Background
The University of Nottingham is committed to ensuring we do everything we can to provide a safe and supportive environment for everyone.
A hate crime is defined by Nottingham Police as ‘any incident, which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate’. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to racially aggravated offences, with “east asian communities having been disproportionately targeted during this period“. Police record shows that victims identified as ‘oriental’ experienced a five-fold increase in racist crimes between January and March of 2020.
Nottingham is leading the way in the nation to tackle hate crimes locally. The Hate Crime Strategy was announced in October 2020 by Nottingham City Council in partnership with the communities. Reports of hate crimes tend to be low from east and south east asian communities, especially students, whereas anecdotal evidence points to a high prevalence of prejudice towards these communities. This has become even more of a concern in the light of the coronavirus public health crisis, with an increasing number of incidents directed at these communities blaming them for the pandemic.
The university launched a survey in October 2020 hoping to gather views from staff who have experienced any Covid-19-related discrimination within or outside of the university environment. The findings from the survey will also be shared at the webinar.
Who should attend
Organised by the Asia Business Centre in partnership with Campus Life at the University of Nottingham, the webinar is designed to help us understand more about these crimes, to tackle the issues in our local communities and to make victims feel supported and heard. The event is aimed at staff, students and alumni of the University of Nottingham as a local event of the diversity festival, but also welcomes attendance from all student and alumni groups and the wider communities.
Click on the registration url above for more information.