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The
Voice of a Child
Article
12 of the UN convention on the Rights of a Child, looks at giving young
people a chance to have a say in the things that affect them. Processes
and procedures have been set into place to allow young people to voice
their opinions but the phonetic tones of our BME young people are without
translation. This is to say that BME youths (who are often the most disaffected
or disadvantaged) have not satisfactorily been involved in discussion
making and consultation processes. However things have started to move
in the right direction, with many organisations acknowledging the lack
of BME youth representation.
The
Multicultural Youth Forum
The
Bath & N.E.S Racial Equality Council are one such organisation and
through Russell Thomas (the current Sports Diversity and Ethnic Officer),
they have set up a Multicultural Youth Forum which will represent Black
& Minority Ethnic youth within Bath and North East Somerset. The current
membership of the group is everybody between the ages of 13 and 25 years
old, residing in Bath. The Multicultural Youth Forum is not a section
of the Racial Equality Council, but it is supported, guided and advised
by the Steering Group, which the Racial Equality Council is a part
of along with the Youth Democracy Service and Connexions.
The main purpose of the group is to try and ensure better communications
and closer relations with other service providers to the BME youth community.
Goals that the Multicultural Youth Forum are working towards include tackling
racial discrimination, acting as a voice for the BME youth, developing
the cultural knowledge of BME groups within the community and being active
within the community by setting up workshops, events and projects.
Guest
Speaker Event
On
Saturday July 19th, the Multicultural Youth Forum put on their
first official event. This was a guest speaker event featuring Brian O
Brien, Equalities Officer for the Rural Race Equality Council. Brian
went into detail about the groups and campaigns that he is involved in
that are active in the fight against racism. He is a member of the Action
for Equality Network and has been part of numerous campaigns and projects.
These include The Exeter Olive Tree Project (also known as the
ESOL Project)- a partnership between Exeter College,
Exeter Council for Voluntary Service and The Islamic Centre
of the South West whose objectives are to tackle the issue of social
inclusion and to address the language and literacy needs of adults in
the community who speak English as a second language; The Exeter Respect
Festival- a festival
to celebrate religious and ethnic diversity in Exeter; and an anti-bullying campaign
aimed at the youth in the South West. He also detailed the various ways
of tackling discrimination through media, music and sport. This included
the Kick It Out scheme that he was recently involved in at Exeter
City Football Club where 1000 balloons were released with an anti-racist
message on each one and Knock It Out, which is a new scheme currently
being set up in Boxing. Finally, Brian talked about his plans for the
future, including setting up a network that would involve Youth Forums
all over the Southwest of England before discussing how groups like the
Multicultural Youth Forum can fund projects through corporate funding;
core funding by organisations such as Comic Relief; and project
funding, which is funding using events such as fundraisers.
Overall,
the event was an extremely productive affair, with forum members responding
to Brian very positively, getting advice on the organisation of projects,
how to apply for funding and who to apply to. The Multicultural Youth
Forum also established links with the groups that Brian is involved with.
An
Established and Recognised Group
The
prospect of having one recognised and established group that is noticed
and that can make a difference is exciting and without a doubt, this project
is a positive step for young BME people in Bath and North East Somerset.
It is the opportunity for the BME youth to make a difference for others
and themselves.
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