12th April 2011

Ensure BAMER women included in UN discrimination report

This summer the UK government will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and asked questions and given recommendations for action to ensure the government implements the international obligations they have under the UN treaty.

The Runnymede Trust are compiling the NGO shadow report and want to ensure issues affecting BAMER women in the UK are included. The process is the same as that for the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) - and the information for CERD will also feed into the CEDAW shadow report which is due in 2012.

WRC and Race on the Agenda (ROTA) have come up with three documents for people to fill in:

• key issues affecting BAMER women in the UK we want to raise
• key recommendations to the government we want CERD to make
• key questions we want CERD to ask the government

Please add anything else you think should be included and pass this on to your contacts to contribute. It is important everything is well evidenced so please include information on research, statistics and case studies. Send all information to charlotte@wrc.org.uk by Friday 15th April.

Any evidence or information we receive will be sent to Runnymede and hopefully will be incorporated into their report. It will also be sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) who are also submitting evidence and making an oral presentation to CERD.

It would also be useful to know if you, or anyone else you know, are planning on submitting evidence to CERD this year.