On the 4th of April, a working meeting between the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance delegation and representatives of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress took place in the Kyiv office of the Council of Europe.

The ECRI delegation, comprised of Sarah Burton (representative of the Commission Secretariat), Gudgrun Holgersen (represents Norway in the Commission), and Vesna Rakic-Vodinelic (representative of Serbia), is visiting Ukraine as part of the preparation for the Fourth ECRI Report on the situation in this country. Once in five years such reports are made on all countries that are are part of the Council of Europe. The previous, Third Report on Ukraine had been officially confirmed in 2007, and the Fourth will be published in 2012. As part of the visit, the ECRI delegation is meeting with representatives of the authorities, as well as various non-governmental organizations and experts.

To understand the point of view of the Jewish community of Ukraine on racism and xenophobia, a meeting was organized between the ECRI delegation members and the representatives of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress – EAJC General Council Chairman, Chairman of VAAD Ukraine Josef Zisels, EAJC General Council member, Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies Dr. Anatoliy Podolsky, and xenophobia expert, the compiling editor of the yearly EAJC report “Anti-Semitism in Australia and Eurasia,” EAJC General Council member Vyacheslav Likhachev.

The EAJC representatives described to the ECRI experts the situation with anti-Semitism in Ukraine, and discussed the problems of the relationship between the Jewish community and the Ukrainian authorities. Josef Zisels spoke about the Congress experience in fostering tolerance; Dr. Anatoliy Podolsky also touched upon educational projects in his speech. Vyacheslav Likhachev, head of a monitoring project, gave the European experts information on the number of hate crimes recorded in Ukraine in recent years. An agreement was achieved during the meeting that the ECRI will use information from the EAJC monitoring and of further cooperation.

ECRI is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance. ECRI's action covers all measures needed to combat violence, discrimination and prejudice against persons or groups of persons on the grounds of their race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin. ECRI was created in 1993, by a decision made at a summit of leaders of Council of Europe countries. The Commission consists of experts who represent Council of Europe countries, one expert per country.