- Conference
- 2013 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 17 September 2012
- Decision
- Carried
The United Nations (UN) has a number of mechanisms to help member states like Britain to improve how they tackle racism. As part of these processes member states report on their progress in adopting the mechanisms.
In 2001 the UK government signed up to the UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. In 2009 they signed up to the UN WCAR Durban Review Conference Outcome Document. Our government made a commitment to improve race equality in areas such as education, community engagement, employment, health care, cultural awareness, housing, service delivery, media representation, political participation and access to justice.
The Coalition Government promised to:
“continue to push for universal ratification and implementation of the UN conventions on racial discrimination and discrimination against women, and those promoting the rights of children and disabled people – and set a good example through our domestic implementation of these conventions and through the periodic reporting system” in it’s Equality Strategy 2010. The reality, however, has been somewhat different. The recent government Integration Policy made no mention of racism, for instance.
In 2011 the UK government was inspected for the first time in 8 years as part of the UN International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The Runnymede Trust submitted a report after consultation with UK NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) as part of the process highlighting omissions in the government report and explaining issues from an anti-racist perspective. Around 24 NGOs went to Geneva to give evidence alongside the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), including some who made their own written submissions or gave only verbal evidence. These included Global Afrikan Congress, Equanomics UK, Afiya Trust, Discrimination Law Association, Cambridge Racial Incident Support Project, Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities and Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER Scotland).
The final observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) included recommendations that the UK government should:
a. Take care that responses to the August 2011 disturbances do not disproportionately affect Black* communities;
b. Fully implement the Equality Act 2010 and recognise “caste” as a race issue;
c. Conduct Equality Impact Assessments before implementing cuts;
d. Withdraw all discriminatory restrictions stopping Diego Garcians from going within 100 miles of their island;
e. Adopt a national Race Equality Strategy with Black communities involved in development, implementation and monitoring;
f. Review the impact of “Stop and Search” on Black communities and ensure anti-terrorism measures do not deliberately target certain ethnic or religious groups;
g. Take all necessary steps to eliminate racist bullying and name calling in schools as well as tackle Black school exclusions and improve achievement for African Caribbean, Gypsy and Traveller children;
h. Ensure that moves to more local decision making in the Localism Bill address race equality and
i. Incorporate the Convention into domestic law and allow those who feel they have been discriminated against to access the CERD.
The UK government was expected to respond to these recommendations within 6 to 12 months and explain how they have acted upon them. At the time of writing this motion they have published no information although ensuring the public have information on their work is a requirement of the Convention.
This Conference calls on the NBMC to work with the NEC:
1)To publicise the CERD recommendations within UNISON and the wider trade union movement;
2)Consider how the recommendations can be used to promote our aims as a trade union;
3)To raise issues coming out of the CERD process so they are not overlooked in the creation of government policy and
4)Work with organisations such as those working at the UN level and especially Global Afrikan Congress, Equanomics UK, Afiya Trust, Runnymede Trust and Discrimination Law Association to help implement UN processes and recommendations in the UK.