The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has warned of the development of what has been described as Fortress Europe. In reality, she said, there were two Europes increasingly divided by a Brussels-made wall.
Addressing the European Conference against Racism in Strasbourg, Mrs Robinson highlighted a number of alarming trends and said Europeans should wake up to the threats they posed.
These included the emergence of racist attitudes in societies where it had not been so evident before in countries such as Ireland, Finland and Spain. She also cited the rise in support for far-right political parties in Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.
She reprimanded prosperous Western European states for their lack of generosity in responding to the arrival of asylum-seekers and refugees. In a strongly worded keynote address to 500 delegates, Mrs Robinson urged Western European states to lead by example and beware of a "fortress" mentality.
The conference, "All Different, All Equal: From Principle to Practice", is Europe's contribution to a United Nations World Conference against Racism in South Africa next year. Mrs Robinson is the secretary general to the world conference. The three-day European conference is being hosted by the Council of Europe based in Strasbourg. Mrs Robinson said the European conference was an opportunity to take stock of the problem of racism and devise strategies to combat it. This could only be done by accepting that Europe had a serious problem with racism and by seeking to understand the nature and sources of the problem.
The tendency of developed countries was to turn away from the problem of poverty and exclusion, in Africa in particular.
"Western Europeans must beware of the fortress mentality. Economically, it is not a sustainable approach in the long term. Demographically, the population of Western Europe is ageing fast. Morally, it cannot be right that millions go hungry, live without clean water or even basic medicines, die of AIDS, at a time when people in the developed countries enjoy unparalleled prosperity."
A heavy duty rested on the shoulders of governments and politicians. "To be honest, I see a lot of scope for improvement," she added. Strategies to tackle racism throughout Europe should be coming from its political leaders, "yet the impression is that it is racists and bigots who make the running in the debate, and that some politicians remain silent for fear of antagonising the few. As Edmund Burke said: `For evil to triumph, it is sufficient that good men are silent'."
She said two of the 41 members of the Council of Europe, Ireland and Turkey, had not yet ratified the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. She has requested a meeting with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, tomorrow. Mr O'Donoghue is expected to announce that Ireland will ratify the convention soon when he addresses the conference in one of a series of short presentations by ministers.
The German author and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Gunther Grass, told delegates that Europe's 20 million Roma - the largest single minority in Europe - had scant recognition and no voice.
The Roma should be able to stand on a united list for election to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He realised the ingrained anti-gypsy sentiment candidates would face and the difficulties in getting Roma citizens to register for an election, but this should be overcome.