Our inquiry finds universities 'oblivious' to scale of racial abuse on campus

Our inquiry into racism on campus has found alarmingly high levels of racial harassment across British universities, with many higher education institutions both unaware of the issue and overconfident in their ability to handle it.

'Tackling Racial Harassment: Universities Challenged' found that 24% of ethnic minority students experienced racial harassment on campus but two thirds had not reported the incident to their university. Less than half of university staff who experienced racial harassment notified their university. Students and staff suggested that they did not come forward about their experiences because they had no confidence that the incident would be addressed.

We have made a series of recommendations for the UK Government and higher education providers to tackle racial harassment.

'We expect universities to be innovative environments that do more than just teach us how to pass exams. We look to them to help us to grow as individuals and prepare us to be good citizens. It is considerably disappointing to discover that, instead of being progressive and forward thinking, they are living in the past and have failed to learn from history.'

Rebecca Hilsenrath, Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

Calling time on using NDAs to gag harassment victims

We have published new guidance on the use of confidentiality agreements (often referred to as NDAs) in discrimination cases.

The guidance offers both employers and employees clarity on the law around confidentiality agreements and when and how they can be used, as well as explaining when they would be unlawful. 

Making human rights campaigning more accessible

Abbie Kirkby is the Advice and Policy Manager at Friends, Families and Travellers, a national charity which campaigns for better rights for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. 

She writes about the issues faced by one of the most excluded and discriminated against groups in UK society and the opportunities and challenges of addressing these through a human rights perspective. 

Track the UK's performance on human rights

HumanRightsTracker.com, our new tool to make the UK’s human rights records transparent and the Government accountable, is now live! 

The tracker allows civil society organisations, academics, parliamentarians and legal professionals to learn about the UK’s human rights duties under UN treaties and identify where the Government is falling short.

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