The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent is undertaking a fact-finding country visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 18 to 27 January 2023. The Working Group’s visit is at the invitation of the Government and will be facilitated by OHCHR.

This is the Working Group’s second country visit to the United Kingdom, its first visit was from 1 to 5 October 2012. Report A/HRC/24/52/Add.1 contains the findings and recommendations following the visit in 2012.

The programme of the visit will include meetings with Government officials, national institutions and civil society. The Working Group will begin its visit in the capital city and then continue with visits to other cities or towns of particular relevance to the role and situation of people of African descent.

The Working Group will gather the following types of information: any forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia and related intolerance faced by people of African descent; measures taken to prevent racial discrimination and protect victims of racism and hate crimes; mechanisms for the protection, integration and inclusion of migrants and refugees; responses to multiple forms of discrimination that specific groups of African descent may face and the efforts undertaken by the authorities to protect people of African descent from violations.

Objectives

The Working Group will examine in detail the situation of people of African descent in the country, to identify any problems and to make recommendations for how these could be resolved. The Working Group will also follow up on the status of implementation of the Working Group's recommendations from its previous visit to the country in 2012. By the nature of the mandate, the Working Group is required to look critically at the situation in the country and also identify good practices that could be replicated in other countries. The visits are intended to provide an independent and impartial assessment, which will then be of use to all actors.

Key questions and types of input sought

The Working Group invites all interested individuals and organizations including people of African descent, representatives of civil society organizations, experts and academics to provide information on the human rights situation of people of African descent in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Working Group is particularly interested in learning more about the following topics:

• Key concerns including the most significant human rights violations that people of African descent in the U.K. experience.
• Emblematic cases of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent living in the U.K;
• Racial bias and discrimination in the criminal justice system and law enforcement, including racial profiling and combating terrorism;
• Afrophobia, xenophobia, racially motivated acts of violence, hate crimes;
• Access to justice, protection of victims of racial discrimination and the legal aid system;
• Access to education, health, employment, housing and public services;
• Human rights of migrants and refugees, immigration laws, detention/probation centres; citizenship and deportation issues;
• Representation in the media, racist discourse, stigmatization and negative stereotyping; negative use of political platforms;
• Cultural Rights;
• Education, history curriculum-recognition and remembrance of past atrocities and legacies, teacher training;
• Racial equality and social cohesion;
• The situation of youth and children; women and girls; and multiple/intersecting forms of discrimination;
• Data collection/analysis and statistics on composition of the population including recent statistical information available on the demographics of Africans and people of African descent living in the country.
• Information on measures to prevent racial discrimination, protect victims of racism and improve the human rights situation of people of African descent (law, policies, action plans, special projects, programmes or other initiatives).
• Any information and updates on implementation of the Working Group's recommendations from its previous visit to the U.K. in 2012 see report A/HRC/24/52/Add.1.

How inputs will be used

All input will be treated as confidential unless otherwise indicated. The input will be used to inform the Working Group’s country visit to the U.K.

Media inquiries

At the end of the visit, the Working Group will hold a media conference and issue a press release with its preliminary findings and recommendations. The report on the visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be presented by the Working Group to the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 54^th session in September 2023.