Improvement of the reporting system for racism and xenophobia

Within the framework of the activities of the EU project “Living together without discrimination in Morocco”, FIIAPP and the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE) organised a virtual seminar to improve the systems for collecting reports regarding racist and xenophobic incidents. The event explored the European role in supporting bodies that promote equality. In addition, it made it possible to learn and share good practices and debate on the main challenges and obstacles that these institutions face.   

This seminar is the first in a series of meetings dedicated to promoting coexistence. The objective is to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge in order to improve the independent mechanisms for identifying and collecting complaints regarding the protection of human rights. These actions also seek to contribute to the development and adoption of this mechanism within the National Human Rights Council. 

The event was attended by specialists from the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet). This network brings together 49 equality bodies from 36 European countries. National equality bodies are public institutions that work to combat discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, convictions and/or beliefs, disability and other reasons. These institutions play a key role in the fight against discrimination at European level. 

On the Spanish side, participants included representatives of the AECID, (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), FIIAPP, OBERAXE and CNDH (National Human Rights Commission) as well as from the Attorney General’s Office and associations such as the Federation of Roma Women’s Associations (FAKALI) and Accem (a non-profit NGO that mainly helps refugees and immigrants in Spain). On the Moroccan side, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, the Regional Commissions for Human Rights (CRDH) and the Ministries of Justice and Health were present, as well as representatives of international cooperation organisations and international NGOs present in Morocco and actors from Moroccan civil society.