UNITED NATIONS
\nRacism in the United Kingdom is structural, institutional and systemic, UN human rights experts said Friday, warning that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights.
\nWe 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 dehumanizing 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 at the end of an official visit to the UK.
\nThe Human Rights Council-appointed experts said they had gathered evidence of the all-too-real trauma felt by people of African descent who were suffering racial discrimination and injustice: A woman of African descent we met during our visit lamented, will this ever end? the experts said in a joint statement.
\nA decade of economic austerity measures in the UK following the global crash of 2007-2008, had exacerbated racism, racial discrimination and other intolerance which people of African descent encounter, thereby eroding their rights, the experts observed.
\nFrom the perspective of people of African descent, racism in the UK is structural, institutional and systemic, the experts said.
\nThe lived experience dealing with State and public institutions, the private sector and society, was that it perpetuates racial hierarchies, the experts said.
\nRacialized acts targeting people of African descent have remained steadfast, and the experience is similar across different parts of the UK, the experts said. They are victimized and have no assurance of effective redress from authorities or the justice system.
\nWelcoming emerging efforts towards reparation for the legacies of the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans, the Working Group encouraged all stakeholders including the Government, to do more to ensure rehabilitation, restoration, and reconciliation.
\nStreamlining accessible, independent and effective complaint mechanisms to address racism, ensuring police accountability, fair trial guarantees for all persons, and redress to all persons affected by the Windrush scandal, are imperative, Catherine Namakula, Chairperson of the Working Group, said.
\nAusterity to the peril of fundamental rights, is a costly undertaking for the UK, she said.
\nThe Windrush scandal erupted more than five years ago involving those born in the Caribbean who were brought to the UK as children, being asked by the UK Home Office \u2013 despite living in the country for 50 years \u2013 to prove their status as citizens, some having never been formally naturalized, or having never applied for a passport.
\nDozens were deported or told they would be removed from the UK, despite being legal British subjects in their country of origin, and hundreds suffered hardships, threats and other deprivations of their rights, leading to the resignation of the then Home Secretary, in 2018.
\nThe Working Group visited London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol in the course of their official visit.
\nThe experts will present a report with their findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in September.
\nThe Working Group was established in 2002, following the World Conference against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa the previous year.
\nIt is composed of five independent experts: Catherine Namakula (Uganda) current Chair-Rapporteur; Barbara Reynolds (Guyana) current Vice-Chair; Dominique Day (United States of America); and Miriam Ekiudoko (Hungary).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS Racism in the United Kingdom is structural, institutional and systemic, UN human rights experts said Friday, warning that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights. We have serious concerns about impunity and the failure to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-310313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n