UK government in breach of human rights obligations under UN racism treaty, according to report on discrimination
The UK government is in breach of its human rights obligations under a key UN treaty aimed at eradicating racial discrimination, a report has warned.
Racism is systemic in England and legislation, institutional practices and customs continue to harm minority ethnic groups, according to research compiled by the Runnymede Trust.
It found the government is in breach of numerous articles of the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
The government is required to submit regular reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors adherence to the treaty.
These are accompanied by shadow reports from civil society groups, both of which are used by the UN to assess progressonracialequality.however, the government did not submit a report due in April 2020 amid the pandemic.
The latest report, produced by the Runnymede Trust
following an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) tender, was drafted with evidence from more than 100 civil society groups.
Its publication comes amid condemnationfromtheprime Minister, Duke of Cambridge and others over racist abuse directed at black football players following England's defeat in the Euro 2020 final.
The report says minority ethnic groups face sustained disparities across health, the criminal justice system, education, employment, immigration and politics.
The authors write that they believe the government's new approach to equalities will fail to improve these outcomes "and may in fact worsen them".
And they question findings from the UK'S Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Cred) earlier this year, which concluded that the system is no longer "deliberately rigged" against ethnic minorities in Britain.
They argue that Cred's conclusion "misrepresents the scale and complexity of the issues" and starkly contrasts with the evidence received.
Dr Halima Begum, Runnymedetrustchiefexecutive,said progress has been made, citing the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to ethnic minority groups and efforts to address the Windrush scandal.