Racism is a reality for migrant and ethnic minorities living in Ireland. Racism is a significant barrier to integration and limits opportunities for building a cohesive and connected society based on mutual respect and equality.
Many types of racist incidents do not constitute a crime under Irish law, and they are often not recorded by the Gardai. Awareness of the existing equality infrastructure is low among immigrant and ethnic minority residents and real experiences of racism and discrimination are often not reflected in official statistics. Nasc’s third party racist reporting mechanism emerged as a result of concerns about underreporting of racist incidents.
As part of Nasc’s ongoing work to combat racism and promote integration, we are asking people to support our call for legislative and policy reform. A strong legal framework sends a clear message that racism will not be tolerated. The introduction of a specific provision to deal with racially aggravated offences coupled with clear sentencing guidelines covering racially motivated crimes would send out a strong signal that racism is not tolerated in this jurisdiction. In addition, the introduction of a provision to ensure ‘a proportionate and dissuasive penalty where racist or xenophobic motivation is an aggravating circumstance’ is required to ensure Ireland’s compliance with the EU Framework Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia (2008).
Nasc is a member of the ENAR Ireland network and a founding member of the Coalition Against Hate Crime.
