I CARE - - UN Reports on Racism in Sweden and Netherlands Highlight the Need to Tackle Afrophobia

5.11.15

I CARE - - News - Internet Centre Anti Racism Europe: By Claire Fernandez, Deputy Director for Policy at the European Network Against Racism (ENAR).



2/11/2015- Concerns over the increasing ill-treatment and violence targeting asylum seekers and migrants in Europe have confirmed ENAR's worse predictions on deeply-rooted and structural racism and xenophobia. The recent racist killings at a school in Sweden are the latest in a series of violent incidents targeting ethnic minorities. In this context, United Nations bodies have recently issued damning reports on racism in two Western European countries which usually praise themselves for their tole-rance: the Netherlands and Sweden. Based on the UN Decade for People of African Descent that started in 2015, the UN bodies looked specifically at the situation of people of African descent in these two countries and highlighted a number of concerns. Their recommendations draw lessons for Dutch and Swedish authorities as well as for the EU and its Member States as a whole. People of African descent and Black Europeans are amongst the groups most targeted by discriminatory practices and yet these remain largely invisible and overlooked.