Over the past decade, there has been a surge of activities by Commissioners, the OSCE, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) on issues related to heightened racist violence, including against Roma and People of African Descent in Europe and North America.
Commission efforts have included annual hearings, legislation and inter-parliamentary initiatives on topics from combating hate crimes to discrimination in the OSCE region and OSCE Partner States. For more than three decades, Commissioners have led U.S. Congressional efforts to address anti-Roma discrimination and violence. Commissioner initiatives, including OSCE PA resolutions, also set the stage for the OSCE’s creation in 2004 of three Personal Representatives focused on combating racism and xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and religious discrimination; and the creation of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination (TND) Office within ODIHR, which annually collects hate crimes data and provides training and assistance to police, prosecutors, and civil society to combat prejudice and discrimination.
In addition to holding regular hearings with the three Personal Representatives, head of the TND Office, and the Senior Advisor on Romani issues, since 2007, the Commission has held events on racism in the 21st century, hate crimes, racial profiling, Roma, Black Europeans, minorities in France, minority political participation, and refugees and migrants. Commissioners maintain robust engagement with civil society, including those working on these issues.
Commissioners have also served as keynote speakers at OSCE High Level Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Conferences; authored OSCE PA resolutions on combating racism and fostering diversity; and worked closely with OSCE Chairmanships and the U.S. Mission to the OSCE to support anti-racism efforts such as the OSCE/ODIHR first “Roundtable on the contemporary forms of racism and xenophobia affecting people of African Descent in the OSCE region” in 2011. Follow-on initiatives have included a 2013 OSCE delegation of sixteen African Descent civil society leaders.
Other Commissioner initiatives have included joint efforts with European Parliamentarians to advance inclusive governance through regular Transatlantic Minority Political Leadership events at the European Parliament, and with the State Department and German Marshall Fund to advance young diverse and inclusive leaders through the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network. Commissioner's legislative efforts in the U.S. Congress have included the introduction of the U.S-EU Joint Action Plan to combat prejudice and discrimination and African Descent Affairs Act.
