Racial equality - a need for ongoing action
06/05/2021
Blog article
In his latest blog article, Darren McKinstry, Director of Public Policy & Strategic Engagement, at the Equality Commission looks at the issue of race equality in Northern Ireland
"Recent weeks have seen the publication of the UK-wide Commission of Race and Ethnic Disparities report (the Sewell Report) and the Executive Office’s Northern Ireland Racial Equality Indicators Report: 2014-2019.
While the Commission will consider the findings in more detail, the Northern Ireland Racial Equality Indicators Report suggests improvements with regards to mixing and integration. The summary indicators also points to an improvement in rates of educational attainment for both white, and minority ethnic pupils as a whole, although the latter continue to do less well that white pupils. In contrast however, almost one in three people reported that they were prejudiced against people from minority ethnic communities, an increase on previous surveys. 45% of young people also report having witnessed racist bullying or harassment in their school. It is essential that the legislation Addressing Bullying in Schools Act 2016 delivers improvements in this regard when it finally comes into effect for schools on 1 September of this year.
The The Executive Office's publication also includes data on public perceptions. While this can be of value, it is important that such data is also disaggregated to communicate the views of ethnic minority people on the issues that affect them.
While it is important to acknowledge progress, there also remains a need for ongoing action. Our long standing recommendations to advance racial equality call for:
- Reform of the law, to address key shortfalls in legal protections
- Tackling prejudicial attitudes, racism and hate crime
- Ensuring equality of opportunity in education, employment, accommodation, healthcare and access to social welfare
- Ensuring effective monitoring and evaluation, supported by robust data collection
We continue to recommend that the NI Executive, Departments and other key stakeholders take action, including via the Racial Equality Strategy, to advance these areas."