Comments on the Race Equality Strategy

(Also available in pdf format at the end of this article.)

1.0 NICVA welcomes the opportunity to submit its views on the proposed Race Equality Strategy. NICVA is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland. It provides its 1,000 members with information, advice and training on a wide range of issues from management consultancy and finance, through to policy development and lobbying. NICVA adopts a community development approach, attempting to empower local communities to pursue their own needs and agendas. NICVA also welcome the fact that the consultation period was increased in this case to allow more time for increased participation in the debate.

2.0 NICVA considers racism to be a growing problem in Northern Ireland, which is a region familiar with other forms of intolerance and discrimination. Connolly and Keenan’s research (2000) showed that racial prejudice appeared to be twice as significant as sectarian prejudice in Northern Ireland and attitudes appear to be worsening. The 2002 census identified approximately 14,000 people living in Northern Ireland as being of minority ethnic origin — 0.85 % of the total population, and this may well be an underestimation. We therefore welcome the attempt to formulate a strategy which will deal with the issues facing minority ethnic communities in a holistic and integrated way. It is particularly appropriate that this consultation has coincided with the consultation on A Shared Future (although neither document references the other) as the problems are essentially the same. It will be important that the outcomes from the two consultations are considered together and can reinforce one another.

3.0 We recognise that government cannot ‘deliver’ good relations to its citizens. The real challenge is to change social attitudes and to win hearts and minds. While the action plan can set out what government departments and agencies will do, we would welcome recognition of the role wider civil society has to play in changing attitudes, particularly the vital role of the media. Racism, like sectarianism, also manifests itself particularly in sport. It would be useful to see a framework from government addressing how these issues can be tackled in partnership between public, private and voluntary and community sectors.

4.0 NICVA feels that a north/south approach to tackling racism on the island of Ireland would be a sensible approach and thus we support the Equality Commission’s call for the inclusion of a ‘common chapter’ in the UK and Irish National Action Plans Against Racism.

5.0 There is also a need to look to recent experiences in other parts of the UK, for example the work done on community cohesion in towns in the north of England by the review group led by Ted Cantle for the Home Office. Lessons from towns badly affected by race riots show that an intercultural approach must be at the heart of regeneration and development strategies – and indeed of public services. Separate development clearly led to lack of contact, lack of trust and lack of respect and tolerance. This work, and the concept of community cohesion itself, should be carefully examined in Northern Ireland.

6.0 The process of developing this consultation document is to be commended in that it included representation from those most affected by the problem. Joint working with the voluntary and community sector at an early stage can add the direct experience of communities to existing research evidence and provide a much clearer picture of both problem and possible solutions.

7.0 NICVA agrees with the over-arching challenges identified facing policy makers and service providers. The need to work together applies as crucially within government as it does between government and other partners. Joined up thinking and implementation is essential if the strategy is to have any impact. The recognition of the need for capacity building is also very important as unless there is an infrastructure in place to support minority ethnic people and organisations, it will be impossible for them to undertake the partnership role envisaged by the strategy. Minority ethnic groups may also have a key role to play in delivering some of the outcomes of the strategy and will need to be resourced and supported to undertake this effectively. The mainstreaming of racial equality issues is central and must become a normal way of thinking in a diverse society. Monitoring and evaluation are to be welcomed, however, giving racial equality ‘due consideration’ does not perhaps go far enough in aiming for the kind of cultural change that government should be driving.Compliance with legislation such as Section 75 (1) should be the floor and not the ceiling of our ambitions in trying to change attitudes and encourage trust.Monitoring ‘due consideration’, while important, should be clearly identified as a baseline, not an ultimate goal.

8.0 NICVA agrees with the main issues the strategy suggests are those affecting ethnic minority people in Northern Ireland, namely the language barrier, lack of information, training needs of staff, the cultural needs of minority ethnic people, and racial prejudice and harassment. Again we would stress that the only approach that can tackle cross-cutting issues such as these is a genuinely joined up one. Voluntary and community organisations have been struggling on scant resources to provide services to address issues such as the language barrier, lack of information and training for statutory providers. These issues now need to be addressed in a strategic way with the proper resources in place. The problem of racial prejudice must be tackled in schools where children must be taught to value diversity from the earliest possible age.There also needs to be appropriate training and support for teachers and principals both in delivering the new citizenship element of the curriculum and in dealing with racist behaviour in the classroom. Racist harassment, as NICVA suggested in its response to the consultation on Race Crime and Sectarian Crime legislation, needs the reinforcement of increased penalties to signal this society’s particular abhorrence of those who carry out crimes motivated by hatred of the community an individual is perceived to represent. One further problem which will cut across many policy areas is the serious lack of reliable statistics on minority ethnic communities. This will make tackling some of the issues more problematic and should be addressed immediately, as it will only worsen as we enter a mid-census period.

9.0 On the question of service areas NICVA agrees that those identified in the document — training and employment, housing and accommodation, health, education, criminal justice and immigration, asylum and migrant workers — are the key service areas that should be included within the strategy. The fact that the document admits that “many service areas are not covered simply because no research has been completed for that area to date” highlights the urgent need for research and reliable, up-to-date statistics in relation to minority ethnic people to inform decision making and policy.The proposed monitoring and evaluation system is essential to form an accurate picture of need and of the experiences of minority ethnic communities in interacting with public services.

10.0 Again, NICVA would stress that the role of education is key among services. The education system in Northern Ireland has particularly failed Traveller children and there is little support for children and young people for whom English is not a first language. There also needs to be support for parents from minority ethnic backgrounds to engage with schools to be informed about and participate in their children’s education. This, again, requires training and support for teachers and principals. While one particular religion, ie Christianity, is privileged in our state education system, children will not be given the message that all faiths are equally to be respected. The dominance of one religion does not help to combat racist attitudes, but, by institutionalising one faith, may reinforce them.

11.0 In training and employment, the barriers to work that may face minority ethnic people must be carefully examined alongside studies on barriers which face the majority population, as the same issues may well be exacerbated for minorities. Issues of childcare, accessible transport, unsociable working hours and rural isolation can be magnified when added to the problems of employer discrimination and language barriers. The trade unions and the private sector should be engaged in efforts to overcome harassment and discrimination in the workplace to promote a culture of tolerance and respect for diversity. The issue of recognition of qualifications gained outside the UK is also a major problem for minority ethnic people seeking work. There is currently no systematic route for recognition of qualifications; this must be addressed, with current arrangements streamlined and increased recognition of skills accredited in other countries.

12.0 Overcrowding in housing is a perceived problem in minority ethnic communities, although more information is needed on where and why this is a problem and how it can best be tackled. The lack of supported and sheltered housing for older ethnic minority people places an addition burden on extended families. The repeated failures to provide decent Traveller sites have been well documented and should be addressed as part of an ongoing engagement with the Traveller community.

13.0 In the area of health, the identification of the need for Traveller-specific health strategies is to be welcomed. The low levels of GP registration apply equally to all parts of the minority ethnic spectrum in Northern Ireland and the failure to provide culturally sensitive services is often a disincentive to those seeking help. Lack of interpretation services lead to family members having to interpret in discussions of a very personal nature, again well documented in reports such as Out of the Shadows (Mann-Kler 1997). Harassment and social isolation have significant negative impacts on mental health and this must be recognised in any health strategy. Lack of accessible information on health prevention strategies and on access to services also needs to be addressed in a strategic manner. NICVA would recommend the provision of multidisciplinary outreach services to target minority ethnic communities and make services accessible across the full range of public provision. There is also a need for a coordinated interagency interpreter service which can be accessed easily and about which service providers are informed, so that there is a quick and obvious route for obtaining interpretation services.

14.0 On criminal justice and policing, increased community policing and increased representation of minority ethnic people in the PSNI are essential, especially if trust is to be built up between the police and minority ethnic communities, particularly Travellers. Police officers must be properly trained in dealing with diversity. Accurate statistics should also be kept on racist incidents, so that it is possible to disaggregate these from other crime statistics.

15.0 The issue of asylum seekers and refugees, as a non-devolved matter, is not within the legislative remit of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Nevertheless, the treatment of those awaiting the processing of asylum claims in Northern Ireland is very much within the control of departments here and is currently a disgrace.People who have committed no crime are locked up for up to 16 hours per day in Maghaberry Prison. NICVA, along with many others in the voluntary and community sector, considers this an unacceptable situation and calls for the establishment of an alternative form of accommodation, possibly along the lines of a bail hostel, since there is no evidence that secure units are required.

16.0 The treatment of migrant workers is rightly identified in the document as a key issue. There is an urgent need for statistics on the number and circumstances of these workers, who are frequently exploited and unaware of their rights. Awareness of available services to migrant workers should form part of the outreach service suggested above.Relations between these workers and the local community should also form part, not only of this consultation, but of the Shared Future consultation, in considering the issue of good relations between all those living in Northern Ireland.

17.0 In relation to the current legislative framework, NICVA notes that whereas Section 75 (a) requires public authorities to have ‘due regard’ to the need to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different racial group, Section 75 (b) requires only that Departments and other public bodies must have ‘regard’ to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.As stated above, NICVA believes that this legislation should form the floor and not the ceiling of our aspirations and that equality should not be privileged above good relations as the two must go hand in hand if a fair and tolerant society which embraces diversity is to be achieved in Northern Ireland.

18.0 This vision which the consultation document sets out is welcome and timely. It must sit alongside the vision articulated in A Shared Future of “a peaceful society in which everyone can freely and fully participate, achieve their full potential, and live free from poverty.We want a fair and effective system of government, underpinned by rights that are guaranteed for all, and responsibilities that all must share. We wish to support dialogue, and to foster mutual understanding and respect for diversity.”

19.0 Government needs to ‘sell’ the vision which it has articulated. It should be backed up by an awareness raising campaign to put across the clear message that racism and intolerance are unacceptable and that diversity benefits us all.McGill and Oliver (2002) highlight the importance of the public campaign in the Republic of Ireland in 2001 having a high profile and substantial political backing to strengthen its message. Civic and political leaders must be encouraged to subscribe to the vision. Political parties and local councils, in particular, must be encouraged to promote this message and embody it within their own practices.

20.0 NICVA welcomes the principles underpinning the strategy, particularly the commitment to recognise diversity within minority ethnic communities.We must be careful not to impose homogenous identities and needs on communities which are enormously diverse and whose needs vary accordingly.

21.0 NICVA would stress the need for those from minority ethnic communities to be fully involved in civil society. We call for genuine participation, rather than constant paper consultation, and for real partnership in which the voluntary and community sector partners are properly resourced and supported in participating.

22.0 The action plan which will be developed as a result of this strategy consultation must be tightly focused on policy outcomes, not merely on processes, as has happened with many other strategies. The plan must aim to bring about real, demonstrable change, not just focus on actions. The Race Equality Unit has an important role to play in making sure that Departments are aware of best practice and that joined up approaches are developed. NICVA welcomes the establishment of the Race Forum and the ongoing participation of the minority ethnic communities who this strategy is designed to help.

Comments on the Race Equality Strategy (123Kb)