EU parliament calls for race hate crackdown

A group of all-party MEPs has launched a move to crack down on race hate on the internet.

The move follows growing concern about racially-motivated material appearing in cyber space.

In the past 12 months, more than 6,000 complaints were lodged with the International Network Against Cyber Hate about alleged racist material.

Five deputies from the EPP, Socialist, Alde and GUE groups today gave details of a written declaration at a news conference in parliament.

The declaration demands that internet service providers be compelled to ensure that such material does not appear on their sites.

It also calls on all EU member states to sign up to the Council of Europe’s additional protocol on cyber crime and urges the commission to intensify its efforts to tackle the problem through its “Safer Internet Plus” programme.

The declaration will be formally launched at the start of next week’s parliamentary plenary in Strasbourg.

It must be signed by half the assembly’s deputies – nearly 400 – within two months before it can become operative.

“We are not just talking about nasty material here,” said UK Socialist MEP Glyn Ford, one of those who signed the declaration.

“Some of the stuff appearing on websites is deadly dangerous, leading to racist attacks and, in some cases, even murder.”

The other four MEPs are Bernd Posselt(EPP), Claude Moraes (PES), Feleknas Uca (GUE) and Viktoria Mohacsi (Alde).

The MEPs showed a film containing examples of such race hate on the net, including one which attempts to turn the Holocaust into a live party invitation.

They claimed that the contents of a Nazi site, called “Redwatch,” led to a vicious attack on a trade unionist in the British city of Liverpool.

Michael Privot, spokesman of Europe Network Against Racism, applauded the MEPs’ efforts.

“Some of the comments appearing on the net are a direct incitement to commit violent acts. This problem is on the increase and needs stamping out,” he said.

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