Race Hate Crime Forum welcomes Justice Byron, President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
53/08
9 October 2008
The MPA was proud to welcome to the Race Hate Crime Forum (RHCF) meeting on 8 October 2008 Justice Byron, President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He spoke about his role in combating issues of genocide as part of his UN responsibility.
Since its inception the RHCF has been proactive in building both national and international links to share and support the development of good practice. At the full Authority meeting in March 2008, MPA members decided to incorporate other areas of hate crime into the RHCF agenda, bringing it in line with the MPA/MPS generic equality schemes and local government Equality Standards.
This meeting formed the initial consultation process for Forum member organisations to discuss their views for the future direction of the RHCF.
In 2007 a delegate group from the RHCF were invited to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), to discuss its work and to share good practice with the Atlanta State Senate, as well as to assist in its decision to implement hate crime laws. The Forum met with a wide range of police and public service officials as part of the trans-Atlantic visit.
The success of the visit last year has inspired interest from the Canadian Government to meet with the RHCF in November this year to discuss strategies and good practice. This also is being sponsored by the FCO.
Further media information
For further information, please contact the MPA press office