NORTHERN IRELAND: "HATE CRIMES"
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/nort ... 734903.stmHate crime 'growing' problem
There is a significant and rapidly growing problem of 'hate
crime' in Northern Ireland according to a new report.
The parliamentary report said that present police figures for
race-related and homophobic incidents underestimate the scale of the problem.
It also calls for the government to change the proposed
legislation on 'hate crime' to give better protection to disabled people.
The Northern Ireland Affairs committee which produced Friday's
report said that widespread under-reporting of attacks may mean the present police figures underestimate the problem of racial and homophobic incidents by a considerable margin.
It called on the police to tackle the issue more vigorously than
they have been doing.
The committee said the government needed to include attacks on
the disabled in the draft Criminal Justice (NI) Order, to be introduced later
this year.
The planned legislation would require judges to take into
account any racial, religious or sexual orientation factors when sentencing.
Committee chairman Michael Mates said on Friday that members
believed it was "untenable for the government to have legislation in place
which protected disabled people in England and Wales but not to
provide such protection in Northern Ireland".
Mr Mates said "compelling" arguments for including attacks on
the disabled had been given at its hearings.
The committee's report said it was "astonishing" that
comprehensive statistics on the level of attacks on the disabled in the
province were not kept by the government, police, and even disabled support groups.
The committee had heard "credible evidence that disabled people
in Northern Ireland do experience a wide range of 'hate crime' attacks," Mr Mates said.
He said including such attacks in the draft legislation would
bring the province into line with England and Wales, sending out another
signal that "normal rules apply" in Northern Ireland.
The committee believes police figures were underestimating "hate
crime" levels by a "considerable margin" because victims were failing
to report attacks.
"While the figures may be modest, the upward trend is
unmistakable," said Mr Mates.
He added: "We must send the strongest possible signal that such
activity is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our society."
The committee said it had received evidence that existing
legislation was not being used to full effect, with only seven prosecutions
arising from 226 racial incidents recorded by the PSNI in 2002/03.
"We understand that not all incidents recorded may necessarily
involve criminal offences. Nevertheless the figures for prosecutions
appear worryingly small," said the committee report.
It said strong laws and effective police enforcement measures
against "hate crime" were required to send the strongest possible signal "that such activity is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
The report added: "We expect to see the problem tackled more
vigorously in the future by the Police Service of Northern Ireland than
appears to have been the case in the past."
The committee heard evidence during its inquiry from a number of
organisations representing people with disabilities as well as
Northern Ireland's Council for Ethnic Minorities and the Equality
Commission.
