Youth organisation condemns post-Brexit racism
Adam Offord
Friday, July 1, 2016
The British Youth Council (BYC) has condemned racism and hate crimes towards immigrants following the result of the EU referendum and has urged politicians to involve young people in post-Brexit decision making.
Reports of hate crime and racism have surfaced across the country since last Thursday's vote that saw UK citizens vote to leave the EU by 51.9 per cent to 48.1 per cent.
Ife Grillo, vice chair of the BYC, said it is important to "work together" to "challenge the nasty fallout" and urged politicians, the media and the public to listen to and work with young people.
Media reports since the referendum have included the racial abuse of a Manchester Metropolitan University sports lecturer by a group of young people, and a halal butchers being destroyed by a petrol bomb.
The BYC urged people of all ages to back the UK Youth Parliament's "Don't Hate, Educate!" campaign, and said it has been "delighted" with the response to the youth select committee's enquiry on tackling racism and religious discrimination, particularly towards Muslim and Jewish people.
"Young people were already coming together to challenge hate crime, and race and discrimination, and now it's even more important everyone else gets behind them," Grillo said.
"We are playing our part and we call on the media to report these great youth-led campaigns, on politicians to listen to us, and for supporters to help us by tweeting support, or getting involved in the campaign.
"Young people are the future, but some have already started work to shape the present."
BYC chair Jon Foster has also written to Oliver Letwin MP, chief executive of the government's new EU Unit at the Cabinet Office to request a "special roundtable meeting" to ensure the voices of young people are heard in future negotiations about leaving the EU.
The BYC also plans to use its next meeting with the Cabinet Office to press the case for a fresh and urgent response to its existing campaigns to empower youth voices to be even more effective in democracy, including its votes at 16 campaign and its Discovering Democracy initiative.
"Democracy works best when all parts of society are allowed to engage in it," Grillo added. "Not giving 16- and 17-year-olds the vote in the EU referendum was bad for democracy, politics and youth engagement.
"Whatever happens in the next few months, young people need to be at the forefront of decision making. We need to make sure their concerns are actually listened to and addressed."
