During Race Equality Week, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, in partnership with and at the request of the African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland (ACSONI), invited Dr Gift Sotonye-Frank (School of Law, QUB) and Prof Dina Zoe Belluigi (SSESW, QUB) to a stakeholder engagement event to discuss equality issues in Northern Ireland. The event aimed to forge a collective approach to promoting equality and tackling issues of discrimination, with open dialogue on the challenges and priorities of the different interest groups to inform the Commission’s forthcoming Corporate Plan for 2025–2028.

Amongst other points, Dr Sotonye-Frank raised the issue of social consciousness of public servants “on the streets” in a context which continues to avoid firm social regulation of race-based discrimination, and how that undermines the protection of the rights and treatment of those ‘othered’ because of their race or immigration status, including by members of the police. Prof Belluigi noted the research already undertaken by academics at Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, and drawing from her recent study raised concerns about the quality of Northern Ireland administrative data on ‘ethnicity’ and intersecting characteristics, and the barriers to access and analyse such data for researchers looking at inequalities. Prof Belluigi noted the Commission’s Plan articulated a ‘cradle to the grave’ commitment – and encouraged them to pay attention to education throughout the life course, including Further Education and Higher Education, to track the barriers to powerful participation in NI society of subsequent generations of migrants.

Both Dr Sotonye-Frank and Prof Belluigi contribute to ACSONI’s Strategic Education Working Group and are members of the African Scholars Research Network, which extends across and beyond academic institutions in Northern Ireland in mutual support of the flourishing of research and researchers who are Africa-born and of African descent.

Left to right in the picture: Chief Commissioner Geraldine McGahey and Lori Gatsi-Barnett (Chairperson, ACSONI; JoinHer).