Dr Addy's – Scottish Anti-Racism Resource Library (ARRL)

CERD Concluding Observations 21st to 23rd Combined Periodic Report

  1. Statistics: The Committee reiterates its recommendation that the State party ensure that the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the governments of the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies systematically collect and publish comparable statistics on the enjoyment of rights by members of ethnic minorities in all fields of life, in order to identify ethnic disparities, to inform policy decisions aimed at eliminating racial discrimination and to evaluate their impact. It also recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to harmonize data collection and to address any weaknesses related to the completeness, quality, consistency and comparability of the data collected. It further recommends that the State party improve the collection of data on the situation of ethnic minorities facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
  2. Incorporation of the Convention into the domestic legal order: the Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to ensure that the principles and the provisions of the Convention are directly and fully enforceable under domestic law in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as in the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies.
  3. Human rights framework: The Committee recommends that the State party review and repeal all legislative provisions that reduce the level of protection of the human rights under the Convention and that it ensures that any changes to the current human rights and migration framework strengthen the protection of human rights, in line with articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Recalling its previous concluding observations, 4 the Committee recommends that the State party expedite the process of adopting the bill of rights for Northern Ireland and ensure that it is in line with the provisions of the Convention and with other international human rights standards.
  4. Legislation against racial discrimination: The Committee recommends that the State party take all measures, including measures by the devolved governments and by the governments of the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies, where applicable, necessary: (a) To ensure the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination and equality legislation in all jurisdictions of the State party, in particular in Northern Ireland and the overseas territories, containing a clear definition of racial discrimination, which includes direct, indirect, structural, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, covering all fields of law in the public and private domains and all prohibited grounds of discrimination, in accordance with article 1 (1) of the Convention; (b) To bring into legal effect the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 that are not yet in force, such as part 1 on the public sector duty regarding socioeconomic inequalities, section 9 (5) (a) on caste-based discrimination and section 14 on combined discrimination. (c) To ensure the full and effective implementation of equality legislation, including through adequate monitoring mechanisms with the participation of organizations representative of the groups most exposed to racial discrimination; (d) To make equality impact assessments and their publication compulsory in all jurisdictions of the State party and ensure the effective implementation of the public sector equality duty introduced under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 in all relevant areas, including in the context of immigration and law enforcement; (e) To increase efforts aimed at raising awareness among the population about the Convention, equality legislation and the remedies available for victims of racial discrimination.
  5. National human rights institutions: The Committee recommends that the State party adopt the measures necessary to ensure that its national human rights institutions fully comply with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles), in particular by implementing the recommendations of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, and are able to carry out their mandates effectively and independently. It also recommends that the State party strengthen the functions and powers of these institutions, including through legislative or other measures, to promote and protect human rights. It also recommends that the State party ensure the allocation of adequate human, financial and technical resources to these institutions to enable them to perform their mandates effectively. The Committee further recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to safeguard the independence and credibility of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
  6. Public policies and plans for combating racial discrimination: The Committee recommends that the State party adopt further comprehensive policies and action plans, or strengthen existing ones, to tackle racial discrimination and inequalities in all jurisdictions of the State party, including the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies, in a coordinated manner and that it include in them specific, time-bound and measurable goals. In particular, it recommends that the State party: (a) Establish effective and transparent monitoring mechanisms for current and future policies, plans and strategies to measure their concrete impact in combating racial discrimination, including its institutional and systemic dimensions, and in reducing structural inequalities; (b) Allocate adequate human, financial and technical resources for the effective and full implementation of these policies, plans and strategies; (c) Expedite the process of adopting a new race equality action plan in Scotland and a new racial equality strategy in Northern Ireland; (d) Ensure meaningful consultations and engagement with civil society organizations in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policy measures, plans and strategies, including progress and final outcome assessments.
  7. Racist hate crimes and hate speech: The Committee recommends that the State party take all measures necessary to prevent and firmly combat racist hate crimes and hate speech and, in particular, that it: (a) Adopt a comprehensive legal framework to combat racist hate crimes, take effective measures to ensure its implementation and provide continuous training to law enforcement officials, judges and prosecutors on addressing and investigating hate crimes; (b) Develop and adopt a media strategy addressing the responsibility of journalists and broadcasters to avoid the use of hate speech and stereotypes in describing minority communities, and closely and effectively scrutinize newspapers and broadcasters with respect to content that incites racial discrimination and hatred or strengthens xenophobic attitudes; (c) Encourage the reporting of racist hate crimes by strengthening public trust in the police and the justice system, protecting victims from reprisals and intimidation and ensuring that the reporting procedure is transparent and accessible; (d) Investigate all reported racist hate crimes, prosecute the perpetrators and punish them with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the offence, and provide effective remedies to the victims and their families; (e) Systematically collect disaggregated data on racist hate crimes, including cases involving intersectional motivations, ensure that measures to combat racist hate crimes are developed with the meaningful participation of affected groups, and undertake a thorough assessment of the impact of the measures adopted; (f) Strengthen measures to combat the proliferation of racist hate speech on the Internet and on social media, in close cooperation with Internet service providers, social media platforms and the communities most affected by racist hate speech; (g) Adopt comprehensive measures to discourage and combat racist hate speech and xenophobic discourse by political and public figures, including on the Internet, ensure that such cases are effectively investigated and sanctioned and ensure also that public authorities, including high-level public officials, distance themselves from hate speech and xenophobic political discourse and formally and publicly reject and condemn hate speech and the dissemination of racist ideas; (h) Withdraw its interpretative declaration on article 4 of the Convention and give full effect to all provisions of article 4.
  8. Paramilitarism and racism in Northern Ireland and ethnic and religious prejudice in Scotland: The Committee recommends that the State party, in particular the government of Northern Ireland, adopt robust measures to prevent and combat paramilitary racist violence and intimidation against ethnic minorities and migrants in Northern Ireland, systematically collect information on these acts of violence and intimidation and ensure that cases of paramilitary racist violence and intimidation are promptly and effectively investigated, prosecuted and punished with appropriate sanctions and that victims have access to effective protection and redress. It also recommends that the State party, in particular the government of Scotland, engage with relevant stakeholders, in particular members of the Irish community, to develop measures to effectively address ethnic and religious prejudice in Scotland.
  9. Racism in sports: The Committee recommends that the State party take effective measures to prevent and combat racism and racial discrimination, hatred and violence in sports and to ensure that such acts are duly investigated and that those responsible are identified and punished.
  10. Structural discrimination and special measures to address inequalities: The Committee recommends that the State party take adequate measures to combat the structural discrimination and inequalities faced by ethnic minorities, address the root causes of racial discrimination and inequalities, including colonialism and slavery, and eliminate all obstacles preventing these groups from fully enjoying their rights. Recalling its previous concluding observations,5 it recommends that the State party adopt a detailed action plan to eliminate structural discrimination and inequalities that has concrete targets, monitoring and accountability mechanisms and sufficient resources and includes special or affirmative measures, including in all devolved jurisdictions, overseas territories and Crown dependencies, in accordance with articles 1 (4), 2 (2) and 5 of the Convention. It recalls that, in accordance with its general recommendation No. 32 (2009) on the meaning and scope of special measures in the Convention, States parties are responsible for ensuring that such special measures are designed and implemented following consultation with the communities concerned and with their active participation.
  11. Participation in political and public life: The Committee recommends that the State party, including the governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies, continue to take effective measures, including special measures, to improve the representation of persons belonging to ethnic minorities, notably women, in political and public affairs at all levels of government, in the institutions responsible for developing policies that affect them and in decision-making positions. It also recommends that the State party give legal effect to section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, which requires political parties to report on the diversity of candidates. It further recommends that the State party take steps to facilitate the exercise of the right to vote and to review measures that have a disproportionate impact on the effective exercise of the right to vote by persons belonging to ethnic minorities.
  12. Right to freedom of peaceful assembly: The Committee recommends that the State party take all measures necessary to ensure the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly without any discrimination, including by reviewing and amending the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023. It also recommends that the State party ensure that all allegations of excessive use of force during peaceful protests by law enforcement officers are investigated, prosecuted as appropriate and duly sanctioned.
  13. Racial profiling, stop-and-search and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials: In the light of its general recommendations No. 31 (2005) on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system and No. 36 (2020) on preventing and combating racial profiling by law enforcement officials, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take effective steps to ensure that stop-and-search powers are used in a lawful, non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory manner, on the basis of reasonable suspicion and with rigorous monitoring and review mechanisms, including by reviewing and amending legislative and other measures that lower restrictions on the use of stop-and-search powers and strengthen high-discretion policing powers; (b) Take steps to address the overpolicing of schools with higher proportions of ethnic minority pupils and adopt and strengthen legislation and other measures to explicitly prohibit strip-searches of children; (c) Adopt legislative and other measures that explicitly prohibit racial profiling and take appropriate steps to end the practice of racial profiling by police officers, immigration officers and other public officials; (d) Take effective steps to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in police and military institutions, including in senior decision-making positions; (e) Establish an independent complaint mechanism to carry out investigations into all allegations of racial profiling, stop-and-search, strip-searches, excessive use of force and racist violence, facilitate reporting by victims and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished with appropriate penalties and that victims have access to effective remedies and adequate reparations; (f) Create or strengthen effective mechanisms to regularly collect and qualitatively assess information on perpetrators and victims, for all incidents, complaints and investigations of racial profiling, stop-and-search, strip-searches and excessive use of force by law enforcement and other public officials; (g) Provide adequate and continuous human rights training to law enforcement officials, in accordance with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 13 (1993) on the training of law enforcement officials in the protection of human rights.
  14. Counter-terrorism measures: The Committee urges the State party to revise the “CONTEST” and “Prevent” counter-terrorism strategies, including the “prevent duty”, with a view to eliminating any discriminatory and disproportionate impact on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of members of ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, including children. It recommends that the State party suspend the “prevent duty” and adopt robust measures to guarantee that, for as long as these counter-terrorism strategies remain in force, they do not result, in purpose or effect, in profiling and discrimination against ethnic and ethno-religious minorities. It further recommends that the State party ensure that there are effective and independent monitoring mechanisms, as well as sufficient safeguards, against the abuse of the existing measures and that the persons affected, including children and their families, have access to prompt and effective remedies and adequate reparations.
  15. Criminal justice system and juvenile justice system: In the light of its general recommendation No. 31 (2005) on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system, the Committee recommends that the State party take concrete and effective measures to eliminate racial discrimination, including its institutional and systemic dimensions, at all stages of the criminal justice system, in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and in particular that it: (a) Revise laws and policies and refrain from practices resulting in disparate impacts among ethnic groups, including those related to joint enterprise and drug offences; (b) Address the overrepresentation of persons belonging to ethnic minorities, including by avoiding overpolicing and unnecessary criminal justice interactions and by advancing alternatives to arrest and incarceration for minor offences; (c) Impose strict restrictions on the use of tools such as “tasers” and pelargonic acid vanillylamide (PAVA) spray, and explicitly prohibit their use against children; (d) Adopt the measures, including legislative, policy, regulatory, institutional and standard-setting measures, necessary to ensure that the design, development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems and biometric surveillance technologies, including facial recognition technology, comply with international human rights standards, in particular with regard to the protection of persons against discrimination or profiling, including on the grounds of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 36 (2021) on preventing and combating racial profiling by law enforcement officials; (e) Improve data collection, monitoring and analysis relating to ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system, including qualitative research to effectively address the causes of these disparities; (f) Complete the implementation of the recommendations from the Lammy review, in particular the recommendation concerning interventions before pleas.
  16. Poverty, employment and social security: The Committee recommends that the State party, including the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, adopt the measures necessary to combat persistent poverty, which disproportionately affects ethnic minorities, in particular children, including by adopting a cross-governmental strategy against poverty and by effectively addressing unemployment, occupational segregation and discriminatory practices with regard to recruitment, salaries, promotions and other conditions of employment. It also recommends that the State party abolish policies that adversely impact ethnic minority households, such as the two-child limit and benefit cap
  17. Housing and homelessness: The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to ensure the availability of affordable and adequate housing, including social housing, for ethnic minority households and to tackle the persistent inequalities in housing that affect them.
  18. Housing and homelessness: Recalling its general recommendation No. 27 (2000) on discrimination against Roma and its previous concluding observations,8 the Committee recommends that the State party, including the governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, ensure the provision of adequate and culturally appropriate accommodation for Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities and create more sites and stopping places for these communities. It also recommends that the State party repeal or review legislative or policy measures that have an adverse impact on their lifestyle, such as section 83 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which criminalizes unauthorized encampments in England and Wales, and the Unauthorised Encampments (Northern Ireland) Order 2005.
  19. Health: Recalling its previous concluding observations, 9 the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take effective measures to address structural inequalities and discriminatory barriers in the context of the social determinants of health, including climate change and environmental health hazards, improve health outcomes and ensure the accessibility and availability of culturally acceptable and gender-responsive quality health-care services for persons belonging to ethnic minorities, throughout its jurisdiction; (b) Develop and implement further measures to protect ethnic minorities on the basis of the lessons learned from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The Committee reiterates the calls that it made in its statement and decision on the lack of equitable and non-discriminatory access to COVID-19 vaccines, under its early warning and urgent action procedures;10 (c) Take further and effective steps to decrease infant and maternal mortality rates among ethnic minorities; (d) Strengthen its measures to effectively address racial discrimination in the use of compulsory detention and community treatment orders, notably by amending the relevant legislation, including the Mental Health Act 1983.
  20. Education: The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Strengthen its measures to ensure the availability, accessibility and quality of education for children belonging to ethnic minorities, notably children belonging to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, children of African descent and migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee children; (b) Take all measures necessary to reduce attainment gaps, including by adopting and implementing an action plan to improve educational attainment for children belonging to minorities, with specific and tailored measures for pupils belonging to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, pupils of African descent and migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee pupils, and in close consultation with families in affected communities; (c) Review and monitor the use of exclusions, provide for appropriate non-punitive alternatives and effectively address the disproportionate use of exclusions for children belonging to ethnic minorities; (d) Increase efforts to eliminate racial discrimination and racist bullying in schools and adopt adequate measures, including awareness-raising on the harmful effects of bullying, early detection mechanisms, mandatory training for teachers, the systematic collection of disaggregated data and the compulsory recording and monitoring of bullying behaviour; (e) Take effective steps to increase the representation of teachers from ethnic minorities in the school system to reflect better the communities they serve.
  21. Situation of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees: Recalling its general recommendation No. 30 (2004) on discrimination against non-citizens, and the recommendations made by the Human Rights Committee,11 the Committee recommends that the State party review and repeal any legislative provision that discriminates against migrant groups and that limits access to rights for asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants, with a view to ensuring that its legal framework fully complies with the Convention and relevant international standards. It also recommends that the State party facilitate access to asylum procedures and to legal aid without discrimination and ensure the individual assessment of asylum applications, sufficient procedural guarantees and access to effective remedies, including against refoulement. The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to ensure that all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have gone missing are accommodated in places covered by the State party’s child protection system and effectively protect them against trafficking. It further recommends that the State party revise the “no recourse to public funds” rule and ensure that it does not expose migrant households to a higher risk of poverty and precarity.
  22. Access to justice: Recalling its previous concluding observations,12 the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that individuals belonging to ethnic minorities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies have fair and effective access to legal aid to seek justice. It also recommends that the State party review the legal framework on the legal aid system, including the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, in order to ensure that persons belonging to ethnic minorities are not disproportionately affected. It further recommends that the State party increase the allocation of human and financial resources to ensure the adequate and efficient functioning of the Legal Aid Agency.
  23. Windrush generation: The Committee recommends that the State party accept and implement all the recommendations made in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review of 2020. It also recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to ensure that all Windrush generation victims have fair, prompt and effective access to justice, including adequate reparations. It further recommends that the State party simplify the Windrush compensation scheme.
  24. Forced assimilation of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland: The Committee recommends that the State party, including the government of Scotland, adopt all measures necessary to tackle the causes and legacy of the forced assimilation of Gypsy and Traveller communities and ensure that members of these communities are able to participate in all relevant initiatives in this regard.
  25. Forcible eviction of Chagossians from Diego Garcia: Recalling its previous concluding observations,13 the Committee reiterates that the State party has an obligation to ensure that the Convention is applicable in all territories under its control, including the British Indian Ocean Territory, and urges the State party to hold full and meaningful consultations with the Chagossians (Îlois) to facilitate their return to their islands and to provide them with an effective remedy, including compensation.
  26. Lingering effects of colonialism and the slave trade: The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Redouble its efforts to acknowledge past wrongs and raise awareness of the legacies and impacts of colonialism and trafficking in enslaved people and their connection with present-day manifestations of systemic racism, in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, in particular people of African descent; (b) Adequately reflect, in school curricula in all its jurisdictions, the history of colonialism, trafficking in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement in the British Empire; (c) Consider making a formal apology for its role in chattel enslavement and the historic trafficking in enslaved Africans, adopt specific measures to address their lasting consequences and commit to reparations; (d) Take into consideration the report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, which addresses the human rights obligations of Member States in relation to reparations for racial discrimination rooted in chattel slavery and colonialism.
  27. Ratification of other treaties: Bearing in mind the indivisibility of all human rights, the Committee encourages the State party to consider ratifying those international human rights instruments that it has not yet ratified, in particular treaties with provisions that have direct relevance for communities that may be subjected to racial discrimination, including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), and Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
  28. Declaration under article 14 of the Convention: The Committee encourages the State party to make the optional declaration provided for in article 14 of the Convention, recognizing the competence of the Committee to receive and consider individual complaints.
  29. Follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action: In the light of its general recommendation No. 33 (2009) on follow-up to the Durban Review Conference, the Committee recommends that, when implementing the Convention in its domestic legal order, the State party give effect to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in September 2001 by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, taking into account the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference, held in Geneva in April 2009. The Committee requests that the State party include in its next periodic report specific information on action plans and other measures taken to implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action at the national level.
  30. International Decade for People of African Descent: In the light of General Assembly resolution 68/237, in which the Assembly proclaimed 2015–2024 the International Decade for People of African Descent, and Assembly resolution 69/16 on the programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade, and considering that the International Decade is in its final year, the Committee requests the State party to include in its next periodic report information on the outcome of the measures taken to implement the programme of activities and on the sustainable measures and policies put in place in collaboration with people of African descent and their organizations, taking into account the Committee’s general recommendation No. 34 (2011) on racial discrimination against people of African descent.
  31. Consultations with civil society: The Committee recommends that the State party consult and increase its dialogue with civil society organisations working in the area of human rights protection, in particular those working to combat racial discrimination and including organisations representative of the groups most exposed to racial discrimination, in connection with the preparation of the next periodic report and in follow-up to the present concluding observations.
  32. Dissemination of information: The Committee recommends that the State party’s reports be made readily available and accessible to the public at the time of their submission and that the concluding observations of the Committee with respect to those reports be similarly made available to all government bodies entrusted with the implementation of the Convention throughout the State party in all its jurisdictions, including the devolved governments, overseas territories and Crown dependencies, and publicized on the website of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or another website accessible to the public in the official and other commonly used languages, as appropriate.

Dr Addy’s – Scottish Anti-Racism Resource Library

Knowledge creation, collation & sharing

Home

Accountability

Resources

Useful Info

Created by Dr. Addy Adelaine

Address

Greenock

Scotland, UK

Call us

scottish-arrl@dr.addy.enterprises

Opening hours

Monday To Friday

09:00 To 5:00 PM

Follow us!

Copyright (c) Dr.addy.enterprises 2026