TACKLING DISCRIMINATION and HATE

Tackling Discrimination is at the heart of our work.

The original focus was on improving race relations but over the years we have widened our brief and now, directly and indirectly respond to people in all their diversity. Specifically we support people in all of the ‘protected characteristics’ groups: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We work through specific, targeted projects and also with individuals, giving help and advice when we can, as well as signposting to and networking with statutory and voluntary organisations.

Tackling racial harassment/ discrimination

A full-time post was funded by the Commission for Racial Equality (now known as the Equality & Human Rights Commission) in the late 70s following the Race Relations Act. The brief for the position was to tackle racial discrimination, later widened to other forms of discrimination. However the dedicated post was lost when funding came to an end in 2004.

We worked mainly on discrimination concerning employment, race and religion and later worked with Gypsies and Travellers. We worked at County level with the Gypsies and Travellers Group, meeting Gypsy families, hearing about their treatment by authorities and general public. Even today, the prejudice against Gypsies sadly continues.

Case study

One lovely Gypsy family we worked with had applied to settle in the area where they spent most of the year. The Council would not rent them a house as they were not permanent residents. They bought a plot of land and applied for permission to build on it. This too was refused. We looked at the reasons for refusal and found they were not valid by the council’s own rules. We wanted to fight the case but the family decided to leave, probably because of the hostility shown to them.

Hate Incident Action Project (2009-2012)

The Hate Incident Action Project, funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was established as a three year project to raise awareness of hate issues, to increase the number and effectiveness of Hate Incident Reporting Centres, and to provide support to hate incident victims. The project had two officers, one who supported the victims and liaised with the police and other agencies, whilst the other delivered training to individuals and groups on hate crime and the available support. Some Reporting Centres we discovered needed to refresh their training.

The project increased reporting from 7 in 2010, to 49 by end of its third year, giving greater access and opportunity for victims and witnesses to report incidents that previously might not be reported. This contributed to an 87% increase in the number of non-police reported incidents that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.

People in Charnwood have on the whole been receptive in wanting to address hate issues and it’s reassuring that agencies, such as Charnwood Borough Council and other social housing providers, have come on board as Reporting Centres and availed themselves of the training we then offered.

The greatest satisfaction project staff had was the help they were able to give to victims of hate. The Project set out to help at least 40 victims, but in the event they supported 72. This ranged from emotional support and reassurance to ensuring that victims’ issues were dealt with positively by the authorities, and, in the most acute cases, help in achieving housing transfers due to repeated victimisation.

Disability Access Guide (2011)

Equality Action worked with partners to produce a revised Disability Access Guide to Loughborough Town Centre, to replace an old, outdated version. We had financial support from Borough and

Tackling Discrimination and Hate

County Councils, and other partners such as Love Loughborough BID (Business Improvement District), Loughborough University, Charnwood Disability Forum and local businesses.

Students from the University’s Action Group collected questionnaires from businesses and later, Peter Lewis, a trustee of EA, was wheeled around in a wheelchair by Matt Jarrom from Loughborough Echo to check on accessibility.

Hard copies of the guide were published and circulated, and an electronic version which can be updated to reflect the latest position is also available.

The Guide is available from us and CBC offices, John Storer Charnwood and the Town Hall, and electronically on their websites.

Forced Marriages & Honourbased violence, 2012 (6 months project)

This project (funded by a grant from Leicestershire County Council) was to raise awareness of the issues of forced marriages and honour-based violence, by delivering workshops and training sessions to community and religious groups, schools and service providers in the Borough of Charnwood.

The project aimed to encourage dialogue and discussion and provide support, information and advice on the issues, emphasising that forced marriages and honour-based violence are an abuse of human rights and create conditions

in the community that would facilitate attitudinal changes towards the issue of forced marriage.

Current situation on tackling discrimination

We work very closely with the local police and Charnwood Borough Council on

reporting hate crime.

Acting for individuals, we do an initial assessment of what they require and usually identify partner agencies we can signpost or refer them to, ensuring they are supported where possible or required.

We have worked in partnership with the LGB&T Centre in Leicester and understand there is a need for support for people on these matters. Where people have a need for training on this or any other issues we can signpost to appropriate agencies.

Our current casework and projects continually identify issues of discrimination and see how we can work to support our clients. Where there is a need to, we challenge agencies and service providers to ensure all people are treated fairly.