(European parliament ... in session)
Connor Boyd, “European
parliament passes watershed resolution calling for reparations for crimes against
Africans during European colonialism”, Daily Mail, London, Thursday 28 March
2019:
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT has overwhelmingly backed a watershed resolution calling for
reparations for crimes committed in Africa during European colonialism.
The bill urges
European member states to introduce a series of sweeping reforms aimed at
tackling “structural racism” facing millions of Afro-Europeans.
It calls on the
countries to implement nation-wide strategies to deal with discrimination in
education, health, housing, policing, the justice system and politics.
THE RESOLUTION – approved
by 535 MEPs [members of European parliament], with 80 votes against and 44
abstentions – also calls on European member states to declassify their colonial
archives, covering the most disturbing periods of Europe’s colonial past, and
issue public apologies. +3
It urges the EU to
adopt “a workforce diversity and inclusion strategy” to address the
underrepresentation of [national] minority officials.
As it stands, the
EU does not share data on race, [nation-origin] or religion because it’s
considered contrary to equality, The Guardian
reports.
The text is not
legally-binding, but it was hailed as a watershed moment campaign groups for
specifically focusing on the discrimination faced on the continent by an
estimated 15 million people.
“Histories of
injustices against Africans and people of African Descent – including
enslavement, forced labour, racial apartheid, massacre, and genocides in the context
of European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade – remain largely
unrecognised and unaccounted for at an institutional level in EU member states”,
the text states.
The resolution was
drawn up by British Labour MEP Claude Moraes and was inspired by the racist
behaviour experienced by Italian socialist MEP Cecile Kyenge, who served as
Italy’s first [African] government minister.
Pressure is now on
the European commission to fund the schemes in the EU’s next seven-year
budget.
Amel Yacef, the
chair of the European Network Against Racism, told The Guardian the vote was “a historic, watershed moment for the
recognition of people of African descent in Europe”.
SHE added: “The
European parliament is leading the way and sending a signal to EU member states
to tackle structural racism that prevents [African] people from being included
in European society. The ball is now in their court: we need concrete action
plans and specific measures now”.
