Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

“The structural socio-economic exclusion of racial and ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom is striking,” says the June 2019 report (pdf) from the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

In the report, Tendayi Achiume cites persistent racial disparities in, among others, education, employment, housing, health, surveillance, interactions with police, prosecutions, and incarceration.

The special rapporteur states:

“To be clear, Brexit has not newly introduced racism and xenophobia to the United Kingdom – both have a long legacy that extends as far back as the historical European projects of slavery and colonialism.

That said, national debates and certain practices and policies before, during and after the Brexit referendum in 2016 have amplified racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the United Kingdom.

Public and private actors have played dangerous roles in fuelling intolerance. Among them, politicians and media outlets deserve special attention given the significant influence they command in society.”

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