What is a ‘hate crime’? According to the Home Office definition: ‘Any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate’. It further states that: ‘Hatred is a strong term that goes beyond simply causing offence or hostility. Hate crime is any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by an offender’s hatred of someone because of their: race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation and disability. Hate crime can take many forms including: i) physical attacks – such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, neighbour disputes and arson, ii) threat of attack – including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate and unfounded, malicious complaints, and, iii) verbal abuse or insults - offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace.’ ‘Every year, thousands of people in Britain are victims of hate crime. Needless to say that nobody should have to live with the fear and anxiety that this crime causes. It can also affect other people living nearby, especially if they are seen to be part of the same group in a society.’ Sadly, hate crimes cause tension in the community which creates barriers to the overall process of community cohesion. And, without community cohesion, the dream of community development can not be materialised.
The East Midlands is the central region of England where a large number of families belonging to various minority communities lives. Obviously, when several people from different ethnic origins live together, the emergence of hate crime and tension is not an unusual phenomenon. In the East Midlands, the common forms of hate crimes are: verbal abuse, criminal damage, threatening calls and letters, common assault, graffiti, slogans, homophobia, racist attacks, xenophobia, religious hatred, asylum seeker beating, harassment of disable people and intimidation of Romany people and Travellers. According to statistics provided by the Wellingborough Multi-Agency Group, during the months of July and August (2007), there were 65 reported cases of hate crime in Northamptonshire. It is well known that a significant number of hate crimes remain unreported as on a number of occasions, victims do not bother or intend to register them due to various reasons. In fact, the problem of hate crime is also linked with the activities and agendas of far right groups such as the BNP working in the region. Their policies are formulated specifically against immigrants. These policies promote hostility among various segments of British society.
In the above context, the East Midlands Racial Equality Consortium (EMREC) was set up during the year 2000. It covers Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Charnwood, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. It came into existence in response to the then Commission for Racial Equality’s and the Home Office’s strategic plans for regional development work and to extend the promotion of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission into the local community networks through its partnership agencies. It is widely recognised that in the East Midlands region, there is a significant lack of a collective opinion, voice and views which would assist the Local Government Authorities (LGA), Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM) and other statutory organisations to keep abreast of new developments and their existing work commitments within areas of high concentration of poverty, social and economic depravation and cultural, racial and faith challenges. In this perspective, the East Midlands Racial Equality Councils came together to pool their services, resources and expertise to assist the GOEM and other bodies to offer a unique service that was not available previously. As a consequence of this service, the region has become richer and more fertile around subjects that have previously been difficult to identify, develop and address across the East Midlands through a collective opinion and strategic responses. No doubt, the partnership agencies working across the East Midlands can collectively offer a valuable service and resource which will offer professional help and making an important contribution to the work of local, regional and central government on a wide range of equality issues.
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EMREC promotes its strategic support structure for positive community relations to develop across the East Midlands region. The structure offers specialists in the area of community relations, race and faith, and community cohesion. In more recent months EMREC has taken on a wider equalities role in supporting a single platform for equalities development work across the different equality strands in the region. This knowledge base approach enables EMREC to link up with local community based race, equality and diversity networks which have previously been inaccessible to the statutory sector agencies. EMREC also deals with six government strands of equalities as its main focus for equalities and thereby promoting the development of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). It also aims to engage the issues related to faith and community relations, and to encourage dialogue and community cohesion in the East Midlands region. It also coordinates with 46 local authorities and other public authorities to increase their awareness and skills in promoting the excellence in public services. Through its work, EMREC will offer to take the lead for modernisation in the strategic engagement agenda by providing training and seminar presentations on new and existing legislation and legislative information. By these activities, relevant agencies will be able to increase their understanding and extend their profile into and beyond existing community based frameworks for development.
We are glad to mention here that the East Midlands Hate Crime and Tension Monitoring Forum (The Forum) was set up in August 2007. It is part of EMREC’s work to engage with both public and voluntary sector organisations and agencies to establish a network of information that identifies the extent of hate crimes and far right activities taking place across the region. The Forum provides an adequate platform to discuss common strategies and action plans to assist the development of constructive public policy initiatives. Surely, such efforts will be supportive for engaging with local people for the growth of good community and race relations as well as effective community cohesion practices. The work of the Forum is based upon a non-political alignment and ensures that all discussions and action taken are aimed at producing a partnership approach towards working together. It enjoys a wide membership of a large number of public authorities and voluntary organisation which meets every three months across the region. For further information please contact the EMREC office. |
