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Last week the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
organised a meeting with representatives from
the Sikh community and came under fire for its
lack of support for Sikhs in the last 20+ years
since the Mandla v Lee case in the House of Lords
in 1983. This case afforded Sikhs protection under
the Race Relations Act 1976 and yet the CRE has
largely ignored this fact and it has a statutory
duty towards Sikhs.
Those present pointed out that the current activities
of the CRE were viewed with considerable suspicion
and scepticism with regards to the Sikhs. The
CRE's recent interest in Sikhs probably had more
to do with it wanting to position itself as 'representing'
the needs of the 'faith' communities prior to
its abolition in 2009 and absorption into the
new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR)
that will be established in 2007.
The presence of Brian Pearce the head of the Interfaith
Network at a consultation meeting with Sikhs seemed
to confirm this view. Similarly, the presence
of a Home Office representative established its
interest in guiding the CRE in this direction
and possibly trying to control the agenda with
respect to Sikhs.
Criticism of the CRE was expected from those that
have been campaigning for Sikhs to be separately
monitored by public bodies and thus enabling Sikhs
to take full advantage of the Race Relations (Amendment)
Act 2000. However, an article about 'Behzti' published
in a new CRE magazine called 'Catalyst' put the
host Ian Barr, one of the CRE Commissioners, and
CRE staff somewhat on the back foot.
The article in the January/February 2006 edition
of the magazine was indeed a 'catalyst' as it
was seized upon by several of the Sikh representatives
present. The Sikh Federation (UK) representative
highlighted that this demonstrated that the CRE
was not only forgetting its statutory responsibilities
towards the Sikhs following the Mandla v Lee case,
but could easily be used to accuse the CRE of
publishing material that was 'racially' abusive.
Sharanjeet Kaur and Surinder Singh from Young
Sikhs (UK), Indarjit Singh from the Network of
Sikh Organisations, Balvinder Kaur of the Sikh
Women's Alliance, Harmander Singh of Sikhs In
England and Harjinder Singh Khalsa of the Sikh
Care Society, Heathrow were all vocal in condemning
the CRE and explained how this type of article
was irresponsible and damaging the Sikh view of
the CRE. Reference was then made to Trevor Phillips
comments last year as Chair of the Commission
for Racial Equality when he supported Behzti and
the right to offend Sikhs, but failed to recognise
Sikhs are not simply a faith community and are
afforded protection against 'racial' abuse.
This set the tone for the meeting and the agenda
the CRE had established for the meeting was in
effect 'thrown out of the window' and abandoned.
Instead the Sikh representatives set about pointing
to specific areas where the CRE need to take actions
on behalf of Sikhs. One of the key issues pushed
by the Sikh Federation (UK) and the Sikh Secretariat
concerned the Home Office promise in the UK Parliament
on 9 March last year to issue a Code of Practice
on Sikh articles of faith. This followed Parliamentary
Questions to Ministers in all Government Departments
on the Sikhs right to wear the Kirpan. Ian Barr
agreed this was an area the CRE should take up
with the Home Office as this clearly was causing
difficulties to practising Sikhs in places like
airports, the Passport Office, Immigration Service,
BBC etc.
A number of follow up actions are already being
taken up with Trevor Phillips by participant organisations
of the 'open' British Sikh Consultative Forum
(BSCF) - the organisations include the Sikh Federation
(UK), National Council of Gurdwaras, Sikhs In
England, Sikh Secretariat, Sikh Women's Alliance,
Young Sikhs (UK), Sikh Care Society, Heathrow
and the British Sikh Federation.
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