ISTANBUL
Racism in the UK is “structural, institutional and systemic,” UN experts said on Friday, warning that racial discrimination was still present against individuals of African heritage in the country and that their fundamental rights were being eroded.
“We 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 dehumanising nature of the stop and (strip) search,” the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said in a statement.
The statement came at the end of their official visit to the UK, which took place on Jan. 18-27.
Noting that they documented the “trauma” felt by people of African descent, the experts said: “A woman of African descent we met during our visit lamented, ‘will this ever end?'”
They stressed that a decade of austerity policies in the UK had intensified the racism, discrimination, and other intolerance that individuals of African origin experienced, which had a negative impact on their fundamental rights.
“From the perspective of people of African descent, racism in the UK is structural, institutional and systemic,” said the experts.
They pointed out that people of African descent felt that racial hierarchies were perpetuated in their dealings with state and public institutions, the private sector, and society.
The working group urged all parties, including the government, to do more to ensure the rehabilitation, restoration, and peace between the state and its people.
It also welcomed new initiatives to make up for the legacy of the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans.
“Streamlining 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,” said Catherine Namakula, the chair of the working group. “Austerity to the peril of fundamental rights is a costly undertaking for the UK.”
The experts will give the UN Human Rights Council a report outlining their conclusions and suggestions on the matter in September.
