ENAR Network achievements – May-August 2018

Coalitions for National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR). ENAR trained a coalition of more than 47 organisations in Belgium to ask for a NAPAR. The coalition received a good national press coverage and met twice with Ministry representatives. Another coalition training took place in Portugal.

Hearing on Muslim women in the European Parliament. Our advocacy work led to a first hearing of the Women’s rights committee of the European Parliament on the situation of Muslim women in Europe. Committee members asked for continuous work of the committee, despite strong far right criticism. Videos around the hearing were viewed more than 70,000 times. Led by ENAR, more than 100 Muslim women called for a real European model of inclusion. The same opinion piece translated in French on La Libre Belgique sparked a heated debate in France and Belgium.

EU Week for People of African Descent. In May 2018 ENAR co-organised the first ever Week for People of African Descent in Europe, attended by 250 participants. A delegation of 25 activists called for specific policy measures to address Afrophobia in Europe. The week received wide press coverage including in the Guardian, Politico EU, Belgian media RTBF.

Forgotten Women Report – quotes. The report on the impact of Islamophobia
on Muslim women was quoted in the Open Society Foundations Report “Restrictions on Muslim women’s dress in 28 Member States”, in the Islamophobia in Europe annual report and in the “Gender norms, religious intolerance and Muslim women”.

Members’ achievements

ENAR Belgian member Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium Forgotten Women project video was screened on national TV ‘Feminism(s), a common struggle’.

Our Irish member Africa Centre Ireland has launched a voter education and mobilization campaign for the upcoming 2019 Local and European Elections. To address the lack of support from politicians on issues affecting the African Diaspora and other minorities, the Africa Centre will be carrying out voter education and mobilization exercises in several cities and towns across Ireland in the coming months.

Generation 2.0, our member in Greece, secured a win for the insurance rights of the second generation. An amendment tabled in Parliament includes a regulation equalizing the social security rights of the children of migrants with those of the children of Greek citizens.