During the conference “Youth in Action for Diversity and Tolerance” young people are going to develop a binding action plan against right-wing extremism

Approximately 180 young people and experts from 40 European countries are the participants of the conference “Youth in Action for Diversity and Tolerance”. The conference, organized by the European Commission and the German federal government, is going critically review the progress in the fight against racism and xenophobia. It thereby refers to the first international conference “Youth for Tolerance and Democracy” which was also held in Berlin in 2001. This time, however, the young people are not only going to present their demands to the political decision-makers, but the are also going to develop their own contribution to an improvement of the situation in form of a binding action plan.
The conference was opened by State Secretary Peter Ruhenstroth-Bauer, of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, in the presence of Pierre Mairesse, Acting Director of the Directorate-General of Youth, Sports and Relations with the Citizen of the European Commission.

“In many European countries xenophobia and right-wing extremism are on the rise, not least because what is foreign or unknown arouses feelings of insecurity and disapproval in some people”, State Secretary Ruhenstroth-Bauer declared when opening the conference. “We have to stop this dangerous development. When right-wing extremists commit crimes, the police and the judiciary are called for. But we cannot confine ourselves to fighting only the symptoms. It is much more important to fight against the roots of the problem by promoting cosmopolitanism and an awareness of democracy on a large scale. The conference “Youth in Action for Diversity and Tolerance” is a contribution to reaching this goal.”

With its action programme “Youth for Tolerance and Democracy – against right-wing extremism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism” the federal government supports the battle against prejudices and racism. Since 2001 more than 4.000 preventive programmes were funded by the federal government.

Until Wednesday, 9th November, the commemoration day of the Nazi pogrom against the Jews, Reichspogromnacht , the participants of the conference are going to develop a declaration, to present it at the closing session to the European Commission, the British EU-presidency, the EU Parliament and the Council of Europe.

For more information on the conference, please visit our website at www.youth-against-racism.net.