Ethnic group's chief hits out at race policy delay
THE chief executive of an organisation representing ethnic groups in Northern Ireland has said he is "200 per cent frustrated" by the Executive's failure to act on issues affecting Ulster's minority populations.
Patrick Yu, of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), said party political issues and sectarian arguments between unionists and nationalists dominated the Assembly, leaving little time for policy debate which would benefit ethnic minorities.
Having written to the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in February urging them to "defrost" the Racial Equality Strategy and the Programme for Caring, Sharing and Integration - frameworks of public policy to counteract negativity towards migrant communities and promote equality - Mr Yu said he had been made to wait four months for a response and that there had been no movement on any of these policy areas.
He voiced his frustration as Finance Minister Sammy Wilson lambasted the "race relations industry" in yesterday's News Letter for "talking-up" racism in Ulster to acquire funding.
Dismissing the minister's remarks as "inaccurate and unconstructive", Mr Yu said PSNI statistics showed racist attacks have been on the increase in the last 10 years and "it is NICEM's view that negative comments by public figures serve to fuel potentially violent racist sentiment".
His position was supported by Alliance MLA Anna Lo, who said Mr Wilson's comments were "irresponsible".
"Racism is evil and politicians must unite to provide leadership to tackle this growing problem in Northern Ireland," she said, adding she was "concerned Mr Wilson's comments will be counter-productive in the fight against racism".
Emphasising that contrary to the Finance Minister's opinion that NICEM and similar bodies working to protect the rights of migrants in Northern Ireland had a "vested interest" in portraying Ulster as a "racist society", Mr Yu said he had never endorsed a negative image of the Province.
"The Executive need to take the lead on the whole anti-racism issue," he said.
"It is inter-departmental, cross-community action that is required. While unionists and nationalist politicians are blaming each other and disagreeing on key areas of policy, issues affecting ethnic minorities are overlooked and ignored."
In the aftermath of racist attacks against members of the Romanian community in south Belfast in June, Mr Yu said he had expected to see greater activity on ethnic minority agendas and strong leadership from the Executive.
"The government is just buying time and hoping that these issues go away," he said. "Enough is enough.
"We want to see action and particularly the formation of a task force to target the threat of racist attacks in difficult areas."
A spokesman for OFMDFM said the Executive remained committed to the Racial Equality strategy and that work to fulfil its goals were ongoing.
Asked why the Executive took four months to respond to Mr Yu's concerns about the lack of infrastructure and resources to tackle issues affecting Ulster's ethnic communities, the department said ministers "provided a response when all factors were considered".
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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