Racism & Social Justice

The principles of social justice, anti-racism and equality underpin all of MRCI's work. We raise awareness and take action on the impact of racism in the workplace, discrimination in accessing public services, the intersection between race and gender inequality, and ethnic profiling. MRCI believes migrants should live in a just society with a fair distribution of resources and wealth. We work to strengthen solidarity within civil society, in particular with the trade union movement, the women's movement and the community sector. Through our participation in the European Network Against Racism Ireland we work to build solidarity across all groups experiencing racism in Ireland and to take joint action on tackling racism.

  • Racism

    iReport_Button_Transparent (1)

    If you see or experience racism, you can report it here. Racism occurs at individual, cultural and institutional levels. Overt racism is visible and more easily identified, however institutional racism can be more insidious and harder root out. Research by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency identified Ireland as among the six worst countries in relation to levels of discrimination, with 73% of people from Sub-Saharan Africa stating that they had experienced racism in Ireland. 25% from Central and Eastern Europe also reported experiencing racism.

    MRCI has set out our understanding of institutional racism and made a series of recommendations in our publication Racism and Migrant Workers in Ireland.


  • European Network Against Racism Ireland

    Irish Network Against Racism; ENAR; Social Justice; Equality

    What ENAR Ireland do

    MRCI is a member of ENAR Ireland, a national network of anti-racist NGOs who work collectively to tackle racism in Ireland. ENAR Ireland hosts iReport.ie and produces quarterly reports documenting racist incidents across Ireland. ENAR Ireland focuses on work at the national and European levels while also contributing at international levels. They are the Irish national branch of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), which is based in Brussels.


  • Ethnic Profiling

    Ethnic profiling involves the targeting of, or ‘singling out’ of people for the purposes of security, border control and policing using stereotypes based on nationality, colour and religion.  It is a form of racism and is outlawed under international human rights law.  It is a problem in Ireland because Irish citizens do not have to carry ID, but it is an offence for an immigrant not to carry ID.

    All evidence shows that ethnic profiling is ineffective, and causes untold damage to community relations when members of  ethnic minority communities feel under constant suspicion. MRCI has documented this practice and is working to ensure that reforms to Irish immigration law do not include the requirement for immigrants to carry ID.  A recommendation from our report Singled Out: Exploratory Study on Ethnic Profiling in Ireland is that police and immigration officials are held accountable and clear procedures are in place to deal with complaints.


  • Social Justice

    DWAG quilt project highlighting the need for social and economice justiceWorking for a socially and economically just society is an important part of MRCI’s work.  Ireland is in the middle of a severe economic crisis. Socially unjust policies are leading to increased inequity, poverty and social exclusion. MRCI alongside others in civil society is campaigning for more equal wealth distribution through tax reform, protection of public services, decent income and working conditions as well as job creation.  MRCI is proud to be a member of the National Women's Council of Ireland and is committed to working for gender equality.

     


  • Communities Against Austerity

    Taking a stand with migrants to fight all forms of racism and discrimination in society is a high priority of MRCI. The impact of the cuts has disproportionately affected disadvantaged and migrant communities. This environment often pits groups against each other. These conditions can fuel racism and scapegoat migrants as being the problem.  At the Communities Against Cuts March, Saturday 24th November 2012, Hilda Regaspi, Chair of MRCI,  gave an impassioned speech asking people to stand together in solidarity both against austerity and in the fight against racism. Representation at key national events which affect both Irish and immigrant communities is vital.


  • Take Action

    If you have experienced or witnessed a racist incident, there is something you can do about it.

    REPORT A RACIST INCIDENT

     

    Support Plan B.

    Austerity policies are clearly not working and in fact are making the situation worse than it needs to be. Claiming Our Future has developed an alternative, called Plan B.  Plan B offers people credible, sustainable ways of generating jobs and maintaining front line services. The plan protects the most vulnerable in society from further hardship and illustrates the urgent need to renegotiate the banking debt. To support Plan B sign the petition.

    Sign Petition

     Sign the petition to have racist motivation in crime recognised in Irish courts.

    There is currently no provision within Irish legislation to deal with racist crime. It is at the discretion of judges to consider racist motive as a factor when determining a sentence in a case; these cases are treated like any other case. Making racism a crime sends the message that racism is not acceptable in Irish society and secures justice for victims. So please join us in the petition and encourage others to sign up as well.  When we get a significant number of signatories we’ll list them here too.

    Sign INAR's Petition