Coexistence as a tool to combat racism and xenophobia

This week, the Living without Discrimination project visited Spain with a delegation made up of public employees from the Moroccan administration and representatives from the country’s media. 

The delegation visited the Secretary of State for Migration, the General Council of the Judiciary, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Secretary of State for Security, the Ramón y Cajal Hospital and the Ministry of Justice to find out how Spanish institutions prevent and fight against racism and xenophobia. 

They also visited the town of Fuenlabrada, a pioneer social integration policy in Spain. “Today we are all going to learn a lot. Not only those taking part today, but all municipal services are going to learn from what we do here and in other places” said Isidoro Ortega López, deputy mayor of the Madrid town. 

The local police also took part in the event, with a speech by Oscar Serrano from GESDIPOL, the Police Diversity Management team. For them it is essential for the police to work for all of society. “One of Fuenlabrada’s key programmes is “erase hate”. Hate speech precedes action, so through this programme, in addition to eliminating graffiti within 24 to 48 hours, the places in which these hate crimes occur are mapped in order to prevent their repetition.” 

In the words of Anna Terrón, the FIIAPP director, “This visit represents an opportunity to share policies and measures designed to combat hate crimes and ensure an equal treatment of migrants at a local level. Municipal policies have much to contribute to scripting a new narrative about immigration that stops the rumours and noise associated with a phenomenon that can and does have many positive sides to it. It is time that we banish the demons associated with immigration.” 

To end the trip, the delegation visited the FIIAPP offices, where a space has been created to reflect and exchange experiences on press coverage of migration issues in both countries in the presence of Moroccan and Spanish journalists. 

The European Union-funded “Living without discrimination: a human rights and gender dimension based approach” project is jointly run by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administration and Policies (FIIAPP) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).  It also has the technical support of OBERAXE, the Spanish Observatory against Racism and Xenophobia and the Secretary of State for Migration. The general aim of the project is to contribute to the strengthening of instruments and public policies aimed at preventing racism and xenophobia towards migrant women and men in Morocco, based on the protection of fundamental rights, taking into account the gender dimension.