21/03/2015
International Day for the elimination of Racial Discrimination
Today (21st March) is International Day for the elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is calling for a strengthened Racial Equality Strategy (RES) to include an assessment of racial inequalities, an action plan supported by resources to address these and clear evidence of high level commitment to drive implementation.
The Commission recommends that the NI Executive use the opportunity presented by the proposed Racial Equality Strategy to prioritise action on:
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Reform of the law, to address key shortfalls in legal protections
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Tackling Prejudicial Attitudes, Racism and Hate Crime
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Ensuring equality of opportunity in education, employment, accommodation, healthcare and access to social welfare
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Ensuring effective monitoring and evaluation, supported by robust data collection
We continue to be concerned about shortcomings in Northern Ireland’s race equality legislation and have made submissions on this important issue to Government, to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and to the Council of Europe under its Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and they have highlighted these shortcomings in their Concluding Remarks.
For further information see our
race equality section