Anti-Racism and Hate Crime

NATIONAL ACTION PLAN AGAINST RACISM

Ireland has no national policy or strategy to address and combat racism.

From 1998 to 2008, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) played a central role in developing policy and practice in this area, including assisting with the development of the Planning for Diversity – National Action Plan Against Racism 2005 to 2008. Regrettably, the NCCRI was disbanded in 2008 and has not been replaced.

While Ireland now has an existing national integration strategy, Doras believes that this does not go far enough to address and combat racism. Doras advocates for the reestablishment of the NCCRI and the development of a new National Action Plan Against Racism, as a matter of urgent priority for Government. The NCCRI would be an independent body, funded by the State, with responsibility for overseeing the National Action Plan and advising Government on racism issues.

HATE CRIME

Ireland has one of the highest levels of hate crime in the EU but it is one of the only EU countries that has no hate crime legislation.  Enacting hate crime legislation would send a strong message of support to our ethnic minority communities and would help Ireland to meet its EU and international obligations.

As a member of the Coalition Against Hate Crime Ireland and member of the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR), Doras works with our partners to work on the following issues:

• hate crime legislation;
• improving data collection on hate crime and hate incidents;
• education; training and awareness raising;
• hate speech;
• supporting victims of hate crime

Please consider signing the INAR petition calling for the introduction of hate crime legislation in Ireland: sign the petition.

REPORTING & RESPONDING TO RACIST INCIDENTS

Doras promotes reporting and recording of racist incidents by encouraging anyone affected by any form of racism or discrimination to make a formal complaint to the Gardaí. Doras can provide support and assistance with reporting incidents to the Gardaí, inlcuding accompaniment and follow-up support if requested.

Doras advocates for the strengthening of data collection systems and practices by statutory bodies, and for victim-centered responses to racism reports. Doras also promote and support iReport, an independent reporting mechanism managed by the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR).

For more information on how Doras can support you to report an incident, please see here: Report Racism.

UNITED NATIONS CERD REVIEW OF IRELAND 2019

At international level, Doras works with our partners to ensure that human rights issues, including racism and hate crime, are brought to the attention of international monitoring bodies. The most recent review of Ireland under the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was in 2019. Doras contributed to shadow reports on racial discrimination and hate crime with other civil society organisations, coordinated by INAR.

The UN CERD outlined recommendations to Ireland in its Concluding Observations, including the following:

• Develop a new National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR) in consultation with civil society organisations;
• Replace the system of Direct Provision with an alternative reception model;
• Enshrine the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in domestic law;
• Take measures against racist organisations;
• Improve ethnic data collection;
• Outlaw racial profiling;
• Take measures to combat hate speech online and offline;
• Introduce hate crime legislation;
• Promote the participation of ethnic minority groups in public life.

ANTI-RUMOURS CAMPAIGN – CHALLENGING PREJUDICE & STEREOTYPES

The Anti-Rumours campaign aims to dispel the most widespread myths and misconceptions around the topic of immigration and migrant integration, by providing evidence-based answers and utilising social networks to spread the message of the campaign far and wide.

Doras’ Anti-Rumours project was the first action of Limerick’s Intercultural Cities programme. As part of the campaign, Doras Luimní provided free training to a team of anti-rumours advocates who were given the necessary tools to carry out their own projects and workshops which challenge the most common myths.

Since Jue 2014, over 1,500 people participated in our workshops across Limerick and Ireland. For more information & resources, please view: Anti-Rumours.

DORAS RESEARCH ON RACISM

Doras research on the prevalence of racism and discrimination highlighted that 80% of our service-users in Limerick had experienced racism more than once. The evidence gathered in this research presents a local perspective on racism and discrimination, characterised by the following features:

• Racism occurs in public and private locations.
• Men, women and children are perpetrators of racism.
• Men, women and children are victims of racism.
• Racism may take the form of physical or verbal hostility or aggression, exclusion from or denial of services and other actions/inactions.
• Institutional racism is a feature of services across a wide spectrum.
• Racism has serious consequences for individual victims and society as a whole.
• Racism is under-reported.

Download the full report here: Treated Differently

FURTHER READING

• Government Report to UNCERD (2018)
• Alternative Civil Society Report to UN CERD (2019)
• UN CERD Concluding Observations (2020)
• Declaration of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
• Declaration and Programme of Action (World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance)
• INAR iReport.ie Reports of Racism in Ireland
• INAR resources about racism
• Planning for Diversity – National Action Plan Against Racism 2005 to 2008
• Migrant Integration Straetgy – A Blueprint for the Future
• ‘Out of the Shadows’: Legislating for Hate Crime in Ireland Report.
• Victims Directive.
• Life Free From Fear Report
• Lifecycle of a Hate Crime: Country Report for Ireland
• Facing Facts