Alliance Calls For Urgent Action On Racial Equality Issues

The First and deputy First Minister's must speed up delivery of new measures to tackle racial equality issues and the experiences of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland.

Alliance Executive Office Spokesperson, Paula Bradshaw MLA, made the call following the publication of the latest Racial Equality Indicators.

Speaking after a powerful testimony by the Race Relations Panel to the Committee for the Executive Office at Stormont, the South Belfast MLA stated: "We can see from the latest Indicators, which apply to 2022/3, that the vast majority of the population recognise the need for public bodies to take into account the needs of minority ethnic communities, but also that the number of racist incidents had increased markedly over the previous decade. Additionally, the figures show that young people are increasingly participating in activities with minority ethnic people, and that they celebrate this increasing diversity. "What we heard was extremely concerning and reflected the long established, but utterly outrageous, situation in some communities whereby civil authorities are far too often ceding effective control of areas to paramilitary groups. We have normalised this for far too long, and must now recognise fundamentally that it is time not only to prioritise good relations and racial equality, but that a fundamental part of that prioritisation must be the ending of paramilitarism.

"The First Minister and deputy First Minister must recognise that they are currently presiding over the ongoing normalisation of something which is in fact profoundly sinister. There is a need for much more urgent work on implementing the relevant strategies and developing the relevant legislation around good relations and racial equality, but one building block of this work must be the eradication of paramilitary control and influence over any community anywhere.

"What is established by these indicators is that work with the goal of promoting diversity will have the broad support of the population, which merely reinforces its urgency."