“Anti-racism in the European Union, People of African descent: Recognition, Justice and Development”

Alizé is #DiasporaVote!’s policy monitoring and campaigns officer, her main areas of expertise are non-discrimination and equality with her numerous experiences including with the European Network of Equality Bodies and then with her thesis research on “The evolution of EU Anti-racism policies”. At #DiasporaVote! she provides input and analysis on policy development, as well as capacity-building expertise with civil society organisations and European institutions meetings.

On the 2nd of November, Alizé Larguier #DiasporaVote!’s Policy Officer, attended the conference on “Anti-racism in the European Union, People of African descent: Recognition, Justice and Development” in Barcelona, organized by the Spanish Ministry of Equality within the Framework of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This event was in partnership with the European Commission, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the EEA and Norway Grants. This event is to mark history, as Michaela Moua highlighted that “it was the first time any Presidency to the Council of the EU has centered Black people and people of African descent in such a way”.

The main goals of the event were to discuss structural racism and the need and opportunity to collect data disaggregated by ethnic origin in statistics, studies and surveys, then the representation of People of African descent in public office and in the media, as well as discussing anti-racist legislation and national action plans.

The introductory session welcomed a conversation with Former football player and anti-racism activist Lilian Thuram, who then exchanged with our Policy Officer and encouraged initiatives led by racialized youth. Then, Siobhan McInerney-Lankford (Head of Unit Equality Roma and Social Rights, FRA) shared the selected findings of FRA’s second “Being Black in the EU” report, and explained that the survey does not show any progress or improvement, compared to 2016 respondents even mentioned higher levels of racial discrimination in all areas of life. Following on the data collection topic, the first session focused on structural racism and data collection, with panelists such as Michaela Moua (European Commission Anti-racism Coordinator), and Rita Bosaho (Director General for Equal treatment and Racial-Ethnic Diversity, Ministry of Equality, Spain) who stressed the importance of the collection of equality data disaggregated by race and ethnicity.

Then, the second session focused on the representation of People of African descent in public office and the media where panelists such as Ojeaku Nwabuzo (Co-Director of ENAR) and Patrick Charlier (Director of UNIA, Interfederal center for equal opportunities, Belgium), discussed the need for representation of People of African descent. Session III, focused on the Anti-racism legislation and National Action Plans, moderated by Tamas Kadar (Co-Director of Equinet), where panelists such as Domenica Ghidei (First Vice-Chair of ECRI) and Pastora Filigrana (Lawyer and Human Rights Activist) discussed the current EU Framework, and its shortcomings.

#DiasporaVote! was glad to attend this high-level event, as it gathered Policymakers, Experts, Academia, Equality Bodies, European Institutions and Civil Society Organizations. It created an opportunity as a Diaspora led organization to discuss the lived experiences of People of African descent with other participants, as well as exchanging on other forms of discrimination. We continue to recommend fostering good cooperation between Civil Society Organizations, European Institutions and Equality Bodies, as well as the evolution of the EU Framework on Anti-racism and National Action Plans