ENAR’s achievements in August-September 2017
– ENAR was invited to input into the preparation of the upcoming EU fundamental rights colloquium on women’s rights, to ensure intersectionality is addressed during the colloquium and will speak in the event planned for November 2017.
– On 7th September, ENAR was the only NGO speaker at a discussion on Afrophobia in the fundamental rights committee of the European Parliament. This was the first ever official debate on Afrophobia in the work of the European Parliament, obtained thanks to ENAR’s advocacy efforts. Several MEPs publicly supported the idea of a parliament resolution on this form of racism.
– On 14 September, in a live debate with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Belgian vlogger Abdel en vrai asked a question on discrimination against Muslim women, based on a prior consultation with ENAR. Juncker replied that he “would never refuse a woman wearing a veil working in the Commission” and that he doesn’t “see a reason why we should ban this religious sign.”
– We took a particularly visible stand on EU bodies’ lack of racial diversity by publishing an open letter signed by 28 equality networks and one op-ed in POLITICO criticising the European Commission’s internal diversity strategy for excluding racial and religious minority staff members. This has been followed up by a detailed legal note and the creation of an ENAR affinity group on ethnic and religious minority EU staff.
Members’ achievements:
– ENAR member Le CRAN (Representative Council of France Black Associations) has received wide media coverage of its criticism of the refusal to remove from public spaces the name of the French Minister who legalised slavery in the 17th century. Following a CRAN campaign, the Paris Council approved the creation of a museum on slavery.
– ENAR member FEMYSO (Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations) sent a delegation of young Muslim students from across Europe to discuss with First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness and other MEPs on topics ranging from Islamophobia to EU Foreign Policy. Concrete recommendations in our area of concern were shared, with the support of ENAR.
– SIMI (Association for Integration and Migration in the Czech Republic) highlighted the situation of migrant women at the Women’s Congress (Czech Republic). A representative spoke about the safety of Muslim women in public spaces and negative attitudes of majority society towards migrants. Three migrant women also shared their personal experiences with regard to “women and public space”.
– The Bureau for the Implementation of Equal Treatment (BUG) in Germany prepared benchmarks for the German federal election by asking five major parties about their proposals regarding the amendment and strengthening of federal anti-discrimination law.
