17/02/2016 Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Antisemitism and islamophobia may differ but their common roots are in hatred and intolerance. We must spare no effort in tackling both,” said Milena Santerini (Italy, SOC), General rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance and coordinator of the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance, on the occasion of her participation in a round table on “Combating antisemitism and islamophobia in Europe”, organised by the European Parliament Anti-racism and diversity intergroup (ARDI) on 16 February 2016 in Brussels.
The event saw the participation of members of the European Parliament, including Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Chair of the European Parliament Working Group on Antisemitism, and Sajjad Karim, Vice-President of ARDI and Chair of ARDI’s Islamophobia Working Group. A variety of civil society organisations working on islamophobia and antisemitism also took actively part in the debate, and the social media were represented by members of Twitter’s teams on Policy and Safety Outreach.
On the same occasion, Ms Santerini held a bilateral meeting with Claude Moraes, Chairperson of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, to present the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance and discuss avenues for cooperation.
“I would like to strengthen our cooperation with the European Parliament on combating all forms of hatred. While the refugee crisis has been fuelling prejudice, respect for diversity should remain the foundation of Europe”, concluded Ms Santerini.