- Conference
- 2007 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 21 September 2006
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Government’s manifesto commitment to introduce a Single Equality Act through a Discrimination Law Review was charged with developing a ‘simpler, fairer legal framework that fits the needs of 21st century Britain’. The fact that 18 months after the establishment of the Discrimination Law Review, no proposals or process of public consultation on its content, aims, and aspirations has yet begun is of great concern. Many people in the trade union and equality movements were critical of the decision to abolish the existing equality Commissions and replace them with a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) before a review of anti-discrimination law and the debate on a Single Equality Act had taken place. The framework of the law must be a fundamental influence in the shape of a statutory equality institution.
That the CEHR, due to open its doors in October 2007, has been criticised for a failure to have representative structures and there have been expressions of concern that it will lack focus and expertise is a recipe for internal tensions rather than clearly informed, accountable and outward focussed policy and legal enforcement that will help tackle racism in the workplace and beyond.
Specifically, black and anti-racist groups, along with parliamentarians have argued during the debates on the Equality Bill, for a statutory race committee (on the model of the Disability Committee provided for in the Bill) and representation in the Commission. The refusal to provide for this means the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is to be abolished with no guarantee of black representation in the CEHR. Similar failings in the CEHR for tackling homophobia and sexism, and that there is no provision for lesbian and gay or women’s representation in the CEHR. Conference believes the Equalities Review’s Interim Report, which the Government has said will inform the Discrimination Law Review and the CEHR, and was led by a panel only comprising five people, the chair of whom was Trevor Phillips, was widely condemned by equality organisations for its failure to consider the contribution of discrimination to inequality, elevating the importance of individual choice and attacking equality campaigners. Indeed, the Chief Executive of Stonewall commented, in relation to the Interim Report of the Equalities Review ‘that gay people are almost invisible in the recent Equalities Review’.
Conference asks that the National Black Members Committee (NBMC):
1. censure the failure to consult equality organisations and communities, trade unions and other stakeholders on key appointments to the CEHR or to ensure that these appointees start with the confidence of equality communities, and to call for such consultation in any future appointments;
2. work with the National Executive Council (NEC) to campaign to promote the values of multiculturalism and oppose the false notion that Britain is ‘sleepwalking into segregation’;
3.encourage the NEC to call for a public discussion to begin immediately on the Discrimination Law Review and a Single Equality Act;
4.through the Labour Link communicate this call to Ruth Kelly, the Minister with this responsibility;
5.request the National Race Equality Officer submit a response to the Discrimination Law Review during its consultation;
6.instruct the NBMC to work with all equality strands in UNISON structures and wider community organisations to ensure proposals for structures, budgets and representation for equality groups in the forthcoming CEHR are supported.