ECAR European Cities against Racism

More than half of Berlin’s inhabitants have already seen or been involved in a situation in which someone has been discriminated against. More than two thirds of victims of discrimination have spoken to someone about their experiences. Only a small percentage has however contacted a public authority or an organisation. This demonstrates that combating racism and ethnic discrimination is something that concerns all of Berlin’s inhabitants.

Our project “ECAR – European cities against racism” contributes to this aim. It is implemented jointly with the LADS. The BGZ has taken on the project management and transnational coordination. The partnership consists of 10 municipalities and NGOs from four countries. The precise aim of the project is to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of local strategies and action against racism, to make it available for cities across Europe and to strengthen the cooperation of the cities in the network.

“Support the diversity of lifestyles and help to protect against discrimination” is defined as a goal in the Berlin coalition agreement between SPD and CDU. It is the coalition’s objective to improve protection of each and every individual from discrimination and help to enforce the right for equal treatment and non discrimination.

On the Berlin level we deal with the following key areas:

Further development of the local action plan against racism and ethnic discrimination and evaluation of existing measures
Empowerment workshops and development of empowerment strategies
Conference on “Engagement of administration and civil society against racism”
The development of sustainable networks of representatives from administration and civil society

Berlin is a member of the Steering Committee of the ECCAR (European Coalition of Cities against Racism) since November 2011. This position allows Berlin to have an intensive exchange with European cities on strategies in the fight against racism and ethnic discrimination.

Please click on the links below to see the anti-racism video spots:

Anti-Racism video spot: Hotel

Anti-Racism video spot: Office

Anti-Racism video spot: Street

Anti-Racism video spot: Train

Selected products

Brochures “Good Practice Approaches – Ways to Combat Racism in Your City”
Deutsch Englisch Schwedisch Spanisch

Brochure “Empowerment aus der People-of-Color-Perspektive”
PDF – Deutsch

Recommendations from the accompanying process for the extension of the State Action Plan against Racism to the Berlin districts
PDF – Deutsch

Manual on Monitoring Racism and Discrimination at the Local Level
PDF – Englisch

Recommendation paper „How to Combat Racism in Your City”
PDF – Englisch

Final Declaration of the General Conference of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism in Karlsruhe “Welcoming Cities”
PDF – Deutsch

Selected products

Project information: Info-sheet German Info-sheet English Info-sheet Swedish Info-sheet Spanish

Situation analyses of the partner countries: Berlin Graz Madrid Botkyrka and Växjö

Situation analyses summaries: Berlin Graz Madrid Botkyrka and Växjö

Good practice brochures: German English Swedish Spanish

Empowerment brochure (Berlin): PDF – German

Local action plan brochure (Berlin): PDF – German

Research circles brochure (Botkyrka and Växjö): PDF – Swedish

Monitoring manual: PDF – English

Policy paper and recommendations: PDF – English

Final conference: Flyer German Flyer English Flyer French Documentation – English

ECCAR-Final Declaration: PDF – German

This project has been funded with support from the European Union’s Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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