For a More Inclusive Europe

14 April 2024

Resolution submitted by: JEF Political Commission 2 – Internal European Affairs

Adopted by the European Congress in Liège on 21 November 2021. Re-adopted and amended by the European Federal Committee in Tartu, Estonia on 14 April 2024.

The last few years have seen an increase in public discourse relating to inclusion, gender and racial dynamics, and systemic means of discrimination. For policies to be truly fit for the whole society, all members of said society must be involved in the process in order to create a positive impact. The inclusion of all willing citizens in civil society activism is imperative for the development of policies.

JEF Europe,

Emphasising that the European Union (EU) is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons of minority background, as laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, and aims to promote peace, its values and the wellbeing of its people as stated in Article 3.1, of the Treaty on European Union (TEU);

Recalling the purpose of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and other applicable human rights treaties to protect the rights of everyone living in the EU and Europe and their role in strengthening and bringing consistency to the protection of human and fundamental rights;

Understanding inclusion as the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised, such as those who have disabilities and members of other minority groups.

Taking note of protections provided in the Race Equality Directive (Directive 2000/43/EC), the Employment Equality Directive (Directive 2000/78/EC), the recast Equal Treatment Directive (Directive 2006/54/EC) and several other directives;

Recognising efforts of the European institutions to promote equal rights among all members of society through means such as the Anti-Racism Action Plan, the first-ever dedicated Commissioner for Equality in the 2019-2024 mandate, and a task force on equality mainstreaming;

Deeply disturbed by the persistent rise in hate crimes all across Europe in the past number of years, including but not limited to anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim incidents, xenophobic incidents against immigrants and refugees, escalation of homophobic violence and online hate speech;

Acknowledging the colonial past of some member states, which is still not recognised in some of them, and its still existing impact on the power relations between countries and within our societies;

Acknowledging the lack of diverse representation, including but not limited to ethnic and socio-economic diversity, among the people in visible leadership roles of the European institutions who play key roles in the policy-making process;

Commending the work of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for a more inclusive Union;

Welcoming the appointment of the first EU anti-racism coordinator and the set of actions set out in the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020-2025 covering e.g. aspects of economy, education, EU legislation and fighting extremism and hate speech;

Acknowledging the work of EU level CSO networks and organisations towards a more inclusive Europe;

Commending the direct support provided for public authorities, not-for-profit and civil society organisations, as well as cultural, youth and research organisations to promote the EU values, respect for human rights, equality, democracy, freedom and the rule of law through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme;

Observing the underwhelming level of communication between the European equality bodies, e.g. through Equinet, and directly with Europeans to reduce lack of awareness of such channels;

Taking note of JEF’s own findings through projects such as Diversity in Youth European Volunteering (DIVE), MINDSET, MYCOMM, IMPACT, MEET and the Let’s Speak Diversity 2024 Work Plan;

Deeply disturbed by the governments’, including the Hungarian and the former Polish Government, systemic actions taken against human rights;

Expressing its appreciation for the work on this issue of the European Parliament’s intergroups;

Welcoming the overwhelmingly positive vote of the European Parliament in declaring the European Union a LGBTIQ Freedom Zone on 11th March 2021;

Deploring the blocking of the Anti-Discrimination Directive by the Council since 2008;

Expressing its appreciation for the adoption of the Pay Transparency Directive in 2023;

Expressing its worry over the general lack of data collection across much of the EU and the weaknesses this causes at the national equality bodies in many EU countries, among other reasons;

Emphasising the importance of representation in media of people from marginalised communities;

Lamenting the fact that Regulation no. 1, which determines the languages in use within EU structures, delves into the “club of states” nature of the EU by only including languages that are official at an all-state level in Member States while also ignoring the fact that several regional languages, some counting their speakers in the millions, are left out;

Highlights the importance of a proper implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages;

Fully aware of the poor work done by several Member States to adequately respect the rights of speakers of regional and minority languages (RML), which in the EU were estimated to number up to 50 million in 2013;

Fully aware of the difficulties faced by European citizens that live in areas such as sparsely populated, rural, mountain, island and overseas territories whose geographical, socioeconomic or demographic situation implies a series of disadvantages;

Noting with satisfaction that the European Union has created the “Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online”;

Underlining the importance of an intersectional approach when it comes to inclusion initiatives;

Recalling the initiative founded by Ursula Hirschmann “Femmes pourl’Europe” (Women for Europe), created to give voice to women in shaping the process of European integration;

Reaffirming the importance of inclusion of all marginalised groups in the European integration process.

JEF Europe, therefore,

Calls for all EU institutions, Members States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to act against discrimination based on any ground such as gender, sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation;

Recommends initiatives, such as the Anti-Racism Action Plan and Gender Equality Strategy, working towards higher degrees of inclusion undertaken by the EU institutions to be built upon, are followed up and updated to reflect the current situation by the 2024-2029 Commission, and include a commissioner responsible for equality and equity in the next college;

Calls on the EU Commission and Member States to report on the implementation of aforementioned initiatives, including both action plans and directives, in a timely manner respecting deadlines to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of measures.

Reaffirms the importance of the European Court of Justice and EFTA Court in holding Member States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA accountable for the breaches of European Law respectively;

Encouraging participation and involvement of marginalised groups in policy-making and decision-making processes on all levels and within society;

Calls on the EU to continue develop its legal framework on anti-discrimination and demands the unblocking of the anti-discrimination directive in the Council which has been blocked from progressing since 2008, and to have a meaningful effect within the EU it needs legally binding elements to be enforced;

Calls for infringement procedures to be launched when compliance of national laws and practices with EU equality law is unsatisfactory and encourages Member States, Candidate Countries and Members of the EEA to continue developing the legal framework to promote inclusion and equality;

Urges all EU Member States to harmonise legislation protecting fundamental rights and ratify relevant international conventions related to such rights, including the Istanbul Convention on Action against violence against women and the International Labour Organization Convention no. 190 on stopping violence and harassment at the workplace;

Calls on the EU and its Member States, Candidate countries and the Members of the EEA to provide adequate protection and measures to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, and to harmonise the definition of rape based on consent, as outlined in Article 36(2) of the Istanbul Convention;

Calls on Member States, Candidate countries, Members of the EEA and EU institutions to improve public awareness of the non-discrimination legislation and resources through campaigns, introduction of these topics into curricula and specific efforts to educate e.g. on anti-racism, as well as support the work of non-profit and civil society organisations to promote awareness on situations and challenges faced by marginalised groups;

Calls for the Member States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to promote better awareness of the role of national equality bodies in combatting discrimination, strengthen the mandate of such bodies and provide them with adequate resources;

Encourages the empowerment of relevant civil society organisations working towards inclusion and against discrimination, and equipping them with adequate resources.

Urges the development of Equality Bodies’ mandates to cover discrimination on any ground recognised in the Fundamental Rights Charter, European Convention on Human Rights or domestic legislation, as already implemented by many Member States and to ensure the independence of those bodies;

Expresses its hope for a better communication and cooperation between European equality bodies with organisations such as EQUINET whose status and funding could be improved;

Recommends the sharing of best practices of implementation of EU and national law;

Affirms the importance of the EU institutions leading by example, especially by promoting visible, including but not limited to ethnic, cultural, gender and socioeconomic, diversity among people in leadership roles;

Calls for a bigger role for the EU anti-racism coordinator, to uphold the mission given to the office and increase its work capacity;

Calls for a better representation of intersectionality in legal documents;

Calls on the EU and its Member States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to take true action to close the Gender Pay Gap as soon as possible and promote women’s access to work and education, especially for women coming from marginalised backgrounds;

Demands EU and all of its Member States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to protect women’s right to bodily autonomy by legislating to provide access to safe abortion, contraceptives and other forms of necessary reproductive care;

Urges the EU and its Member States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to act to protect the right to family and private life, as well as other fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ people in Europe, e.g. right to marry to enshrining also same-sex couples, and ensuring recognition of the family and relationship ties and status across borders, including guaranteeing the recognition and protection of the rights of their family members based on those ties;

Demands more action to ensure access to free, basic education for all, and initiatives to make higher education more accessible and affordable for people coming from marginalised backgrounds;

Urges the EU countries to guarantee accessible and affordable healthcare services of high quality to people, including from marginalised, minority and rural communities;

Urges EU Member States to consider the inclusion of autochthonous regional languages, particularly those whose number of speakers within Europe are especially significant, in Regulation No. 1, effectively making them official languages of the Union;

Calls for specific action by the EU institutions in order to guarantee an effective protection of the rights of Regional and Minority Languages speakers;

Calls on the EU and its Members States, Candidate countries and Members of the EEA to act to guarantee fulfilment of rights enshrined in the UN Convention of Rights of People with Disabilities, including right to independent living, private life, as well as participation in public life and decision-making, and to prohibit the inhuman practice of forced sterilisation;

Urges the EU and the European Countries to commit to respecting and guaranteeing the rights belonging to indigenous peoples, and working in collaboration especially with Sámi to ensure the fulfilment of these rights;

Calls on the EU and European Countries to guarantee the fulfilment of fundamental rights of the Roma communities, and commit to prevention of discrimination and hate against said communities;

Highlights the importance of developing and promoting the strategies and tools for combating hate speech and hate crimes, be it offline and online;

Underlines the importance of media to raise awareness about issues, recourse, solutions and use the correct and specific terminology when needed;

Stresses the importance of changes of mindset through education and anti-discriminatory activism, especially at a grassroot level, complementing the legal framework, in order to achieve transformative change for a more inclusive Europe.