The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance Publishes its Conclusions Regarding Multiple Countries

04-03-2022

Manon Picard

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published on the 3rd of March 2022 its conclusions on the implementation of its recommendations regarding five countries. These countries are Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, and Slovenia. The ECRI is a human rights monitoring body which prepares reports and issues recommendations to countries represented within the Council of Europe. In 2019, the ECRI had published recommendations to each of these five countries regarding insufficient protection against racism and discrimination. The 2022 report published by the ECRI identifies whether the 2019 recommendations have been implemented by each country. 

The ECRI concluded, in regard of Finland, that it had failed to implement both of its priority recommendations; namely, to change the powers of the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal and grant to victims of discrimination some form of compensation. As for Ireland, the ECRI noticed observed positive developments specifically with the partial implementation of a new hate speech and hate crime legislation. The Netherlands, despite the enactment of a new law, still have a “punitive approach” towards asylum seekers and their integration which led the ECRI to conclude that one of their 2019 recommendations had not been implemented. On the other hand, Romania failed to implement one of the ECRI’s priority recommendations, the need to implement a data collection system for hate speech and hate crime cases. Moreover, the ECRI concluded that the training Romanian public authorities had undergone regarding hate crime had been insufficient. Lastly, Slovenia’s efforts to “address serious shortcomings in the prosecution of hate speech” and provide a legal remedy for alleged victims was only, according to the ECRI, partially implemented.

Although this article only discussed some of the “priority recommendations” included within the ECRI’s conclusions, the ECRI’s 2022 report demonstrates that there is still a wide margin of progression when fighting against racism and intolerance. 

Sources and further reading:

Council of Europe. (2022, March 3). Anti-Racism Commission Publishes Conclusions on Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia. Newsroom Council of Europe. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/anti-racism-commission-publishes-conclusions-on-finland-ireland-the-netherlands-romania-and-slovenia

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. (2022, March 3). ECRI Conclusions on the Implementation of the Recommendations in Respect of Finland Subject to Interim Follow-Up. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-conclusions-on-the-implementation-of-the-recommendations-in-respe/1680a59aea

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. (2022, March 3). ECRI Conclusions on the Implementation of the Recommendations in Respect of Ireland Subject to Interim Follow-Up. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-conclusions-on-the-implementation-of-the-recommendations-in-respe/1680a59aec

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. (2022, March 3). ECRI Conclusions on the Implementation of the Recommendations in Respect of the Netherlands Subject to Interim Follow-Up. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-conclusions-on-the-implementation-of-the-recommendations-in-respe/1680a59aee

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. (2022, March 3). ECRI Conclusions on the Implementation of the Recommendations in Respect of Romania Subject to Interim Follow-Up. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-conclusions-on-the-implementation-of-the-recommendations-in-respe/1680a59af0

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. (2022, March 3). ECRI Conclusions on the Implementation of the Recommendations in Respect of Slovenia Subject to Interim Follow-Up. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-conclusions-on-the-implementation-of-the-recommendations-in-respe/1680a59af2