A report released on Wednesday by the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) called for urgent action to be taken in order to combat "systemic racism against black people in the UK".
The 45-page document entitled 'Black People, Racism and Human Rights' demands that the government "secure" the human rights of those of black African and black Caribbean origin, as well as other groups with black heritage.
Healthcare, the education system, criminal justice, immigration, and democratic representation were among the sectors of society in which polling discovered feelings of inequality were widespread among black people living in Britain.
Government institutions such as the National Health Service (NHS) and law enforcement were urged by MPs involved in the committee to take action and end the "stark inequalities in the protection of human rights of the black community”
— Šét West (@Athenselder) November 11, 2020
According to the report, 60% of black people in the UK do not consider themselves equally protected by the health service compared to white people and highlights that the death rate for Black women in childbirth is "five times higher than for white women".
85% polled say they are "not confident that they would be treated the same as a white person by police" and that reviews into custody deaths must be conducted.
The report also expressed disappointment with "delays in making payments under the Windrush Compensation Scheme", intended to offer repayment to those British Subjects of Caribbean heritage who were wrongly detained or deported and demand that those affected "receive the compensation that they are entitled to without further delay".
Among the recommendations of the committee include:
- A public inquiry into the government's coronavirus response with priority given to how black people may have been disproportionately affected.
- The NHS establish a target to end the “the maternal mortality gap whereby black women are more than five times as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than white women”.
- Improvements in data gathering on racial inequality, specifically on health, criminal justice, nationality, immigration and democracy.
- Police should take steps to “build the confidence of the black community” and publish polling on confidence in the police among black people.
- Improvements following Windrush scandal should be introduced in full and "as a matter of urgency"
Committee chairman Harriet Harman said that "whole point about human rights is that they are supposed to be universal".
“Yet here in the UK it is clear that black people are in no doubt that the protection of their rights are inferior to those of white people".
"We urge the Government to take specific actions which will ensure black people have equal human rights. Commissioning reports and apologising is not enough".
According to the report on Wednesday, Britain's equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), had been found "unable to adequately provide leadership and gain trust in tackling racial inequality in the protection and promotion of human rights".
The call follows a conclusion by the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry that said there was “no doubt” that the protections of the rights of black people in the UK were “inferior” to those of white people.
Throughout 2020, Black Lives Matter demonstrations erupted across the country in opposition to alleged systemic racism in national institutions and the deaths of black people at the hands of the police.
Double Standards?
In October, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lost the whip after he issued a statement in response to an EHRC report on failure to combat antisemitism under his leadership of the party. He said that while a single case of antisemitism was one too many, the crisis in the Labour Party "was overstated for political reasons".
While Corbyn lost the whip for his skepticism of the EHRC's findings, supporters of the former leader asked if the Labour MPs involved in the Human Rights Joint Committee would also be suspended.
— neal (@nealvinay) November 11, 2020
Others highlighted how the EHRC had insufficiently handled racism for some time.
— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) November 11, 2020
The parliamentary report on Wednesday criticising the EHRC follows widespread controversy surrounding the equality watchdogs inquiry released in October suggesting that the Labour Party, under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, had failed to investigate allegations of antisemitism and that there was political interference in the handling of complaints.
