Conclusions and recommendations
1. The
present police figures may underestimate the problem of racial
and homophobic attacks in Northern Ireland by a considerable margin.
(Paragraph 4)
2. There is evidence
of a significant and rapidly growing problem of 'hate crime' in
Northern Ireland. The Committee supports unreservedly the policy
of the Government in seeking to address this worrying trend as
a matter of urgency. (Paragraph 5)
3. Though we cannot
prejudge the likely success of the Government's sentence based
approach, we hope that it will signal that there is to be no tolerance
of 'hate crime' offences. Much will depend in practice on the
priority given to enforcing the proposed law by the police. We
were heartened by the evidence we received from the Police Service
of Northern Ireland which indicated that the police were taking
the matter seriously. For example, sectarian incidents will now
be recorded by the police. We were also pleased that officials
of the Northern Ireland Office in evidence to us indicated that
the Government intended to review the effectiveness of the Order
in due course. (Paragraph 9)
4. We are convinced
that strong laws and effective police enforcement measures against
'hate crime' are required to send the strongest possible signal
that such activity is completely unacceptable and will not be
tolerated. 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. (Paragraph 10)
5. The Government
has failed to establish any grounds for adopting a different approach
in Northern Ireland to attacks against disabled people than applies
in England and Wales. We are concerned that the Government, by
not including hostility against disabled people within the draft
Order, is unintentionally encouraging the perception that disabled
people in Northern Ireland are less deserving of specific legal
protection than in England and Wales. The Government is rightly
prepared to legislate on 'hate crime' offences in Northern Ireland
even where the numbers of recorded incidents, while significant,
are numerically modestas in the case of homophobic attacks.
We believe that hate motivated incidents involving people with
disabilities are likely to be on a scale at least comparable to
that demonstrated for homophobic incidents. (Paragraph 14)
6. The Government
and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) should begin
to collect statistics for incidents of 'hate crime' against disabled
people in Northern Ireland without delay in order that the scale
of the problem can be ascertained accurately. We were pleased
to hear that the PSNI see no particular difficulties in doing
so. (Paragraph 15)
7. However, the collection
of statistical information will take time and we do not believe
that the Government should wait before taking legislative action.
We found the arguments for the Government to amend the draft Order
to include 'hate crime' against the disabled compelling. The change
is small in drafting terms but could have a crucial effect upon
the lives of disabled people in Northern Ireland. The Government
should also give consideration to whether the carers and families
of disabled people require similar, targeted protection. By taking
this action the Government would bring the law in Northern Ireland
into line with that in England and Wales and by doing so will
provide another signal that in Northern Ireland 'normal rules
apply'. The officials who gave evidence to us indicated that the
Government's mind was not closed on the matter. For the reasons
set out above we urge the Government to ensure that the proposed
draft Order is amended to afford appropriate protection from 'hate
crime' to people with disabilities. (Paragraph 16)
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