The Ramadhan Foundation today
welcomes the Government’s announcement on the new Commission on
Integration and Cohesion as a first step in recognising the
inequalities that exists in minority communities in the UK.
For the part of the Muslim
communities we recognise that there needs to be more integration
and cross community links especially in deprived areas suffering
from poverty and mistrust following on from riots in the past,
this process began many years ago and has accelerated in the
past few years, it is ironic the Minster failed to recognise and
celebrate these achievements.
However the Government is
wrong to focus entirely on the Minority communities, Integration
is a two way street, the majority community need to also welcome
and reach out to the minority communities. There needs to be
equality in terms of service delivery, faith schools,
application of funding, education facilities and youth
provisions and unless the Government deal with these issues we
will not see progress on achieving integration.
Mr. Mohammed Shafiq, the
Foundation’s Press Spokesman comments:
“When will the Government
begin to deal with the inequality and racism that still exists
in our society, it likes to pride itself on an inclusive
equalities agenda but today’s announcement focuses entirely on
the minority communities, what about the responsibilities of the
host community in reaching out to minorities.
Once again the Government is
playing politics when it comes to the lives of Ethnic Minorities
in the United Kingdom and failing to recognise the challenges we
face.
The Foundation looks forward
to working with the new Commission and the Government to address
these key concerns, today let the Government stop the spinning
and realise this is people’s lives we are dealing with.
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