” “"Racism and xenophobia must not be fought just one day a year". This message comes from Strasbourg, the seat of the Council of Europe, on the occasion of the International Day for the Commemoration of the Holocaust. The "leaders" of the international organisation have published a release, signed by the president of the Committee of Ministers Fiorenzo Stolfi, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly René van der Linden, the secretary general Terry Davis and the Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg. The joint declaration goes like this: "We have a duty to fight hatred and prejudice at all times and in every place, at school, at work and in the street. The political decision-makers are responsible in particular for freeing Europe of racism in all its forms, from anti-Semitism to Islamophobia, including prejudices against the Rom". The Council of Europe, the "guardian" of fundamental rights and freedoms in the old continent, which works by means of cultural, educational and legal systems (including the Court of Human Rights), recalled that the new discrimination concerns not just ethnical origins or racial differences but also "religion, disability and sexual preferences".” ” ” ” ” ” ” “
