German gov’t should take concrete steps against racism: NGOs

BERLIN (AA) - The German coalition government is not doing enough to combat racism and right-wing extremism, despite pledges from the governing parties to address the problem, three leading rights groups said on Tuesday.

“The coalition government is taking the issues seriously. However, there is no strategic concept, and many of the measures in the coalition agreement have not been implemented yet,” the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, Conference of Migrant Organizations (BKMO) and rights group BMB said in a joint statement.

The groups underlined that right-wing extremism and far-right groups constitute the biggest threat to democracy and security in Germany.

“The dangers posed by right-wing propaganda and violence have not decreased, but increased. The recent attacks on refugee shelters are just one example,” they said, and called for stronger measures to prevent attacks targeting refugees, migrants, Jews, and Muslims in Germany.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, and its partners the Greens, and Free Democrats had pledged stronger measures to address racism and the far-right threat when they signed an agreement last December to form a three-way coalition government.

Right groups called on the government to enhance cooperation with the civil society organizations to develop a common strategy to combat racism, provide stronger support to counselling centers for victims of right-wing violence, and adopt a “participation law” to ensure equal treatment of everyone and address the problem of structural racism.