Speaking in today’s Assembly Debate on Tackling Racism and Racial Inequality, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood championed frontline community and third sector organisations working to promote multicultural integration in Wales, and spoke of the need to “break down barriers and increase understanding of each other's cultures”.
Speaking for the Welsh Conservative Official Opposition, Mr Isherwood also backed the call for a Cross Party Welsh declaration embodying the principles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
He said:
“The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is an international treaty adopted in 1965 by the United Nations General Assembly.
“The Convention covers the rights of all people to enjoy civil, political, economic and social rights, without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin. The UK ratified this in 1969.
“Although people's experience of hate crime, captured in the Crime Survey of England and Wales, has gone down steadily over the last 10 years, Police recorded Hate Crime in England and Wales has more than doubled since 2012/13, when 42,255 were recorded.
“This is partly due to the improvements made by the police in their identification and recording of hate crime offences, and to more people coming forward to report these. However, there have also been spikes of hate crime.”
As the Honorary President of ‘North Wales Association for Multicultural Integration’ (NWAMI), Mr Isherwood referred to their work and that of Cwmbran based KIRAN – ‘Knowledge based Inter community Relationship and Awareness Network’.
He said: “NWAMI is dedicated to building up a cohesive community and integrated society in Wales in the 21st century, and to achieving this by promoting an understanding of - and respect for - this country’s diverse cultures through cultural engagement and interaction, education and training – organizing cultural performances in music, dance and other art forms, as well as activities including speaker sessions and workshops.
“Last May, I had a meeting in the Assembly with the Welsh Refugee Council, the North Wales Association for Multicultural Integration and the personal support service CAIS to talk about how we can work in partnership to break down barriers and increase understanding of each other's cultures.
“As the Chair and Founder of NWAMI, Dr Sibani Roy, has stated, ‘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’.
“We must recognise the vital work been carried out by frontline community and third sector organisations to promote multicultural integration in Wales.”
Mr Isherwood added: “In terms of Brexit – when people voted to leave the EU, they were voting for control, not extremism. Some extremists have sought to highjack Brexit for their own ends.
“However, at this critical time, we must remember that this is not about a soft Brexit or a hard Brexit, but an open Brexit, one that ensures that the UK is still turned outwards, and more engaged with the world than ever before.
“We need to build a cohesive community and integrated society in Wales in the 21st century. To achieve this we need to promote an understanding and respect of this country’s diverse cultures through cultural engagement and interaction, education and training.
“We therefore support the call for a Cross Party Welsh declaration embodying the principles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. As I have said many times, this is about celebrating our glorious diversity together.”
