Anti-racial discrimination legislation in force today

From
today public organisations will have to actively promote racial equality, as
the Race Relations (Amendment) Act comes into force.

The
Act, updated from the original 1976 legislation, fulfils the recommendations of
the Stephen Lawrence report.

All
public bodies, including the police, nation and local government, will have to
be seen to actively promote racial equality and publish annual reports on
whether they have met their aims and objectives.

The
Commission for Racial Equality has the power to take legal action against a
public organisations if it believes that the body is not actively promoting
racial equality.

"The
public sector has not lived up to the justified expectation that it should
deliver race equality. It has no option to do so now," said CRE chairman
Gurbux Singh.

"The
Act will mean that employers will now need to look at what they do, who they
serve and who they employ and make sure they provide equality of opportunity
across all their activities."

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www.cre.gov.uk

By
Paul Nelson