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Black people in UK ‘living in fear’ over racism, say UN experts | UK News


According to a United Nations working group, black people in the UK are “living in fear” due to structural, institutional and systemic racism.

Experts have spent 10 days traveling across the UK, warning that people of African descent continue to experience racism and the erosion of their basic rights.

It also highlights the “vulnerability” felt by people who are experiencing racial discrimination, especially in the criminal justice system.

Dominique Day, a human rights expert with the group, said: “What we found pervasive was a culture of fear, a culture of denial, where conversation about racism often involves sparking. and authorize very credible statements.”

The group found fear in black communities was “pervasive” and spread across many sectors, including – but not limited to – asylum seekers, the Windrush generation, people in social housing and parents are undergoing social care supervision.

“It’s pervasive across sectors, across generations, across income levels, but it’s a real feature of the daily lives of so many black people here,” Day said.

Olamide said he was just 17 years old when he was arrested by British Transport Police in an identity confusion case.

He said he was “handled” by two police officers, face down on the sidewalk and handcuffed so tightly that he drew blood.

“I’ve seen this in movies, I’ve seen this happen to other people and I never thought it would actually happen to me,” he said.

“I’ve never committed a crime. I haven’t done anything illegal, but I still have to go through something that shouldn’t have happened to me. It’s sad.”

In response to the complaint, British Transport Police said: “The outcome of the complaint has been finalized. No wrongdoing has been identified – however the service was deemed unacceptable.

“This was explained in a letter to the complainant, acknowledging that our communication with him during the incident could have been better and could have helped calm the situation.

“British Transport Police have issued an apology to the boy and his family and the officers involved have been provided with study points.”

Picture:
Olamide said he was always afraid of being stopped by the police

‘Play racing card’

Olamide said the incident left him with not only physical but also mental scars.

“Every time I hear the whistle, I still get startled, even though I didn’t do anything wrong, they can arbitrarily come in and arrest me like before.

“So I always lived in fear of not knowing if I would get caught or if the police would stop me. Or if something bad would happen to me,” he said.

When asked if he agreed with the working group’s finding that racism is generally dismissed, he quickly nodded.

“Yes,” he said, explaining that when he told officers he believed he was being treated unfairly because of the color of his skin, he was told he was “playing cards”.

“There have been a lot of cases where people have said to me, ‘let’s start, racing card’, like we’re using it as a defense mechanism.

“We use it because we know when something is wrong.”

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The United Nations Working Group on People of African descent also met with representatives from the UK’s central and local government, including the division responsible for equality.

It found some positives, highlighting that the country is a “leader” in data collection and good data practices.

But the group found flaws in the government’s plan to tackle discrimination by “focusing on equality of opportunity, not equality of results”.

Experts say this is a failure to acknowledge or confront how opportunities for people of African descent have been eroded in all aspects of society.

‘Trying to justify inaction’

Ms Day described the government’s approach as “twisted into a cookie” and it was “very evident at higher levels of government”.

This is not the first time the working group has visited the UK. They were invited in 2012, but they said many conditions for people of African descent appear to have worsened.

Instead of addressing the human rights issue of people of African descent, the working group said “we’ve seen really complicated stories trying to justify inaction”.

Experts have encouraged all stakeholders, including the government, to do more to ensure restoration, rehabilitation and reconciliation between the state and the people.

Picture:
Ms Day said the government’s approach was like ‘twisting a cookie’

They will present a report with their findings and recommendations to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2023.

But Ms Day added: “There are enough reports, there are enough recommendations, there are enough data, and we say the same in the findings.

A government spokesman said it “strongly” refuted most of the findings, arguing that the report “falsified people of African descent as a homogenous group”.

It said the findings offer a “superficial analysis” of complex issues that do not consider all possible causes of disparities, not just race.

“We are proud that the UK is an open, tolerant and friendly country but this hard-earned global reputation is not properly reflected in this report,” the spokesperson said.

“We are not complacent and recognize some people suffering from racism in the UK, but we are very clear that this has no place in our society and must be eradicated.”

They said the government has made “major strides in addressing racial and ethnic disparities, most recently with our groundbreaking Inclusive Britain strategy”.

The spokesperson added: “Instead of sowing division, we must celebrate the fact that this country strives to give people, from every community, in every corner of the UK, the opportunity to develop and succeed”.

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