Government renew bid to tackle racism

The Government is working hard to develop a co-ordinated approach to tackling the problem of racism in Northern Ireland, it was claimed today.

In a speech to the Northern Ireland Race Forum, Equality Minister, John Spellar, said that government’s message on racist harassment and racist attacks was quite clear, describing them as unacceptable and not to be tolerated.

Mr Spellar was speaking in Belfast, to the Forum, which comprises representatives of minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland, Government Departments and agencies, when he also set out Government’s agenda addressing racism and racial equality issues. He paid tribute to the hard work of the members of the Forum and others who were working towards tackling the problem.

“Government has taken and will continue to take action, but the issues raised by the recent attacks, and the broader issue of racial equality, are issues for all sections of society here," the Minister said.

"In expressing our abhorrence of these racist attacks, we must avoid the lazy temptation to demonise entire areas and communities."

Mr Spellar said that the Community Safety Strategy gave clear commitments to bring about legislative change and to develop effective local strategies and solutions.

"We will also take account of race crime and incidents in our work on other key issues within the Strategy," he added.

On government’s policy for improving relations in Northern Ireland, the Minister said that respondents to the Shared Future consultation urged Government to address the need to eliminate racism, as well as sectarianism, and enable people to live and work without fear or intimidation.

“We will not lose sight of this focus in developing proposals for a new cross-departmental strategy and framework to promote good relations between and within communities in Northern Ireland and we hope to present these proposals later this year," he concluded.

(MB)