Top lawyer's warning over institutional racism
21/03/2006 - 19:16:38Institutionalised racism in Ireland could result in attacks similar to the Stephen Lawrence murder, it was claimed today.
Imran Khan, a UK human rights solicitor who acted in the landmark case, believes unless racism is tackled at the top and legislation enforced, there is nothing to stop the same happening here.
Stephen, 18, was stabbed by a group of white youths because he was black. No-one has ever been convicted of the murder at a south-east London bus stop on April 22, 1993 and an enquiry into the investigation labelled London’s police force “institutionally racist” and condemned officers for “fundamental errors“.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr Khan said all racist attacks and cases of discrimination in the country need to be monitored before the problem can be address.
“Unless you tackle violence on the streets and unless you actually say from the top down that racism is unacceptable somebody somewhere along the lines is going to say ’look I can do this and get away with it’,” said Mr Khan.
“That’s the type of climate environment that existed in 1993 when Stephen Lawrence was murdered and I’m afraid that’s the type of climate I see occurring here and something that needs to be tackled immediately.”
Mr Khan backed findings revealed in the new report Breaking Down Barriers: Tackling racism in Ireland at the level of the state and its institutions.
It highlighted a widespread need for in-depth research into institutional racism in Ireland and identified gaps in the state’s policies. It also made a number of recommendations for the Government, which included recruiting members of minority ethnic communities to posts within the state.
The report was issued by Amnesty International and the Irish Centre for Human Rights to mark International Day Against Racism.
“Once the Irish Government says yes, I recognise and accept and acknowledge that racism exists, then you are going to get a situation when you can start implementing laws, policies and practices which will avoid the sort of situation where somebody could die simply because of the colour of their skin,” Mr Khan, a human rights activist, told RTE radio.
“The dangers are in the Government not saying, not acknowledging, that racism exists in Irish society. If you don’t accept there is a problem then you are not going to do anything about it.
“There’s nobody monitoring racial violence and racism and racial discrimination. There doesn’t seem to be any attempt by anybody to enforce those pieces of legislation. There’s no ability for any individual to come along and say that’s my right, I’m being discriminated against and I want to do something about it.”
Mr Khan added both the UK and Ireland have a history of discrimination against minority communities, and in order to change that people from minority groups would have to be targeted to take up leadership positions.
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