Policy Document

The Foundation 'Policing for a Multi-Ethnic Society' works in the field of anti- discrimination. It has as goal the promotion, presentation and distribution of the 'Rotterdam Charter' in the European countries. The purpose of this Charter is to identify the different actions that are needed to implement police services in the European multi-ethnic society.

Introduction to the Charter and the Foundation

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I - The Rotterdam Charter
On May 30th to June 1st 1996 was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the conference "Policing for a multi-ethnic society; principles, practices and partnership". During this conference police officers, representatives of NGOs and officials from local, national and European authorities, discussed and revised the earlier draft of the Rotterdam Charter.

This Charter has different purposes. The main one is to discuss and identify the different actions that are needed to implement policing in the multi-ethnic society that Europe became in these last decades. It covers five different topics:

Recruitment and retention
Training of police officers
It's a good law, but it is poorly implemented
Building bridges between ethnic minorities and the police
Migrant participation in crime versus police participation in criminalising migrants
The Charter tries to point out the need for partnership between the police, NGOs and local authorities and it also represents the steering commitee's aim to further development of general principles for police practice in a changing Europe. It is a document with general purposes that does not provide instant solutions for all the problems and it must be adjusted to the needs of each European city or state. The Charter does not have as yet the satus of an official international document.

II - The Foundation policing for a multi-ethnic society
This foundation has an international goal and was founded for a more solid and structured promotion and presentation of the Rotterdam Charter. The Foundation is based in Rotterdam. This last year was used to secure founding and this is coming from the following organisations:

European Union
Municipality of Rotterdam
Rotterdam-Rijnmond Police
"How can these words be translated into action"
During the "Expert-meetings in Rotterdam", a conference which took place on 16, 17 and 18 October 1997, the first working plan of the foundation was discussed. This plan is created in order to guarantee that the principles of the Charter become a reality in those levels of our society with connection to them. When preparing this working plan two levels were taken into account:

A professional level
A political level
A) This first level must develop a specific content of a programme of action that is appropriate for a particular city or state. There are three stages involved:
identification of the ethnic composition of the population and the police needs that arise from ethnic diversity;
the use of the Charter as a check-list to identify which specific points are already being taken and which are not. Where actions are already being taken, their effectiveness should be reviewed;
an overall programme of action that includes:
 *plans to fill the gaps which have been identified;
 *and to strengthen existing initiatives where required.

B)This programme of action must also include two other components:
financial resources and resources in kind such as expert advise and organisational support;

active involvement of persons from the diverse ethnic communities, specially those from minority groups. Partnership with appropriate NGOs will ensure this takes place.
Commitment from political leaders and senior police officers. This commitment must take the form of clear and well publicised policy which mandates the police organisation to address multi-ethnic issues. This commitment can be achieved from different routes:
Police - police officers should try to win support for the Charter from their national police unions, and also from international police associations and networks.

Civic authorities - can promote the Charter through European networks such as ELAINE and Eurocities.

NGOs - as independent organisations can campaign publicity to promote the Charter, through holding meetings and organising conferences, as well as by using the mass media. They can also advocate the Charter at an European level through bodies such as Migrant Forum, human rights groups and youth networks.

European level - the Charter can be presented together with its working plan to different European organisations inviting them to write it down as a discussing issue in their agenda. These are examples of European organisations that could be approached:
- European Union - it has several reports dealing with the matters of discrimination such as the Kahn Commission and the Treaty of Amsterdam.
- The Council of Europe - it has several programmes and reports dealing directly with policing and ethnic issues e.g. the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Police and Human Rights 1997/2000, Urban Society and Urban Security and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.
- European police institutions - the Charter can be presented to these following institutions: the Heads of Training, the Association of European Police Colleges, Middle European Police Academy (MEPA), the Nordic Baltic Academy, the European Law Enforcement (ELEC), the International Enforcemant Academy (ILEA) and the Conference of Directors of Academies from Central and Eastern Europe. This last one is an American initiative but it is located in Brussels.
The most important factor that can not be forgotten when putting this plan into practice is the cooperation with others. Cooperation between the police, NGOs and municipal authorities.