Far-right and fascist groups are organised and on the rise with a communications strategy blaming migrants for everything - poverty, inequality, lack of housing, underfunded services - while the failures of governments and the vices of the wealthy are usefully deflected. This message had fertile ground in the previous Conservative Government’s own racist ‘hostile environment’ policy, with white supremacists in paramilitary groups and in a system of policing which stops black people more frequently than white people and reports asylum seekers to the Home Office when they report crimes committed against them.

In light of this broader context, what analysis on racially motivated attacks is being done by state authorities? What patterns are being identified?

Following our August 2023 public meeting, PPR sought to identify what information was held by public bodies, and what information is made publicly available on racially motivated attacks, on sectarian crimes and any possible overlap between the two. We looked at the available official statistics published by the PSNI and by NISRA, which show that in Northern Ireland state as whole there were around 1350 racially motivated incidents and 840 crimes in the year leading up to March 2024.

At the time of the attacks, it was clear that there had been a stark increase in the number of racially motivated incidents and hate crimes in Belfast in the year to June 2023. Sanction rates in the city were also substantially lower than the average in England, Scotland and Wales of 16%, at 11%.

Caption: “We are not aware of any efforts whatsoever to compare data to help assess how many racist hate crimes and acts of intimidation are being carried out by or with the support of organised paramilitaries, and what resources are being deployed to measure and respond to this problem.”

We were also able to get some sense of where these attacks are happening in geographies such as political constituency. But a smaller scale analysis of where racist hate crime takes place is not in the public domain. We know that not every person subjected to a racially motivated crime will choose to come forward, for fear of reprisals, harassment and victimisation. The resilience and bravery of victims, like those who came forward at the meeting, who are telling their story and searching for justice as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives in the aftermath, gives us some sense of the scale of missing information.

We also issued a number of Freedom of Information requests to the PSNI, the Department of Justice and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and requested that these agencies and others work together to share, analyse and publish the information they hold racially motivated and sectarian attacks, to enable public transparency and accountability. We were particularly interested in:

1. data sets which record reported racist incidents and racist hate crimes at electoral constituency and ward level.
2. data sets which record information on paramilitary involvement in crimes.
3. BASE 2 NIACRO and NIHE data on intimidation, including ‘verified paramilitary threats’ and information regarding the ethnicity and nationality of Housing Executive tenants reporting intimidation.
4. Data held by accredited restorative justice groups including Community Restorative Justice and NI Alternatives on racist hate crimes and paramilitary activity.

We were told by the DOJ that ‘the PSNI and PPS are responsible for publishing reported hate incidents/outcomes in relation to cases involving offences aggravated by hostility on their respective websites. Other organisations may also hold information on this and related issues for the purpose of their business. The Department of Justice does not hold information on this and it is not within the remit of any Permanent Secretary to instruct any independent public authority to gather, analyse or publish data.’

The NIHE told us that ‘Base 2 are supported with funding from the Housing Executive’s homelessness budget.  While Base 2 do provide information to our Homelessness Policy & Strategy team on overall outputs delivered by this funding, information in respect of ‘verified paramilitary threats’ is collected as part of enquiries on a case by case basis – it is not possible to provide this information by, for example, council area. Additionally, and in relation to the request for information on the ethnicity and nationality of households presenting as homeless due to intimidation, the Housing Executive is unable to release this information.’

We asked the PSNI if they were able to provide electoral ward level analysis of racially motivated crimes and incidents for the period over which the number of crimes appeared to have spiked, but after failing to respond to the request initially, they told us that ‘disclosure of this information would impact the apprehension and detection of offender’s [sic] and undermines PSNI’s law enforcement capabilities.’

In any other society, evidence of organised racially motivated violence might lead to an organised response from the state, targeting maximum resources at the areas of maximum harm.

The lack of publicly available information on the frequency and location of racially motivated attacks is concerning for a number of reasons. First, it is unclear if there are specific hotspots where this kind of violence is taking place.  Second, it is unclear whether our political institutions and public services collectively consider such attacks as evidence of organised racist violence, despite the fact that cases of reported housing threats and racist attacks are greater in areas, like Sandy Row, which are under the influence of loyalist paramilitary groups - - armed criminals with public facing representatives, who represent the views of their illegal organisations in news rooms, government buildings and community centres. Third, it is unclear what kind of targeted state response is at work to address this type of violence and provide support to its victims.

In any other society, evidence of organised racially motivated violence might lead to an organised response from the state, targeting maximum resources at the areas of maximum harm. We are not aware of any such state response, although last autumn the PSNI did organise a local Police and Community Safety Partnership Meeting to reassure the community. We are not aware of any efforts whatsoever to compare data to help assess how many racist hate crimes and acts of intimidation are being carried out by or with the support of organised paramilitaries, and what resources are being deployed to measure and respond to this problem. And we are not alone in raising the issue. A recent submission by the Committee on the Administration of Justice to the Independent Commission on UK Counter terrorism Law Policy and Practice found that:

“Data has not been routinely published or desegregated in an accessible way but has been drawn out by media requests.”

We do know, from a report in 2020 by the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice, that public tax money is spent funding projects to engage with republican and loyalist paramilitary groups to effectively ‘verify threats’ and confirm where attacks have been carried out by members of these groups. We also know, that it is unlikely that public authorities can be unaware of the scale and extent of racially motivated crime and who is instigating it. As CAJ say in the context of housing intimidation:

“It is difficult to understand how a threat can be verified by NIHE or PSNI as coming from a source with the capability of inflicting dealt or serious injury, but no record is kept as to which organisation the source of threat is connected to. Mapping paramilitary activity to be able to counter it and inform broader strategic interventions would surely be a cornerstone of any effective approach.”

PPR has also been made aware that victims racially motivated attacks have been referred by the PSNI to groups connected to paramilitary actors. In what other society would the state sponsor an approach where the victim of a crime must plead for their rights with those connected to their aggressor? ‘Sorry for being Black, can I live here please?’ An outdated model of community relations work, which was once necessary to preserve the peace, is ignoring the fact that there is no peace for people burnt out of their homes and shops.

In our system the men of violence have more power to decide where people can work and live than the state and the people. It is not surprising in a state which was built on sectarianism and white supremacy, that we have enabled our institutions to facilitate a ‘whites-only’ agenda as a legitimate community concern.

We hope that those with power will actively pursue answers to the vital questions of where and when hate crime is happening, so that they can invest resources appropriately, including by combatting organised racist violence; and that they will keep individuals, families and communities fully informed, enabling them not only to stay safe, but also to play their part in meeting racist violence with organised kindness and solidarity.