- Conference
- 2009 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 11 September 2008
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference applauds
the Government’s announcement to introduce adequate measure which will protect and support young runaways and missing children by ensuring that relevant authorities collect and collate data on runaways and missing children which is then forwarded onto a national database.
Conference is concerned:
about the alarming figures relating to missing Black children. A recent article in the Mail newspaper cites 33 children unaccounted for in Bradford after being off school for at least two months without an explanation. It is claimed that some of these children are forced into arranged marriages. However, the Government is concerned about another 14 areas of the country where it is feared children under 16 could also be missing from school rolls. In December 2007, the Sunday Herald reported findings from the British Charity Missing People’s research that in 2007 it recorded on the long term missing list an over representation of Black people who on average go missing at an earlier age. In fact they were more likely to go missing as teenagers than is the case of white teenagers. Police believe that these disparities in numbers could be as a result of the rise in illegal immigrants in the UK who go underground to avoid deportation.
In addition London Metropolitan Police produced a Missing Persons Investigations Monitoring Report in March 2008. The statistics in relation to race during the period of January 2005 to July 2007 in respect of missing children equates to 53% Black and 47% white. To put this into context a disproportionate number of the Black community are reported missing compared to 12.4% of the London population they represent (2001 Census). The most prevalent age group within the Black community that go missing are between 10-19 this is nearly 18% of the overall London population.
Conference is also concerned:
that in 2005 a Detective Chief Inspector told the BBC Radio 4 Programme that they found 300 predominately African children aged between four and seven who couldn’t be accounted for. The British Association for Adoption and Fostering expressed concerns that the number of boys and girls who go missing each year would total several thousand.
Regardless of the claims made as to the disappearance of Black children we cannot detract from the fact that society has a duty to protect and defend the rights of children and young people irrespective of race and colour. The governments Green Paper titled “Every Child Matters” sets out the need for changes in the way service is being delivered to our young people. However, greater emphasis is required when conducting searches on missing Black children, for example better media coverage would help towards finding the whereabouts of missing Black children as far too often the media tends to concentrate its efforts more on White missing children than on Black missing children which was apparent in the Madeline McCann case. Also there needs to be more of a concerted effort by the Police when conducting its investigation on missing Black children, including proper ethnic data monitoring.
Although there are numerous charities providing services to tackle missing people it is acknowledged that more work is necessary for dealing with children that go missing from the Black community, taking into account the complexity surrounding why children go missing in the first place. The harsh reality is that the failure to improve services to Black missing children can lead to devastating consequences.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Black Members’ Committee (NBMC) to work with the Police Service Group Executive:
1.To raise an awareness of the increase in Black missing children;
2.To encourage data collected by the Police is in accordance with the Race Equality Duty;
3.To work in conjunction with schools and the National Missing Persons Bureau to highlight the growing concern of missing Black children and how this can be addressed;
4.The NBMC to work with the National Executive Council, schools and all relevant organisations to campaign for improved services to Black missing children.
West Midlands Region