Nazi hunters call on Belgium's justice minister to be sacked

Jewish Nazi hunters have called for Belgium's justice minister to be sacked after he backed an amnesty for thousands of Second World War Belgian collaborators. 

Stefan De Clerck, a Flemish Christian Democrat, has polarised Belgium, fuelling the country's one year political crisis, by supporting a blanket amnesty for the 56,000 Belgians who were convicted of collaborating with the Nazis after the war.

"Perhaps we should be willing to forget, because it is the past. At some point one has to be adult and be willing to talk about. perhaps to forget, because this is the past," he said at the weekend.

The Simon Wiesenthal centre has sent a letter to Yves Leterme, the Belgian Prime Minister, accusing the minister of a "betrayal of history, his obfuscation of its lessons and his contempt for the very concept of justice."

Around 25,000 Belgian Jews were deported to Auschwitz from the Mechelen army barracks, north of Brussels, after being rounded up by authorities that often enthusiastically collaborated with the Nazis despite strong resistance from Belgium's people.

Only 1,207 survived and in 2007 the Belgian state he Belgian state apologised for "a collaboration unworthy of a democracy with a policy that was disastrous for the Jewish population".


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FRENCH SPORTS MINISTER SETS UP ANTI-RACISM BODY

French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno on Monday announced the setting up of a committee to fight against discrimination in sports headed by former Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel. "We can't say whether discrimination is on the rise. In any case, they are being revealed more often," Jouanno said. "Internet has freed speech and made discrimination more visible." The committee made up of 40 people will be divided into two working groups, one overseeing legal matters and the other focusing on education. "We have a tendency to trivialize discriminatory comments and gestures," said Guadeloupian Flessel, a five-time Olympic medallist, who claimed she had "suffered (from discrimination) at the beginning of her career". She added: "We have to educate and if necessary to take action."

The initiative follows on from a charter against homophobia in sports launched last year by former Sports Minister Rama Yade with Jouanno deciding to extend its functions to racist and sexual discrimination. French football was embroiled in a race row in recent weeks after a transcript of a meeting last November was released in which top officials discussed introducing quotas on the number of dual-nationality players at youth training centres.

AFP

Hate crimes against gays, transgenders on rise: UN

Hate crimes against gays, bisexuals and transgenders are on the rise around the world, said Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, and urged governments to do more to eliminate prejudice based on sexual orientation.

Marking the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia Tuesday, the UN commissioner urged governments to do ‘much more’ to eliminate discrimination and prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

‘No one is entitled to treat a group of people as less valuable, less deserving or less worthy of respect. Each and every one of us is entitled to the same rights, to the same respect and ethical treatment, regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity,’ Xinhua quoted her as saying.

She said homosexuality and transsexualism have been present in all societies throughout human history. ‘Homophobia and transphobia are no different from sexism, misogyny, racism or xenophobia. History shows us the terrible human price of discrimination and prejudice,’ she added.

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