[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10414-10415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            COMBATTING ANTI-SEMITISM, RACISM AND INTOLERANCE

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as our Nation continues to mourn the 
tragic loss of life at the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, I 
wish to discuss international efforts that can assist in addressing the 
prejudice and discrimination that fuels violence and acts of extremism 
in our country and abroad.
  Following the horrific attacks in Paris and Copenhagen earlier this 
year, the president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Ilkka Kanerva, 
appointed me to serve as the assembly's first special representative on 
anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance. As a Member of Congress, the 
U.S. Helsinki Commission, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I have 
long fought to counter prejudice and discrimination and to advance more 
effective measures against hate crimes. I was therefore extremely 
honored that President Kanerva entrusted me with this responsibility.
  Given the breadth of my mandate, I am focusing my work this year on 
three areas: first, the urgent issue of anti-Semitism and community 
security; second, discrimination against Muslims and anti-Muslim 
backlash; finally, in light of events in our own country and the 
salience of these struggles for minorities in Europe, discriminatory 
policing.
  As my first initiative, I visited the sites of the Paris and 
Copenhagen tragedies in April, where I met with people directly 
affected by the violence as well as government officials and civil 
society representatives. In my consultations with Jewish, Muslim, 
African-descent, and other community leaders, we discussed Jewish 
community security and civil society coalition efforts to combat all 
forms of prejudice and discrimination. The horrific attacks in those 
two capitals--simultaneously targeting Jewish communities and 
expressions of free speech--underscored the urgent need to address 
security threats to Jewish individuals and communities. The 
pervasiveness of anti-Semitism is one of the main reasons I last year 
called on the OSCE to hold a High Level Conference to mark the 10th 
anniversary of the seminal OSCE Berlin Conference on Anti-Semitism and 
adopt a ministerial decision calling on all 57 participating states of 
the OSCE to implement commitments to combat anti-Semitism. In this 
vein, I recently led efforts to provide funding for U.S. and European 
civil society to work with youth to combat anti-Semitism and other 
forms of intolerance.
  Of course, we must be vigilant to ensure that such efforts do not 
degenerate into anti-Muslim backlash. Measures that are framed in ways 
that fuel anti-Muslim prejudice will ultimately be counterproductive. 
Moreover, we need diverse coalitions working together to address the 
threats we face today. This month, fringe extremist parties from seven 
different countries formed a block in the EU Parliament. They are now 
eligible to receive EU money to disseminate toxic views that combine 
anti-Semitism with anti-Muslim bigotry.
  I have also introduced legislation to end racial profiling in the 
United States. The End Racial Profiling Act, S. 1056, prohibits racial 
profiling by law enforcement, mandates law enforcement bias training, 
requires data collection on all police stops, and creates procedures 
for receiving, investigating, and resolving profiling complaints. 
Tragic events in Baltimore and New York, North Charleston and Ferguson, 
and elsewhere around the country have shown us that Federal legislation 
finally ending racial profiling is essential.
  It is also essential that we restore confidence between communities 
and the police, and the criminal justice system at large. To that end, 
I have also introduced the ``Baltimore Act,'' S. 1610 named after my 
home city, to provide strategies and resources to strengthen police-
community relations and restore justice.
  Discriminatory policing is undoubtedly a challenge that many 
governments face. In some European countries, minorities are 10 times 
more likely to be stopped by the police than members of the majority. 
In France--the country with some of Europe's largest Muslim and Black 
populations--police officers were recently acquitted in connection with 
the death of two teenagers. That incident 10 years ago sparked riots 
across France;

[[Page 10415]]

the acquittal this year has prompted protests and comparisons with 
Ferguson. In Germany, a human rights group is petitioning the 
government to end profiling after a Black student was arrested solely 
because his skin color led them to presume he was in the country 
illegally. In Slovakia, 10 police officers were acquitted in February 
of forcing Romani boys to strip and fight each other, even though this 
notorious incident was captured on cell phone video. As we know from 
our own experience, racial bigotry, if unaddressed, only metastasizes.
  The United States and our European partners have a lot to learn from 
one another. We have learned--and continue to learn--from the civil 
rights struggle and, as a country founded and built by people seeking 
freedom and opportunity, about immigration and integration. Many 
European countries are working hard to address discrimination and 
advance civil rights through the creation of national human rights 
institutions and targeted strategies. Additionally, there are many 
lessons learned from hate-based violence reduction and gun laws.
  The United States and Europe have worked on both sides of the 
Atlantic to address issues of prejudice and discrimination and foster 
diversity, but on a largely ad hoc basis. I recently introduced 
provisions in the Senate for a Joint Action Plan between the United 
States and European Union to formalize and coordinate such 
consultations and ensure that the necessary experts and stakeholders 
from the public and private sectors are involved. It would also improve 
transparency and access to information generated by these exchanges. I 
have also urged the OSCE chair-in-office to convene a high-level 
conference on racism and xenophobia to elevate understanding of these 
issues and advance additional concrete steps by the OSCE participating 
states. The recent events in Charleston, Paris, and Copenhagen 
underscore the urgent need for shared efforts to combat hate and foster 
inclusion on both sides of the Atlantic.
  In 1991, just days after the failed Moscow coup, the United States 
met in Russia with other OSCE participating states. Our countries 
agreed that ``issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, 
democracy and the rule of law are of international concern, as respect 
for these rights and freedoms constitutes one of the foundations of the 
international order.'' Such matters are ``of direct and legitimate 
concern to all participating States and do not belong exclusively to 
the internal affairs of the state concerned.'' That is as true today as 
it was 20 some years ago. It is in that spirit that I will continue to 
work with other parliamentarians to combat anti-Semitism, racism, and 
other forms of intolerance--in the United States and elsewhere in the 
OSCE region.

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