EP TO DISCUSS FRAMEWORK DECISION ON COMBATING RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.01.2009 17:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By organizing a conference on the Framework-Decision
against Racism and Xenophobia, the European Armenian Federation
for Justice and Development (EAFJD) has taken a first step toward
standardizing from the top down the European antiracist laws, the
EAFJD told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The workshop organized by the European Armenian Federation will take
place on Wednesday, January 21 in the European Parliament headquarters
in Brussels.

Organized under the honorary presidency of Mrs. Martine Roure,
Vice President of the European Parliament, this meeting will offer
a chance to introduce the recently adopted Framework-Decision, which
aims to combat racism and xenophobia, to European political leaders,
human rights advocates and legal experts.

Indeed, the primary objective of this document is to ban in Europe
the denial of genocides. Member states are required to transform the
Framework-Decision into national law within a two-year period.

"Protection of citizens from the act of denial is imperfect. Europeans
are not protected against denial of the Armenian or Tutsi genocides,"
said Laurent Leylekian, the EAFJD executive director.

"With the implementation of this Framework-Decision, the European
Union intends to fill a penal vacuum by instituting a pan-European
penalization of the denial of all proven genocides. It is a major
step in the direction of a protective Europe required by European
citizens, and this conference directly contributes to this process,"
Leylekian said.