BORIS Johnson has urged social media firms to take tougher action over racism after the abuse of England football players, which he described as being “from the dark spaces of the internet”.
The Prime Minister held talks about racism with companies including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in Number 10 yesterday, in the wake of the attacks after the team’s loss in the Euro 2020 final.
Johnson opened a meeting of his Cabinet by condemning the racist attacks on players after Sunday’s match.
“He said the abuse was utterly disgraceful and had emerged from the dark spaces of the internet,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said. “He said he would use today’s meeting with social media firms to reiterate the urgent need for action ahead of tougher laws coming into force through the Online Harms Bill.”
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The spokesman added that social media firms should “do everything they can to identify these people”, including handing over details of those who posted racist content.
No 10 said the meeting had been scheduled ahead of the Euro 2020 attacks and also would host representatives from TikTok, Snapchat, Microsoft and Amazon Kids UK.
Meanwhile, the UK Government is in breach of its human rights obligations under a key UN treaty aimed at eradicating racial discrimination, a report has warned. Racism is systemic in England and legislation, institutional practices and customs continue to harm minority ethnic groups, according to research compiled by the Runnymede Trust.
It found the Government is in breach of numerous articles of the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The Government is required to submit regular reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors adherence to the treaty.
These are accompanied by shadow reports from civil society groups, both of which are used by the UN to assess progress on racial equality. However, the UK Government did not submit a report due in April 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest report, produced by the Runnymede Trust following an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) tender, was drafted with evidence from more than 100 civil society groups. The report says minority ethnic groups face sustained disparities across health, the criminal justice system, education, employment, immigration and politics.
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The authors write that they believe the Government’s new approach to equalities will fail to improve these outcomes “and may in fact worsen them”.
And they question findings from the UK’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Cred) earlier this year, which concluded that the system is no longer “deliberately rigged” against ethnic minorities in Britain. They argue that Cred’s conclusion “misrepresents the scale and complexity of the issues” and starkly contrasts with the evidence received for the current report.
This evidence suggests racial inequality has worsened in some areas since the last shadow report was published in 2016, the report finds.
It says it is “particularly alarmed” over the Government’s Electoral Integrity Bill, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and the new plan for immigration.
It believes the Government’s immigration measures “stand in clear breach of ICERD” and the new Immigration Bill could pose a “significant threat” to ethnic minorities’ rights.
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They also say the Government has not acted on several recommendations made by the ICERD in 2016, such as to provide protection to victims of dual or multiple discrimination and to make caste an aspect of race under law.
The report calls for the Government to ensure its laws and policies fully comply with the ICERD’s definition of discrimination, and urgently implement a strategy to advance race equality. Other recommendations include engaging with social media platforms to tackle the incitement of racial hatred online, and ensuring effective systems for reporting hate crime and recording data.
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