it wasn’t the Casey review, it was the cricket, or the experience of black England footballers at the Euros. Every time there’s a denial of racism it surfaces again’. 24
Whilst there have been many positive developments in the UK, Britain is very far
from a ‘post-racial’ society. Following a fact-finding visit to the UK in January 2023,
nearly 2 years after the Sewell Report, the United Nations Working Group of Experts
on People of African Descent reported deep concerns about ‘the stark and
unsustainable inequalities underpinned by systemic racism, judicial bias and discriminatory policing of people of African descent.’ 25 After welcoming many ‘good
practices’ in Britain including: the Inclusive Britain Plan; the Equality Act 2010; the
Race Disparity Audit under Theresa May; the Lammy Review; the Angioli Report; the
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights 2020; and advancements by some local authorities to dismantle racism, 26 the UN experts expressed ‘very extreme concern’ 27 to the UK government, saying ‘from the perspective of people of African descent, racism in the UK is structural, institutional and systemic’. 28 Particular
concerns included failure to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system
such as: death in police custody, ‘joint enterprise’ convictions (where two or more
defendants are accused of the same crime in relation to the same incident), and the
dehumanising nature of the stop and strip searches. It was also of concern that UK
austerity measures disproportionately exacerbated problems for people of African
descent. Other highlighted deeply troubling issues were: the fallout of the Windrush scandal which ‘left a deep scar on the collective psyche’ 29 ; discrimination in maternal
24 Aamna Mohdin, ‘Race Equality Leader Hits Out At UK’s Denial Of Institutional Racism’, The Guardian (2023), <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/30/race-equality-leader-hits-out-at-uk-denial-of-institutional-racism>. 25 United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, ‘End of Mission Statement following its country visit to the UK (18-27 January 2023), containing its preliminary findings and recommendations’ UN (2023). 26 United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. 27 Mohdin and Gentleman. 28 ‘UK: Discrimination against people of African descent is structural, institutional and systemic, say UN experts’ OHCHR (2023), <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/01/uk-discrimination-against-people-african-descent-
structural-institutional>. 29 Mohdin and Gentleman.
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