Rights group asks U.K. to protect minorities

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, AUG. 23. A United Nations Human Rights body has called on Britain to do more to protect the country's ethnic minorities, who it described as feeling increasingly vulnerable to racist attacks. The U.N.'s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, meeting in Geneva, expressed ``deep concerns that racist attacks and harassment are continuing and ethnic minorities are feeling increasingly vulnerable.''

The Committee also urged Britain to take steps to prevent discrimination against asylum seekers and urged the Government to ``take leadership in sending out positive messages about asylum seekers''. The Committee's warning comes against a backdrop of both the Government and the Opposition Conservative party taking an increasingly intolerant attitude towards ``bogus asylum seekers''.

The U.N. body also expressed concerns over institutional racism in bodies such as the police and prison service, which it said had ``resulted in serious shortcomings with regard to investigations into racist incidents.''

It also said the Government should take steps to tackle the high unemployment and low school attendance among the ethnic minorities.

The criticism was, however, softened by praise for government moves to increase the penalty for racially motivated crime and for the action it had taken to implement the recommendations of a report into the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence .

The committee regularly reviews the performance of countries which have signed up to the U.N.'s Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

A U.K. Government spokesman said it had not seen the report yet but it believed that ``some of the comments made in it are unfair.'' He added that ``Promoting racial equality is a top priority for this government, which has done more to promote race equality than any previous government.''

The Conservatives reacted by declaring that ``it was not for the U.N. to lecture Britain on how best to run its affairs in such matters, adding that ''the main threat`` was ''the systematic abuse of our asylum system by those who perceive Britain to be a soft touch.``

The U.N. Committee studied a report from the Government on the steps taken to meet its obligations under the Convention against Racial Discrimination and also heard evidence from a delegation of NGOs critical of the Government's record.

A spokesman for one of the groups which submitted evidence, said ''While we have all acknowledged that the Government has taken steps to combat racism, there is a long way to go before there is equality of treatment for ethnic minorities in the U.K.``

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Section  : International
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