Avocats Sans Frontières, European Alternatives and a consortium of civil society and university partners are coming together to promote equality and to fight discrimination affecting specifically migrant communities in Europe. The consortium aims to give a platform to racialized individuals and groups as well as people with a migrant background during this crucial election year and over the coming years.
In Europe, racialised and migrant communities are most often completely absent from the decision and policy making process regarding the issues of migration and discrimination.
The pact for equality is a commitment between civil society organisations, trade unions, members of European parliament (MEPs) and those communities to engage in a regular formal dialogue process during the next five years and beyond.
The 2024 European Parliament elections represent a unique opportunity to reaffirm Europe’s commitment to its founding values and its anti-discrimination framework.
The full version of the Pact for equality is available on European Alternatives’ website in English, French and Italian.
The pact for equality: Who we are
As a group of anti-racism, migration, and anti-discrimination advocates, all politically active in our communities, we mobilised our expertise to formulate the Pact for Equality’s principles and demands over two days of deliberation in Marseille, April 2024.
This Pact is shaped by our personal experiences of exclusion and discrimination, as well as our strong links with local communities.
Our mission statement:
“We have the privilege of speaking on behalf of ourselves and drawing attention to similar struggles faced by our communities. We want to use our skills, unique perspectives, and expertise to demand people in positions of power change the reality faced by migrants*, refugees and racialised people in Europe**, and contribute to ending all forms of discrimination.”
Our demands
Anti-discrimination and equality
- Expansion of equality or anti-discrimination frameworks to all EU policies
- Awareness-raising and education on racism and discrimination
- An EU anti-racism law that addresses the gaps in the Race Equality Directive for comprehensive protection from discrimination
- Investment and incentives for Corporate Social Responsibility programmes specifically on issues on discrimination and equality
- Structural investment in civil society organisations, primarily those led by racialised people
- Mandated collection of disaggregated data, with clear and broad categories for self-identification encompassing race, ethnicity, country of origin, nationality, and religion, as well as gender, sexuality, and ability
- Equal and fair recognition of university degrees or technical qualifications with EU academic institutions, regardless of country of origin or sponsorship.
Migration and Asylum
- Provide safe migration routes to Europe, with universal access regardless of country of origin
- End EU externalisation policies
- End deportations of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
- End racial profiling at the borders and in society
- Equal civic, political and social rights for all migrants
- Complementary routes to arrival, including but not limited to expanded student and worker visas, humanitarian visas, family reunification, and private sponsorship
Democracy and citizenship
- The right of everyone born in the EU to acquire citizenship (jus soli)
- Pathways to naturalisation without racist and discriminatory criteria based on nationality, country of origin, ethnicity or race, or socio-economic status
- The right of everyone to acquire an EU citizenship that is not tied to a specific Member State
- The right to vote for all EU residents, regardless of citizenship or migration status, for local and EU elections
- A guarantee that EU citizenship acquired from a Member State or the EU can never be revoked, even for those with dual or multiple nationality
- The EU to acknowledge colonial responsibility in excluding racialised people in participative democratic system and to work towards greater inclusion, representation and (meaningful) participation
- A harmonised EU citizenship system and the uniform application of the 1997 Citizenship Directive
The TACKLE project
The consortium behind the pact collaborates in the frame of the project ‘TACKLE: Promoting the emergence of young activism against discrimination and structural racism in Europe‘. It is made of 12 partners including university legal clinics and NGOs with an expertise on discrimination and human rights, with a focus on the rights of racialised people and people on the move.
