Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism
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The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism[1] (CEOOR) (Dutch: Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding, French: Centre pour l'égalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme or CECLR) is a Belgian government agency under the responsibility of the Prime Minister of Belgium. Its director is Jozef de Witte.
The Centre was founded in 1993 by an Act of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives.[2]
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[edit] Tasks and goals
The Centre lists as its principal tasks:
- Fighting Racism and Discrimination
- Spotlight on Integration Policy
- Foreigners' Rights and Recent Immigration
- Fighting Poverty
- Fighting Human Trafficking
- Training / Documentation / Information Campaigns
The CEOOR has as its main goal to aid victims of discrimination, after an act of discrimination has occurred, or to prevent such acts.
It has four ways of achieving this goal :
- Assisting discrimination victims. This can be done by giving (legal) advice or support, mediation or going to court.
- Creating awareness among the public opinion for discrimination issues, by training, education, documentation and public relations.
- Working with authorities and different actors in society on preventive anti-discrimination and integration policies.
- Recommendations to policy makers on the different issues it addresses.[3]
[edit] Cases
The CEOOR was, together with the Liga voor Mensenrechten, a plaintiff in the law case that led to the conviction of three Vlaams Blok organisations for "incitement to hate and discrimination."[4][5]
In April 2002 the Centre lodged a complaint against the Centre Islamique de Belgique because of a video on its web site in which Israel was equated with a Nazi dictatorship. In June 2002, the CEOOR lodged another complaint against the Belgian Arab European League, also for racism. [6]
[edit] Criticism
The Centre has been criticized by, among others, Matthias Storme[7][8]. Storme sees the Centre as leading a "political inquisition" in suppressing alternative political views.[7] Storme was earlier successful in fighting a case before the Belgian Supreme Court, where he showed that some articles of the Belgian anti-discrimination law were in violation with the constitutionally protected right of freedom of speech.[9]
On 21 July 2004, the Centre was awarded (together with the Belgian Liga voor Mensenrechten) the annual Belgian "Democracy Award". The award is given yearly to persons or organisations that "protect or enhance political democracy or facilitate the participation of citizens in society".[10] The jury from the organisations, Trefpunt and the anti-globalist Democratie 2000, awarded this prize to the Centre and Liga for their role in the condemnation of the Vlaams Blok in a case before the Ghent Court of Appeals.[11]
[edit] Financials
The 2005 financial report of the Centre showed that of its total revenue of €6.2 million, €4.4 million came from the Belgian National Lottery and €1.0 million from the Centre's projects. Expenditure for personel were €4.0 million. The Centre posted a net result of €705,000 in 2005. The balance at the end of the year 2005 showed, that the Centre's equity was €4.94 million. [12][13]
[edit] References
- ^ Also known or translated as "Centre for Equal Opportunities and Struggle against Racism" and "Centre for Equal Opportunities and Fight against Racism". See for instance:
- Eric Florence, Marco Martinello, Social Science Research and Public Policies: the Case of Immigration in Belgium in The Links between Academic Research and Public Policies in the Field of Migration and Ethnic Relations: Selected National Case-Studies”, International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS), Vol. 7, No. 1, 2005, page 53, footnote 4 (pdf), retrieved on August 10, 2006
- UNHCR web site, U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005 - Belgium - March 2006, retrieved on August 10, 2006
- ^ Act of February 15, 1993 pertaining to the foundation of a centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism, retrieved on October 23, 2006.
- ^ About the Centre - Activities
- ^ Court says Vlaams Blok conviction is sound, Expatriate Online, 10 November, 2004
- ^ Court rules Vlaams Blok is racist, BBC News, 9 November, 2004
- ^ Annual report > Belgium, The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, 2003.
- ^ a b Vuile Wijven! Vuile Democraten! Vuile Hetero's! Een Leerling van Marcuse als Grootinquisiteur ("Dirty Women! Dirty Democrats! Dirty Heteros! An Apprentice of Marcuse as Grand Inquisitor"), The Brussels Journal, May 27, 2006
- ^ De Witte en de Wet ("De Witte and the Law"), February 25, 2006 - Matthias Storme & de vrijheid om te discrimineren ("Matthias Storme & the freedom to discriminate") Politics.be
- ^ Discrimineren is een mensenrecht ("To Discriminate is a Human Right"), Katholieke Nieuwsblad, January 21, 2005
- ^ (Dutch) Prijs voor democratie naar Liga voor Mensenrechten en Centrum Gelijke Kansen ("Democracy Award to Human Rights Ligue and Centre Equal Opportunities"), Het Nieuwsblad, 1 July 2004.
- ^ Prijs voor de democratie uitgereikt ("Prize for the Democracy Awarded"), De Tijd, June 1, 2004
- ^ Financial report 2005
- ^ Jaarverslag 2005
