Ireland’s EU presidency comes at a time when Europe must take decisive action to address hate crime, says Enar Ireland director Catherine Lynch
Ireland’s EU presidency comes at a time when Europe must take decisive action to address hate crime, says Enar Ireland director Catherine Lynch
Hate crime is an indisputable problem across the European Union, ranging from racist speech to murder – such are the findings of the EU’s own Fundamental Rights Agency in November last year.
A month after the FRA published its study on hate crime, Ireland took up the EU presidency and is effectively charged with responding to this reality. The Irish Government is at the helm, and its leadership will shape the direction of EU responses, either through action or inaction.
Justice ministers from across Europe met in Dublin in January and named racism as an issue. Recognition of the problem at a European level is an important first step. However, Europe needs a guarantee that hate crime will be prioritised, especially at a time when economic conditions are leading to an increase in racism. Our Irish and European leaders need to find ways to go beyond rhetoric and demonstrate their commitment by concrete action.
As a collective, the EU must ensure that member states make racist crime punishable across the EU. Legislation is the cornerstone to any effective strategy to address racism. Unfortunately, to date the EU has only set a minimum standard in this area.
The EU Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia required member states to address racism in criminal law by November 2010. Even though this instrument is quite weak, it is worrying to note that despite the seriousness of the issue in Europe, some member states have not made appropriate legislative changes
Ireland can show leadership on this issue. However, to do this with any credibility, we must make sure our own house is in order and commit to establishing the means to address racist crime here. Perhaps the biggest obstacle we must overcome is this myth that Ireland is an exception in Europe, that racism in Ireland will never be as bad as elsewhere.
Racist incident reports from the Irish Network Against Racism testify to the disturbing fact that racism is an everyday reality in Ireland as well. Research on hate crime in Europe reveals unhappy parallels with and warning signs for the Irish situation.
At a national level, it is apparent that economic priorities have helped made hate crime invisible in public and political discourse. Instead of facing up to the issue, there is a persistent denial of the problem. Exacerbating this is our limited capacity to record racist incidents. We cannot accept this as an approach at the national level and denial must not be the order of the day as we lead in Europe.
Recommendations of EU Fundamental Rights Agency can be summarised in three simple steps:
- Make hate crime visible;
- Give victims the opportunity to seek redress against perpetrators; and
- Ensure that member states respond effectively to hate crimes as an abuse of fundamental rights.
The Irish Government can make its mark on the Europe of today and tomorrow, simply by following the advice of the FRA and guaranteeing anti-racism and fundamental rights their rightful place on the agenda. We must never forget the origins of the European Union nor lose sight of the fundamental values of equality and rights that are meant to underpin our union.
Racism in Europe is not an issue on which Ireland can be neutral. We cannot let ourselves off the hook by assuming that racism is an inevitable consequence of recession. The Irish Government and all those in leadership roles across Europe have a responsibility to counter racism. We must take on to ensure to the best of our ability that Europe has the means to protect people against racism; otherwise we are also culpable.
To put it in the words attributed to the 18th-century Irish philosopher Edmund Burke: “All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to stand by and do nothing”.
Catherine Lynch is the director of the Irish Network Against Racism.
