Help Mixed Race Irish go to the UN

Goal reached! 

On Thursday 24 October 2019, Rosemary Adaser, CEO & Founder of Associated of Mixed Race Irish (AMRI), spoke on a panel at the London Embassy of Ireland’s first ever Black History Month celebration event. During the panel, our crowdfunder reached its target of £4,000.

Association of Mixed Race Irish (AMRI) are now preparing to go to the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 1-3 of December 2019.

Over 100 generous people donated to the the fundraiser and contributed to its success.

Association of Mixed Race Irish (AMRI) will use this page to update you on their journey to Geneva.

————————-

Help Mixed Race Irish go to the United Nations!


We are going to the United Nations’s Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - but we need your help to get there!


We were set up to raise awareness about Irish people of mixed race backgrounds and to seek recognition for us as full members of Irish society. Many of us suffered racism while growing up in Ireland, particularly those of us who were in industrial schools and Mother and Baby Homes.


We have felt excluded - our colour has made us feel like foreigners in our country.


We have lobbied Government ministers and TDs about racism affecting mixed race Irish people. We campaigned to have the word “race” included in the terms of reference for the Investigation in Mother & Baby Homes, currently in progress. This is the first time “race” has been within the terms of reference for any Investigation into institutional abuse. 


Now, we are going to the United Nations to speak about racial discrimination faced by people with mixed race background in Ireland - and we need your help.


It will cost £4,000 to go to Geneva so we can share our experience of racism in Ireland and influence the Government to do more to address the issues we continue to face.


Our organisation doesn’t receive any funding, and our voices are often not heard - we would appreciate any donations, no matter how small.


What is happening at the UN?


Ireland ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 2000. It will go before the UN Committee in December 2019.


When a country submits a State Report, it must go before the Committee in Geneva to be examined by the Committee members. The State will outline what it has achieved in terms of the elimination of racial discrimination. 


To counter-balance the State perspective, CERD invites NGOs and civil society to participate. NGOs are allowed submit an alternative or “shadow” report that outlines how they think the State is not implementing or violating the Convention. CERD views these inputs as critical to the review process.


We have submitted a ‘shadow report’ to Ireland’s State Report. We want to travel to Geneva to meet with CERD members and attend the examination of Ireland to ensure that mixed race Irish voices are heard and reflected in the Committee’s findings. 


What we want to tell the UN


1. Acknowledge that ‘race’ is part of the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes and, that past enquiries failed to address the issue of race, as part of its Article 9 reporting obligations;

2. Accept the historic abuse of Irish mixed-race children in State institutions, in terms of violations of a range of rights while in care and clear evidence of racism in the adoption process, and that this abuse has had a lasting intergenerational consequences for the Irish mixed-race community


3. Commit to effectively investigate serious allegations of institutional racism in the historic care system, including racial profiling, racial segregation and questions around vaccine trials;


4. Include a category of ‘Mixed-Race Irish’ in the Irish census to reflect our identity;


5. Improve legal protections in line with recommendation from other groups and organisations, notably to hate speech laws, to race as an aggravating factor, and to additional crimes around racist attacks


6. Commit to opening up all records to past survivors;


7. Ensure special measure in education for mixed-race Irish children, including protection from racist bullying and other practices in schools and, more positively, exploring the continual presence of persons of mixed-race in Ireland in textbooks and other materials that acknowledge that diversity has always been a part of Ireland’s past, present and future.


Read more about Mixed Race Irish:
The Irish Times: "We were dust to be swept away", Rosemary Adaser

Mini-documentary produced by The Guardian .
Rosemary Adaser was one of many mixed-race children considered illegitimate who was brought up in institutions run by the Catholic church in Ireland between the 1950s and 1970s. She tells of the abuse and racist treatment she suffered, and returns to her school in Kilkenny for the first time in 40 years and attempts to answer questions about her past.



Blog  | Twitter  | Facebook  | Instagram 

To get in touch email: [email redacted]