This report provides the independent civil society perspective to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) by examining the situation of race and racism in England.

The Runnymede Trust  acted as the curators of evidence submitted by a broad coalition of organisations, on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's (EHRC) procedural request to conduct an independent civil society review on the state’s progress on race and racism in England over the past 4 years. The report has been curated with evidence from over 100 civil society organisations across the country and has been endorsed by 78 NGOs and race equality organisations. We received over 50 written submissions from institutions, CSOs, academics and other individuals in response to the call for evidence for this report.

Our report shows that racism is systemic in England and that it impacts Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups’ enjoyment of rights. Legislation, institutional practices and society’s customs continue to combine to harm BME groups. As a result, in England, BME groups are consistently more likely to live in poverty, to be in low-paid precarious work and to die of COVID-19. Disparities facing BME groups in England are sustained across the areas of health, housing, the criminal justice system, education, employment, immigration and political participation.

Background

The UK ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 1969. By ratifying CERD, the UK agrees to take action to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms, including:

• eradicating racial hatred and incitement to hatred
• taking action to combat prejudices which lead to racial discrimination
• guaranteeing the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin

The implementation of CERD is monitored by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Around every five years, the Committee reviews how well each state is putting into practice the rights in CERD. Around this time, civil society organisations in the UK set out a shadow report that sets out how the Government has implemented CERD, and what measures need to be taken.
For more information on the different articles of the Convention please see page 2 of the publication produced collaboratively by the EHRC and Runnymede in 2016.

We received over 50 written submissions from Civil Society organisations in England, sharing their perspective on the state of race and racism in areas ranging from immigration to health. Read their submissions here.

The implementation of CERD is monitored by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Around every five years, the Committee reviews how well each state is putting into practice the rights in CERD. Around this time, civil society organisations in the UK set out a shadow report that sets out how the Government has implemented CERD, and what measures need to be taken.

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For more information on the different articles of the Convention please see page 2 of the publication produced collaboratively by the EHRC and Runnymede in 2016, here.

Evidence

The Runnymede Trust sought evidence from civil society organisations, academics and institutions to shape the report. The shadow report is crucial to holding the Government to account for their legal obligations under CERD. The 2016 report benefited from wide engagement from organisations across England and made a significant impact in informing the work of the UN committee on eliminating racial discrimination.

In March 2021, individuals and organisations engaged with our written call for evidence and roundtables in England. In total, over 100 individuals and organisations across England were consulted in our roundtables and over 50 organisations and individuals provided written evidence.

We received written evidence from the following organisations:

Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance

ATM (Anti Tribalism Movement)

British Association of Social Workers (BASW)

British Medical Association (BMA)

Children's Rights and Economic and Social Rights (CRAE)

Dorset Race Equality Council

End the Virus of Racism

Equality Act Review

Equity

Friends Families and Travellers

From Paternalism to Human rights

HS2

I Have a Voice

Inquest

Joint Council of the Welfare of Immigrant (JCWI)

Just Fair

KANLUNGAN

Liberty UK

Make Education a Priority (MEaP)

Medact

MEND

Migrants Rights Network

National Association of Headteachers

Newcastle University & Leeds Becket University

National Education Union (NEU)

NICRE

No More Exclusions

Protection Approaches

North East Race Equality Forum

The Race Equality Foundation

Release

Resistance LAB

The Bell Foundation

The Children's Society

The Democracy Club

The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford

Traveller Movement

Queen Mary Global Policy Institute (Queen Mary University of London)

UCET (Universities Council for the Education of Teachers)

Unison

The Unity Project

Centre for Research in Race and Education, the University of Birmingham

University College London

Northern Police Monitoring Project

University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

Universities UK

University of Warwick

Usdaw (Midlands Division)

Women's Resource Centre

Individuals:

Paula Dalby

Peter Green

Taslima Mirza

Nazia Rehman

Barbara Cohen

Bruce Lloyd

Jenny Newton

Stef Benstead

Read the written evidence submissions here.