Council of Europe: an initiative to let everyone know ECRI’s General Policy Recommendations

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) was established by the Council of Europe in 1993. It is an independent human rights monitoring body specialised in questions relating to combating racism and intolerance. It is composed of independent and impartial members, who are appointed on the basis of their moral authority and recognised expertise in dealing with racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance.
One of the pillars of ECRI’s statutory activities is the preparation of General Policy Recommendations (GPRs), which are addressed to all member States and provide guidelines which policy makers are invited to use when drawing up national strategies and policies in various areas.
ECRI has so far adopted 16 General Policy Recommendations, 11 of them are available in the following abridged versions (click to download the text):

- establishment and functioning of Equality bodies;
- fighting racism, intolerance and discrimination against Roma;
- combating intolerance and discrimination against Muslims;
- combating racism while fighting terrorism;
- the fight against antisemitism;
- combating racism and racial discrimination in and through school education;
- combating racism and racial discrimination in policing;
- combating racism and racial discrimination in the field of sport;
- combating racism and racial discrimination in employment;
- combating Hate Speech;
- safeguarding irregularly present migrants from discrimination.

ECRI has published the above new texts, characterised by their simple language and attractive design with the aim to raise public awareness about issues related to racism and racial discrimination and ways of preventing and combating them.
The texts contain reference to the original GPR and its explanatory memorandum, as well as to other publications on the specific issue.
Effective implementation of the GPRs clearly requires the involvement and commitment of a wide range of private and non-governmental actors, in addition to public ones.
With this initiative, ECRI aims to reach and raise the interest of a public wider than the governments of the Council of Europe member States to which the GPRs are formally addressed.

Further information is available at the link below.