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It states that the long term, high level vision of the society that we are working to achieve is: “ a society in which racial diversity is supported, understood, valued and respected, where racism in any of its forms is not tolerated and where we live together as a society and enjoy equality of opportunity and equal protection.” 69 The strategy sets out six aims that government will pursue in eradicating racism and tackling racial inequalities. These include: 69_Ibid, p.5. 70_Ibid, p.6. 71_Ibid, p.6. 72_Ibid, pp 40-41. 73_Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. - - - - - - Elimination of racial inequality Equal protection Equality of service provision Participation Dialogue Capacity building. 70 The strategy clearly states that it: “ Will have significant implications for the way that Northern Ireland Government departments and the Northern Ireland Office carry out their business. It draws together evidence and provides a coherent and consistent framework for action by individual departments and agencies for Government action across departments, the public services and more widely.” 71 It also highlights that the strategy, “will operate within the context of existing and proposed anti-discrimination legislation” which includes the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 and Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Responsibility for the strategy and its implementation falls to the Minister of State for Northern Ireland with the Race Equality Forum set up to oversee the detailed work of implementation. A Racial Equality Unit has been set up within OFMDFM to promote racial equality and good race relations. 72 In 1997 the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 73 was introduced which made it unlawful to discriminate on racial grounds in five areas including employment and training; education; provision of goods and services, facilities or services; disposal and management of premises and advertisements. The Order defined ‘racial groups’ as “a group of persons defined by reference to colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins”. In addition the Order set out the three principle duties for the Commission for Racial Equality in Northern Ireland (CRENI), since 2000 incorporated into the Equality Commission as set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is an executive non-departmental public body with statutory functions. These include: - - - - Promoting equality of opportunity Promoting affirmative action Promoting good relations between people of different racial groups Working for the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of race, religious belief, political opinion, sex, marital status, disability and sexual orientation
improving government service delivery to minority ethnic groups Chapter 2: Northern Ireland Research Findings 40_41 74_The Northern Ireland Act 1998. 75_www.equalityni.org/ publications/downloadlist. cfm?id=5 76_OFMDFM (2003) Race Directive. A Note on Implementation in Northern Ireland. 77_OFMDFM (2002) Tackling Racial Inequalities in Northern Ireland. Structures and Strategies. - - Overseeing the effectiveness of the statutory duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in respect to public authorities Keeping under review the working of anti-discrimination and equality legislation and, when required by the Department or otherwise thinks it necessary to draw up and submit to the Department proposals for amending legislation. The Commission was established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and has published guidelines for public authorities, many of which have introduced race relation policies. Under Section 75 (1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 74 there is a statutory obligation for a public authority to promote equality of opportunity, “between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation”. Section 75 (2) states that, “…a public authority shall in carrying out its functions in relation to Northern Ireland, have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group”. Both the Race Relations Order and Section 75 have meant that many public authorities have had to begin to identify and meet the needs of minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland. Schedule 10 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires all designated public bodies to go through a statutory Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) on policies which are ‘screened’ and have potential ‘adverse impact’ on any of the nine equality grounds, which includes ‘racial groups’. The Equality Commission has published ‘Practical Guidance on Equality Impact Assessment.’ 75 The Race Relations (NI) Order 1997 was updated in 2003 under the Race Relations Order (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 to give effect to the EU ‘Race’ Directive 2003/43/EC. On 17 June 1997 the Treaty of the European Community at Amsterdam was revised by the governments of the fifteen Member States. Article 13 of the Treaty provides a legal base for community action to combat discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin. In Article 13 there is a Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. OFMDFM has said that the Directive will “help to ensure that Northern Ireland meets minimum standards of legal protections from racial discrimination across Europe”. 76 The regulations also apply to Irish Travellers. However, ‘nationality’ and ‘colour’ are not explicitly covered by the Directive, this is of concern given that these tend to be the grounds for racist attacks and discrimination in Northern Ireland. As well as these legislative developments the Government has also focused on racial equality through the New Targeting Social Need (TSN) Policy. The New TSN can be seen as an initiative which ‘tends to compliment the equality provisions outlined under the Northern Ireland Act 1998’. 77 One aspect of this policy is to promote social inclusion including adopting “a strategic approach to the needs of minority ethnic people”. A steering group of senior civil servants has been set up to oversee the implementation of the New TSN across government departments. A New TSN Unit within OFMDFM advises departments on how best to implement the New TSN and working groups have been set up for each aspect of the policy.
Page 1: IMPROVING GOVERNMENT SERVICE DELIVE
Page 4 and 5: About this publication This is the
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Page 11 and 12: Executive Summary 8_ title EXECUTIV
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Demographics Until data from the fo
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Figure 8: PPSNs Poland 103,177 55%
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Prospects for ongoing strong immigr
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Both the Equal Employment Act 1998
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Methodology The NPAR will undoubted
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In hospitals the provision of inter
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Awareness of legislation and policy
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e expected to pay the non-EU fee, w
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Interviews carried out with employe
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Official agencies and policies in t
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Targeting The need to target ethnic
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Employment By and large Irish immig
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(continued from previous page) The
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An anti-racism intercultural progra
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Conclusions The Irish statutory sec
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Chapter 5: Conference Discussions 1
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and inequality and black and ethnic
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Understanding and tackling racism w
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As discussed above, there is a lack
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It is important that training on se
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- - - - - - - Existing UK migration
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“ …the four As that the previou
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Appendix 1: Research Project Struct
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Appendix 2: List of Organisations I
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Appendix 3: Recommended Data Collec
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Glossary 166_167 Glossary 267_Scott
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Acronyms 170_171 Acronyms280 280_In
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This research has been carried out
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