With 2018/2019 hate crime statistics showing a 17% annual increase in recorded hate crimes across Wales - compared to an overall 10% increase across the whole of England and Wales - North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has this afternoon emphasised the need for more to be done in Wales to tackle the problem.
Hate crimes are any crimes that are targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards that person’s: disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation or transgender identity. This can be committed against a person or property.
Speaking in today’s Hate Crime Debate, Mr Isherwood emphasised the need to recognise the vital work being carried out by frontline community and third sector organisations to promote multicultural integration in Wales and the need to understand why recorded hate crime has increased more in Wales.
He said:
“We need to better understand why this differential exists – especially when the Welsh Government states that ‘the statistics reflect the hard work being done across Wales by Police Forces, the Third Sector and the National Hate Crime Report and Support Centre (run by Victim Support Cymru) to increase the confidence of victims and encourage them to report these incidents’.
“76% of the hate crimes recorded by Police in England and Wales were race related, falling to 68% of the 3,932 recorded hate crimes across the four Welsh Police Force Areas, with 19% related to sexual orientation, 11% to disability, 5% to religion and 3% to transgender.
“Using similar arguments to the Welsh Government, the Home Office states that the increase in reported hate crime over the past five years is thought to have been driven by improvements in recording by police and a growing awareness of hate crime – as well as short-term rises ‘following certain events such as the 2016 EU referendum’.
“Whatever our views on Brexit, it is now a reality and we must all work together for an inclusive Wales within an outward-looking Global UK”.
Mr Isherwood also moved Amendment 1, noting the ‘UK Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan which applies to England and Wales’ and that this ‘reflects the devolved policy responsibilities in Wales’.
He said: “As the UK Government Plan states, ‘Action to prevent and tackle hate crime will also support our ambition to build strong, integrated communities. We want to build communities where people – whatever their background – live, work, learn and socialise together, based around shared rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Hate crime undermines this vision, spreading fear and stopping people from playing a full part in their communities’.
He added: “As I have said previously: We must recognise the vital work been carried out by frontline community and third sector organisations to promote multicultural integration in Wales.
“As the Chair and Founder of NWAMI, Dr Sibani Roy, has stated: "Some of the people think that when you talk about integration, you mean assimilation. We have to explain to people that integration is not assimilation.
“We have to respect the law and culture of the land.
"What we need to do is educate people and say we are all human beings, we're friendly and we should try to understand each other's culture”.
“And as she said last week “we are a team and need to work collectively towards the noble cause of integration and reducing hate crimes””.
