REPORT
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
PROGRESS REPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON BEHALF OF JERSEY
The following report sets out progress by the government of Jersey since 2003 regarding implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Legislation
Discrimination (Jersey) Law 200-
The States of Jersey decided in 2002 to introduce new primary legislation to address the issue of racial discrimination. It was subsequently decided to extend the remit of the drafting programme to include protection from discrimination in a number of other areas including sex and disability discrimination.
In preparing the draft Law, the Island authorities have carefully considered the need to present legislation that will provide adequate protection in accordance with the standards expected in today’s society and at the same time be comprehensive and clear.
The draft Law is designed to be an enabling law. In other words, the provisions of the legislation will allow the States to adopt separate sets of Regulations in phases which will progressively extend protection from discrimination in different areas. The intention is to achieve conformity and consistency of treatment in relation to different areas of discrimination, because the underlying provisions of the Law will deal with all types of discrimination in a similar way.
Current progress
On 24 January 2008, the Council of Ministers considered a report on the proposed Discrimination (Jersey) Law 200-, together with the revised draft legislation.
The Council endorsed the draft Discrimination Law and recommended that the Minister for Home Affairs forward the draft Law to Scrutiny review and also recommended that the Minister should publish a consultation report seeking comments on the draft Law. Public responses were requested by 14 March 2008.
A copy of the consultation paper and draft legislation are available at –
http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/documents/reports/27881-37143-522008.htm
Following the consultation, a comprehensive review of the legislation has been carried out.
Introduction of the Discrimination (Jersey) Law is a priority for 2009 and 2010. Further work to be carried out prior to implementing the principal Law includes finalising the Tribunal arrangements with Social Security and the Tribunal Chairman; working with the Social Security Department on the Employment Law; confirming human rights compliance, lodging and the States adoption of the law; Royal Assent; and further down stream, recruiting a Discrimination Officer, training and briefing. Due to current resource pressures, implementation at some point in 2011 is the realistic and achievable expectation.
Drafting of the Regulations covering different attributes is being progressed, with the possibility of having the first Regulations relating to racial discrimination completed next year, which will then be subject to consultation and Council of Ministers approval.
Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000
The Human Rights (Jersey) Law entered into force on 10 December 2006. This date was the 58th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It has also been set aside annually by the UN as International Human Rights Day - to celebrate, educate and reflect on the principles that form the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The United Kingdom's ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has included Jersey since 1951 and people in the Island have, since then, been able to bring cases claiming that their rights under the Convention have been infringed, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. A significant change that the 2000 Law has brought is that it incorporates the rights guaranteed by the Convention into the Island's domestic law and enable, for the first time, the enforcement of those rights in the Jersey courts.
The Court will ensure the human rights and freedoms set out in the Convention are protected and respected without discrimination on any ground, including race, colour, nationality, or national or ethnic origin.
Discrimination awareness and training in employment
Since 2008, in anticipation that a Discrimination (Jersey) Law would be introduced in the near future, the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Services (JACS) has introduced a number of training courses on the subject of discrimination in employment.
Many Jersey employers have taken the opportunity to review their policies and procedures in the light of anticipated legislation – as a result they will be better prepared when the Discrimination Law is introduced. A number of employers have already introduced non-discriminatory policies in anticipation of future legislation and because they believe that it is proper to do so.
Jersey Community Relations
In 2004 the States of Jersey established an independent Community Relations Trust, which has two principal objectives:
- To seek to eliminate discrimination on any ground including, but not limited to, grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins, gender or sexual orientation, disability and age;
- To promote good relations between members of society and to seek to achieve equality of treatment and opportunity within the community.
The Trust has pursued its aims through a number of high-profile community and educational initiatives. Examples include –
- hosting the internationally renowned Anne Frank exhibition in St Helier, particularly aimed at all school children, to raise awareness of post-war genocide,
- a free open-air screening in Jersey of the London ‘Live8’ concert on 2nd July 2005, to promote community cohesion and solidarity with developing nations,
- a youth group visit to Madeira to build closer links with Jersey’s minority Portuguese community,
- further initiatives to address the plight of other ethnic minorities, and to alleviate tensions between different racial groups in Jersey.
Although the Trust has no statutory powers, it is beginning to take on a key role in speaking out against all forms of discrimination, promoting equality and acting as an advocate for minorities and those who may be discriminated against.
In addition, a wide range of governmental and non-governmental support is provided to migrant workers coming to the Island. In particular, information aimed at newcomers, free English language classes and other educational resources are available to promote community integration.
Significant initiatives are regularly promoted to celebrate Jersey’s cultural diversity, including for example a Madeiran food festival, Polish cultural events, etc. to enhance an understanding of the different national cultures that make-up the Island community.
Anti-Discrimination Promise
In April 2006 the Community Relations Trust launched the Jersey Anti-Discrimination Promise.
The aim is to raise the profile of discrimination issues in the public consciousness as well as promoting and celebrating the good practices that already exist within many organizations.
The Promise is a simple statement of six guiding principles or pledges to which the participating organization promises to commit. The pledges are as follows:
1. To treat everyone with dignity and respect.
2. To ensure recruitment and employment practices contain effective measures to prevent discrimination or harassment on grounds of ethnic origin, nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.
3. To draw on the talents, skills and cultural perspectives of a diverse workforce.
4. To create a working environment where people feel valued and respected.
5. To treat customers and employees with respect and not to discriminate against staff or a member of the community on the basis of who they are or where they come from.
6. To invite customers and employees to hold the organization to the above commitments.
Any organizations, including in particular smaller businesses, which need help to develop anti-discrimination policies, are invited to contact the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service as part of the initiative. JACS has agreed to assist businesses to draw up their own anti-discrimination guidelines, tackle bullying in the workplace and/or provide strategies for dealing with race-related issues.
Data on the ethnic composition of Jersey’s population
Census data on ethnic composition in 2001 was tabulated in the previous report; however the next full population census is not due to be carried out in Jersey until 2011.
The Jersey Annual Social Survey (JASS) was launched in 2005 to provide the means to collect and analyse detailed information on a wide range of social issues on an annual basis. It aims to provide a better understanding of social issues, and in particular for policy to be made from a more informed standpoint. JASS is now an annual feature of the official statistics that are produced in Jersey.
Around 3,500 households were selected at random to complete the survey in July and August 2008. The response from the public was extremely high with 54% of households completing and returning the forms. This means that the results from the survey are both representative and accurate.
Place of birth and ethnicity
About half (49%) of the population were born in Jersey, with another two-fifths (40%) having been born elsewhere in the British Isles.
This year a category for those born in Poland was explicitly included, and this revealed that approximately 1% of the Island’s residents at the time of the survey were born in Poland. However it should be noted that with the fairly low numbers of responses in this category, there is a degree of uncertainty for the percentage figure, which can be more confidently established through combining numbers with future surveys.
| JASS 2008 | Census 2001 |
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
Jersey | 902 | 49 | 31,952 | 45 |
Elsewhere in British Isles | 738 | 40 | 30,001 | 42 |
Portugal/Madeira | 69 | 4 | 4,916 | 7 |
Poland* | 14 | 1 | - | - |
Other European country | 52 | 3 | 2,181 | 3 |
Other World country | 72 | 4 | 2,472 | 3 |
Unspecified | 13 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Total | 1,859 | 100 | 71,522 | 100 |
* not an explicit category in the 2001 census.
JASS 2008 also included a question on ethnicity, which found that 48% of Jersey residents considered themselves as ‘Jersey’, whilst 41% said they were ‘British’.
The third largest cultural and ethnic group was ‘European’ with around one in ten people (9%) identifying with this category. A small number (2%) were ‘Mixed/Other’, and there were small numbers of people in other categories such as ‘Indian’, ‘Other Asian’, ‘African’ and ‘Caribbean’. The largest ‘Other/Mixed’ group were ‘South Africans’, although the actual numbers were small at less than half a percent.
Interestingly about one in twenty (5%) of those people born in Jersey considered themselves ‘British’ and around 3% of those born in Britain considered themselves as ‘Jersey’. Looking more closely into the group of people who were born outside of Jersey, within the British Isles, but who considered themselves ‘Jersey’, 9 out of 10 (89%) of these had lived in Jersey for 20 years or more.
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