Hate Crime

A crime is a crime and does not have "colour" or "status".
Again individuals concept of crime may vary.
Depend of individuals own cultural background.
Depend the country they live in (country's policies, what the law says and of course
the awareness social justice and education/training of it is all citizens about their rights and responsibilities.
They say that people influences from they environment they live in!
I believe that! We do so because "you need to survive"!!!!!
Otherwise you need to be came from a very stable cultural/economical or educational background and using different other techniques to survive!
Now as individuals we play our role but the biggest role-play the community/society we live in.
As we trying to re-build "Democracy" here in N.Ireland,
It is confused as a word all ready world wide, and when people from other cultures/ religions coming in now from non democratic countries and claim that they have human rights/ Equality it is make it more confused.
Both sides have right from their individual point of view.
Misinterpretation taking place, language barriers it is making it more difficult for everyone to understand what is going on.

What steps the community/society/country is taking to prevent, dealing with the "hate crime "and victims/criminals and their families it is play very important role and making the difference. Before any crime and afterwards did educating /training/supporting them or just putting them all in a box!

From My point of view all have right to get anxious with the changes.
We need to support each other to understand our differences and similarities, better communication, interpretations, using technology and creativity to educate ourselves our families our communities to rebuild our society (every ones opinion count)
Again history and from our past experiences, we know that no one is perfect?
And what is perfect anyway!!!

Empowerment means:

1. Confidence
2. Understanding
3. Responsibility
4. Structure
5. Resources

It is obvious from my previous postings that I am against immigration, but it is not a matter of race, more a matter of space. I am in favour of aid to Third World countries and think the that large amounts of money presently spent on legal fees to help failed Asylum Seekers fight extradition would do a lot more good being directed to parts of Africa where it could possibly save many lives.

My personal view is that immigrants themselves and the "powers that be" could do more to defuse racial tension. Each of the following examples are small in isolation but added together make the indigenous population feel they have been abandoned and are destined to become second class citizens with nothing to loose.

Immigrants choose to come here so why the need for so many Community Associations. In the vast majority of cases they have been made more than welcome so do not need to stick together and try to dominate certain areas to the alarm of the local population.

The media also tend to make matters worse. For example if an immigrant has a window broken it gets full news coverage, while at the same time a local person can be brutally beaten, or even killed and it gets less prominence.

Even TV Soaps and Plays seem intent in causing offence to the host community-Invariably whites are protrayed as "Baddies", never the ethnics.

I could give more examples, but these, combined with the fact that none of our local Politicans or Church leaders are prepared to speak out on behalf of their own community, gives a feeling of frustration and abandoment that could cause trouble in future.

After all, local people have feelings also.

I am a member of the Alliance Party which campaigned for Hate crime legislation for N. I.. I want to see a pluralist society where everyone is valued whatever their religious, racial or sexual orientation background. We should have a desegregated society where people do not have to be put in boxes according to their perceived religion - Catholic/Protestant and then presumed to be nationalist/unionist.
I would like Westminster to produce figures for the cost of running our segregated society - separate schools, separate leisure facilities, separate health clinics, transport routes, housing areas , social security offices etc. etc. - the money saved would improve health , education etc.
I am a supporter of integrated education where children of all or no religion , of every race are educated together and learn the enrichment that comes from different cultures and backgrounds coming together
The Parades Commission does a difficult job well;even if the actual Orangemen on parade behave reasonably , they attract followers who deliberately taunt those "on the other side" The flaunting of paramilitary flags and of Union Jacks not to shew "loyalty" but to annoy others is reponsible for a lot of violence . The same can be said of the deliberate flaunting of tricolours.
The Housing Executive should take action against those who intimidate others out of their houses , rather than rushing to remove the intimidated; the HE shd have a pro-active policy to develop integrated housing areas and give encouragement to those who live peaceably with their neighbours of different races or religions Flying of flags,painting of kerbs etc to mark out territory should be illegal .
I support the Glasgow "Nil by Mouth" campaign and their targeting of pre-school children for anti-sectarian campaigns.
It is disturbing that paramilitaries who now have less excuse to attack those of a different religion now use their energies to attack those of different races.

Newton Emerson points out that there is no need for specific hate crimes legislation as the crimes (e.g. assault) which are covered by the proposed legislation are already liable to prosecution under existing legislation. He raises the point that there have been no prosecutions for racist attacks under existing legislation, and argues that the existing law needs to be enforced rather than new laws created. This seems to be to be a crucial point.

Why have Emerson's comments not been picked up by the moderator? Is the fact that his comments have not been picked up on, while many less substantial contributions have been highlighted, due to the critical nature of his comments? If so it appears that the purpose of the consultation is not to promote searching debate and discussion. It seems that he may be right to state that the proposed new legislation is a cosmetic exercise. Has the decision already been made and the consultation is designed to gather ideas about how to sell the new legislation, rather than to discuss the merits of proposed legislation?

I would go further than Emerson and say that there is a danger that Hate Crimes legislation could actually incite resentment towards minority ethnic individuals and groups. The riots in Oldham in 2001 were sparked off by plans for the far-right British National Party to hold a rally in the town. The BNP wanted to take advantage of publicised Police figures which showed that there had been more attacks on whites by Asians than on Asians by whites. The figures are likely to reflect better relations between the police and 'whites' than there are better Asians and the police (the collection of figures on racial harrassment is fraught with difficulties such as these - as Neil Jarman and Rachel Monaghan's work on Police figures in Northern Ireland shows). The collection of figures on racial harrassment helps to give some indication of the extent of the problem, it also, however, helps to highlight the issue of racial difference and can provide ammunition for organised racists. The treatment of racial harrassment as a special type of crime will only serve to highlight racial differences. If we are to have real equality surely it is better that attacks on ethnic minorities are treated the same as attacks on any other member of society. This is an issue of enforcement, not a matter for legislation.

There is still time for you to have your say but this consultation is run chiefly by you, the participants, so please make sure you take advantage of this opportunity to feed your thoughts directly into the Committee’s official inquiry.

To pick up on a few new ideas and concerns from participants:

* "The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People is concerned that Hate Crimes are being carried out by young people - a wider strategy needs to be considered that encourages respect, understanding and friendship"

* “We are going to see much more violence but I am also concerned that we are going to see a new type of sectarianism emerging – attacking people because they are not Christians.”

* “It might help if they were taught where the hatred began and how long ago it started, so that they could understand where it does or most likely does not fit in to their modern lives.”

* “We have found on the ground that the issue of prejudice is best addressed through community and cultural interaction and the sharing of activities. You cannot legislate prejudice out of the mind, but you can change the mindset through constructive project participation and action learning”

We'd be interested to hear your views on these comments or anything else that you would like to raise as it's your forum, so you can set the agenda.

Many thanks,

emoderators team

The comments posted by Kevin are not totally surprising. It is quite common to hear people express a fear that migrant workers are removing local jobs. What is not clearly communicated is that in many cases these workers have been recruited abroad and brought here because of a local "skills shortage". This has been the case in relation to 100 nurses being recruited in the Phillipines for Craigavon Hospital and workers being recruited in Portugal for Moy Park. Nobody bats an eyelid if a company operating in Saudi Arabia places an advert in the Belfast Telegraph to recruit workers.

In England there was a similar phenomena 40 years ago. Companies actively recruited workers from the Carribean and other places and many racist comments were "justified" by the claim that "they are taking our jobs". England has moved forward now and nobody would make such a comment because it is clear that the very fabric of society depends on the contribution of the millions that have immigrated and made England their home.

I think we need to communicate much better the benefits of a diverse society.

I agree completely. So many people hate blindly without understanding why. Only that they have always been taught to hate. Maybe what they need is to learn how not to hate. It might help if they were taught where the hatred began and how long ago it started, so that they could understand where it does or most likely does not fit in to their modern lives.

I know the moderators want things to be civil here but I am sorry but a posting cannot go unchallenged.

The comments I refer to might expect to have been heard in the 60's such fears and anxiety about people loosing their jobs to whom?, hard working immigrants. Just the same way we Brits.( or whatever) go to Europe and the States etc to take up nice well paid jobs. Anti-white racism, drugs, criminal gangs!!! 30 yrs of paramilitary gangs controlling the drugs trade here now, what do the police etc say - 400 crime gangs in N Ireland, politicians who can't even agree to sit in the same room and talk never mind govern together because of 'cultural' differences.

These are not anti-white laws, we have Black/Asian. whatever members of the community who have lived here for generations now, its about equality for all. protection by the law, a right to live a peaceful life with out being hounded for who you are and the law not being able to deal with the diverse community.

All my friends work, they studied hard at school some went to college some hold down two jobs, all are white there is plenty of opportunity for everyone. I'm not saying that there isn't a need for rigorous immigration regulations, I want to see that for sure. BUT nothing can defend our in action to deal with violent malicious intolerance in whatever form that appears.

The lastest issue of "The Lion and the Lamb" (Autumn 2004) published by ECONI (Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland)concentrates on the issue of racism and religious liberty.

In the lead article Stephen Skuse offers an overview on racism and religious liberty in Northern Ireland.

Ken Newell (Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) suggests how Christians might challenge racism in their local communities.

Canon Walter Lewis writes from his experience of the Islamic Community in South Belfast and invites readers to consider ways of building relationships with our neighbours of other faiths.

There are a number of other excellent articles, including interviews.

ECONI can be contacted at www.econi.org