12
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
Life is getting worse for young black
Britons, research shows
Equality watchdog slams “piecemeal and stuttering” government response.
By Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
T
he life chances of young people
fromethnicminoritybackgrounds
have gotten much worse over the
last five years, according to the biggest
ever review of race inequality in Britain.
The research, published by the Equality
and Human Rights Commission, shows
that long-term unemployment among
young BAME people has increased by
49 per cent since 2010, while for white
people it has fallen slightly.
Overall unemployment for black people
is 12.9 per cent, more than double the
rate among white people.
BME people are also less likely to occupy
senior professional positions, and are
more than twice as likely to be in insecure
employment.
And although educational attainment
is improving among ethnic minorities,
those with degrees are two and a half
times more likely to be unemployed than
their white counterparts, and earn 23.1
per cent less on average.
BME people are far more likely to be
victims of crime, and to be treated more
harshly by the criminal justice system –
with a rate of prosecution and sentencing
three times higher than that of the white
population.
Race also remains the most common
motivator of hate crime, and the post-
Brexit spike raises particular concern.
"The combination of the post-Brexit rise
in hate crime and deep race inequality
in Britain is very worrying and must be
tackled urgently," commented David
Issac, chair of the Equality and Human
Rights Commission.
"Today’s report underlines just how
entrenched
race
inequality
and
unfairness still is in our society. We
must redouble our efforts to tackle race
inequality urgently or risk the divisions in
our society growing and racial tensions
increasing."
Despite welcoming Theresa May’s
comments on the importance of tackling
inequality, Issac criticised the previous
government’s ‘‘piecemeal and stuttering"
approach to race equality, accusing it of
offering "more one nation platitudes
than policies".
The report includes a series of policy
recommendations, including the creation
of "a comprehensive, coordinated and
long-term UK Government strategy
with clear and measurable outcomes to
achieve race equality."
It also suggests that UK should carry out a
full-scale reviewof hate crime sentencing
in England and Wales and take steps to
mitigate discriminatory effects of recent
access to justice reforms.
It also calls for attention to inequality
in police behaviour – a major concern
for
many
BME
communities
–
recommending that monitoring, training
and scrutiny be enhanced to ensure that
stop-and-search is being used in a lawful
and non-discriminatory way.
18 August 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from Left
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information.
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