MPs Urge Facebook to Add Child Protection Button (UK)

Harriet Harman says MPs are "taking action" to make Facebook adopt the UK's CEOP online protection scheme for children - although the site has argued it is not needed.
Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman told the house of Commons that ministers would be urging Facebook to adopt a child protection button designed for the UK - even though Facebook argues that it would be counter productive.

“We need swift action on this,” said Ms Harman, when an MP raised the question of Facebook during questions on future Commons business, according to a Press Association report. Labour’s Madeline Moon asked Ms Harman whether the government can “ensure that Facebook uses the CEOP alert”- a button which allows children to report suspicious activity directly to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP), which was promoted in a government online safty campaign last month.

“I would strongly agree with you and this is the view of ministers as well, not least the Home Secretary (Alan Johnson). Action is being taken in this respect,” Ms Harman said - clearly implying that ministers would be getting in touch with Facebook to urge the use of the CEOP button.

Although the button has been adopted by online sites Bebo and others, Facebook argues that it is a UK-centric tool which would not work well alongside the reporting buttons it already has: “The safety of Facebook users is our top priority,” said a Facebook spokesperson. “We have reporting buttons on every page and continue to invest heavily in creating the most robust reporting system to support our 400 million users. We work closely with police forces in the UK and around the world and have trained staff on two continents giving 24 hour support in 70 languages.”
The site has maintained this stance since November, when it told the BBC that such buttons have actually proved ineffective when it tried them in the past, actually decreasing the number of abuse reports.

The issue of children’s safety online has been in the spotlight over the past week, after Peter Chapman (33) was convicted for murdering 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall. Chapman had got in touch with Hall via Facebook, leading to criticisms from some senior police officers over the dangers of social networking sites.

This was closely followed by allegations from the Daily Mail that teenagers on Facebook were approached “in seconds” by men asking for sexual favours. The allegation was withdrawn, but Facebook is considering suing the Daily Mail.
Facebook has faced criticism from several directions about its attitude to online protection. Its founder Mark Zuckerberg suggested that users do not expecct privacy in online services.

On a smaller scale, some users have expressed doubts about the value of Facebook’s social interaction, prompting some religious users to “give up Facebook for Lent“.

eweekeurope

Court OKs extradition of Swede in Auschwitz case

A Swedish court ruled Thursday that a former neo-Nazi leader arrested in Sweden can be extradited to Poland, where he is suspected of being involved in the theft of the infamous Auschwitz sign.

The Stockholm district court said 34-year-old Anders Hogstrom can be handed over to Poland on condition that, if convicted, he would serve any prison sentence in Sweden. A prosecutor said Poland agreed to the deal.
Polish investigators suspect Hogstrom of incitement to commit theft of a cultural treasure in connection with the Dec. 18 theft of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign at the former Nazi death camp.

They are seeking prison terms of up to 2 1/2 years for three Poles who confessed to stealing the sign and are investigating the role of two others.

The sign was recovered days after the theft.

Hogstrom has denied the allegations and will probably appeal the extradition ruling because he doesn't think he will get a fair hearing in Poland, his defense lawyer, Bjorn Sandin said.

Hogstrom told the court that one of the Polish suspects had contacted him after the theft and asked whether Hogstrom could help them sell the sign. Hogstrom said he informed Swedish authorities when he realized the sign had been stolen.
"I have no way committed a crime. On the contrary. I have made sure that this sign could be returned," he said.

News Times

I’m no racist, insists writer of offensive Facebook comments

A MAN who said he was “going to put nails in a stick” before attending an anti-Muslim protest insisted yesterday he is not racist.

Kristopher Paul Woolf, of Queen Street, Ton Pentre, Rhondda, was one of five men arrested after police officers were alerted to offensive comments being made on a Facebook group trying to arrange the Rhondda March, a BNP anti-Muslim rally which was due to take place on Sunday, February 28.

Woolf, who pleaded guilty at Rhondda Magistrates’ Court to committing a religiously aggravated public order offence of using words to cause alarm or distress on January 15, has been warned he could face jail.

Simon Beattie, prosecuting, said 129 people were linked to the Rhondda March page on Facebook.

He said: “One person who left a message was the defendant.”

He said Woolf, asked on the site whether he was going on the march, replied that he was, writing “I’m going to put some nails in a stick”.

But 30-year-old Woolf dismissed this comment as “childish banter” when interviewed by police.

Mr Beattie added: “He said he had no intention of attending the march or harming anyone.

“On reflection he said he understood that minority groups could get alarmed or distressed. He said he wasn’t a racist.”

Although the Rhondda March did not take place following the arrests of five men in relation to comments they had made on Facebook, the proposed event sparked such outrage that almost 1,000 people joined an opposition group on the same website called “We say no to the planned Rhondda Valleys racist march”.

Kelly Robson, who grew up in the Rhondda, said she set up the group as a platform for “intelligent, informed, peace-loving residents of the Rhondda Valleys”.

Woolf was granted unconditional bail until his next hearing at Rhondda Magistrates’ Court on March 30.

The other four men who were also arrested in relation to comments posted on the Rhondda March page have been bailed until June.
Wales Onlne

‘Keep children out of town during EDL rally’ UK

PARENTS of all secondary school children are to receive a letter advising them against letting youngsters into the town centre alone on the day of a planned English Defence League rally.

While police and Town Hall chiefs have gone to great lengths to declare March 20 as “business as usual”, they are concerned about young people being in the town centre unaccompanied.

With that in mind, parents of all children at secondary schools in the town will receive a letter via the schools, setting out details of the EDL rally, and a counter-demonstration by the Unite Against Fascism group.

The wording of the letter is still being worked out, but The Bolton News believes the council is going to great lengths not to cause alarm.

Sean Harriss, Bolton Council chief executive, said: “We have been working very hard with community groups and we will continue to do so.

“We are confident that adults can make an informed choice about coming into the town centre, but we will be sending out letters to parents through the schools advising them about letting young people into the town centre on their own on the day.

“We have been working with the police and our partners in the community and offering them reassurance both in the lead-up to the rally and on the day itself.”

Police and council officers held a meeting with town centre businesses last week and are due to meet them again on Tuesday.

Bolton police commander Chief Supt Steve Hartley is working in close contact with Chief Constable Peter Fahy and the chairman of Greater Manchester Police Authority Cllr Paul Murphy. He said: “We have not advised businesses to close for the day, nor have we advised them to stay open. We will be providing them with the information as we get it and they can make an informed decision. The message is that it will be a modified business as usual.
“We are talking to other forces which have had EDL events in their town and officers who policed the event in Manchester will be working with us.

“We are taking on board the lessons learned from those events and working them into our operation.”

Greater Manchester Police was praised for the way it handled the EDL rally in Manchester in October.

This week, a letter signed by the town’s political and faith leaders, was sent to Home Secretary Alan Johnson asking him to ban the demonstration, on the grounds that previous EDL events have attracted disorder and violence.

Neither the council or Greater Manchester Police have the power to ban the EDL rally. The authority has also requested a meeting with Mr Johnson or his representatives to put forward their case in person. Previous attempts to get events banned in Manchester and Stoke have failed, although The Bolton News believes that Town Hall chiefs see the violent scenes at the Stoke rally in January as adding weight to their pleas.
The Bolton News

Five bigots beat 32-year-old man in Brooklyn bias attack (USA)

Five bigots are being sought for jumping a 32-year-old man on a Brooklyn street, pummeling him with their fists and pelting him with anti-gay slurs, police said.

Clad in dark clothing, the five followed the Latino victim as he left a gay and lesbian party at a bar, pouncing on him as he walked on Luquer St. in Carroll Gardens about 12:50 a.m. on March 2, police said.

The attackers, who were also Latinos, called the victim a "f----t" and punched him numerous times in the face, knocking him down and causing him to suffer a gash on the back of his head, police sources said.

The victim was treated at Lutheran Medical Center, police said. It was not immediately clear if the perpetrators, who are still at large, were known to the victim or whether the attack was done at random.
NY Daily News

Holocaust heroine Jane Haining honoured by PM

The family of a Church of Scotland missionary who died in the Nazi gas chambers has received a posthumous award in her honour at Downing Street.

Dumfriesshire-born Jane Haining worked at a Jewish orphanage in Hungary.

She refused to abandon the children in her care after the invasion by German forces in 1944 and was sent to Auschwitz, where she met her death.
A total of 28 people received the new British Heroes of the Holocaust award from the prime minister.
The creation of the honour was agreed last year.

It came in response to calls to recognise the efforts of people who helped Jews and others to escape the horrors of the holocaust.
Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown was among those seeking a symbol of recognition.

He led a debate in Westminster asking for a change in the current honours system.
MPs declined to take that action but agreed to look at creating the new award which was due to be collected by Ms Haining's niece.
Jane Haining was gassed to death after being detained by the Gestapo, accused of political activity, helping Jews and of listening to the BBC.

At the outbreak of World War II, she was ordered by the Church to return home to Scotland from Hungary, where she was working with 400 girls in a Jewish orphanage.
Ms Haining, who was originally from Dunscore, was determined to remain with the children.

'Widespread support'
In May 1944 she was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where she was tattooed as prisoner 79467, and died at the age of 47.
The new awards have been welcomed by Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust.
"We are delighted that our initiative received widespread support and that the British government has given these brave people the recognition they have long deserved," she said.

"They provide a template of courage for today's young people - and clearly highlight the difference that can be made by standing up against injustice, hatred and prejudice.

"Many of these extraordinary British men and women risked their lives and never spoke about it afterwards. They are true unsung heroes."

BBC News

GAY ASIANS REVEAL RACISM PROBLEMS (uk)

Gay Asian men living in Yorkshire say they are facing increasing racial abuse from within the gay community. They claim the problem means that some of them are fearing for their own safety and have decided to stay at home or just suffer in silence. Naz from Wakefield explained that when he goes out on to the gay scene in Leeds and Bradford he always sees or suffers from racial abuse. "I have a fear now when I go out that there will be racism directed towards me and my friends," he told BBC Asian Network. "It makes us feel very insecure and I don't think its worth going out because of the problems we face." Ali from Bradford is a regular on the gay scene in the North of England. He goes out every week and tries to ignore the insults but says, inevitably, the racism does get to him. "If I go out then I don't like to go on my own," he said. "I always go with friends. "We get looked at in a funny way. We don't get served in bars unless we protest and we get called Paki or have to deal with comments like 'here come the suicide bombers'." Both Ali and Naz go to get help and advice from a group called ABC in Bradford who provide a support network for Asian and black gay men in West Yorkshire.

Double life
Arshad Khan runs the group and he said: "Being gay and Asian means we suffer from many more problems than other gay men do and it takes great courage for us to go out on the scene and mix in public. "Why should we always get stopped going in to a bar or club and searched? We even get asked to take our trousers down to see if we are carrying any weapons. "We don't want to be accused of being drug dealers or carrying guns. White gay men do not have to endure this. We just want to go out and relax in what should be a safe environment for us." Satnam from Leeds believes most gay Asian men still lead a double life as most do not tell their families, while many are married. "Gay people always say they're more sensitive to other peoples' needs, so it's ironic that I get more racism from gay men than any other community," he said. "If you want to get away from the problem, sadly, you have to go to Asian gay bars and clubs where there's no racism." One of England's oldest gay support groups for Asians is the Naz Project in London, where Asif Quareshi works with south Asian men. "Racism is alive and well but it's far worse in Yorkshire than in cities like London and Manchester," he explained.

Test kiss
Kam moved from London to Leeds a few years ago and agrees that if you want to avoid suffering racism you either do not go out or go to Asian-only bars and clubs. "In big cities the gay community is segregated with white, black and Asian clubs and bars and, where they all meet, is where there are big problems. "Before we can go into a club bouncers ask us to kiss other men to prove we are really gay. White men are not asked to do this so I just don't bother going out anymore, it's not worth it." The Gay Helpline UK says they are not aware of any such problems but agree that racism towards Asians may be happening. They have urged anyone with concerns to contact them to see how they can offer any help. Mr Khan concluded: "We get rejected in many of these bars and clubs and the gay community need to work together and get rid of racism."

The names of the gays Asians mentioned above have been changed to protect their identity.
BBC News

COURT STOPS PROCEEDINGS OVER WORKERS' PARTY LOGO (Czech Rep.)

The Prague City Court has terminated the proceedings in which the far-right Workers' Party (DS) sued the Interior Ministry for the inclusion of the party's logo in a list of symbols used by Czech extremists in a police handbook, the court's spokeswoman Martina Lhotakova said Tuesday. Lhotakova said the verdict has not yet taken effect. The court terminated the proceedings on February 18 shortly after the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) decided on the party's dissolution. Lhotakova said the party was not authorised to take part in court proceedings due to its dissolution. The Workers' Party demanded an apology from the ministry and the removal of its logo from the handbook. The DS's logo, a red cogwheel on a white field and with black letters DS inside, strikingly reminds of the emblem of the German Labour Front (DAF), a kind of a Nazi union organisation. Similar logo was also used by the now defunct Free German Workers' Party (FAP), a party of neo-Nazis dreaming of a Fourth Reich, the NSS concluded. The Supreme Administrative Court said the DS's programme contains xenophobia, chauvinism, homophobia and a racist subtext. It spreads fears of foreigners and creates feelings of danger.

praguemonitor

MOLDOVA'S ROMA PROTEST LATEST ETHNIC SLUR

Leaders of Moldova's 30,000-strong Romany community have asked a former top official to apologize for a racist remark, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. Anatol Plugaru, who headed Moldova's security service in the early 1990s, said last week that in seeking a new constitution the current government is acting like Roma, who "prefer to make themselves a new baby instead of washing the one they have." The Romany organization Antidiscrimination Coalition said it has sent Plugaru, who is a lawyer, a "letter of protest." But the online Moldovan newspaper Jurnal.md quoted Plugaru as saying he will not apologize. Plugaru reportedly said the Romany leaders should apologize for calling him "a racist." Roma leaders also said they have forgiven former Communist President Vladimir Voronin for an ethnic comment that pro-government media had presented as racist. Moldova's newspapers last month printed a draft transcript of a government-sponsored television show that featured a Romany musical band. In the draft Voronin had handwritten "even the Gypsies will sing and dance for money." Voronin later said he did not intend to offend Roma. Last month, acting Moldovan President Mihai Ghimpu, one of the leaders of the pro-Western ruling government coalition, told opposition parliamentarian Oleg Reidman, who is Jewish, that he has seen "intelligent" and "cultivated" Jews, but that Reidman "brings shame on them." Reidman condemned the ethnic slur and said in parliament he represents his constituents, not a specific culture or ethnic group.

rferl

UN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO SLAM 'ISLAMOPHOBIC' SWISS MINARET BAN

Switzerland's
"Islamophobic" ban on the construction of new minarets is to be condemned by the UN Human Rights Council, according to a draft resolution seen by AFP Wednesday. The draft text, put forward by Muslim and African states for consultation by the 47-member council, "strongly condemns ... the ban on construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures." Such measures are "manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religion, belief, conscience and expression." They "fuel discrimination, extremism, and misperception leading to polarisation and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences," warned the draft resolution, which is to be put to the Council for adoption before the end of its plenary session which runs until March 26. Switzerland held a referendum on November 29, 2009 in which citizens voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticisms worldwide. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called the ban a "deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take." The Organisation of the Islamic Conference has also urged Swiss authorities to annul the vote. Most recently, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi called for jihad against Switzerland over its ban on new minarets.
AFP

New film to tackle homophobic bullying is sent to schools (UK)

Copies of a new film designed to tackle homophobic bullying are to be sent to every school in Scotland this week.
FIT, which tells the story of six young people trying to come to terms with their sexuality, is being distributed to the schools by Stonewall Scotland, which campaigns for gay equality.
The film will be launched in Scotland at a premiere in Edinburgh tonight attended by pupils, teachers and campaigners. It will then be sent to every school in the country over the next few days with the help of Teaching and Learning Scotland.

Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, said yesterday that he hoped the film would begin to reverse the problem of gay bullying in Scotland, which he said was still serious.

“The research that we’ve conducted shows that two-thirds of lesbian, gay and bisexual people are bullied at school,” said Watt. “Those young people are more likely to skip classes and drop out of education and then there’s the impact it has on their own self-esteem and confidence.”

FIT has been described as a gritty take on Glee, and Watt said he hoped the film’s direct approach would speak directly to young people. “It’s a different way of getting across the message of the damage homophobic bullying is causing in schools. It looks at it from the young person’s perspective in a medium that they are used to in that style of something like Skins.

“Because of the legacy of Section 28, there’s maybe a generation of teachers who don’t have the confidence, or haven’t been trained or given the resources to tackle homophobic bullying in schools. There’s not a lack of will, it’s just a lack of confidence and the appropriate resources.

“I would hope that all schools will look at this. I would hope that it’s going to be seen in the vast majority of Scotland’s schools.”

FIT was funded by a number of organisations across the UK, including the Scottish Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland.

It is an adaptation of Stonewall’s play for schools, which was seen on tour at eight schools in Scotland in 2007-2008 and was written by the actor and performer Rikki Beadle-Blair.

Beadle-Blair said yesterday: “All bullying is rife and shocking and it stuns me that we seem to kind of accept it as if we’re still in Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Homophobia of any kind is archaic.”

Beadle-Blair said homophobic bullying also happened to people who aren’t gay. “People are attacked for not being enough of a boy, enough of a lad, and girls for not being the right kind of girl. It’s constant. The word ‘gay’ is in the hands of all these teenagers and young people and older people who thoughtlessly using it as a casual put-down for almost anything.”

Beadle-Blair said he was reluctant to criticise schools, but that more needed to be done. “I don’t want to criticise schools. I just want them to be better now. Yes, I think schools have been too slow to deal with it but I think we’ve all been too slow to deal with it.”
herald Scotland

BNP plans to vet would-be members at their homes

Party's revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit, court is told

The British National party plans to send officials to vet all would-be members in their homes, a court heard today.
A clause in the far right group's revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit by two party officials, Central London county court was told.
That could operate as a form of indirect discrimination against non-whites, said Robin Allen QC, representing the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is challenging the party's membership rules. "One way the provisions could operate would be to intimidate someone who wanted to join the party," he said, adding: "Of course, it could simply be a greeting."
BNP members last month voted to scrap the whites-only membership criteria after it was warned it faced legal action under equality laws.
The EHRC is arguing that the new constitution remains indirectly racist, even though the colour bar has been removed. That is rejected by the BNP, which argues that ever since it officially opened its doors to all ethnic groups it has acquired a "waiting list" of black and Asian would-be members.

The party's new constitution, which has yet to be published, remains prejudicial because it requires members to agree to clauses including that they are "implacably opposed to the promotion, by any means, of the integration or assimilation" of the UK's indigenous white population, Allen said.
"It would be jolly difficult for a mixed-race person to join the BNP without effectively denying themselves," he argued.

Gwyn Price Rowlands, representing the BNP, described the EHRC argument as nonsense and claimed the party already had a "significant number" of non-white members, all of whom were "welcome".

"I am informed that there is a waiting list of black, Asian and Chinese people to join," he said.

Judge Paul Collins is to rule on whether the new BNP constitution is indirectly racist on Friday.
An internal BNP memo seen by the Guardian tells members: "We don't expect any more than a handful of people of ethnic minority origin to apply to join the party nationally, and we will not let this deflect us from our political objectives of saving Britain and restoring the primacy of the indigenous British people."

The legal wrangling comes amid claims of a renewed challenge to the BNP from other extreme rightwing groups. The National Front says it has seen an upsurge in membership enquiries in recent months – mainly from BNP supporters who feel the party is "selling out".
National Front's spokesman, Tom Linden, said there had been a 70% increase in inquiries since Griffin appeared on BBC Question Time and the NF is expected to stand around 25 candidates at the general election.

"The British National party is no longer a white racist party, it is becoming a multi-racial party by giving into the race industry," he said.
guardian

SLOVAKIA SAYS ROMA KIDS 'MUST BE TAKEN' FROM HOMES FOR 'INTEGRATION'

Slovakia's prime minister said on Monday children of the European Union member's large Roma minority "must be taken" from their impoverished settlements and put into boarding schools to hasten integration. Robert Fico's comments follow last week's criticism from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who rapped the Slovaks and their Czech neighbours for a worsening situation in the treatment of their Roma, sometimes known as gypsies. With his SMER party leading opinion polls ahead of a June general election, the leftist prime minister said the schools were the only way to break a cycle of exclusion in which most Roma grow up without any hope of joining mainstream society. "The (next) government's agenda must include a programme designed to gradually put as many Roma children as possible into boarding schools and gradually separate them from the life they live in their settlements," Fico said. "It seems that there is no other system. Many things have been tried... If we don't do it, we will raise another generation of Roma which will not be able to integrate." Slovak deputy Prime Minister for minority issues Dusan Caplovic said the plan had received preliminary approval from top Roma officials and children would only attend boarding schools if their parents agree.
The financial crisis has raised concern over a potential rise in intolerance and discrimination across Europe as economic hardship increases social tension and could embolden radical groups such as Hungary's anti-Roma, far-right Jobbik party. Up to around 10 percent of Slovakia's 5.4 million people are Roma. Most live on the margins of society in squalid settlements with limited access to education, electricity and running water. In many communities, unemployment runs at well over 50 percent. Violence is also a problem. Last year, Slovakia faced criticism after a video showed police abusing a group of Roma boys, while in 2008 a court sentenced two officers for beating a Roma man to death at a police station in 2001. Fico said he expected the proposal to draw criticism from human rights groups and Ivan Ivanov, Executive Director of the European Roma Information Office in Brussels reacted cautiously to the plan. But Ivanov said if it meant Roma children would attend Roma-exclusive boarding schools, and not regular Slovak schools, it went against the principles of the European Union. "If this is what they say, this is a very bad development," Ivanov said. "This is against all principles of the European Union because we are talking about desegregation, about the integration of this Roma community."
reuters

DUTCH FAR-RIGHT MP TO TAKE COUNCIL SEAT IN THE HAGUE

Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders will take a seat on the municipal council of The Hague where his party came second in municipal polls last week, the city said Monday. "I can confirm that Mr Wilders will take a seat on the council," a spokeswoman for the municipality, Tina Ehrami, told AFP. Wilders had listed himself in the 20th and last spot of his Party for Freedom's (PVV) list of candidates for elections in The Hague, where it took 16.8 percent of the vote and eight seats out of 45 on the municipal council. The PVV had contested only two cities: The Hague, the seat of government, and Almere near Amsterdam where it came first with 21.6 percent of the vote in a show of strength ahead of June general elections. Wilders, whose party is said by polls to now be the most popular nationally with its campaign to "stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands", won 13,636 votes for himself in The Hague while the head of his PVV list in the city, Sietse Fritsma, got 16,229 votes. The candidate in third place received 612 votes. "I didn't initially want to do it (sit on the council), but I realised Friday that I received quite a few preferential votes," in his own name, Wilders was quoted as saying Monday by Dutch news agency ANP. "For that reason, I will do it." He will remain a member of the Dutch lower house of parliament. The new municipal council of The Hague, where the Labour party PvdA came first with 21.2 percent of the vote and 10 seats, will be inaugurated on Thursday. Negotiations to form a coalition government in the city were well underway, said Ehrami. Wilders, who faces hate speech charges for calling Islam a fascist religion, campaigns for a ban on headscarves for public servants, a halt to immigration from Muslim countries and a moratorium on the erection of mosques. His party currently has nine out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament.

expatica

INHUMANE PUSHING OF GYPSY FAMILIES BETWEEN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES CONTINUES

Roma migrants are returned by force to places where they are at risk of human rights violations, according to Thomas Hammarberg, European Commissioner for Human Rights. Roma reportedly migrated mostly from Indian subcontinent to Europe many centuries ago. In his viewpoint published on his official website, Hammarberg says: European migration policies discriminate against Roma people. Of particular concern is the fact that some Roma who have been forcibly returned have ended up in the lead-contaminated camps of esmin Lug and Osterode in northern Mitrovica, inhabited for a decade now by Roma families, including children, with deeply serious effects on their health. Expulsions of Roma have been carried out in contravention of European Union law. In other cases destruction of Roma dwellings has been used as a method to persuade Roma to leave voluntarily. Discrimination of Roma in migration policies has met with little or no opposition in almost every country. This may not be surprising in view of the lingering anti-Gypsyism in large parts of Europe, Hammarberg adds. To push Roma families between countries, as now happens, is inhumane. It victimizes children many of whom were born and grown up in the host countries before they were deported,Human Rights Commissioner points out. Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was shocking to see how inhumanely Europe was treating its about 15 million Roma brothers and sisters. It was clearly reprehensible, hazardous and immoral and a blatant failure of Europe to meet its international obligations. When it came toRoma, Europe frequently failed to implement its own laws distinctly mentioned in its own books. Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that besides the absence of any serious efforts at their inclusion,Roma were being used as punch bag and blamed for the social ills of Europe. European neglect was trapping Roma in cycles of persecution and poverty. Roma issue should be one of the highest priorities of human rights agenda of Europe and world, thus reversing the history of persecution, Zed stressed.
aniin

FEARFUL IN MOSCOW (Russia)

In just three weeks, one Korean student lost his life and another nearly did so presumably by ultranationalists in Russia. Going further back, an average of one Korean has been killed or injured by Russian neo-Nazis and other thugs every year since 2005, showing foreigners' security in the former leader of the socialist bloc has reached an intolerable state. Diplomats may be tempted to think the six Koreans are just part of the hundreds of victims stabbed, strangled or beaten to death by more than 70,000 skinheads belonging to about 20 ultra-right organizations in the socially and economically unstable country over the years. Sunday's incident shows, however, it might not be entirely incidental. Various circumstantial evidences seem to indicate that the two assaulters carefully planned the crime, considering the victim, a 29-year-old cinema-student-cum-TV-cameraman, had taken part in producing a program on neo-Nazi skinheads not long ago. It also means Koreans have emerged as a group noticeable enough to become targets of premeditated attacks. This should be a rude awakener to both Korean and Russian diplomats in a country where up to 15 percent of local youths are sympathetic with the xenophobic, racist groups, which believe everything bad in their country is ascribable to foreigners, as these aliens are exploiting Russia's wealth and resources while taking away local people's jobs. Regretful are the reports that Moscow appears not very eager to crack down on these anti-social, anti-human elements ¯ even if one acknowledges this is neither a problem peculiar to Russia nor an easy one to root out ¯ not least because such xenophobic trends would drive foreign investors and tourists further away, which will in turn lead to even greater economic difficulties and a wider income gap among the Russians in a vicious circle.


None other than Korean residents in Russia are reportedly expressing not just shock and anger but fear, raising questions whether Russia is a law-abiding, civilized state where law enforcement authorities are operating normally. These ethnic Koreans have already been suffering enough from inconveniences with visas and other consular problems there. The foreign ministry is considering issuing a travel warning for more regions of Russia, while telling Koreans to avoid pleasure quarters especially after dark as well as to travel in groups. This ``take-good-care-of-yourself" advice may be better than nothing, but Koreans in Russia are asking, ``Does it mean we'll have to personally hire bodyguards?" Seoul must go way further from this and call for Moscow to thoroughly investigate these incidents, punish the criminals and promise to do its best to prevent their recurrences ¯ not just in words but in deeds. If these requirements are unmet, there is no reason President Lee Myung-bak shouldn't make a personal call to either Russian President Dmitri Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and show them what summit diplomacy is supposed to be. Concerns about possible diplomatic frictions must give place to the safety of his own people, which is the foremost duty of any government.
The Korean Times

BNP member rules discriminate indirectly, court told

The BNP's new membership rules "indirectly" discriminate against black and Asian people, the UK equalities watchdog has told a court hearing.

The BNP has voted to admit non-white members but still requires them to sign up to its principles, the Central London County Court was told.

A judge will rule on Friday whether the new rules contravene race laws.

The BNP, which voted on the new rules last month, denies its planned new constitution is discriminatory.

Party members backed changes to its constitution to allow "non-indigenous Britons" to join, after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) took legal action.

'Disadvantage'
The court heard that prospective members had to sign up to principles including a duty to oppose the promotion of any form of "integration or assimilation" that impacted on the "indigenous British", and a requirement to support the "maintenance and existence of the unity and integrity of the indigenous British".

Robin Allen, QC, representing the EHRC, said: "That is something which we would submit is indirectly discriminatory.

"They will put persons who do not fall into the indigenous British category at a disadvantage."

He argued the principles could be interpreted to oppose mixed marriages and could force people to deny their own identity.

Mr Allen said: "We simply say from the commission's point of view we are statutorily obliged to encourage diversity and recognise diversity as part of the British state in its widest sense.

"We're indifferent as to the expression of views as long as they are lawful. It's the condition of access that we take exception to."

'Welcome'
The new, 12th, version of the BNP constitution states that members have to agree to two party officials - one male and one female - visiting their home for up to two hours, the court heard.
Mr Allen said this could be used to enable potential members to be intimidated, although there was no evidence it had been used in that way.

But Gwynn Price Rowlands, for the BNP, told the court there were "significant numbers" of members who were mixed race or in mixed marriages, along with "several" Jewish members.
He said: "They (the BNP) make it clear that they would welcome more applications from ethnic minorities."

Mr Rowlands told the court he "could not understand" how a black or Asian person supporting the concept of British nationalism could be discriminatory.
He added that the BNP was "simply putting their principles forward and allowing any ethnic minority member to join and support and espouse those principles".
Judge Paul Collins said he would issue his judgement on the issue on Friday.

BBC news

BNP awaits court decision on membership change

The British National Party will find out on Friday if its decision to end its whites-only membership rule means it complies with race relations laws.

The party voted last month to let black and Asian people join.

This came after the Equality and Human Rights Commission had threatened the BNP with a possible court injunction over its membership policy.
London Central County Court will give a judgement on whether the change means the party now complies with the law.
The BNP has not revealed the exact nature of its membership change, but it is thought it has removed references to "indigenous British" people.

This would pave the way for black and Asian people to be admitted to the party for the first time.
BBC News

SPANISH BOOKSHOP OWNER JAILED FOR SPREADING NEO-NAZI PROPAGANDA

A Spanish court has sentenced a bookshop owner to two years and nine months in prison for spreading racist propaganda, justice officials said Monday. Pedro Varela spread ideas favourable to genocide that denigrated Jews, blacks and other groups, the court said. He apparently did this through the books he sold at his Barcelona bookshop, and by organizing lectures. Prosecutors had asked for a four-year prison sentence. Varela was also ordered to pay a fine of 2,880 euros (3,945 dollars). His defence had argued that Varela belonged to no political party and that there were no banned books in Spain. Varela had already been handed seven months in prison on similar charges, in 2008. At that time, he avoided being jailed, because he lacked a criminal record.

DPA

Welsh Branch of English Defence League Lies Are Exposed.

A video has been uploaded on to the You Tube website today that exposes the hypocrisy of the Welsh branch of the EDL.
The Welsh Defence League maintained that the neo-Nazi salutes and anti-Nazi flag burning that were done during its Swansea march were not carried out by any members of the group, but rather it had been infiltrated by outsiders.
This video proves their claim to be a total fabrication.



The user who uploaded this is called BNPInfo and hs channel and great videos can be found by
Clicking here