Government’s belated ‘anti-racism’ does not convince anyone
Press Release
The Administrative Board of the Hellenic League for Human Rights issued the following announcement on November 26, 2013:
Government’s belated ‘anti-racism’ does not convince anyone
After several months of waiting, the Greek government brought back pretty much the same anti-racist bill submitted six months ago and already criticized by the Hellenic League for Human Rights as problematic and inappropriate for the present circumstances.
More particularly, the submitted bill:
– Poses, once again, issues of violation of the freedom of expression. This is because, instead of respecting, as any democracy should do, all views (no matter how extreme they may be), it includes an extremely clumsy article regarding public praising and denial of crimes (Article 2),which could lead to extreme prosecutions of persons on the grounds of different interpretations of historical and political events, and does not even include the provision that these crimes should be acknowledged as such by a competent International Court.
– Is inferior to the adverse social and political circumstances, since, on the one hand, its sole purpose is to broaden the punishment of racist speech, and, on the other, it attempts to shrug off the issue of dealing with racism in our country with extreme ease and sloppiness: i.e., with the detection of racist characteristics and the punishment of racist violence. In Greece, racist violence is endemic and unpunished. It is not even classified.
– Is once again incomplete and fragmentary, since, among others, on the one hand, sexual orientation and gender identity are left out and are not included in the protective range of categories of persons vulnerable to racist violence (Article 1 par. 1), while, on the other hand, public entities are unjustifiably excluded from possible legal liability.
The government withdrew the Roupakiotis Bill a few months ago deeming it insignificant. Now, under the weight of the assassination of Pavlos Fyssas and the delayed judicial investigation of Golden Dawn’s crimes, it finds itself in an awkward position. The government has to say something that sounds antiracist, which, of course, does not come easy. And most certainly, it does not convince anyone.
