YouthLink Scotland has launched ‘Action on Prejudice’, the first national portal in the UK to tackle hate crime and prejudice in communities.
Action on Prejudice will be a virtual one-stop shop for young people and those who work with young people to find facts, videos, research, learning tools and other resources focused on challenging discrimination and hate crime as well as promoting diversity and inclusion.
The Action on Prejudice portal will be the first website in Scotland to provide resources across all protected characteristics including prejudice related to race, sexuality, gender identity, disabilities and religion. While many websites focus on specific areas of concerns, there is a growing need to provide support for intersectionality (people who have more than one protected characteristic) and build an understanding that some people are impacted by more than one type of prejudice.
Hate Crime is an issue that affects a large number of young people with recent statistics from Police Scotland showing there were 900 cases of hate crime involving 11-15-year olds in 2016.
Launching the new portal, Nadia Freeman, Senior Development Officer for the Action on Prejudice project said: “What young people really want is to understand what prejudice and discrimination is and to know how they can respond.
“This is why the portal not only shares resources but also provides information about where people can get help, events and relevant groups that young people can become involved in.”
Constable Sacha Ponniah of Police Scotland’s Equality and Diversity Unit said there is a clear need to inform young people about hate crime: “The Action on Prejudice portal provides a range of very useful resources for children, young people and adults to help people learn more about prejudiced behaviour and hate crime. Police Scotland are working together with partners, including YouthLink Scotland, to tackle prejudice and hate crime in Scotland.
“The portal has information on what to do if you have witnessed or been the victim of hate crime and ways to report. These include Third Party Reporting which enables victims/witnesses to report hate crimes (non-emergencies) without contacting the police directly and these reports can be made anonymously. In an emergency always call 999.”
Pamela Graham of the anti-bullying charity, respectme, believes prejudice has to be challenged wherever it happens: “To help children and young people to develop the respectful relationships that prevent bullying behaviour, we need to create environments where diversity is celebrated and valued, and name calling and comments based on prejudice are challenged.
“Knowledge is crucial to help bring about social change, and I hope the Action on Prejudice portal will help provide children, young people as well as practitioners with the information and resources they need.”
Iain Steward of Edinburgh Interfaith Association says prejudice has no place in the Scotland of today: “It is unthinkable that innocent people are made to suffer unfairly for reasons such as their skin colour, disabilty, sexual orientation, gender or religion.
“Resources such as, ‘Action on Prejudice’ are essential in helping to challenge any misconceptions that young people might have towards others, encouraging them to respect diversity and to recognise and speak out against prejudice in all its different forms.”
For more information visit the portal: www.actiononprejudice.info.
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