MEND Yorkshire Local Policy Pledges

Crime and Policing

• Commit to an independent root and branch review into structural racism and Islamophobia within the Yorkshire Police Services, including the application of policies such as stop and search against Muslim and BAME communities.
• Commit to developing mandatory unconscious bias training programmes for all frontline staff in the Yorkshire Police Services in conjunction with representative grassroots organisations such as MEND.
• Commit to ensuring transparency and public access to data surrounding stop and search.
• Commit to increasing diversity in the Yorkshire Police Services across all levels of seniority.
• Commit to introducing targeted training within the Yorkshire Police Services on recognising Islamophobia and understanding how to accurately record it in the context of hate crime.

Political Engagement

• Commit to encouraging all local councils to adopt the definition of Islamophobia produced by the APPG for British Muslims: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”, and applying this definition in conjunction with the guidelines that MEND has produced.
• Commit to supporting diversity within political parties at all levels including through outlining party strategies for increasing the diversity of candidate selection ahead of each election.
• Commit to investigating and addressing Islamophobia within local councils, including an investigation of the prevalence, forms of abuse, and reporting procedures.
• Commit to proactively engaging and consulting with representative and grassroots organisations within British Muslim communities, including but not limited to Muslim Engagement and Development.

COVID-19

• Commit to an independent root and branch investigation into the socio-economic impact of COVID on minority communities, including examining areas such as education, economic impacts, the deployment of police powers, and increased health risks.

The Labour Market

• Commit to tackling religious, racial and gendered discrimination in the workplace through targeted interventions at all stages of recruitment, retention and promotion.
• Commit to supporting employers to recognise and accommodate religious festivals and religious observance within the workplace, including the provision of halal meat, prayer rooms, and flexible work hours during Ramadan.
• Commit to the use of name-blind applications and targeted interventions within employment aimed at tackling the triple penalty for Muslim women specifically.
• Commit to supporting educative and industry initiatives designed to attract Muslims and BAME individuals into the spheres of politics, civil service, media, and broadcasting.

Education

• Commit to prioritising PSRE and PSHE within the curriculum and ensure grassroots Muslim organisations are enlisted to assist in developing teaching materials to educate young people on the dangers of Islamophobia.
• Commit to supporting academic freedoms and initiatives to decolonise education, whilst giving greater emphasis within the national curriculum to shared histories and the contributions of minority communities in building our society.
• Commit to developing training programmes for teachers focussed on tackling and addressing bullying based on race, religion, disability, or sexuality.
• Commit to supporting faith school provisions in the state sector for Muslim pupils and parents.
• Commit to supporting community and school-led programmes that encourage cultural exchange between pupils of different racial, religious, ethnic, and other backgrounds.

Housing and Public Spaces

• Commit to reviewing issues of overcrowding in areas of Yorkshire and its disproportionate impact on minority communities.
• Commit to supporting the revitalisation of public spaces, including work areas such as libraries, to support changing work and study patterns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.