http://www.up.ac.za/chr/gender/gender.html

11 - U.E. / Europe : Convention sur l'avenir de l'Europe / Convention on the future of Europe

Opening address by Mr Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General (Graz, June 13, 2003)

(...) One of them was to progressively include in the European enterprise all those countries that would opt for democracy, human rights, the rule of law and respect for cultural diversity. As a result, we now have a "one Europe" of 45 member States and 800 million Europeans. One in eight of those Europeans is a Muslim, that means there are not less than 100 million Muslim Europeans.

Other decisions included the creation of a European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the strengthening of the European Court of Human rights and the creation of the first European and even international legal instrument for the protection of minorities.

At the highest political level, the message was thus quite clear: we want a wider Europe of peace and stability, based on respect for the equal dignity of all, offering to everyone effective protection of his/her fundamental rights and freedoms and meaningful opportunities for participation in political, civil and cultural life.

We should never forget this very ambitious programme, based on hard-learned lessons from our history, whatever the many shortcomings and failures in the implementation. This programme is also in essence that of the enlarging European Union. I am sure it can be supported by all religions.

Muslim citizen have important stakes in that programme.

In the many European countries where they constitute a religious minority, they are not supposed to hide their beliefs or fail to defend their individual rights and collective interests by lawful means. And they are entitled to expect the full protection of the law against racist speech and violence.

In recent years, ECRI has been concerned by indications that religious intolerance and prejudice against minority Muslim communities is increasing in European countries and that Islam is sometimes portrayed inaccurately on the basis of hostile stereotyping , which can reinforce discrimination.

In a specific policy recommendation adopted some three years ago, ECRI proposed a number of measures to address discrimination against those communities in areas such as access to citizenship, education and employment. It further called for the removal of unnecessary obstacles to the practice of religion, including any administrative bars to the construction of places of worship.

Of course, it will take much more than such measures to ensure harmony and a rewarding participation both in the wider civil society and in the political society.

Harmony, I suggest, will eventually result from a very active inter-religious and intercultural dialogue and from the remarkable efforts of many Muslim communities, notably their Imams or Ulemas, in providing interpretations of the faith that take into account the particular circumstances of contemporary Europe.

Such dialogue and work on the knowledge would reflect the most positive experiences of Muslim contribution to the European culture in the times of tolerance of El-Andalus or under Ottoman rule. The mayor of Graz quoted in his speech Aristoteles. So would call to our mind with gratitude that it were the Islamic scholars of El-Andalus who brought the knowledge about the Greek philosophers back to Europe and saved it for Europe.

There is little doubt that the huge extension of the UMMA or community of Muslims beyond lands of traditional Muslim rule, with the resulting difficulty of being a Muslim in a non-Muslim state, is a major challenge to leaders and thinkers to develop a theory of a minority Islam, some would rather say: an Islam separated from any political project or institution or they would even speak about a European Islam. In South East Europe, the challenge is somewhat different but it further includes overcoming the scars of an history that often mixed religious and political agendas.

Time does not allow to elaborate much on this. Let me mention some of the key questions.

The relation between religious communities and the democratic State must be properly organised, along the lines of "separation" of political and religious powers.

Europe is a community of rights and duties, a concept also well known in Islam. As any other believers, Muslims in Europe are expected to respect democratic laws , in particular on human rights, and States must in turn recognise them and treat Islam on an equal footing with all relevant religions, including in such areas as education and access to media.

Dialogue and partnership are also particularly needed in the Balkans to support the healing process and to lay the ground for more cohesive societies that, in turn, will make it possible for refugees and displaced persons to come home. We call it Linking Diversity. Muslim communities can and often do play a courageous role in that respect. I would like to thank the Reis-ul-Ulema Mustafa Ceric for his support and personal involvement.

Education plays a key role in inculcating basic knowledge and promoting empathy about religious diversity as well as democratic practices. The Council of Europe is therefore actively engaged in the development of standard curricula that should help teachers all over our continent to do precisely that. Becoming aware of the existence of other faiths and of their main features must become an indispensable part of any education in order to limit prejudice and hostility.

This is all the more needed in that an unprecedented wave of suicide-attacks in different parts of the world contributes to confusing minds and to spreading simplistic views about Jihad and the alleged radical antagonism between Islam and the West, including all of Europe.

Very often nowadays Samuel P. Huntingtons's book "The Clash of Civilisations" is quoted, but as I realised, very often by people who did not read it. Time and again, I have repeated my own conviction that the current situation does not reflect a clash of civilisations but a clash of ignorances. I strongly believe that Muslims communities in Europe can help bridging the understanding gap between Islam and the West. (...) 

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13 - International

* Le G8 et la Santé / G8 Offers the World an "Inaction Plan" on Health