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EU TO FINALLY AGREE ON 'MINIMAL' HATE CRIME AND NEGATIONISM LAW
By Yossi Lempkowicz
European Jewish Press, Belgium
April 18 2007
BRUSSELS (EJP)---European Union Justice and Interior ministers are
set to agree Thursday on a EU-wide anti-racism compromise law which
has been debated since 2003.
Citing its particular historic responsibility due to its Nazi past,
Germany, which took over the EU presidency in January, had proposed
the other EU member states adopt a legislation that would make
racism and xenophobia as well as Holocaust denial a crime in the
whole European Union.
But while unanimous in their condemnation of those who deny the
Holocaust, EU leaders were split over whether to criminalise such acts.
Two years ago, Luxembourg tried to use its EU presidency to push
through legislation to unify legal standards for Holocaust denial
but was blocked by Italy, Britain and Denmark on the grounds that
the proposed rules breached freedom of speech and civil liberties.
British historian David Irving, who was expelled from Austria to London
last december after spending 13 months behind bars for challenging the
Holocaust, could freely speak in the UK where freedom of expression
is guaranteed by law.
Such legislation requires unanimity among the 27 EU member states.
Jail sentences
Under the new legislation, pushed by the German presidency, offenders
will face up to three years in jail for stirring-up racial hatred or
denying acts of genocide, such as the Holocaust.
The latest draft text to be submitted on Thursday to the ministers in
Luxembourg foresees an EU-wide jail sentence of at least one to three
years for "publicly inciting to violence or hatred, directed against
a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference
to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin."
The same rules would also apply to people "publicly condoning, denying,
or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes" as defined by international crime courts and in the
charter of the Nuremberg court.
According to press reports, the text wording has been carefully chosen
to only include denial of the Holocaust during WWII, as well as the
genocide in Rwanda in 1994, but would not criminalise denying mass
killings of Armenians during the Ottoman empire in 1915, something
that Turkey, a EU membership candidate, strongly opposes.
"The draft is the lowest common denominator which respects the national
legal systems relating to freedom of expression," diplomats said.
Current situation
Holocaust denial is already punishable in Germany, Austria, Belgium,
France and Spain, while Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian states
it is allowed under freedom of speech rules unless it specifically
incites racial hatred.
Poland and the Baltic countries continue to hold on to their demand
that "crimes under the Stalin regime in the former Soviet Union"
become part of the new legislation, something which is opposed by
many countries.
Despite repeated appeals by EU leaders to fight it, anti-Semitism has
been reported as being on the rise in Europe in the latest years,
especially in France, the UK and Germany, the countries with the
largest Jewish communities.
According to the latest study published on Monday by the Tel Aviv
university, the sharpest rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2006 was
registered in Britain, with a 60 percent increase in overall attacks
and a 37 percent increase in violent attacks against individuals,
a 20-year peak.
The report by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of anti-Semitism
and Racism attributed the dramatic rise due mainly to Israel's war
against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer and repeated statements by
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioning the Holocaust and
calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.
By Yossi Lempkowicz
European Jewish Press, Belgium
April 18 2007
BRUSSELS (EJP)---European Union Justice and Interior ministers are
set to agree Thursday on a EU-wide anti-racism compromise law which
has been debated since 2003.
Citing its particular historic responsibility due to its Nazi past,
Germany, which took over the EU presidency in January, had proposed
the other EU member states adopt a legislation that would make
racism and xenophobia as well as Holocaust denial a crime in the
whole European Union.
But while unanimous in their condemnation of those who deny the
Holocaust, EU leaders were split over whether to criminalise such acts.
Two years ago, Luxembourg tried to use its EU presidency to push
through legislation to unify legal standards for Holocaust denial
but was blocked by Italy, Britain and Denmark on the grounds that
the proposed rules breached freedom of speech and civil liberties.
British historian David Irving, who was expelled from Austria to London
last december after spending 13 months behind bars for challenging the
Holocaust, could freely speak in the UK where freedom of expression
is guaranteed by law.
Such legislation requires unanimity among the 27 EU member states.
Jail sentences
Under the new legislation, pushed by the German presidency, offenders
will face up to three years in jail for stirring-up racial hatred or
denying acts of genocide, such as the Holocaust.
The latest draft text to be submitted on Thursday to the ministers in
Luxembourg foresees an EU-wide jail sentence of at least one to three
years for "publicly inciting to violence or hatred, directed against
a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference
to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin."
The same rules would also apply to people "publicly condoning, denying,
or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes" as defined by international crime courts and in the
charter of the Nuremberg court.
According to press reports, the text wording has been carefully chosen
to only include denial of the Holocaust during WWII, as well as the
genocide in Rwanda in 1994, but would not criminalise denying mass
killings of Armenians during the Ottoman empire in 1915, something
that Turkey, a EU membership candidate, strongly opposes.
"The draft is the lowest common denominator which respects the national
legal systems relating to freedom of expression," diplomats said.
Current situation
Holocaust denial is already punishable in Germany, Austria, Belgium,
France and Spain, while Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian states
it is allowed under freedom of speech rules unless it specifically
incites racial hatred.
Poland and the Baltic countries continue to hold on to their demand
that "crimes under the Stalin regime in the former Soviet Union"
become part of the new legislation, something which is opposed by
many countries.
Despite repeated appeals by EU leaders to fight it, anti-Semitism has
been reported as being on the rise in Europe in the latest years,
especially in France, the UK and Germany, the countries with the
largest Jewish communities.
According to the latest study published on Monday by the Tel Aviv
university, the sharpest rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2006 was
registered in Britain, with a 60 percent increase in overall attacks
and a 37 percent increase in violent attacks against individuals,
a 20-year peak.
The report by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of anti-Semitism
and Racism attributed the dramatic rise due mainly to Israel's war
against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer and repeated statements by
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioning the Holocaust and
calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.