Victim of alleged racist abuse taking case against Stormont for not implementing racial equality strategy
An alleged victim of racist abuse is taking legal action over Stormont’s failure to advance an anti-discrimination strategy so her children may one day return to school without fear, she has disclosed.
Maureen Hamblin, 37, said she now educates her sons at home due to the impact of slurs they suffered.
The Kenyan-born mother of three is challenging the Executive Office for not fully implementing reforms at the centre a Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Her application for leave to seek a judicial review has been listed for a hearing later this year.
Following a preliminary review at the High Court in Belfast, Ms Hamblin said: “People choose to be racist and feel empowered to not be better because they know nothing is going to happen.
“Our kids should be able to go to school without any issues.”
Announced back in 2015, the strategy aimed to establish a framework for tackling racial inequalities along with eradicating racism and hate crime.
Reforms to the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 were also said to be a key feature of the proposed blueprint.
Lawyers representing Ms Hamblin, who now lives in Co Antrim, claim the Stormont administration has failed to deliver on the plans for protecting ethnic minorities.
They are alleging breaches of the Section 75 duty to promote equality of opportunity under the Northern Ireland Act, and of the post-Brexit Windsor Framework.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice McLaughlin was told that both the Equality Commission and Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission have been informed about the challenge as potential notice parties in the proceedings.
He confirmed the case will be heard on a date in either late April or early May.
Outside court, Ms Hamblin told of the racism her family has been subjected to since she moved to Northern Ireland in 2014.
The abuse became so bad that one of her sons refused to go back to school.
“My kids were being called all sorts of names… (they) would come home and use words like ‘blacky’, ‘monkey’ and the N word,” she said.
Eventually she decided to educate her children at home.
“I don’t know if I will ever allow my kids to go back to school, but if I do I would like to leave them at the school gates without worrying about them,” Ms Hamblin stressed.
In a separate alleged incident, she told how a group of youths on bikes subjected her to a racist abuse while she was pregnant and out walking.
“They were making monkey noises and calling me the N word, I almost fell into a stream because they cycled so close to me,” she added.
“I just want a better and more inclusive Northern Ireland, a Northern Ireland where a black woman can give birth without feeling discriminated against.”
Ms Hamblin’s solicitor, John McGrath, claimed the public order unrest which scarred parts of Northern Ireland last year highlighted the need for a fully implemented Racial Equality Strategy.
He insisted: “It has never been more vital to have a clear road map on how to ease tensions and build up good relations.”