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Today (Tuesday 2nd) a group of organisations, co-ordinated by the Runnymede Trust, travel to the UN in Geneva to address the UK government’s response to racial inequalities and discrimination.
The group of organisations have also published the report being submitted to the UN committee, which assesses the state of race equality in Britain. See the report here: http://runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/europe/cerd.html
They argue that the UK government’s current colour-blind approach has no evidence of reducing racial inequalities and that the government may therefore be failing to comply with its responsibilities as a signatory to the UN treaty, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
In response, the UK government under Prime Minister Theresa May needs to take responsibility for making Britain a more racially-equal society, by implementing a wide-ranging race equality strategy and by transposing the UN Convention (in full) into UK law.
Race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust compiled the 83-page report, which is published a day before CERD takes evidence from non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) in Geneva.
The submission to the UN calls on the UK Government to take action on institutional and individual racism, which is in the public eye following an upsurge in racism after Brexit.
Dr Omar Khan, Director of the Runnymede Trust who is giving evidence to CERD in Geneva, called on Theresa May to coordinate efforts on race equality following her remarks on the steps of Downing Street condemning discrimination.
NGOs call on the UK Government to:
Dr Omar Khan, Director of the Runnymede Trust, said:
“Our review of the state of race equality in Britain shows there are many areas of persistent and widespread inequality that require urgent action driven by political will at the top of Government. As we seek to develop new trade relationships the UK needs to demonstrate it has its act in order on tackling racism or risk international embarrassment.
“In this post-Brexit world we must safeguard the rights of BME citizens by fully incorporating the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination into British law. We therefore call on Theresa May to lead from the front and drive through the changes needed to make Britain more racially equal.”
The report also calls for the UK Government to:
For more information on CERD see:
http://runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/europe/cerd.html
United Nation member states which have ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) are expected, under Article 9 of the Convention, to report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) every 2 years. Under ICERD, the UN requires all member states to ensure all laws and policy are non-discriminatory in effect (in reality) not just in intention.
The document follows extensive public consultation in six British cities involving 70 non-governmental (NGO) charities and community groups. The last examination of the UK’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was in 2011. A UK government report was submitted to CERD in March 2015, and a government delegation will attend to give evidence this week to CERD.
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