The Race Equality Foundation’s CEO, Jabeer Butt OBE along with leaders across the race equality space have written a letter the Children‘s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, on our response to the report.
We are urging them to address the damage caused by the publication. While the report gives voice to those arrested for their involvement in the riots, it is silent on the children, young people and communities who were targeted.
We are calling on the Commission to:
- Immediately publish a note setting out the limitations of this report and acknowledging that racism, islamophobia and anti-migrant sentiments were a driver of the riots and need urgent action to protect children and young people in the future.
- Commit to commissioning an independent organisation to carry out study of the children and young people from areas that were directly impacted by the riots, with a particular focus on securing interviews with Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities, those with a recent experience of migration and those from Muslim communities.
- Agree to convene a meeting with anti-racist and migrant organisations to discuss your plans for future work to prevent this form of violence recurring.
Read the article by Children and Young People here.
