A
suspected accomplice of a neo-Nazi cell, with his hands cuffed (C) is
escorted by police as he is transported to Germany's federal state
prosecutor.
Photograph by: WOLFGANG RATTAY, Reuters
VIENNA - Racism is spreading in Europe, human rights chief Thomas
Hammarberg said Thursday, also calling for further light on unresolved
crimes from the "war on terror" and in the former Yugoslavia.
"Xenophobia, racism... is on the rise in a number of European countries
for the moment, with negative effects not only on migrants but also on
Roma and other minorities," Hammarberg, the Council of EuropeÕs human
rights commissioner, said in Vienna.
More diversified media coverage and teaching tolerance in school could
help slow this trend, he said in an address to the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe.
But abuse of human and other basic fundamental rights around the
continent remained, he added, pointing to continuing frictions between
states and national minorities, and election violations.
"Some of the (election) monitoring is focusing not enough on whether
there is a fairness in the whole campaign," said Hammarberg, who urged a
review of current monitoring procedures.
"ItÕs not only a question of checking that the balloting day is fair
and the counting of votes is correct but the whole atmosphere around
the election campaign," including the right to organise rallies and for
all political parties to get their message out in the media.
Dealing with past human rights violations, on top of new ones, should also remain a key priority, said Hammarberg.
"We have not done enough to clarify what actually happened after
September 11," he said, a reference to secret CIA prisons set up in
some European countries after 2001 as part of the "war on terror."
In the former war-torn Yugoslavia as well, "there are still problems...
relating to the right to return (of refugees), relating to missing
people or still not accounted for."
"There are some graves which have still not been opened, and of course
there are still problems when it comes to holding to account war
criminals," he added.
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