Tag Archives: Europe

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Rome against same-sex unions and inclusive education curricula
  • As PM Matteo Renzi attempts to move a same-sex civil union bill through Parliament, the rally overflowed from San Giovanni square, which can accommodate around 300,000 people.
  • Claiming defense of children, the protesters demonstrated against same-sex unions and families and the inclusion of information about gender identity in school curricula.
  • While a newspaper poll found approximately 51% of Italians support same-sex marriage, the continuing influence of the Catholic Church has made political progress slow.

“[Migrants’] problems ‘are an urgent issue which concerns us all. Those who take to the streets to talk of other things show they are living on another planet, and I would recommend leaving them on that planet alone.'”

Read the full AFP story at Yahoo! News.

(Image Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP)

Health + Ability
New campaign pushes for increased visibility and support for the HIV+ community in Moldova
  • As HIV+ individuals suffer high levels of discrimination and alienation in the Eastern European country, the Initiativa Pozitiva is showcasing afflicted individuals to banish invisibility and build empathy
  • Participants hope the campaign will increase community and prevention awareness, helping to stem the tide of the disease.
  • One couple share their stories and work with the communities vulnerable to the disease.

“We are trying to show that we are normal people.  We don’t grow horns, we don’t have fangs: we are ordinary, normal people.  Sometime in 2003 we decided we would not give any more interviews with the camera showing the backs of our heads or with pixelated faces because there is already too much stigma and discrimination, and this stigma and discrimination creates the perfect environment for the further spread of the epidemic.”

Watch the full story at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nationality + Migration
Ireland mourns the victims of a deadly balcony collapse in California as the public lashes out against negative attention to the visa program in which the students participated
  • A memorial service was held on the campus of the University of California, Davis, for the six Irish students who died in Berkeley, while another seven remain injured.
  • Outrage has mounted as the construction company responsible for the structure was revealed to have settled a lawsuit for improper balcony construction two years ago.
  • There has been significant backlash against a New York Times piece run following the tragedy drawing attention to negative incidents involving Irish students visiting the U.S. under the J-1, a visa for cultural exchange programs.

“The reaction to the tragedy showed the solidarity of Irish people when adverse events occurred. …We’ve always had this in Ireland; people understand adversity, they understand death, they understand people being taken away.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Niall Carson/PA, via The Guardian)

Religion + Belief
Three women’s flight from English town to join ISIS prompts renewed soul-searching about radicalization causes in Britain
  • The sisters left the northern town of Bradford with their nine children for a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, but are believed to have traveled to Syria to join the group.
  • Muslims represent around a quarter* of the population in the ethnically diverse working-class town that has encountered a number of economic struggles recently.
  • While PM David Cameron has announced tough crackdowns on those spreading extremist messages–including the closure of mosques–some community advocates find the measures are not combating the root causes of alienation and exclusion from opportunity afflicting the British Muslim community.

“It’s disturbing, because we’ve got young family of our own. We have to keep an eye on them, who they are associating with. At one time we were worried about lads on the street corner selling drugs. Now this is a bigger shock. Where does it end?”

More on this story at Reuters.

(Image Credit: Phil Noble/Reuters)

*Corrected (6/20) to accurately reflect the Muslim population proportion in Bradford.

Nationality + Migration
German couple starts roommate-matching service for refugees in the country
  • In late 2014, Jonas Kakoschke and Mareike Geiling started Flüchtlinge Willkommen (Refugees Welcome), a platform where Germans can advertise open rooms in their homes available to refugees.
  • Provided for a set period of time, the room advertisements are reviewed by local NGO partners to find a suitable match and is provided free of charge to refugees, financed by either local governments or microfinancing.
  • So far, 52 matches in 11 towns have been made, with the service having recently expanded to Austria as well.

“We are not like the solution for many thousands of people. …We are more like an experiment and a political statement to say, ‘Hey, there are people here who want to welcome other people in a positive way.’”

More on this story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: Facebook photo, via BuzzFeed)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
As German state expands its Holocaust education programs, the inclusion of Muslim Germans stokes debate
  • Bavaria has proposed that all 8th and 9th graders visit a former Nazi concentration camp or the Munich center on Nazi war crimes.
  • One lawmaker from the Christian Social Union, the conservative party in power in the state, has suggested that some Muslim students would need to be exempt from the requirement.
  • Muslim leaders and academics in Germany have indicated that Holocaust education is increasingly accepted in Muslim German communities, with most contentious debates centered instead on how to address discussion and education of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“You notice among the students that they say, ‘We stand for talking about Jewish history, and the crimes that were committed, but why don’t we talk about the Palestinians? Where is the justice here?’”

More on this story at The New York Times.

Nationality + Migration
Hungary’s plan to erect border fence draws international condemnation
  • On Wednesday, the Eastern European country announced a proposal to build a 13-foot-high fence along its 109-mile border with Serbia to deter illegal immigration.
  • Hungary received 7% of all EU asylum applications in 2014, and its prime minister has been outspoken in his anti-immigration line.
  • On a continent with a particular sensitivity to walls due to its history, Hungary’s proposal has caused suspicion of the government’s running afoul of its international obligations and isolating prospective EU member Serbia.

“We have only just torn down walls in Europe; we should not be putting them up.”

More on this story at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters, via The New York Times)

Nationality + Migration
Bulgaria’s highly administered border with Turkey provides stark contrast to Mediterranean migration situation
  • The country has spent €300 million fortifying the border over the last 8 years, including the construction of a razor-wire fence along its 270-km (165-mi) length.
  • Bulgaria has one of the highest rates of asylum-granting in the EU, having granted more than 5,000 of 11,000 applicants refugee status.
  • Conditions in refugee camps have improved in the last couple of years, but Bulgaria faces pressures from both European governments and human rights organizations to at once tighten and ease its policing and intelligence practices at the border.

“Don’t link those fleeing terror with those who would like to create it. …States can protect refugees, and address security concerns too, by screening and registering them early on.”

More on this story at BBC.

(Image Credit: BBC)

Nationality + Migration
Making up the second largest group of refugees in Europe, Eritreans flee an authoritarian regime and military conscription
  • Eritreans accounted for a fifth of refugees making the trans-Mediterranean voyage from Africa to Europe last year, becoming the largest group in Italy.
  • The government of Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki has held uninterrupted power since the country gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, with reports of torture, forced disappearance, and mass surveillance practices.
  • Eritreans are forced into low-paid, indefinite military service, which the government says is due to ongoing conflicts with Ethiopia, leading many to leave to avoid conscription.

“It’s too hard to live in Eritrea because there are a lot of things they can do to you. …You can be in the military service for unlimited years, or in prison, and you don’t have a chance to raise your voice, to change the president.”

More on this story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters, via BuzzFeed)

Nationality + Migration
Italy PM calls for EU asylum rule revision as his country struggles with migrant influx
  • PM Matteo Renzi has called for a change in the Dublin II regulation, which stipulates that refugees must apply for asylum in the country of entry, as neighboring states France and Austria tighten their border controls.
  • With Southern European states like Italy and Greece bearing the brunt of the historic trans-Mediterranean migration taking place, Renzi argues the regulation is standing in the way of other countries bearing their fair share of incoming refugees.
  • Renzi criticized the EU’s proposed refugee distribution plan that will relocate 24,000 from Italy and 16,000 from Greece to other countries in the European bloc.

“Migration is a serious issue and – let’s be frank – the answers that Europe is giving are insufficient. Relocating only 24,000 people is almost a provocation.”

More on this story at Deutsche Welle.

(Image Credit: via Deutsche Welle)

Age, Nationality + Migration
Luxembourg citizenship reform moves slowly through policy channels as policymakers continue retooling requirements
  • Proposals put forth in Parliament include automatic citizenship rights for Luxembourger youth turning 18 who have resided in the country for at least five years, lowered residency requirements for non-nationals from seven to five years, and the abolition of language testing for non-nationals in residence for at least 20 years.
  • Despite being announced in 2014, the Justice Ministry’s proposals have yet to be made public or completed.
  • A recent poll indicates that the Luxembourgish public is not in favor of the eased pathways to citizenship.

More on this story at the Luxembourg Wort.

(Image Credit: Anouk Antony/Luxembourg Wort)

Nationality + Migration
U.K. PM David Cameron proposes new restrictions on non-EU skilled-worker immigration
  • With non-EU migration to the U.K. having increased to 290,000 in 2014, Cameron has proposed increasing the base salary threshold, further restricting eligible job functions and industries, and a “skills levy” on companies hiring non-nations to be put towards domestic apprenticeships.
  • Net migration stands at 318,000 and Cameron’s government hopes to get it below 100,000.
  • Some in the business community have complained that the government’s anti-immigration stance hurts the country’s global competitiveness and economic growth.

“We understand the public’s concerns around immigration, but limiting highly skilled workers from coming to the UK is not the answer. They bring their skills and ideas to this country, pay their taxes here and boost growth. We need to keep up-skilling our population, but at the same time as attracting the best and brightest global talent.”

More on this story at BBC.

(Image Credit: BBC)

Nationality + Migration
Aspirational emigration, not violence or economic destitution, is sending large numbers of Senegalese abroad in search of opportunity
  • Senegal has seen a 123% emigration rate increase versus the same time period last year, with 1,187 leaving for destinations such as France (its former colonizer), Morocco, Latin America, and Turkey.
  • Senegalese emigrants, who have at times outnumbered refugees from war-torn countries like Syria and Eritrea along Mediterranean migration routes, are leaving a politically stable, economically growing country that has seen great improvements in citizens’ standard of living.
  • Remittances from abroad have comprised an increasing share of Senegal’s economy, allowing for the infrastructural improvements driving Senegal’s success.

“People don’t go because they have nothing, they go because they want better and more. It’s aspiration. …What is happening now is not that different from the time of slavery. We are losing the arms we need to build this country.”

More on this story at The Wall Street Journal.

(Image Credit: Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin/The Wall Street Journal)

Race + Color + Ethnicity
English primary schools see enrollment levels not experienced since the 1970s as the ethnic minority child population continues to increase
  • Primary-school enrollment has grown by nearly 100,000 (2.1%) in the last year, with an increase by 10 since 2014 to 87 schools that now have at least 800 pupils.
  • Minority children make up 71% of the increase, bringing the total enrollment proportion to 30.4% of students.
  • With enrollment projected to grow by 460,000 over the next five years, the government has announced increased funding to protect per-capita spending and exert downward pressure on class size.

More on this story at BBC.

(Image Credit: BBC)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Slovak LGBTI activists postpone Pride and turn to new initiatives to promote visibility and equality
  • Citing the hostile environment that has emerged following conservatives’ failure to generate sufficient turnout in the February referendum on same-sex marriage, adoption, and education rights, organizers have canceled this year’s Rainbow Pride in Bratislava.
  • In lieu of the event, nearly 40 NGOs are supporting the establishment of a platform sharing the stories of same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples and children born outside of marriage.
  • The initiative comes as rights groups have become frustrated with the government’s lack of commitment to a timeline for the establishment of legal protections for same-sex couples.

“Slovakia needs to hear the life stories of LGBTI people, their parents, children, friends and colleagues. … Thus, we are going to collect your stories, in collaboration with the Life Partnership platform, which we will then be able to bring to all people in Slovakia.”

More on this story at The Slovak Spectator.

(Image Credit: The Slovak Spectator)