UNESCO Clearinghouse on GCED

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Study on measures taken by municipalities and recommendations for further action to achieve greater vigilance against racism: Commitment 1 of the Ten-Point Plan of Action Year of publication: 2006 Author: Klaus Starl Corporate author: UNESCO | European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Austria) Commitment 1 of the Ten-Point Plan of Action of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism requires ‘Greater Vigilance against Racism’. This point aims at setting up a monitoring, vigilance and solidarity network against racism at the municipal level. To reach this goal, the members of the coalition are called to undertake activities, elaborate strategies and establish relevant institutions to monitor the local situation concerning structures in society, attitudes within the population and racist incidents. They are called to find out causes for racist tendencies among their population and establish solidarity networks involving all stakeholders, particularly civil society organisations. As an external expert, the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Graz, Austria, (ETC Graz) was commissioned by UNESCO to carry out a study on the measures already taken against racism at the local level that serve as good illustration of ‘Commitment 1’. Major information resource was the written material provided by the selected cities. Through direct exchange and/or interviews with responsible officers of the municipalities and some NGOs, additional or missing information could be obtained. The material is not to be considered as complete. On the basis of the contribution sent in by the participating cities, the ETC made an assessment whether these actions/activities meet the objective of the Commitment 1. The authors used the following criteria to make this assessment: does the action undertaken contribute to a) creating and promoting vigilance directly; b) creating and promoting vigilance indirectly through awareness raising; c) creating and promoting vigilance through a monitoring measure or d) the establishment and maintenance of a solidarity network. The authors presumed that c) and d) will lead directly to greater vigilance. The following recommendations are derived from the eight selected measures documented in Chapter II, and the analysis on their replicability in Chapter III. The 10 recommendations expicitly or implicitly refer to the replicable documented measures. Where the replicability requires specific conditions, these are stated or it is recommended to fulfil these conditions firstly, i.e. structural and institutional conditions. The 10 recommendations are addressed to municipalities in Europe irrespective of their current membership in the European Coalition of Cities against Racism. As already mentioned the recommendations focus on meeting the requirement of Commitment 1, creating greater vigilance against racism.

Study on challenges in the development of local equality indicators: a human-rights-centred model; Commitment 2 of the Ten-Point Plan of Action Year of publication: 2010 Author: Klaus Starl | Jennifer Pinno Corporate author: UNESCO | European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Austria) The study aims at: Providing a theoretical fundament of ECCAR Indicators to measure racism or (in)equality1 and to evaluate municipal anti-discrimination policies (framework concept), and Discussing related legal and practical issues such as legality and reliability of available ‘ethnic’ data (legal and practical preconditions) in the context of ECCAR’s endeavours to set up an ECCAR-wide applicable system of monitoring racism, discrimination, equality and respective municipal policies. The study is structured in three parts. In the first part, preliminary questions concerning legality and practical feasibility of ‘ethnic’ data collection as a prerequisite for the development of and work with adequate indicators will be discussed. The second part deals with the conceptualization of human rights law as the constructing principle of ECCAR Indicators. It includes the discussion of the proposed model of the ECCAR-ADIX. The third part of the study describes practical examples of indicator use in selected ECCAR member cities. The section shows various approaches and gives evidence on different attempts by municipalities to set up fact-based anti-racism policies but also highlights the variety of methods, data, measurement topics, goals, etc.

Study on measures taken by municipalities and recommendations for further action to challenge racism through education Year of publication: 2006 Author: Klaus Starl Corporate author: European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Austria) Commitment 8 of the Ten-Point Plan of Action of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism requires the measures “Challenging Racism and Discrimination through Education”. This point aims to improve the access to and enjoyment of all forms of education, as well as the promotion of education in mutual tolerance and understanding. To reach this goal, the members of the coalition have been called to undertake activities, elaborate strategies and establish relevant institutions to influence society and train attitudes, behaviour and skills within the population. They are called to find out causes for racist tendencies among their population and to involve all stakeholders, particularly parents and school officials. As an external expert, the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Graz, Austria, (ETC Graz) was commissioned by UNESCO to carry out a study on the measures against racism already in place at a local level and serve as good illustration of “Commitment 8”. A major source of information was the written material provided by the selected cities. Additional or missing information could be obtained through direct exchanges and/or interviews with officers responsible for the municipalities and some NGOs. The material should not to be considered as complete. On the basis of the contributions sent in by the participating cities, the ETC assessed whether these actions/activities meet the objectives of Commitment 8. The authors used the following criteria to make this assessment: Does the action undertaken contribute to a) the improvement of access to education and promote equal opportunities; b) the impact of educational measures on individuals (potential victims and offenders) and on the atmosphere at school and in society. The following recommendations are derived from the eight selected measures documented in Chapter II, and the analysis on their “replicability” in Chapter III. The 12 recommendations explicitly or implicitly refer to the replicable documented measures. Where “replicability” requires specific conditions, or it is recommended to fulfil these conditions firstly, i.e. structural and institutional conditions, these are stated. The 12 recommendations are addressed to municipalities in Europe irrespective of their current membership in the European Coalition of Cities against Racism. As already mentioned the recommendations focus on meeting the requirements of Commitment 8, challenging racism through education.

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