Racism in UK institutional, says United Nations report, Rishi Sunak govt snubs findings

The specialists will current a report with their findings and suggestions to the UN Human Rights Council later this 12 months, in September.

The working group of specialists met members of the general public, campaigners, attorneys and politicians to determine challenges (Photo: Reuters/File)

By India Today Web Desk: A report by United Nations human rights specialists has mentioned that racism within the United Kingdom is “structural, institutional and systemic”, following a landmark tour of the country. The UN experts group also warned that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights.

“From the perspective of people of African descent, racism in the UK is structural, institutional and systemic,” the experts said.

“We have serious concerns about impunity and the failure to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system, deaths in police custody, ‘joint enterprise’ convictions, and the dehumanising nature”, of the so-called ‘stop and search’ policing strategy, the UN working group of experts on people of African descent said in a statement.

‘WILL THIS EVER END’, ASKS AFRICAN WOMAN

“A woman of African descent we met during our visit lamented, ‘will this ever end?’” they said.

The working group of experts met members of the public, campaigners, lawyers and politicians to identify challenges faced by black people and to make recommendations for how these could be resolved. They visited London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol in the course of their official visit.

The experts will present a report with their findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council later this year, in September.

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The experts pointed out black people’s experiences with state and public institutions and also how the private sector and society were marred by the perpetuation of racial hierarchies.

The group called on the UK government to do more to pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic enslavement and trafficking of African people and “do more to ensure the rehabilitation, restoration, and reconciliation of the state with its people”, The Independent reported.

GOVT SNUBS FINDINGS

The UK govt, led by Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has rejected most of the findings of the report and has termed it ‘superficial analysis of complex issues’.

“We strongly reject most of these findings. The report wrongly views people of African descent as a single homogeneous group and presents a superficial analysis of complex issues that fails to look at all possible causes of disparities, not just race,” a authorities spokesperson was quoted by The Independent as saying.

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“We are proud that the UK is an open, tolerant and welcoming nation, however this hard-earned world status just isn’t correctly mirrored on this report. We aren’t complacent and recognise some folks expertise racism in Britain, however we’re very clear this has no place in our society and have to be rooted out,” the spokesperson added.

“The UK government has made great strides in addressing racial and ethnic disparities, most recently with our ground-breaking Inclusive Britain strategy, which is focussed on closing outcome gaps between people from different ethnic backgrounds,” he added.

Published On:

Jan 28, 2023