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EU fights race-hate crimes
July 4, 2002 12:00 AM
The European Parliament voted today to have Europe-wide tough new laws to outlaw crimes of racial hatred. This would mean some toughening of UK law but also means that British citizens travelling abroad would be protected against expressions of racism.
London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford said:
"I welcome this decision as it is high-time that Europe showed we will not tolerate race-hate crimes. We are determined to make Europe a place where people of all ethnic identity, race and religion can feel safe and go about their daily lives without fear of attacks, this is especially important at a time where incidents of race-related attacks are rising, not least against Muslims."
"This is a robust signal that Europe will no longer tolerate racists and is especially important for multi-cultural and multi-ethnic London - telling racists that it is time to get out of town."
This new law will punish as a crime, with maximum prison sentences of two years, incitement to violence or racial hatred, and threatening or abusive behaviour towards minority ethnic people. It will also criminalise incitement to racial-hatred on the internet as well in published form. Racist motivation could also be punished as an aggravating factor in other violent crimes.
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