MINELRES: EUMAP: Call for Papers, Online Articles, Projects

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Alphia Abdikeeva <AAbdikeeva@osi.hu>



1. NEW EUMAP CALL FOR PAPERS, to be published on Enlargement Day (May
1st). 

2. NEW ARTICLES ONLINE AT EUMAP.ORG focussing on new civil society
projects and initiatives in Europe aimed at overcoming racism and
discrimination.

3. NEW EUMAP PROJECTS
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1. ENLARGEMENT DAY: WHAT NEXT? - NEW EUMAP CALL FOR PAPERS!

On 1st May 2004, the decade-long process of EU Accession for eight CEE
countries finally comes to an end. However, amid all the hopes, fears
and expectations on all sides at this time, one question is looming -
what next? 

Have all the problematic issues been resolved, or even identified, prior
to enlargement? Will the enlarged EU be able to truly function
effectively as a single entity? Most importantly, what lessons should
candidate and prospective candidate countries, as well as current
members and EU institutions, take away from this largest phase of
enlargement in the history of the EU?

EUMAP was created in 2000 to monitor the impact of the EU Accession
process on human rights and rule of law issues in Europe and past EUMAP
monitoring has focused in particular on the ten CEE Accession countries.
As such, to mark this historic moment, EUMAP.ORG is inviting articles,
essays and opinion pieces focusing on: 

EUROPE BEYOND ENLARGEMENT - THE FUTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE NEW EU 

The EU institutions have annually monitored the progress of candidate
towards membership based on the so-called "Copenhagen criteria". These
include the political criteria, which encompasses human rights and rule
of law issues. However, present EU member States have not been placed
under the same degree of scrutiny for important human rights standards,
and monitoring in the new EU member countries will end following
enlargement. This raises some important questions:

- What are the lessons from the EU accession process? Have important
human rights and rule of law issues been overlooked in the Accession
process and are they likely to come back to haunt the enlarged Union in
the future? Should future EU enlargement perhaps be based on more
stringent criteria?

- What next for EU monitoring? With Accession now completed for the
first group of CEE countries, is there still a role for the EU in
promoting compliance with human rights standards in these countries?
Could such monitoring be effective, given the absence of an Accession
"carrot" and of a specific EU competency on human rights? Should EU
monitoring in these areas be strengthened to encompass monitoring of all
EU member States? 

- What role for other international organisations and for European civil
society? To complement EU monitoring of human rights and rule of law
issues, international organisations and institutions certainly have an
important role to play. But what areas should they focus on and how
effective can they be? Similarly, how does European civil society fit
into the picture? What role can they play in monitoring an EU, whose
expansion has not yet been paralleled by further democratisation and
increased transparency? 

EUMAP welcomes papers addressing any of these above themes. Quality
papers will be featured on the EUMAP website (www.eumap.org), with the
intention of framing and encouraging debate on these issues. 

Original papers in English, between 1,500 and 2,000 words, should be
sent by 20 April 2004 to: submissions@eumap.org. Contact person: Alphia
Abdikeeva. Accepted authors will receive an honorarium of EUR 200. 
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2. NEW ARTICLES ONLINE AT EUMAP.ORG

European-wide Action Week Against Racism, 20-28 March. Racism: Spot it
and stop it!
 
The European-wide Action Week Against Racism is organised by UNITED, a
voluntary cooperation of more than 550 organisations from 46 European.
This annual action week has become a regular event across Europe and to
mark it EUMAP.ORG invited articles on the subject of Putting theory into
practice! - New projects and initiatives in Europe aimed at overcoming
racism or discrimination and promoting tolerance, social inclusion and
integration of all groups into society. 

EUMAP would like to thank contributors for the many interesting
submissions received in response to this call for papers and are pleased
to draw to your attention to the following three new articles published
online by EUMAP.ORG. These articles highlight NGO initiatives aimed at
combating racism and promoting integration in Europe and instances of
"good practices" worth sharing and replicating elsewhere in Europe: 

(i) Legal Indicators for Social Inclusion of New Minorities Generated by
Immigration - by Roberta Medda-Windischer 
"In recent decades, most EU member States have experienced a marked
increase in the number of third country nationals (TCNs) residing on
their territory. The LISI project was launched at the beginning of 2002
in the framework of the EC Programme for preparatory actions to combat
and prevent social exclusion of migrants."
Full text: http://www.eumap.org/articles/content/97/974

(ii) European Campaigning from UNITED's Point of View - by Florian
Niederndorfer  
"UNITED for Intercultural Action is a pan-European network against
nationalism, fascism and racism and in support of migrants and refugees.
UNITED represents a wide range of organisations active within the
European movement against discrimination: from anti-fascist
organisations to information centres to organisations directly engaged
in legal representation."
Full text: http://www.eumap.org/articles/content/97/973

(iii) Strategies that Help Romani Students Succeed in School - by Dawn
Tankersley 
"For many Romani children in Central and Eastern Europe, an equal
opportunity for quality education is still an illusion. In 1999, a pilot
programme was initiated by the Step by Step Program of the Open Society
Institute (OSI) to work towards solutions to the problem of high failure
rates and segregation of Romanies."
Full text: http://www.eumap.org/articles/content/97/972
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3. EUMAP NEW PROJECTS

EUMAP.ORG is an online centre for comprehensive resources, news, and
analyses, committed to delivering information on, and generating debate
about, human rights and the rule of law in Europe. EUMAP.ORG is the
website of the Open Society Institute's EU Monitoring and Advocacy
Program. To find out more about the Program click here:
http://www.eumap.org/about.

EUMAP has published reports on:
- Minority Protection (in the five largest EU members and ten candidate
countries)
- Corruption and Anti Corruption Policy
- Judicial Independence and Capacity
- Equal Opportunities for Men and Women (in cooperation with OSI's
Network Women's Program/NWP)
EUMAP's reports are available here: http://www.eumap.org/reports.

Currently EUMAP has started the following new monitoring projects:
- Access to Education and Employment for People with Intellectual
Disabilities (in cooperation with OSI's Mental Disability Advocacy
Program/MDAP)
- Broadcasting Regulation and Media Independence (in cooperation with
OSI's Network Media Program/NMP)
- Minority Protection (a series of four policy papers on the situation
of Muslims in the UK: on Education, Equality and Discrimination, Access
to Justice, and Employment)

To contact EUMAP or receive further information on our activities,
please send us an email at eumap@osi.hu

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