence and support prosecution of incidents.