The President of the European Jewish Congress, Dr. Moshe Kantor, has welcomed a report by the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe into the human rights situation in Greece, and in particular in regard to expressions of racism and hate speech by the Golden Dawn political party.
“This report is a strong milestone against growing racism, hate speech and intolerance in Greece and we welcome the report and call for its full implementation by the Greek authorities” Kantor said. “Most importantly it called for the possible prohibition of the neo-Nazi party because of activities associated with it. This is a first for a pan-European institution and we consider it not only necessary but hope the situation will be monitored very carefully”.
The report follows the visit by Commissioner Nils Muinieks and a Council of Europe delegation to Greece from 28 January to 1 February 2013. In the course of this visit the Commissioner held discussions with state authorities and non-governmental, national and international organizations. The present report focuses on human rights issues.
“There are some very important elements in the report which we have been calling to be implemented for many years, like anti-racism and human rights campaigns in schools, the bolstering of anti-racism laws and strong police and legal enforcement” Kantor said. “I hope the pressure from European institutions will continue and the Greek authorities will take these recommendations seriously”.
“I also hope that there will be a similar report in the future on Hungary and other nations where attacks on human rights continue to be of great concern and need to be urgently addressed”.
Based in Brussels, the European Jewish Congress is the representative umbrella organisation of national Jewish communities. It federates democratically elected national Jewish community organisations in over 40 European countries uniting 2.5 million Jews across the continent.
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