ENAR Weekly Mail 1

1 July 2005

INTRODUCTION

This is the first ‘issue’ of ENAR’s electronic Weekly Mail. Information included in this weekly mailing will cover ENAR’s activities & publications, as well as news and information from or about ENAR member organisations, other NGOs and EU institutions. We will aim as much as possible to not use attachments, but provide you with web links, so as not to make these mails too “heavy”. Please forward this weekly mailing to all ENAR members in your countries.

This is only a first “try-out”. Both content and layout will be improved as we go along. Any suggestions – with regard to both fact and form – will be most welcome.

We will aim to issue the Weekly Mail in English and French every Friday. If there is any news you want to share with the network through the Weekly Mail, please send it to Maartje (maartje@enar-eu.org) on Wednesday evening at the latest, in order for it to be included in the next Weekly Mail.

ENAR SECRETARIAT

The Secretariat of ENAR now has 4 staff members:

o Pauline Geoghegan (info@enar-eu.org), part-time Interim Director,

o Myriam De Feyter (info@enar-eu.org), Administrator,

o Jean O’Connor (jean@enar-eu.org), Web and Reports Officer and

o Maartje Houbrechts (maartje@enar-eu.org), Information and Communication Officer.

On 15 August a new Policy Officer, Ms Anna Visser, will join the team, and the recruitment of a new Director is under way. The team will be complete after the finalisation of the recruitment of a Secretary and Campaign Officer.

ENAR’S ACTIVITIES

· Press release: Uncertainty on Constitution threat to fundamental rights

On 30 June ENAR issued a press release to announce its most recent publication - The EU Constitution and Racism: New Legal Tools - and to express its concern about the delay in the ratification of the EU Constitutional treaty. Although the Treaty does not represent a major break from previous treaties on social issues, it contains a number of important innovations in the area of equality, ethnic minorities, anti-discrimination and racism. Link to the press release: http://www.enar-eu.org/en/press/2005-06-30.shtml

· Press release: Anti-discrimination should remain high priority on EU agenda

On 1 July, ENAR issued a press release after the end of a EU conference, entitled Mainstreaming Diversity: opening the debate with the whole of society held on 27-28 June 2005. The conference was addressed by ENAR Chair Bashy Quraishy and Board member Franco Bariluzzi (Luxembourg).

Before the conference, ENAR-Luxembourg and CLAE (Comité de Liaison et d’Action des Etrangers) sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Luxembourg welcoming the conference but expressing concern about the fact that the Race Equality Directives have not yet been transposed into national Luxembourg law, and recommending him to publicly announce the transposition at the conference.

For the full text of the letter (in FR), contact Franco Barilozzi (migrations@clae.lu)

NEWS FROM ENAR MEMBERS

· A Fact sheet on the European Constitution – Equality and the EU Constitution

The National Bureau against Racial Discrimination (LBR), the National Coordination of ENAR in the Netherlands, has published a 7-page fact sheet on the consequences of the implementation of the EU Constitution regarding equal treatment, in cooperation with four other Dutch non-discrimination organisations working on gender, sexual orientation, age and disability. It gives an overview of some of the positive changes in the field of equal treatment and the fight against discrimination (on grounds of sex, race, ethnicity, disability, age and sexual orientation) by comparing the Constitution with the treaties that currently form the basis of the EU.

The fact sheet is available in English and Dutch at the below links:

EN: http://www.lbr.nl/?node=3608

Dutch: http://www.lbr.nl/?node=3183

· INTI Grant Program

CESTIM, an ENAR associate in Italy, is leading an application for a grant under the INTI Program 2005. The concept paper is entitled: N. Mandela Intercultural Workshop. Creation of a workshop for the coordination and evaluation of integration projects implemented on a European level. The aim of the project is to create and develop an intercultural workshop to scientifically analyse projects, initiatives and events throughout Europe in order to identify strong cultural elements that can be transferred and applied in different geographical areas. For more information, to obtain the paper (available in EN and FR) or to participate in the project, please contact Luciano Scagliotti (lscagliotti@enar-it.org)

ROMA ISSUES

· ECRI: Discrimination Against Roma Continues

ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance) released five new country reports, on Albania, Croatia, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Each report found serious failures to protect the Roma populations in these countries from racial discrimination, poverty, and human rights violations.

Read Dzeno’s article on the reports: http://www.dzeno.cz/?c_id=7802 (EN only)

ECRI’s country-specific reports are available in

EN: http://www.coe.int/t/E/human_rights/ecri/

FR: http://www.coe.int/T/F/Droits_de_l'Homme/Ecri/

and the national language of the country concerned.

· Legal victory for Greece’s Roma population

The 300,000 Roma living in Greece won a major judicial victory on 8 June with the decision of the European Committee of Social Rights to condemn Greek policies towards the housing and accommodation of Roma. The Committee held that the current situation in Greece is a violation of Article 16 of the European Social Charter, guaranteeing protection of family life and family housing for all Europeans.

Read more: http://www.dzeno.cz/?c_id=7813 (EN only)

NEWS FROM THE EU

· Community Action Programme to Combat Racism – mailing list

You can sign up to the European Commission’s contacts database to receive regular updates on the Community Action Programme to Combat Racism, including news of funding opportunities, new publications, events, etc. IF you want to sign up, register on www.nondiscrimination-eu.info

· Illegal immigration, asylum and border control

The EU is to develop a common system for immigration and asylum and a single external border control strategy. The Luxembourg Presidency was committed to furthering the common asylum policy, working towards the long-term resident status of refugees and developing the return and readmissions policy. Read more:

EN: http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-117508-16&type=LinksDossier&_lang=EN&email=56594

FR: http://www.euractiv.com/Article?_lang=FR&tcmuri=tcm:28-120326-16&type=LinksDossier&email=56594

· Referenda on EU Constitution - let the people vote?

The European Council adopted the final text of the Constitutional Treaty on 18 June 2004. The Treaty was signed on 29 October 2004. Starting on this date, the Member States have, in principle, two years for its ratification. EurActiv sheds some light on the state of play in each Member state. Read more:

EN: http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-130616&type=Overview&_lang=EN&email=56594

FR: http://www.euractiv.com/Article?_lang=FR&tcmuri=tcm:28-133445-16&type=Overview&email=56594

NEWS FROM OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

· Amnesty International

AI issued an 8-page document on 20 June that looks at new legislation and the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers in a number of European countries.

EN: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR010102005?open&of=ENG-2EU

FR: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/FRAEUR010102005

PUBLICATIONS

· EU reference works

Two new editions of EU reference works providing a comprehensive overview of EU policy and legislation in the commercial, industrial and social sectors are now available:

o Access to European Union (14th edition): this is an annually revised title that presents the latest economic, political and legislative developments in each EU policy area. It contains over 1000 exact references to key Community legal texts and more than 300 bibliographic references. (Price: 55 Eur/£36)

o Access to Social Europe (4^th edition): provides a comprehensive analysis of the major political and legislative developments that have occurred in the social sector since the establishment of the Common Market. (Price: 255 Eur/£170)

Both publications are available (in English only) from:

European Study Service, 43 Avenue Paola, B-1330 Rixensart, Belgium.

E-mail: nigel.hunt@skynet.be