The Spanish Committee for Aid to Refugees (CEAR) has helped more than 130 victims of discrimination this year and trained 500 migrants in the “Raise your voice against racism and xenophobia” project.
The NGO highlighted this in the context of the anniversary of the murder of Lucrecia Pérez, which occurred on November 13, 1992 and was the first recognized racist crime in Spain.
In this sense, CEAR noted that the project, which began this year in Valencia, Seville and Madrid, has, during ten months of operation, served more than 130 people who have experienced situations of racism or xenophobia in different areas, particularly in access to registration, housing, health, employment or banking services.
In addition, more than 500 migrants were sensitized and trained on access to rights, equal treatment and non-discrimination.
Likewise, the NGO warned that “migrants continue to face serious barriers to registration, preventing them from accessing basic rights.” He also denounced the refusal of some financial institutions to open bank accounts for the most vulnerable people, even though it is a recognized right.
He also pointed out that there were “several” cases in which the organization accompanied people who were “excluded” from the health system because they were not registered or had documents other than the DNI.
“I was waiting for my registration for more than a year,” says Jennifer Restrepo, one of the project’s beneficiaries. “I was working, but the house I live in and rent did not want to register me. Finally, thanks to the mediation carried out by CEAR in Valencia, I was able to convince the city council to register me.”
Another user, Lorena Valdes, says she experienced discrimination at her health center: “I was with the same doctor for three years, but when I changed health centers, the new doctor noticed my accent right away, and when she realized I was Latina, she didn’t want to do tests or review my medical leave. She told me I had to go to work now, that’s what we’re here for, not to sit around. It was difficult because this doctor sent me to work in a miserable state of work.” He explains, “What he did was marginalize all the rights that I enjoy as a person.”
After going to the CEAR center in Madrid, Valdes received instructions on how to file a claim and was taken to her next medical appointment “because she was afraid to have another medical examination.”
In this vein, the center indicated that Claudine Suarez and her two daughters, in Seville, were exposed to a case of racism in their rented home. The user says: “I’m alone and have two daughters. From the day we arrived in our new house, the people we rented to started asking me to pay more. Then they wouldn’t let us use the washing machine, and the threats and all the racist insults started. They even directed it at my daughters, telling us what they would do to deport us. It was terrible.”
The service offered by CEAR allows potential victims of discrimination to be informed, counselled, accompanied and monitored in the process of reporting and/or recovery, through comprehensive, individual and group intervention, while promoting training procedures targeting the migrant population on the prevention of racism and/or hate crimes.
Finally, the Center warned against “the advancement of anti-rights policies that promote xenophobia and hate speech, incite racist attitudes, question fundamental rights, and cause more and more incidents of discrimination on racial and/or ethnic grounds.” For this reason, he called on migrants to “raise their voices” as an “essential step” in order to “end impunity and prevent the recurrence of crimes like those committed by Lucrezia Pérez.”
About The Author
