Press review: Soldiers on Italy's streets 2008-08-06 · euro|topics Troops have been deployed to fight crime In Italy's big cities. All told, PM Berlusconi's government will station 3,000 soldiers in various cities to support the local police. Europe's press has harsh words for the move. "The most worrying aspect," writes El Pais, "is that the soldiers seem to be there above all to go after suspected Roma, Africans and Romanians."

Bulgaria 'To Mobilise' in Response to EU 2008-08-06 · BIRN Balkan Insight Prime Minister Stanishev has ordered Bulgarian ministers to submit regular reports on the fight against corruption and organised crime. The order comes after the EU issued a scathing report about Sofia's failure to tackle these problems and misuse of EU funds. It imposed unprecedented sanctions, suspending millions of euros inaid and withdrawing the accreditation of two state agencies to operate with EU funding.

Press review: Hostile Greece 2008-08-05 · euro|topics The Greek daily I Kathimerini criticises the way the Greek authorities treat the country's Albanian minority, which accounts for 40% of all immigrants in Greece, describing "mass deportations, brutality ... and savage exploitation when it comes to wages". It concludes that "not even Greece's worst enemy could create a rift between the Greeks and Albanians as great as that which the authorities have created in the past 16 years."

Finland's Roma face threat of losing children 2008-07-30 · Reuters Finland is cracking down on Roma who beg with their children, threatening to send mothers and children back to their country of origin or take the children into foster care. Authorities say they want to protect the children. But human rights groups say it is one of Europe's toughest anti-Roma measures to date, and constitutes a form of blackmail that divides families rather than protecting them.

Freedom of Expression, Free Flow of Information, Freedom of Media 2007 · OSCE This report is a compilation of texts adopted by the OSCE with regards to the freedom of expression, the free flow of information and the freedom of media. It covers the timeline since the Helsinki Final Act from 1975 up till the council decisions from 2006. One key point in the history of defending the freedom of expression was the Establishment of the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media in 1997. ...

Regular Report to the Permanent Council 2008-03-13 · OSCE - Representative on Freedom of the Media This report by the Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklós Haraszti summarizes the issues that OSCE have raised with participating States and reviews the work done by the office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media. It provides a a follow-up on the special report ‘Handling of journalists during political demonstrations’ and a list of legal reviews prepared for participating States.

Guide to Minorities and Education 2007-10 · King Baudouin Foundation This guide is a first port of call for NGOs and others working in the field of minority education in South Eastern Europe. It is an outcome of the regional conference entitled "Minorities and Education: Foundation of Stable Relations in the Region" organized by Civic Initiatives in Belgrade on June 8-9, 2006, as part of the "Minority Rights in Practice in South-East Europe" programme of the King Baudouin Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and ...

Values Questions Set European Muslims Apart 2007-04-26 · Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies This article states that Muslims living in the relatively secular environments of London, Paris, and Berlin see little inherent contradiction between their religious and national identities, but that does not imply that their attitudes always conform to those of the general public in their respective countries. The point of difference that has proven the most controversial, perhaps because of its visual nature, is that of religious symbols. More substantively, Muslims in London, Paris, and Berlin ...

Muslims in Spain. The Case of Maghrebis in Alicante 2007-08-30 · Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (JSRI) The aim of this article is to describe the social networks of the Maghrebis in Alicante, some of the problems they face in their daily life, and the role played by the “mosque” as a place not only of prayer but also of mutual help and support. At the same time, the analysis shows that Islamophobia has increased in the city, as it has done in other places in Spain and Europe following the Al-Qaeda ...