UK failing to tackle systemic racism against black people, warn UN experts | Race

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A UN body has written to the UK government to express its very grave concern about its failure to tackle structural, institutional and systemic racism against people of African descent in Britain.

The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has called for an immediate and unconditional moratorium on the use of the joint venture, warning that it leads to the disproportionate imprisonment of black teenagers.

In the damning interim findings that concluded a 10-day fact-finding mission, the experts also called for an immediate moratorium on the use of strip searches during police stops and searches.

We are deeply concerned 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 stop and search (to nu), the task force said in a statement.

The UN added that UK austerity measures had exacerbated racism and racial discrimination for people of African descent, which had a negative impact on their fundamental rights.

Speaking at a Friday press conference in London, Dominique Day, one of five members of the UN task force, said: I have never visited a country before where there is a culture of the fear that pervades black communities regarding a range of asylum, residency, policing issues. An entire community experiences constant and ongoing human rights violations as part of the routine and normalization of daily life.

Officials said they had an in-depth discussion of their preliminary research with UK Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch. A 19-page summary of recommendations was sent to the government on Friday.

The task force noted the continuing fallout from the Windrush scandal. The Windrush Generation experience has left a deep scar in the collective psyche of people of African descent in the UK, said UN investigator Barbara Reynolds.

She said that older people have been forced to confront deeply troubling questions about their identity and have been made to ask themselves who am I, where did I belong? Why am I here? How did I get here, what happens next?

The report also raises concerns about maternal and child mortality. Black healthcare professionals cited pervasive racism and discrimination in maternal and child care that led to relatively high levels of mortality, the findings note.

The task force’s rapporteur chair, Catherine Namakula, said investigators were surprised by the findings on joint enterprise, whereby two or more defendants are charged with the same crime in connection with the same incident. Activists have long warned that its use overly criminalizes people and can lead to imprisonment for those who have not themselves committed any serious violence.

There are many black boys in custody, not because they have committed crimes, but because they are associated with people who have committed crimes, Namakula said, adding that the justice system inappropriately presents expressions of black culture, including drill or rap, as markers of crime.

Investigators have also raised concerns about the disproportionate exclusion of young black male students from the school. The task force warned that policing schools appeared to be directly linked to the presence of black students and was a practice that bullies, stigmatizes and criminalizes black children and youth.

Students reported that a group of black children is considered a gang while a group of white children is considered a group of friends, Day said.

As part of its fact-finding mission, the task force traveled to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol. The UN experts met with senior British government officials, including Badenoch and UN Minister Lord Ahmad. They also met with officials from devolved governments, representatives of local town councils, the Metropolitan Police and officials from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

UN experts said they spoke to hundreds of people, representing a large part of civil society.

In Brixton, they visited a house in which the ceiling had collapsed three years ago and had yet to be repaired. I accompanied them on the visit and was shocked that Lambeth Council would find it appropriate and acceptable to leave a family in such conditions, said Ife Thompson, criminal defense barrister and community organizer.

Lambeth Council said it had made several attempts to provide alternative accommodation for the tenant and there had been repeated difficulties accessing this house.

In London, the UN group met with families whose loved ones had died in custody and heard moving evidence of the impact of racial stereotyping in family courts. In Birmingham they visited a prison and spoke to inmates, while in Manchester they sat down with youth group leaders.

A government spokesperson said: We strongly reject most of these findings. The report mistakenly views people of African descent as a single homogeneous group and presents a superficial analysis of complex issues that fails to consider all possible causes of disparities, not just race. We are proud that the UK is an open, tolerant and welcoming country, but this hard-won global reputation is not adequately reflected in this report.

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