'Declaration of Rome' notes politicians have responsibility to fight racism after string of insults against Italy's first black minister
Representatives of 17 European Union countries have gathered in Rome to condemn the "unacceptable" stream of racist insults directed at Cécile Kyenge, the Italian minister for integration, and call for a new pact to stamp out discrimination across the bloc.
Speaking after integration ministers from countries including Britain signed a declaration urging greater pan-European action to promote diversity, Kyenge thanked her counterparts for the "strong and important response" to the string of jibes and threats that have blighted her first five months in office.
"[The declaration] is Europe's response to the attacks and insults directed at me since my appointment, to remind Europe of its founding values," she said, the AdnKronos news agency reported.
Joëlle Milquet, the deputy prime minister of Belgium, had suggested the meeting and accompanying "declaration of Rome" in order to provide a robust response not only to Kyenge's trials but to those of racism sufferers throughout Europe.
"What has happened to the Italian minister is unacceptable but we're talking about a widespread phenomenon," she said at a press conference. "It was necessary to mobilise in order to affirm the value of diversity and integration."
The declaration notes that politicians have "a particular responsibility" to show the way in the fight against racism and xenophobia, and calls on them to "show … determination in this fight in our words as well as our acts".
Kyenge, Italy's first black minister, has not only been on the receiving end of racist jibes from unknown critics but from Italian politicians in the rightwing Northern League. Roberto Calderoli, the League's deputy speaker in the upper house of parliament, or senate, sparked horror in July when he said the 48-year-old minister had "the features of an orangutan". He was stiffly reprimanded by the prime minister, Enrico Letta, but remains in his position in the senate.
Mario Borghezio, an MEP for the League, said the inclusion of Kyenge in the government made it a "bongo bongo" administration. A vice-mayor in Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People party, Cristiano Za Garibaldi, suggested she worked in an area known for being frequented by prostitutes, many of whom are black. Kyenge, an eye doctor who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been in Italy for around 30 years and has Italian citizenship.
Among the countries whose representatives signed the declaration were Greece, Malta, Ireland and Austria. Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat MP and undersecretary of state for communities and local government, was Britain's representative at the meeting.
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