Conservative german state bans burqas for civil servants

17.02.2011 Hesse, a state run by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, on Wednesday became the first German region to ban Muslim face veils for public sector workers. The decision was prompted by a local teacher who had told her school she wanted to wear a burqa in the classroom after returning from maternity leave. Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rhein announced it was “not acceptable” for the teacher in Frankfurt to wear a face veil because “public sector workers are obligated to have neutral religious and political views”.
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/02/02/conservative-german-state-bans-burqas-for-civil-servants

Rise in support for Swedish far-right

17.02.2011 Support for Sweden's opposition far-right party has grown since its entry into parliament last year while all the members of the governing coalition have seen their ratings drop, a poll showed Monday. The party entered the parliament after a September election, after campaigning against the "dangers of Islamisation" and pledging to safeguard "traditional values". http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/8305-rise-in-support-for-swedish-far-right

Runnymede Generation 3.0. project

17.02.2011 Generation 3.0 was designed by Runnymede to explore changing attitudes to race, creating spaces for older and younger people to come together to share their experiences and views on how we might end racism for the next generation. The Generation 3.0 project was launched, in partnership with INHABIT, Hybrid Consulting and Harambee, by a week's worth of events between 24 - 28 of January 2011 at the Harriet Tubman Bookshop, 27-29 Grove Lane, Handsworth, Birmingham.
http://www.runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/projects/generation-3-0.html

Migration and Human Rights Seminar in Turkey

17.02.2011 The seminar “Human rights dimensions of migration in Europe”, organised in Istanbul on 17-18 February by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the Turkish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, aims to exchange views on the most important discrepancies between European migration laws and practices and human rights standards, as well as on optimal ways to provide assistance to states in reflecting on and revisiting their migration policies.
http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/default_en.asp

Global launch of MIPEX III


17.02.2011 The British Council and the Migration Policy Group are releasing the results of the third edition of the Migrant Integration Policy Index at a Global press launch and stakeholder's lunch on 28 February. The third edition covers 31 countries including all 27 EU Member States, Canada, the United States, Norway and Switzerland to give a global and comprehensive view of integration policy. http://www.migpolgroup.com/events_detail.php?id=246