This included, in March, the driving of a car into a crowd at Westminster Bridge in London, the bombing of a music concert in Manchester in May and in June an assault by three men at London Bridge with a vehicle and knives — all incidents that took multiple lives, injured many more and were followed by a rise in hate crime against minorities, particularly Muslims.
The Habeas Corpus Act of banned arrest and detention without trial. The Bill of Rights established English Parliamentary and individual rights as having precedence over royal decisions. In particular, laws must be enacted or at least approved by Parliament. The Claim of Right in Scotland set out similar principles. The English Bill of Rights required the monarch to embrace Protestantism and this was further enshrined in the Act of Union of Scotland and England.
Freedom of religion was not endorsed or denied in the Bill of Rights, but Roman Catholics were excluded from the right to bear arms for their self-defence. In all men over the age of 21 and all women over the age of 30 had the right to vote for the first time.
In women gained equality with men in voting. In the voting age was reduced to The Government of Ireland Act set up a devolved government in Northern Ireland to decide local laws, for example with regard to policing and education. This was suspended in on account of inter-community strife, reconvened in and suspended again in Devolved governments were set up in Scotland and Wales in The Northern Ireland Act, better known as the Good Friday Agreement, set out the basis for peace between the two main communities, Protestant and Roman Catholic, and it contains the first explicit legislation in the UK banning religious discrimination.
European Union legislation, since , is applied separately by each legislative authority. Because of attacks by the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, the Belfast government gave the police special powers of arrest and detention in , which continued, and were largely used against Roman Catholics, until the government was suspended in The British government replaced them for Northern Ireland and adopted the Prevention of Terrorism Act in extending these powers to mainland Britain.
The two acts were renewed and finally combined in the Terrorism Act , which came into effect in February The legislation was strengthened following the 11 September events in the USA, and again in , when radical speech, publications and non-violent protest were included in the definition of terrorism.
Tougher immigration and asylum legislation, and the Identity Cards Act, setting up a national identity register, were introduced as part of the same package against terrorism. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act , the first law on nationality, stipulated that all subjects of Britain and its colonies were British subjects.
After the independence of India and Pakistan in , the British Nationality Act made a distinction between British subjects and citizens of the UK and colonies. All those born in the UK and British colonies were automatically citizens. Those whose father was born in the UK or a British colony could become citizens by descent.
Other British subjects, more closely connected with an independent member country of the Commonwealth, could remain British subjects and also become citizens of the independent Commonwealth country. Those who were British subjects on 1 January and who did not to take citizenship of an independent Commonwealth country, could remain British subjects for their lifetime but they could not pass this status on to their children.
The British Nationality Act set up six classes of British nationality, four of which are a colonial legacy and will last only for the lifetime of the holders. Citizens of British Overseas Territories do not have this right, but in , and special legislation allowed citizens of Hong Kong to acquire British citizenship before the handover of Hong Kong to China in From November non-European British members of the armed forces are allowed to become British citizens without the normal waiting period for naturalization.
To qualify for naturalization non-British citizens must usually have five years of continual residence in the UK or three years, if married to a British citizen. They must also have sufficient knowledge of life in the UK and of the English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic languages, and intend to continue living in the UK. The first Immigration Act in , which set up controls against undesirable aliens, was intended to reduce Jewish immigration.
In the s Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution in Germany had to have a British sponsor. The rights of non-European British subjects to live in the UK were restricted by immigration laws in , and Patrials are mostly white. All others must have work permits or established family members in the UK, but in the latter case they must prove genuine family reunification. Managed migration policy allows the government to channel work permits for jobs where there is a shortage of recruits.
Detention centres were built. This proposal that sets out a new points based test that needs to be passed in order to gain citizenship in the UK has been criticised by Migrants Rights Network and other migrant organisations for the subjective nature of the criteria used to award and deduct points for citizenship, for the implications it has for the equality of citizenship, and for the implications it will have for migrant workers, including the experience of high levels of exploitation and discrimination and the problem of de-skilling.
T he Immigration Acts of and have had the effect of curbing access to public services and increas ing the demands on the wider society to participate in im mi gration status background checks , for instance banks, employers and landlords. The imprisonment and serious physical and mental health problems of children in immigration detention centres is a practice widely condemned by MRG and other human rights NGOs. The new Conservative — Liberal-Democrat coalition government elected in pledged to end child detention , and the p olicy was amended later that year.
Discrimination and human rights abuses suffered by migrants are on the increase every year. A Equality and Human Rights Commission EHRC inquiry in the meat and poultry processing sector uncovered widespread mistreatment and exploitation of migrant workers, including physical and verbal abuse and a lack of proper health and safety protection.
The treatment of pregnant workers was highlighted as a particular concern. The report note d that many migrant workers had little knowledge of their rights. A key issue is modern-day slavery , often affecting migrants and ethnic minorities. Local councils in England and Wales alerted the authorities to over 1, cases in the period July-September nearly a 50 per cent increase over the similar period during the year before. The most common countries of origin for persons trafficked to the UK into situations of forced labour are Albania, Vietnam, Nigeria, Romania and Poland.
And the industries where they often end up include the agriculture, construction and hospitality sectors; many women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation. The risk that victims — if they are undocumented foreign nationals — will be prosecuted for immigration offenses means that they often hesitate to file a complaint.
Race Relations Acts were passed in , and , and strengthened in and to comply with EU law. They outlaw racial discrimination in employment, housing, education, planning, and the provision of goods and services. Incitement to racial hatred, harassment, physical and verbal abuse on the grounds of race are criminal offences.
The Sex Discrimination Act banned discrimination on the grounds of gender. The Equal Pay Act required employers to provide equal pay for equal work. These provisions were strengthened in with regard to employment, in line with EU law. Discrimination in employment on the grounds of religion or belief was banned in The Racial and Religious Hatred Act came into effect in Passed on 8 April , the Equality Act was one of the last measures of the outgoing Labour Government, which lost office in May The integrated approach to equality law enforced by a single Commission is reflected in the new act that covers discrimination on grounds of race and religion, gender, disability, age and sexual orientation, and adds some new ones, namely socio-economic status although this has not come in to force , pregnancy and gender reassignment.
The pivotal aim of the A ct was to achieve simplification and harmonisation of existing equality law — it replaces previous laws on all protected strands — and to level up protection for several grounds as a comprehensive single piece of legislation. A notable feature of the Act is the prohibition of multiple discrimination, although this is limited to the combination of two grounds of discrimination only; and a claim of direct and indirect discrimination cannot be combined.
The new legislation, which entered into force on 1 October and will be brought into operation in stages, might assist in closing some of the equality gaps that are still persistent in the British society. This initiated a protracted process of negotiations between the UK and EU on the conditions of a post- Brexit relationship between the UK and the rest of Europe.
At the time of writing these issues have yet to be fully resolved. While the UK government was already imposing increasingly restrictive migration and asylum policies prior to Brexit , it was still obliged to allow the free movement of workers within the EU.
However, after a month transition period lasting the rest of , freedom of movement may no longer be the case, though the exact direction of future migration policy remains uncertain. I n practice, the reality of maintaining close trade and business ties with other European countries as well as the exigencies of UK labour demands may mean that significant levels of migration from elsewhere in Europe continue.
Despite this worrying global situation, we reaffirm our commitment to safeguarding the rights of minority and indigenous communities and implementing indivisible human rights for all. Sign up to Minority rights Group International's newsletter to stay up to date with the latest news and publications. Since August, MRG has been assisting Afghan minority activists and staff from our partner organizations as their lives and their work came under threat with the return of the Taliban.
We need your help. For the last three years, we at MRG have run projects promoting freedom of religion and belief across Asia. In Afghanistan we have fostered strong partnerships with amazing local organizations representing ethnic and religious minorities.
They were doing outstanding work, educating minority community members about their rights, collecting evidence of discrimination and human rights abuses, and carrying out advocacy. Not all have been able to flee. Many had no option but to go into hiding.
Some did not have a valid passport. Activists can no longer carry out the work they had embarked on. They can no longer draw a salary, which means they cannot feed their families. With a season of failed crops and a cold winter ahead, the future is bleak for too many. We refuse to leave Afghanistan behind. We are asking you today to stand by us as we stand by them.
We will also use your donations to support our Afghan partners to pay their staff until they can regroup and make new plans, to use their networks to gather and send out information when it is safe to do so, and to seek passports and travel options for those who are most vulnerable and who have no option but to flee to safety. Azadeh worked for a global organization offering family planning services. Standing for everything the Taliban systematically reject, Azadeh had no option but to flee to Pakistan.
MRG is working with our partners in Pakistan to support many brave Afghans who have escaped Afghanistan because of their humanitarian or human rights work or their faith. They are now in various secure locations established by our local partners on the ground in Pakistan. Although they are safer in Pakistan than Afghanistan, Hazara Shia and other religious minorities are also persecuted there.
We need your help, to support those who put their lives on the line for basic human rights principles we all believe in: equality, mutual respect, and freedom of belief and expression.
The situation on the ground changes daily as more people arrive and some leave. Aluminium mining in Baphlimali, India, has caused environment devastation and has wrecked the lifestyle of thousands of Adivasis. For centuries, Adivasi communities like the Paraja, Jhodia, Penga and Kondh have been living amidst the Baphlimali foothills. For generations they have lived in harmony with nature. They lived through rain fed subsistence agriculture of millet, cereals, pulses, rice and collection of non-timber forest produce, e.
With widespread mining activities and linked deforestation, they have lost access to forest products and to the much needed pasture land in the vicinity of their villages. Your help will mean that MRG can support communities like these to help decision makers listen better to get priorities right for local people and help them to protect their environment and restore what has been damaged.
The above picture is of a tribal woman forcibly displaced from her home and land by District Forest Officers in the district of Ganjam, Odisha. Her cashew plantation burned in the name of protection of forests. Please note that the picture is to illustrate the story and is not from Baphlimali. Esther is a member of the indigenous Ogiek community living in the Mau Forest in Kenya.
Her family lives in one of the most isolated and inaccessible parts of the forest, with no roads, no health facilities and no government social infrastructure. The Ogiek were evicted from some forest areas, which have since been logged. The Ogiek consider it essential to preserve their forest home; others are content to use it to make money in the short term. Esther has a year-old daughter living with a physical disability who has never attended basic school, as it is over 12 kilometres away.
Young children living in these areas face challenges such as long distances to school, fears of assault by wild animals and dangers from people they may encounter on the journey. Because the Ogiek have no legally recognised land rights, despite hundreds of years of residence in this forest, the government is refusing to provide social services or public facilities in the area. See statistics on the population of England and Wales , by ethnicity.
They decide which ethnic groups to include in consultation with:. It is recognised that these ethnic groups do not represent how all people identify. There has been an ethnicity question in the Census since It has been updated at every new Census since then.
There are separate questions in the Census about national identity and religion. A single, standardised list makes it easier to analyse ethnicity data wherever it is collected. However, ethnic groupings are useful for monitoring, discussing and addressing discrimination and inequalities. Care should therefore be taken over when it is appropriate and relevant to define people by their ethnicity.
The same could be said for other diversity characteristics. The term Black is often used as a political term that acknowledges the oppression or exploitation Black-African and other ethnic groups have experienced through colonialism, slavery, or racism — whether that is ignorance, avoidance, hate crime, harassment or exclusion because of skin colour, national or ethnic origin.
Ideally it would be written B. Remember that BAME is an umbrella term used for reporting on ethnic diversity and discrimination. If talking about Black people or people with Bangladeshi ethnicity for example, then use those descriptions and only use BAME when talking collectively about all groups under this umbrella term.
Likewise, ethnic groups may be collectively described as follows these are just examples :. Nationality is determined by what is on your passport British and national origin is the country you are from English.
Culture can include values, behaviours, practices and preferences diet, expression, fashion, leisure etc. Many people have a mixed heritage and there can be different cultures and sub-cultures within nationalities and faiths.
0コメント