Community Relations Council

• Jobs
• Press Releases
• News
• Links
• Speeches
• Contact
• Council Minutes

01 September 2009

Unite against Hate, a new multi-agency campaign initiated by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, Equality Commission, Community Relations Council, Northern Ireland Office Community Safety Unit and Police Service of Northern Ireland will be launched in Belfast today (1 September).

The campaign will challenge the prejudices which if left unchecked, can result in Hate Crimes.  The Northern Ireland welcome is world famous. This campaign will provide opportunities for ordinary people to demonstrate their opposition to the mindless minority who carry out Hate Crimes.

Local sporting stars and celebrities, including singer Peter Corry who has recorded the campaign anthem ‘Man in the Mirror’, will unite to endorse and support the campaign during a number of events and initiatives.

The campaign will highlight all six forms of hate crime, homophobic, racist, sectarian, faith, disablist and transphobic and challenges everyone in Northern Ireland to unite to stop it.

Over the coming months, the public will have the chance to show their support for the campaign by participating in a range of diversity events. A number of organisations including the Irish Football Association, Gaelic Athletic Association, Belfast Festival at Queen’s and Culture Night Belfast, have already pledged support for the campaign.

At the campaign launch, Acting Deputy Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said: “Hate crime is unacceptable, no one deserves it and no one deserves to get away with it. While the Police Service is fully committed to playing our role in preventing these crimes, we cannot work in isolation to solve what is a wider societal issue. We all have a responsibility to unite against hate crime, and that is exactly what we hope this new initiative will deliver.

“In addition to supporting this campaign, we want to encourage people, whether they are victims of a crime or witnesses to an incident, to report it to police. There are a number of methods available to make reports; these are in person, telephone or online reporting,” he said.

Bob Collins, Chief Commissioner, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland said: “Expressions of hatred, whether in the form of violent attacks or in any other way, are a poisonous stain on any society and must be challenged whenever they surface.

“The Equality Commission welcomes this opportunity to work with all our partner bodies to ensure that the prejudices of a few will not be allowed to dictate the terms on which people can live and work in Northern Ireland.”

To support of find out further details about the campaign and planned events, look up www.uniteagainsthate.org.uk.

Ends.

Notes to editors: 

The Unite against Hate campaign has four main objectives:

To inspire and to unite: Change to a more tolerant and peaceful Northern Ireland is both desirable and possible. We need to have the optimism, hope and confidence that we can work together to bring it about.

To sensitise general public to the problem of hate crime and its real costs:Hate crime destroys the lives of all of us through the damage it does to the quality of life, our reputation and our economy.

To create a climate of zero tolerance for hate crime and discrimination:Hate crime is violent and wrong; it will not be tolerated. There is no room in Northern Ireland for sectarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, religious or disability related hate crime which will be vigorously implemented through the promotion of equality and the enforcement of rights.

To promote diversity: Living with diversity is an integral part of modern life and we all need to take responsibility for creating an atmosphere where diversity is accepted as normal. We need to recognise benefits of diversity.

According to police figures during 2008-2009 (01 April 2008 to 31 March 2009) there were 771 racist hate crimes, 134 homophobic hate crimes, 35 faith/religion related hate crimes, 1,017 sectarian hate crimes , 28 disability related hate crimes and xx transphobic hate crimes. Over the same period in 2007-2008 there were 757 racist hate crimes, 114 homophobic hate crimes, 62 faith/religion related hate crimes, 1,056 sectarian hate crimes ,42 disability and xx transphobic hate crimes related hate crimes. 

Statistics for hate crimes and clearance rates are available on the PSNI website

http://www.psni.police.uk/3._08_09_hate_incidents_and_crimes.pdf

A hate-motivated crime is defined as any incident that constitutes a criminal offence, perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate.

The following motivation types are used to identify and categorise hate crime offences in Northern Ireland: racist motivation, sectarian motivation, homophobic motivation, disability motivation, faith motivation and transphobic motivation.

As well as reporting incidents of hate crime in person, members of the public can also contact their local Hate Incident Minority Liaison Officer on 0845 600 8000, or online through the police website www.psni.police.uk/. In an emergency, members of the public should dial 999.

Hate Incident Minority Liaison Officers (HIMLOs) are based in every District Command Unit. Their role is to provide support, guidance, information and feedback to victims and potential victims of hate incidents. HIMLOs identify and engage with local minority and vulnerable groups. HIMLOs will personally contact all victims of hate incidents, unless contact has been declined, as soon as is practicable following notification of the incident.