Conclusion 7

We heard many concerns about the lack of progress made on the aims and actions of the Executive’s original and current Racial Equality Strategies. The Executive Office should seek to address these by implementing without delay the outstanding actions of the current strategy, for example on ethnic monitoring, the refugee integration strategy and tackling hate crime. Furthermore, TEO should consider the merits of formal secondment and closer information sharing with organisations in Great Britain with experience of tackling issues of racial equality. We are pleased to learn that the Executive Office will consult on proposals to update NI equality legislation this year but urge them to expedite this process, to address the significant and ongoing disruption posed to the Jewish community in Northern Ireland and to afford the people of Northern Ireland the same rights and protections as their fellow citizens throughout the rest of the UK.