Open letter to the President of the European Parliament and the leaders of the European political groups in the European Parliament:
ENAR and other Black organizations from across Europe are very concerned about the use of the N-word by Polish MEP Janusz Korwin Mikke in the European Parliament.
We demand a short, meaningful statement from the President of the European Parliament as well as from the leaderships of the political groups sanctioning the use of this racist and demeaning term.
The growth of right-wing parties or parties that propagate racist content, ideas and practices jeopardizes the exercise of European principles such as human rights and equality. The European Union was founded on these very principles and it is alarming that a member of the European Parliament violates them.
Last week’s incident is a clear example of how an openly racist and discriminatory party seeks to exercise racial discrimination through democratic legitimacy. It also promotes growing anti-black racism in Europe. 7-12 million people of African descent and Black Europeans live in Europe and numerous studies, including the Fundamental Rights Agency’s European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey, indicate that Black people in Europe are more affected by hate speech, racial slurs and discrimination in various aspects of their daily lives.
ENAR and Black organizations demand:
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an official statement of the president
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Sanction against this discriminatory language under Rules 165 and 166 of the EP Rules of Procedure.
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A report by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) regarding the use of discriminatory language in the work of the European Parliament.
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A strong anti-racist intergroup within the EP that monitors all types of religious, racist, ethnic and nationalist hate speech and builds and continues to promote anti-racism, equality and non-discriminatory behavior in areas of the EP
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The adoption of a European strategy paper for a national strategy for the inclusion of people of African descent and Black Europeans that addresses racial discrimination.
These measures must be implemented urgently if the European Union is to pursue its own principles. This incident should not go unsanctioned, otherwise it will only further downgrade our human rights and diminish the understanding of anti-racist governance structures and suggest impunity for anti-Black racism.
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