EHRC facing a multitude of new challenges

There are dark clouds gathering around theEquality and Human Rights Commission. Internal challenges, including a discontent work force due, in no small measure to uncertainty in regards to  redundancies forced by Government spending cuts.

Overall the Commission could face cuts of up to 60% of its budget. Furthermore, there is a growing chorus of external challenges coming from those who regard equality as an imposition to privilege and the status quo.  

So, just as the  Commission was beginging to  find its feet after the mass Commissioner   resignations last year it now faces a  multitude of new challenges including one from the present  Government that too often believes less intervention and less resources to tackle inequality is the best way forward.

Despite these apparent challenges it is important that we remind ourselves of the overriding importance of the work of the Commission in promoting a more equal society for all and ensuring protection from discrimination to all British citizens. Life in the UK with an enfeebled Commission will leave millions facing illegal levels of discrimination without access to legal redress and protection.

Britain has long had a view of itself as a country that is short on racism and long on tolerance; a beacon of breach. In comparison to the rest of Europe that assessment does have some justification. The continental European racism of say France, Denmark, Sweden and Italy can lead one to conclude that Britain is anti racist nirvana in comparison.

The problem for this perspective is that Human Rights are not relative concepts. We can as a country be streets ahead of our European counterparts in terms tackling violent crude forms of blatant racism and at the same time fail ensure real equality and protection from discrimination for Black Britons.

Institutional racism still blights the life chances of millions of Black British people. From very moment we are born we face a struggle to overcome the historical legacy of racism. Infant mortalityrates for some black babies mean that we are twice as likely to die before our first birthday than white babies. There can be no more starker representation of reality of racism that this simple fact.

Of course each distinct cultural group within Britain’s hugely diverse Black communities experience the reality racism in slightly different and distinct ways depending on their historical journey and the economic status of the original countries of origin.

I am old enough to remember the racism faced by Arab communities in the UK in the 1960/70’s when the term “dirty Arab” was in daily usage. The public perception of Arabs changed dramatically once the economic fortunes of Arab nations began to improve. We can see the same process at work with Chinese communities today.

30 years on since the Brixton Uprising the structural levels of economic racism faced by section of Britain’s Black communities remains largely unchanged whilst the size of the black community has increased dramatically. This results in many more Black people facing racism today that was the case in the 1980’s.

As reported here in an excellent article written by the Director of the Runnymede Trust Rob Berkeley whilst we have seen a decline in the most ugly, overt and crude forms of racism, when one looks at the economic indicators and life chances of Black Britons things have gotten considerable worse.

‘In 1981, black youth unemployment was estimated at a shocking 55 per cent. Last year we saw unemployment among black 16-24 year olds reach 48 per cent. In 1981, there was an 18 point gap in achievement of 5 or more higher level CSEs or O-levels between white students and black Caribbean students.

Last year there was an 18 point gap between the achievement of black Caribbean boys and white boys. In the mid 1980s, black Caribbean men made up 8 per cent of the prison population. Last year that figure had nearly doubled to 15 per cent of the prison population.’

The disproportionate effect of public sector cuts on black communities immersed in poverty will acutely aggravate the barrage of serious social problems faced by our communities. Over £350 million pounds will be cut  from Legal Aid budgets and £1.116 billion reduction in grants to Local Government , a huge level of cuts to voluntary sector are all set to aggravate inner city areas.

In this context the work of the Commission has never been more important and despite suffering some self inflicted wounds and a large dollop of Government hostility the Commission remains a vitally important institution.

Over the last five years we have seen a remarkably robust performance from the fledgling Commission despite its difficulties. In its first two years the Commission has:

Ensured protection for 6 million carers against discrimination in employment;

Taken over 60, 000 calls each year through the Helpline;

80% of enforcement cases are resolved without the need to go to court;

Exposed exploitation of migrant workers in the meat processing sector;

Advised 136,000 businesses about avoiding discrimination during the downturn;

Distributed £10 million in grants to 285 different voluntary groups delivering frontline services across the country;

Revealed through a formal Inquiry into the finance sector that women working full time earned up to 55% less annual average gross salary than their male colleagues. The economy-wide gender pay gap is 28%.

Launched formal investigations into the disproportionate rates of Stop and Search powers by some police service;

These achievements are impressive and we should be under no illusion the cause of ensuring that we have a more equal society is entirely dependant on ensuring the Commission has the necessary resources to survive and prosper - it is that important.

Lee Jasper, Co-Chair of BARAC