UN International Day Against Racism - NCCRI Launch of Intercultural and Anti Racism Week 2008
New and Old Forms of Racism Still an Issue in Ireland – Latest NCCRI Racist Incident Report
Location: European House, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2
Time: 11am-12noon
Today the NCCRI will officially launch Intercultural and Anti Racism Week 2008 (7th-14th of April) to mark the UN International Day Against Racism (March 21).
The Focus of Intercultural and Anti-Racism Week 2008 will be Education.
Guest speakers at the launch will include her Excellency, Pricilla Jana, the Ambassador for South Africa, Anastasia Crickley, Chairperson of the NCCR, Morten Kjaerum, Director of the Danish Human Rights Institute and new Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna (TBC); Lucy Gaffney, National Action Plan Against Racism and Martin Territt, EU Commission Representative in Ireland and Fiona Ni Fhaolain, Intercultural Education Officer Newpark Comprehensive School.
In anticipation of schools returning after Easter, today also sees the launch of a ‘Toolkit for Intercultural Dialogue in Schools’. This includes a ‘virtual twinning’ project where schools are invited to undertake projects on five cities which have an historic and/or contemporary links with Ireland. These cities include Johannesburg, Krakow, Chicago, Liverpool and Beijing. The projects are designed to give students some insights into migration (old and new); information on Irish connections with each of the cities, including famous Irish men and women; ethnic and cultural diversity and it offers some project information focussing on racism.
Also as part of the Week, the NCCRI is pleased to announce:
- A new production of ‘Through a Film Darkly’ Directed by Bisi Adigun (previous productions/interpretations of Playboy of the Western World; Kings of the Kilburn Highroad)
- RTE will have a series of programmes on television and radio to mark with the Week
- A significant range of events will be taking place across Ireland, North and South. The week is funded as part of the National Action Plan against Racism and events are taking place in Ireland North and South with our colleagues in the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Calendars of events will be available at: www.nccri.ie and www.equalityni.or
The Week is also part EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.
Also launched today and available on our website:
New and Old Forms of Racism in Ireland Evident - Latest Racist Incident Report
The latest NCCRI racist incident report published today, which covers June 2007-December 2007, shows that new and old forms of racism continue to be reported in Ireland and there are indications that such incidents are on the increase.
Some key finding from the NCCRI Racist incidents Report shows:
- In the whole of 2007 there were 99 cases reported as compared with 65 in 2006.
- Racism on the internet is a growing issue with 15% of all cases in the July-December period related to this form of racism
- Half of the incidents reported to the NCCRI in the six month period occurred in the greater Dublin area
- The most likely victims of racist incidents are black African males. However people of Asian origin as well as members of the Traveller community also experienced racism.
The main complaints from people from central and Eastern European relate to issues in the work place.
Positive Action
On a positive note, the NCCRI has received a lot of support from public and non public bodies to ensure that particular complaints are dealt with effectively and to develop intercultural, including anti racism strategies as part of the National Action Plan against Racism.
The following bodies have published or have indicated that they will be publishing intercultural strategies in the near future:
- Football Association of Ireland (published 2007)
- Health Service Executive (February 2007)
- RTE (forthcoming)
- An Garda Siochana (forthcoming)
- Department of Education and Science (forthcoming)
- GAA (forthcoming)
For further information contact Philip Watt, Director NCCRI: 0876370557 or Kate Morris: 0868166490
