Top Migration Agency Official Denies Racism is a Problem in Russia

'No grounds for concern' over racist attacks in Russia - migration service Interfax states
Moscow, 20 March: The Federal Migration Service (FMS) does not agree with the opinion that the level of xenophobia and attacks because of ethnic intolerance have taken on menacing proportions.

"To say that in Russia foreign citizens are being victimized en masse is stupid. There are isolated incidents. There are no grounds for concern," the deputy head of the international and public relations directorate of the FMS, Konstantin Poltoranin, told Interfax today.
He reported that crimes due to aggressive xenophobia are committed in some Russian regions.

"Such attacks are an echo of various ill-conceived populist statements which some of our politicians and officials make," Poltoranin said.
According to him, xenophobic crimes harm the image of the country and are interpreted negatively in neighbouring countries. Poltoranin also said that a new subdivision will be created in the FMS
which will work on issues of increasing tolerance.
"The decision has been taking on creating a directorate in the FMS which will work on issues of tolerance and the integration of foreign citizens. This directorate will cooperate closely with Russian state
structures and will work with ethnic diasporas and public organizations, including human rights activists," Poltoranin said.
Director of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau Aleksandr Brod told Interfax today that from January to mid-March, 31 xenophobic attacks were recorded in Russia; as a result 10 people were killed and 28 were
injured.
Citing the results of monitoring, Brod reported that most aggressive xenophobic attacks this year have been recorded in Moscow and Moscow Region, Altay Territory, Vladivostok, Nizhniy Novgorod and KaliningradRegions and St Petersburg.
In Russia this year, Kyrgyz nationals, Koreans, Russians, Uzbeks and people from Africa have most often been the target of attacks by radical nationalists.
Rights activists have said that activists of radical nationalist organizations who attack people from the Caucasus and Central Asia, representatives of youth subcultures and sexual minorities, number tens of thousands in Russia.
At the end of January 2010 the Sova centre, which also monitors xenophobia, distributed a report which noted that the number of xenophobic attacks in the Russian Federation has begun to decrease in
recent years.
"The year 2009 was the first in more than the six-year history of our monitoring when the number of incidents connected with racist and neo-Nazi violence has substantially decreased, although its level remains frighteningly high," it says in the Sova report.
It notes that in 2008 and 2009 the law-enforcement agencies eliminated the largest and most aggressive ultra-right-wing groups in Moscow Region.
UCSJ

Birmingham barrister set to stand as BNP election candidate

A BIRMINGHAM barrister is set to stand in the General Election as a BNP candidate, according to the party’s website.

Robert Grierson will contest Sutton Coldfield – which is held by Conservative Andrew Mitchell with a majority of more than 12,000.

Mr Grierson has been a barrister for 18 years specialising in tax, trust, wills and estates work.

He is currently a door tenant at St Philip Chambers in Birmingham city centre, which means he works with the Chambers but is not a member.

James Burbidge QC, head of the Chambers, said he was previously unaware of his involvement with the BNP.

“Mr Grierson’s political persuasions, his beliefs and his association with the British National Party were not known to Chambers when he applied for and was accepted for a door tenancy,” Mr Burbidge said.

“As is well known across the Midlands and in the wider legal community, St Philips Chambers operate a strict non-discriminatory policy towards its members, staff, lay and professional clients and members of the public alike.”

Mr Grierson and the BNP were unavailable for comment but he told the BNP website he believed he had a chance of making an impact on May 6.
“I am certain I can provide an effective challenge to the sitting Tory MP in Sutton Coldfield,” he said.

According to the website, Mr Grierson was born in Witton and educated at King Edward’s School before attending Downing College Cambridge, the same as BNP leader Nick Griffin.

MP Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East) said the revelation that a barrister was standing in the West Midlands for the BNP would trouble many in the business community.

He said: “I’m sure no self-respecting business would want to use the services of a barrister standing for a party which holds such extreme views.”

birminghammail

Democratic Forum (MDF) PM candidate Bokros warns of far-right radicalism (Hungary)

Lajos Bokros, prime minister-candidate of the conservative Democratic Forum (MDF), said in a press interview that the checks and balances of Hungary's democratic system are out of kilter and far-right radicalism has become a huge problem in Hungary.

Interviewed by news portal hvg.hu, Bokros said he shared the opinion of Democratic Forum members of parliament who voted for a recent amendment to the Penal Code, making Holocaust denial punishable by the law.
"Hungary cannot allow itself to interpret freedom of speech without any limits because this would violate the human rights of others and upset the sound checks and balances," he said.
"Hungary is not the United States. Perhaps in 100 to 150 years it will become that. Then this law can be repealed," he said.
An economic reformer, Lajos Bokros was finance minister in Gyula Horn's socialist-liberal government in 1995-1996. He is famed for his eponymous austerity package, which successfully dug Hungary out of its economic hole in the mid-nineties.

Politics HU

Gay-hate imam to speak at Swedish conference

An organisation for young Muslims in Sweden has outraged the country's largest gay rights group by inviting an imam in favour of executing homosexuals to speak at its April conference.
US-born preacher Sheikh Abdullah Hakim Quick, who has described Jews as "filthy" and advocates the execution of homosexuals, is scheduled to speak at the Sveriges Unga Muslimer ('Sweden's Young Muslims') conference this Easter weekend.

The Muslim group has claimed it was unaware of Hakim Quick's extreme views when the booking was made but said it would not remove him from the roster as this would disrupt the conference schedule.

"That's no excuse, it just shows a complete lack of responsibility," said Sören Juvas, chairperson of Swedish gay rights group RFSL.
Juvas expressed fury that the hateful preacher was to receive a platform in Sweden on which to air his extreme views.
"I was previously under the impression that this organisation respected principles of equal rights for everybody but now it seems they couldn't care less about the values they claim to stand for," he told The Local.
"If the roles were reversed and we had found out that one of our speakers was Islamophobic then we would have immediately retracted the invitation."
Mohammed Kharraki, vice chairperson of Sveriges Unga Muslimer, did not return The Local's calls on Wednesday.
In a statement released on its website on Wednesday afternoon, however, the organisation defended its decision to allow Hakim Quick to speak and claimed it was the victim of a smear campaign launched by Liberal Party politician Philip Wendahl.
Wendahl called last week, in an article published by opinion website Newsmill, for the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs (Ungdomsstyrelsen) to withhold 1.5 million kronor ($200,000) in funding earmarked for Sweden's largest Muslim youth group in 2010.
Dismissing Wendahl as a politician with an alleged anti-Muslim agenda, the group said its guest speaker had been widely misrepresented.
"When we made contact with the speaker himself he claimed not to possess these opinions and said he was the victim of hate propaganda from anti-Muslim forces," said Sveriges Unga Muslimer.

But a 2004 decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority of New Zealand tells a different story. Responding to a complaint from a viewer, the authority issued a reprimand to an Auckland television station for broadcasting hateful comments made by Hakim Quick in a lecture shown on the Voice of Islam programme.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority noted that Hakim Quick blamed the spread of AIDS on the “filthy practices” of homosexuals, whom he described as "sick" and "not natural". He added that homosexuals were dropping dead from AIDS and “they want to take us all down with them”. He further stated that the Islamic position on homosexuality was "death".
"Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against homosexuals] and it's not enough to call names," said the imam.
The Local se

Police in Australia investigated over 'racist' e-mail

Up to 100 police officers are being investigated in the Australian state of Victoria for sharing a racist e-mail.

The message reportedly shows a non-white man being tortured. Officers being investigated could face dismissal for circulating it on police computers.
The Victoria police force has been criticised for failing to respond adequately to a series of attacks against Indian students in Melbourne.

Earlier this month the police chief admitted some officers were racist.

Computer experts tracking the e-mail found that several had added racist comments before forwarding it on to colleagues, the Melbourne newspaper The Age reports.

It was one of a series of e-mails that were either racist or pornographic in nature, according to the Victoria Police chief Simon Overland.
"It's offensive and my view is that it would cause significant concern and alarm in the community if the nature of the material was made public," he said.
Earlier this month, Mr Overland was forced to concede there were racial bigots within the ranks of his force.

This followed a damning report that accused police officers of taunting and beating up an African youth.

BBC News

No increase in asylum claims to developed nations

The total number of asylum applications to industrialized countries in 2009 saw virtually no change from 2008. The UN says this is proof that wealthier countries as a whole are not being swamped.

The issue of asylum seekers remains an attention-getting topic for many European citizens, and it remains high on the agenda of some European political parties who see it as a problem that must be solved. But annual figures from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) show that the total number of asylum applicants to industrialized countries for 2009 – 377,000 – is virtually the same number as for 2008.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told Deutsche Welle that the figures were proof that wealthier countries were not being swamped by asylum claims.

"Our statistics show that this is not the case," said Fleming. "The notion that there is a flood of asylum seekers into richer countries is a myth."

Change in origins and destinations
Although the number has remained relatively stable, there is a change in both where the applicants are coming from and where they are trying to go.
Afghanistan is now at the top of the list of source countries for asylum seekers, with over 26,000 applicants to industrialized countries in 2009 – 45 percent more than 2008. Iraq comes in second, with 24,000 applicants.

The UNHCR says the statistics reflect continued violence and instability in those countries.

United States remains the number one destination country for people seeking asylum. But proportionally, some countries saw an increase in the number of asylum seekers making applications there. Germany saw a 25 percent increase in the number of asylum applications received in 2009 compared to the year before. Nordic countries received 13 percent more applications than in 2008.

But the UK's numbers dropped five percent, and Greece, which traditionally has a very low acceptance rate for refugees, saw a drop of 20 percent.

Developing countries have largest burden

Fleming says it is important to bear in mind that poorer countries continue to bear the brunt of housing refugees and asylum seekers.

"When you look at the statistics, there are 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and one million in Iran," said Fleming. "Compare that number to the 26,800 requesting refugee status in industrialized countries."

The UNHCR says it hopes the latest figures will take the heat out of Europe's extremely politicized asylum debate, and encourage industrialized countries to show greater generosity to those in need.

DE World

Is Facebook tagging a breach of privacy? EU court battle looms for social networking giant

European regulators are investigating whether posting photos, videos and other information about people on websites such as Facebook without their consent is a breach of privacy laws.

The Swiss and German probes go to the heart of a debate that has gained momentum in Europe amid high-profile privacy cases - to what extent are social networking platforms responsible for the content their members upload?
The investigation set the stage for a fresh battle between U.S. internet giants and European authorities a month after an Italian court held three Google executives criminally responsible for a user-posted video.
Any changes resulting from the investigations could drastically alter the way Facebook, Google's YouTube and others operate, shifting the responsibility for ensuring personal privacy from users to the company.


Swiss and German data protection commissioners are demanding that Facebook explain its practice of allowing users to upload email addresses, photographs and other personal details about people who haven't signed up to the site.

'The way it's organised at the moment, they simply allow anyone who wants to use this service to say they have the consent of their friends or acquaintances,' Swiss commissioner Hanspeter Thuer said.

To conform with Switzerland's strict privacy law, Facebook could be required to contact people whose information has been posted online and ask them whether they agree to its being stored there

dailymail

Cyber spy breakthrough could net Facebook predators

BREAKTHROUGH in cyber crime prevention could identify potential paedophiles – from the way they use a keyboard.

Newcastle University is investigating ways to use technology which can determine a typist’s age, sex and culture within 10 keystrokes by monitoring their speed and rhythm.

The research has been carried out in the US by the university’s associate professor Roy Maxion, and former Northumbria Police detective chief inspector Phil Butler believes it could be useful in tracking down fraudsters and paedophiles. The murder of Darlington teenager Ashleigh Hall last year by a predator she met on Facebook has raised fresh calls for extra security to protect young people on the internet.

Mr Butler, who heads up the university’s CyberCrime and Computer Security department, said: “We’re looking at the application of the research, particularly in relation to internet grooming.

“If children are talking to each other on Windows Live or MSN Messenger, Microsoft might be able to see if there’s an adult on there.”

The department, which was formed last summer, also believes the new technology could be used to prevent fraud at devices such as cash machines

For more on this story journal live

ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS RISING IN SCANDINAVIA

Anti-Semitic attacks by Muslim extremists reportedly are on the rise in Scandinavia. Jewish communities across the region have lodged complaints about the rise in attacks and the lack of official intervention, according to a report in Die Presse, an Austrian Internet publication, published on March 16. Fredrik Sieradzk of the Jewish community in Malmo, Sweden, told die Presse that Jews are being "harassed and physically attacked." He said the perpetrators are "people from the Middle East," but was quick to add that only a small number of Malmo's 40,000 Muslims "exhibit hatred of Jews." In Norway, pupils have had yellow stars pasted to their backs by bullying classmates, some of whom have said that "all Jews should be shot." Teachers reportedly often don't react. In Copenhagen, Jewish pupils hide their Stars of David and remove their yarmulkes on the way home from school, particularly if their routes take them through neighborhoods with many Muslim residents, according to reports. The blogosphere is buzzing with reactions to a report on Norway's state-run TV on March 18 in which Jewish parents, their faces hidden from the camera, reported moving their children out of schools where they were being bullied, only to find the same problem cropping up again in new schools. Teachers said some Muslim pupils openly deny the Holocaust and complain when the subject of anti-Semitism comes up. One pupil who reported that a classmate had threatened to kill him because he was a "Jewish pig" was told by his teacher that "this could happen to anyone." Norwegian Education Minister Kristin Halvorsen has rejected charges that her highly critical stance toward Israel has encouraged an atmosphere in which Jewish pupils are victimized. She told Die Presse that "one's views on Israeli politics have nothing to do with harassment of Jews." The Swedish newspaper Skanska Dagblade reported that attacks on Jews in Malmo totaled 79 in 2009, about twice as many as the previous year, according to police statistics. Some 30 Jewish families have emigrated from Malmo to Israel in the past year, specifically to escape from harassment, Sieradzk told Die Presse. Jewish communities in Sweden number a total of about 20,000 members. Only a few thousand Jews live in Norway and Denmark.

JTA

MUSLIMS QUIETLY TAKE WILDERS' ABUSE (Netherlands)

Day in and day out, Dutch Muslims are told their religion is "a fascist ideology" and "a threat to Dutch society". They hear their "so-called prophet Muhammad" is "a barbarian, a mass murderer and a paedophile", or words to that effect. The indignities come from a member of parliament: Geert Wilders. After leaving the right-wing liberal VVD party in 2006 and setting up his own Party for Freedom (PVV), Wilders has made criticism of Islam his one main issue. He is being heard by native Dutch people who fear the country of 16 million is suffering under the burden of its estimated one million Muslim citizens. Wilders obtained 5 of the 25 Dutch seats in European parliament last year. His PVV did very well in the two municipalities in which it participated in recent local elections. Some polls have predicted his party could become the biggest in parliament after the upcoming national election. One wonders why the Muslims he is targeting are not standing up against his attacks and letting themselves be heard. When asked this question, Islam expert Mohammed Cheppih immediately countered it: "Aren't we all Dutch?," he asked. "Society as a whole should stand up to Wilders. Wilders is destroying the Netherlands. We should all ignore him."

Counterproductive?
Farid Azarkan, the director of an interest group of Moroccan-Dutch people, SMN, agreed. "Where are all the reasonable Dutch people who say: 'This is not how we treat each other here'?" Ideally, non-Muslims would support their Muslim compatriots en masse, Azarkan ventured. "Suppose that all the women in Almere [the one city where Wilders' PVV won the most council seats in the local election] would don a headscarf." Azarkan chuckled at the idea of such a form of protest against the PVV's proposed headscarf ban in municipal buildings there: "But that is not realistic." Azarkan has thought about instigating large-scale protest, but believes it would ultimately be counterproductive. "Imagine we would organise a mass demonstration, say, on the Malieveld in The Hague," he said, referring to a meadow near buildings housing the national government. "It would suddenly be filled with thousands of headscarves. People who don't fear Islam wouldn't be bothered by it. But those are not the people we need to convince. The people who support Wilders however, will go ’Yuk, there they are'." The fear of rubbing native Dutch people the wrong way by lashing out at Wilders is one argument why Muslims aren't organising themselves. Another is that a movement would be hard to establish because there is no single Muslim community in the Netherlands. Moroccans, Turks, Somalis, Surinamese, Iranians and Iraqis in the Netherlands all have their own religious lives and communities. They are impossible to mobilise, according to Azarkan.

Faith in democracy
A unifying, Dutch Islam has yet to develop, said Loubna el Morabet, who is a PhD researcher in social science at Leiden University. "This is an ongoing process. Muslims in the Netherlands are already very Dutch," she said. "I have done research in the Netherlands and England and learnt that Muslim students here have adopted the Dutch mentality. This is their country." Arkazan offered the example of the lack of success of Muslim parties as an argument why any fear of Muslims "taking over" the Netherlands is "a joke". In this month's municipal elections, Islamic parties failed to obtain a single council seat anywhere but in The Hague. "Obviously, Muslims vote for a party that suits them, they don't vote for a religion," said Arkazan. "We call that integration." Many Muslims and non-Muslims in the Netherlands are uncomfortable with the things the PVV has been saying. The party has suggested Muslims who don't adjust to the dominant Dutch culture should be deported. It has also talked about shooting criminals of Moroccan descent in the knees. But for most who disagree with him, their faith in democracy is larger than their fear of Wilders. "Of course I feel threatened when I hear Wilders speaking," said Loubna el Morabet. "But if I take a step back, I realise he will never be able to carry out his ideas. Taxing headscarves is nonsense and halting immigration from Islamic countries is discrimination. The principle of equality is deeply embedded in Dutch law."

Compromises
Even if he wins the upcoming national election, many Muslims don't believe he can change Dutch, let alone European, laws that protect them. "And you can't rule a country ranting and raving," Farid Azarkan said about Wilders' politics. Several Muslims interviewed said they would welcome a large PVV after the June election. If Wilders were to be forced to take responsibility and make compromises, his rank and file would realise he can't deliver, they said. The Netherlands is always ruled by coalition governments and if Wilders were to form one "he would need to have clear ideas about other issues than just Muslims," said El Morabet. "What does he really want for our country? The only statements he yells are anti-Islam, everything else is hazy." Cheppih, however, disagreed. "It is extremely frustrating that other parties don't preclude governing with Wilders. It would be a clear sign if other parties would say: 'We don't want to cooperate with the PVV'. The party is empty and has hardly taken positions on anything." Cheppih encouraged other political parties to rule out any coalition with the PVV after the election. "Society as a whole should hit back hard: we do not accept this! Make that clear. Otherwise, things could escalate. The fear he sows is imaginary, but he is being heard. The higher the minarets, the more frightened the people."

Personal encounters
This fear of Islam is fuelled by the media hype surrounding Wilders, said El Morabet. "I think it is ridiculous that media pay so much attention to a party that has garnered a handful of seats in the municipal elections. [Left-wing liberal party] D66 was the real winner of the local elections and that happens to be the one party that tells Wilders: 'You are shutting people out, you discriminate'. That gets relatively little attention." To counter the anxiety some native Dutch feel for Islam, Farid Azarkan thinks, Muslims need to try to remove this through personal encounters. "You have to reach out to people. A minority happens to be xenophobe. I don't believe you can sway all of them. They have to notice out on the streets that you may be Muslim, but apart from that, you are all right.”

NRC