Antisemitism: First International Meeting Concludes with Promises to Address Growing Problem

VIENNA - A conference which brought together representatives from 55 governments to address the rise of antisemitism in Europe should help raise the profile of this growing problem, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights said today. The conference, held in Vienna and organized by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was the first international governmental meeting of the OSCE devoted exclusively to antisemitism.

“For too long European governments have been sitting on their hands, rather than forcefully confronting this growing problem,” said Michael McClintock, a Lawyers Committee representative who attended the meeting.

A decision was made at the end of the Vienna meeting to meet again next year in Berlin to gauge progress on these issues.

"We are hopeful that this conference signals an end to the complacency and that by the time governments come together again in Berlin they will have begun to seriously address these issues," added McClintock.

The Lawyers Committee is calling for immediate action on the part of states and the OSCE to improve the way that they monitor and report on anti-Semitic acts. Clearer, more accurate, and publicly available information about the numbers of crimes committed against Jews due to racial animus will help states, the OSCE and others develop more effective means to counter these hate crimes.