Monday 11 October 2010
Dr Petrova presented an overview of issues of hate crime against migrants and intolerant anti-immigration discourses in the OSCE area from the perspective of equality and human rights.
Intolerance against Migrants: Dr Petrova presented an overview of issues of hate crime against migrants and intolerant anti-immigration discourses in the OSCE area from the perspective of equality and human rights. She further set out the various ways in which migrant rights have been restricted recently at all stages of the migration cycle, including in access to the destination country, admission processes, integration into the host society, and removal procedures. Dr Petrova also highlighted the situation of a number of migrant groups which are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, including Roma, stateless persons, children, and persons with mental health problems. Finally, she made recommendations to OSCE Participating states related to combating discrimination and intolerance against migrants. To read the speech on Intolerance against Migrants in the OSCE Area, click here.
Tolerance and Non-discrimination: ERT’s submission called on participating states to address issues of intolerance and discrimination by ensuring the full implementation of the right to equality in domestic legislation and ensuring that all essential elements of equality law are enshrined in national law. The submission focused on some of the basic elements of national equality law, relying on the principles contained in international human rights law, the authoritative interpretations of UN treaty bodies and the Declaration of Principles on Equality. The paper discussed the right to equality, equal treatment, positive action and the right to non-discrimination and the definition of discrimination. To read ERT’s submission, Tolerance and Non-discrimination, click here.
Problems Pertaining to Statelessness: ERT’s submission sought to highlight five particular problems of statelessness and urged OSCE Participating states to come together to find a common and sustainable solution to statelessness. The paper discussed: (i) present inequalities between the treatment of de jure and de facto stateless persons; (ii) the failure of the majority of the OSCE participating states to implement statelessness determination procedures; (iii) the failure of immigration detention regimes to recognise and respond to the specific challenge posed by statelessness, and to ensure that immigration detention practices and policies do not discriminate against the stateless; (iv) the failure of security detention regimes to recognise the impact that security detention may have in creating and exacerbating statelessness; and (v) specific challenges which emerge from protracted cases of statelessness – the Latvian case. To read ERT’s submission, Problems Pertaining to Statelessness, click here.
To find out more about the proceedings at the OSCE Review Conference, click here.
