Fundación Secretariado Gitano

In the face of discrimination do not shut up [editar]

• Equal treatment

Promoting equality and combating racism are essential to fortify social cohesion and democratic security, the heads of three European human rights institutions (ECRI, FRA and ODIHR) said in a joint statement on today’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day has been observed annually on 21 March since 1966, when it was proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in memory of the 69 people killed six years earlier in Sharpeville, South Africa, during a peaceful demonstration to protest the apartheid system. 

Acts of bias based on the race or ethnicity of the victim constitute an offence against human dignity and one of the most atrocious forms of violation of the human rights.

Since 2013, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) has acted as the coordinator of the Victim´s of Discrimination Assistance and Counselling Service that supports and advices victims of racial and ethnic discrimination.  Each year an average of 600 cases of discrimination are reported to the Service. These are only the tip of the iceberg because there is a serious problem of underreporting.  

Each year the Service publishes its annual report, which is a compilation of all the cases of discrimination reported to the Service, with the aim of giving visibility to the daily discrimination that people of different ethnic groups and origins experience in the exercise of their rights, especially in the access to employment, housing, goods and services. The report also aims to raise awareness about the fact that fighting racial or ethnic discrimination requires the victims to report instances of discrimination.

The Service is made up of 8 civil society organisations and depends on the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination attached to the Institute for Women and Equal Opportunities of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

Under the slogan "In the face of discrimination do not shut up", the organisations that make up the service have organised a series of actions to commemorate the 21st of March including marches and demonstrations. #21deMarzoNotecalles