United Kingdom: UN expert condemns
entrenched racial discrimination and inequality
GENEVA (14 June 2019) - The UK
Government’s policies exacerbate discrimination, stoke xenophobic sentiment and
further entrench racial inequality, the UN’s expert on racism and human rights
said in a report.
In the report to be presented to
the Human Rights Council on 8 July, E. Tendayi Achiume cited persistent racial
disparities in, among others, education, employment, housing, health,
surveillance, interactions with police, prosecutions, and incarceration.
“The structural socio-economic
exclusion of racial and ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom is
striking,” the Special Rapporteur said in her report, based on a fact-finding
visit to the country in April and May 2018.
“[N]otwithstanding the existence of
a legal framework devoted to combating racial discrimination, the harsh reality
is that race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability status and related
categories all continue to determine the life chances and well-being of people
in Britain in ways that are unacceptable and, in many cases, unlawful.”
Achiume said her findings should
not come as surprise to the Government, as government data and reports,
including the Race Disparity Audit, the Lammy Review, and the work of the UK
Equality Commission, substantiate the persistent exclusion and marginalization
of racial and ethnic minorities.
“Reliable reports have shown that
the austerity measures have been disproportionately detrimental to members of
racial and ethnic minority communities, who are also the hardest hit by
unemployment,” she said. “At the same time, racial and ethnic minorities are
overrepresented in criminal justice enforcement and underrepresented within the
institutions that adjudicate crime and punishment.
“There is also clear evidence that
enforcement of the flawed counter-extremism ‘prevent duty’ disproportionately
targets groups on the basis of religious and ethnic belonging, in violation of
their human rights. It has also transformed public institutions such as hospitals,
schools, universities and even the police – institutions through which the work
of national integration should otherwise be achieved – into sites of exclusion,
discrimination and national anxiety.
“The UK’s immigration enforcement
strategy relies on private citizens and civil servants to do front-line
immigration enforcement, again effectively transforming places like hospitals,
banks and private residences into border checkpoints. In a broader context of
national anti-immigrant anxiety, the predictable result of the UK Government’s
immigration policy and enforcement is racial discrimination and racialized
exclusion. The Windrush Scandal is a glaring example.”
Achiume’s report also notes that
the Government’s own data confirms that the aftermath of the Brexit referendum
coincided with a spike in hate crimes, anti-migrant rhetoric, and racial,
ethnic and religious discrimination. “To be clear, Brexit has not newly
introduced racism and xenophobia to the United Kingdom – both have a long
legacy that extends as far back as the historical European projects of slavery
and colonialism. That said, national debates and certain practices and policies
before, during and after the Brexit referendum in 2016 have amplified racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the United Kingdom.
Public and private actors have played dangerous roles in fuelling intolerance.
Among them, politicians and media outlets deserve special attention given the
significant influence they command in society.”
Achiume welcomed the Government’s
initiatives over the past decade that have led to better data and more
comprehensive reviews of racial inequality, including Government progress on
issues she raised in her May 2018 end-of-visit statement.
“Undoubtedly, the UK’s attempts to
collect disaggregated data, review discriminatory outcomes, and draft action
plans are vital to the realization of the human right to racial equality.
“However, the Government must not confuse data collection and piecemeal reviews
for the action it obliged to take under international human rights law. The
Government has a duty to undertake comprehensive reviews and implement without
delay concrete steps targeted to ending racial discrimination and ensuring
racial equality.”
ENDS
Ms E. Tendayi Achiume (Zambia) was
appointed by the Human Rights Council as Special Rapporteur on contemporaryforms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in
September 2017. Ms. Achiume is currently a law professor at the University of California,
Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, and a research associate of the African
Center for Migration and Society (ACMS), at the University of Witwatersrand in
South Africa.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of
what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special
Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights
system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and
monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or
thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a
voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their
work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in
their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, Country Page –
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
For more information and press
inquiries, please contact:
In Geneva (before and after the
visit): Ms. Minkyong Kim (+41 22 917 8876 /
mkim@ohchr.org)
For media inquiries related to
other UN independent experts: Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit
(+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar