- Conference
- 2018 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 20 September 2017
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the work that has been done by UNISON thus far on hate crime.
According to a report by the Equality and Human Rights commission called ‘Disabled people’s experiences of targeted violence and hostility’, Black disabled people are even more likely to be vulnerable to hate crimes. The report notes that ‘recognition of multiple identities (and hence multiple discriminations) suggests that disadvantage can be compounded.’ The report highlights the fact that a disabled person with a visible impairment is more likely to be targeted than one with an impairment that isn’t visible, and if they are also Black then this visibility is emphasised. One stakeholder reported that ‘Asian and black youth are more likely to be victimised at night. So if you have a learning disability and your ethnicity makes your disability more visible, you get targeted.’
Although there is at present little research in this area, it stands to reason that if Black disabled people are more at risk of suffering from hate crime, that they would be more at risk of suffering from mate crime also. Whilst there is no statutory definition of a ‘mate crime’, according to the Welsh government it is the term given to ‘the befriending of people, who are perceived by perpetrators to be vulnerable, for the purposes of taking advantage of, exploiting and/or abusing them. This can strongly be associated, but not exclusively associated, with people with a learning disability, learning difficulties or mental health conditions.’
Conference, hate crimes are on the increase and mate crimes are often under-reported. It is vital that our disabled Black members are aware that these are criminal offences and know how to go about reporting them.
We call on the National Black Members’ Committee to:
1)work with the National Disabled members committee and other self organised groups to produce guidance for branches on how best to recognise hate crimes and support members affected by this. This would include information on where to report hate and mate crimes.
2)produce a bargaining factsheet around hate crimes and ‘mate crimes’, which includes the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecution processes and witness support.