General – Page 23 – ERGO Network

Call on the European Parliament to uphold fundamental rights in AI and criminal law report

EDRi and 41 human rights organisations call on the European Parliament to uphold fundamental rights in AI and criminal law report

Artificial intelligence (AI) is, perhaps, the most important breakthrough technology of this century. Its applications are not only changing our daily life or the way we work or interact in society, but also our perception of the world. Some applications of AI are an acute threat to fundamental rights, as they allow, for example, for predictive policing and mass surveillance, which can easily enforce antigypsyism and other forms of racism in policing.

ERGO Network has therefore signed an open letter of European Digital Rights (EDRi), calling on Members of the European Parliament to uphold the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in the LIBE Committee report on Artificial intelligence in criminal law and its use by the police and judicial authorities in criminal matters, which was voted on at the EP Plenary session on 5th October.

In ERDI’s open letter, we urged MEPs to support the LIBE Committee’s original report, which we strongly believe took the most balanced and proportional stance on artificial intelligence (AI) in law enforcement from a fundamental rights perspective. AI in the field of law enforcement offers particular challenges for fundamental rights, in particular rights to liberty, security, privacy, a fair trial and non-discrimination, and as such, require particular fundamental rights scrutiny and democratic oversight.

The pressure of civil society worked: the amendments that would have put fundamental rights at risk were not accepted.

The open letter can be found here.

ERGO partner in Solidi project – Solidarity in Diversity

Solidi Project

ERGO Network is a partner in a new exciting academic project called the European Training Network “Solidarity in Diversity” (SOLiDi), providing a Roma perspective to the programme.

Over the last decade, liberal democracies in Europe have been shaken to their core by the rise of national populisms. This puts strong pressure on all forms of solidarity, especially as they cross ethnic-cultural boundaries. The increasingly successful capture of the notion of solidarity by radical right, anti-liberal democratic forces is testimony to this. The challenge for European democracies is to identify the conditions under which solidarities in diversity can be nurtured.

To address this urgent challenge, the European Training Network “Solidarity in Diversity” (SOLiDi) develops a training and research program that is focused on how to generate solidarities across cultural boundaries, taking the proximity of citizens with different ethnic-cultural backgrounds in specific places and the practices they engage in as starting point. Building on the strengths of the interculturalist paradigm, SOLiDi will contribute with an intersectional understanding of how place-based solidarity practices are shaped by and can work around entrenched social inequalities and unequal power relations.

To that end, SOLiDi brings together 10 academic partners from sociology, geography and educational science and 23 non-academic partners – one of them ERGO Network – in an international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral training network for 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). The research and training will prepare a cohort of highly-skilled professionals who are well-versed in a range of different approaches to generate solidarity in diversity and are able to apply these in different geographical, policy and organisational contexts.

SOLiDi has 3 main objectives:

to combine knowledge from sociology, geography and social pedagogy to extend our knowledge on how solidarities can be generated across cultural boundaries
to articulate public pedagogies and organizational and policy strategies that support diversity
to promote social innovation by facilitating the translation of academic insights into skills to promote and to analyse societal change through training in research methods and ethics

SOLiDi will train doctoral researchers both in the state of the art on sociological, geographical and educationalist insights on solidarity in diversity, place-based practices, interculturalism and intersectionality as well as in analytical and transferable skills on public pedagogies and organizational and policy strategies. In this way, the SOLiDi consortium aims to articulate a new, academically grounded and practice and policy-oriented vision on solidarity in diversity. SOLiDi will provide an alternative to the prevailing pessimism around living in diversity and train a cohort of professionals well equipped to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and professional interventions on living in diversity

For more information please visit the Solidi website

DG JUST widens dialogue with civil society

DG JUST widens dialogue with Roma civil society and anti-racism civil society organisations

In its intention to ensure a greater transparency and inclusion of wider Roma and pro-Roma civil society organisations at national level in implementing the EU Roma Roma Framework on equality, inclusion and participation, the European Commission launched a call for expression of interest to NGOs in supporting the work at European Union level and their readiness to participate in consultation processes. All CSOs who expressed their interest will be informed regularly about important policy developments. Moreover, according to the experience and knowledge of the organisations, based on the information provided in the expression of interest, the Commission services will determine the list of CSOs and/or alliances of CSOs who will be invited to contribute to consultation processes, in particular on the monitoring of the implementation of the Roma policies at EU level. All expressions of interest by the 22 June 2021 will be carefully reviewed based on outreach capacity, work topics, expertise, size and type of CSO as well as the following criteria:

independent status and legal registration in the EU, featuring a democratic decision-making mechanism as well as a mission and values aligned with those of the European Commission;
proven expertise of at least 3 years in one or more of the following: policy, research, advocacy work concerning Roma equality, inclusion and participation, as well as legitimacy of the CSO’s representations (community ties, accountability to beneficiaries and/or members);
respect for pluralism of opinion, tolerance and personal integrity of the representatives is mandatory;
good working knowledge of English as this is the working language of CSO consultation meetings; and
demonstrated ability to engage in constructive dialogue with other governmental and/or non-governmental organizations is highly valued.

In addition, the applicants have to be registered in the EU Transparency registry, proving their legal constitution, including proof of grant of legal personality, evidence of internal rules procedure, audited financial statement for the last 2 years or any other official document demonstrating the annual income; annual activity reports for the last 2 years or any other published reports or research as evidence of Roma-relevant work; and CV(s) of the CSO representative(s).

For the above mentioned call more information can be found here.

A similar call has been launched for anti-racism civil society organisations or the implementation of the EU Anti-racism action plan with a small difference in that there is no minimum limit on the years of proven expertise in the case of antiracism CSOs and that in their case they should have worked on at least one or more of the following: policy, research, advocacy work concerning racial and ethnic equality and anti-racism; and in at least one or more of the following thematic areas: racial justice, equality, reparations and decolonisation, anti-migrant racism.

More information about the anti-racism CSO call can be found here.

Different than in the case of Roma organisations, antiracism CSOs fear that this mechanism could restrict access of more radical NGOs, including pro-Muslim associations which have been banned or accused of inciting to hatred, for being vocal against Islamophobia, particularly in France, under the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron. With a growing victimization of human rights defenders and NGOs, EU institutions should ensure depolitization of antiracism civil society work and build further trust and cooperation with antiracism NGOs.

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on anti racism contact Isabela Mihalache , Senior Policy Adviser in the ERGO Network Brussels team.

Conference on the Future of Europe: call to include marginalised communities

Open letter to Executive Board: civil society organisations call for Conference to include marginalised communities

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a citizen-led series of debates and discussions that will enable people from across Europe to share their ideas and help shape our common future that was opened on 19th June. However, marginalised communities are hardly considered in the conference. ERGO Network alongside many other organisations signed an open letter prepared by Citizens Takeover Europe calling to include marginalised communities

The inaugural meeting of the Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe took place on 19 June, but the Conference risks excluding marginalised communities, undermining the whole exercise.With several civil society organisations and networks, we have drafted an open letter to the Conference Executive Board, calling upon them to address our concerns:

Dear Co-Chairs and Members of the Executive Board,

The inaugural plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe is taking place on Saturday, 19th of June. According to the Joint Declaration, the Conference aims “to give citizens a say on what matters to them,” and to take action in response. However, we fear that the Conference will lead to the further marginalisation of citizens and residents that are already sidelined given the process and plans that have been made until now.

The Conference has so far not made adequate provisions to include marginalised and underrepresented communities. The European Citizens’ Panels are the main innovation of the Conference, and a key instrument to reach underrepresented people. Unfortunately, no quotas have been set to ensure the representation of underrepresented groups such as racialised people, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, etc. Additionally, EU residents without EU passports and non-binary people seem to be categorically excluded from the panels. Furthermore, the Conference Plenary – the main decision-making body – does not seem to foresee adequate representation of these groups either.

It is no secret that political institutions, and the European Union in particular, have failed at times to include marginalised communities in their work. For this reason, many people from marginalised communities do not feel represented by the very institutions that are meant to serve them. Instead, they perceive them as contributing to their oppression.

It is in our common interest that this Conference becomes a success, but it can only become a success if all of Europe’s citizens and residents are provided access, included and treated as equal partners in this dialogue. If the EU fails to involve the most marginalised in our society, it will not only fail these communities but it will also fail to gather crucial knowledge about fundamental societal challenges, and the appropriate measures needed to build stronger, inclusive and cohesive societies.

We urge you to meet with us in the coming period to consider the concerns expressed in this letter, and to consult with organisations representing and working with marginalised communities such as some of the co-signatories of this letter.

Moreover, we call on you to develop a strategy of inclusion in relation to the Conference to ensure that marginalised communities are adequately represented and involved in the Conference, and to do so in consultation with civil society actors. We are at your disposal to support this process.

Together we win, divided we fall. We will only make this Conference succeed if it includes all citizens and residents.

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Provisional list of civil society organisations co-signing the letter:

#DiasporaVote!
A Buon Diritto Onlus
Alliance4Europe
Allwedo e.V.
Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN)
BIL:Armenia
Citizens Take Over Europe
Civil Society Europe
Culture Action Europe (CAE)
ECOLISE
EFF – European Future Forum
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
Eurochild
Europe for Scotland
European Alternatives
European Anti-Poverty Organisation
European Association for the Education of Adults
European Center for Not-for-profit Law Stichting (ECNL)
European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
European Civic Forum
European Environmental Bureau
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless
European Forum of Muslim Women
European House
European Movement Italy
European Network Against Racism
European Network on Religion and Belief (ENORB)
European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA)
European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network
European Youth Parliament
Extinction Rebellion Czech Republic
Generation Climate Europe (GCE)
Gong
Greek Forum of Migrants
Green liberty
IGLYO
Institute of Public Affairs
Junge Islam Konferenz
KISA – Equality, Support, Antiracism
Mundo en Movimiento
Music Theatre International
Oxfam
PICUM – Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants
Regional Roma Educational Youth Assocation-RROMA
School of Political Hope
Schwarzkopf Stiftung
SDG Watch Europe
Society for Sustainable Living/STUŽ
SOLIDAR
Stand Up For Europe
Tereza Čejková
The ECI Campaign
The European Council of doctoral candidates and junior researchers (Eurodoc)
The Good Lobby
Understanding Europe
Young European Federalists (JEF)

Civil society organisations can co-sign this letter by filling out the following form. The deadline is Friday, 18th of June, 18:00 CEST. The letter will be sent to the members of the Executive Board on Saturday morning, 19th of June.

News from Pavee Point, Ireland

News from Pavee Point, Ireland

Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre focused our work in recent months on helping to ensure Traveller & Roma uptake of the COVID19 vaccines. We lobbied and advocated for vaccine priority for Travellers and Roma and published a briefing paper, Approach and Recommendations for COVID-19: Vaccination Prioritisation & Roll Out for Travellers and Roma. Subsequently the Health Department recommended vaccine prioritisation for Travellers & Roma aged 18+ for the COVID-19 vaccination. To coincide with the vaccine roll-out Pavee Point released a series of videos to combat vaccine hesitancy – Travellers Take the Vaccine Campaign. All videos can be found here.

In April we celebrated 50 Years of Activism (1971 – 2021) on International Roma Day .We hosted a webinar to commemorate 50 years of activism since the first World Romani Congress on the 8th of April in London in 1971. To mark the milestone, Pavee Point’s Co Director Martin Collins talked to Roma MEP, Romeo Franz and to Irish Traveller Senator Eileen Flynn about who and what inspired their activism. The video also includes a photographic look back over 50 years, Traveller and Roma music, and we heard from young Roma and Travellers on their hopes for the future. You can watch it here.

In May 2021, Pavee Point was thrilled to be awarded funding by Rethink Ireland Equality Fund to support work in promoting Traveller education. These funds will enable us to raise issues of education discrimination – made worse by COVID-19 – and the need for a National Traveller Education Strategy. You can see a short video on our planned education programme here.