Agenda item - Presentation - Work of the Racial Harassment Forum

To receive a presentation on the Racial Harassment Forum consultation report by Monika Richards and Mahir Chowdhury of the Racial Harassment Forum.

19.1    A presentation was given by Monika Richards and Mahir Chowdhury of the Racial Harassment Forum outlining their work and detailing the content of the Racial Harassment Forum Consultation report which had been circulated recently.

19.2    It was explained that in June 2016 the RHF had been formally constituted. Although the Council retained support for the RHF, the organisation was fully independent The RHF was a community led membership organisation to support victims of hate crimes and incidents and representatives from Brighton and Hove’s culturally and ethnically diverse communities were directors and formed its Executive Committee. The consultation process which had been carried out had been seen as a crucial step for RHF in its commitment to ensuring that it had the support and foundations for operating amongst the consensus of its membership and wider communities and that the consultation findings would provide the RHF with a mandate for work it should focus on in the short-mid and long term to create sustainability.

19.3    The aims and objectives of the RHF were outlined and it was stressed that at its core its aims were to ensure that those who believed they were victims of a hate crime or incident had an accessible, recognised and culturally sensitive organisation they could approach in order to seek support and address incident(s) order to support their policies in ensuing there was zero tolerance of hate crimes or incidents across the city. Details of the methodology used and results received were also outlined as were the differences between on-line and hard copy questionnaire results which highlighted that varied approaches to engagement were required. Examples of individual comments/feedback received were given.

19.4    following the presentation members had the opportunity to ask questions. The Chair, Councillor Daniel commended the report, stating that the feedback received gave cause for concern and clearly illustrated that issues remained to be addressed, in the expectation that nothing would happen and that a number of young people did not report incidents in schools and colleges as they considered that nothing would happen to the perpetrators and that their situation could become less safe if they reported peers. Those concerns were echoed by Members of the Committee who also commended the report which they considered timely and which highlighted the importance of individuals feeling confident in reporting incidents and in knowing where to go.

19.5    RESOLVED – That the contents of the presentation be noted and received.