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Anti-Gypsy hate crime linked to "Epidemic of needless deaths" in Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater Communities

Anti-Gypsy hate crime linked to "Epidemic of needless deaths" in Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater Communities

Anti-Gypsy hate crime and hate speech have been linked to both attempted and completed suicides in the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater communities, says new research, which is calling on public authorities to tackle institutional racism and urgently halt the “epidemic of needless deaths”.

The first-of-its-kind pilot study of people from the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater (GTRSB) communities estimates there have been 131 suicide attempts known to NGO support workers over a five-year period ending in 2020. A large proportion of NGO support workers who took part in the study said the vast majority (90%) of their clients who had completed or attempted suicide had experienced hate incidents. This “epidemic of needless deaths” and attempted suicides equates to a public health crisis, says the research.

All of the GTRSB respondents to a survey ran as part of the study said they had experienced hate incidents or discrimination, with the most common experiences being: exclusion and discrimination from and within services (94%); reinforcement of negative stereotypes through mainstream media representations (89%); social media abuse (87%); and racial hatred caused by media incitement (82%).

Despite the substantial number of hate incidents experienced by the GTRSB community, 82% of respondents felt they had to put up with them, because it was something experienced so routinely. Only 10% of respondents to this survey said they would formally report hate incidents, while one-in-three neither knew how to make such a report or felt that it would be too much bother given their lack of trust in a positive outcome.

School bullying was highlighted by 78% of respondents as one of the most common forms of hate incidents they had experienced. This was noted as an ongoing issue by participants of all ages and all ethnic GTRSB communities, demonstrating little intergenerational change and patterns of continuing discrimination within schools.

The study also found that one-in-five GTRSB people who have experienced a suicide within their family were aged 18 to 30, with two-thirds of these young people experiencing a suicide of a close relative. The profound impact of exposure to multiple suicides at such a young age is likely to exacerbate their own risk factors for suicide, which include exposure to hate incidents, according to the research.

The report says: “This epidemic of needless deaths…requires urgent intervention to halt the lifelong impacts of such bereavements which are both devastating on a personal basis, and we suggest equate to profound cultural and community trauma.

“We are profoundly troubled by the evidence repeatedly presented by participants pertaining to the impacts of institutional racism on the diverse communities, from barriers to accessing health care, to poor relationships with police services and lack of response to reporting of racial hatred and discrimination, as well as intergenerational cycles of bullying within schools.”

“It is clear that at the most fundamental level there is requirement for mechanisms to support inclusion and bring about equality and enhanced outcomes for the GTR populations.”

Buckinghamshire New University’s Professor of Social Policy and Community Engagement, Margaret Greenfields, and Dr Carol Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Education, conducted the study, which was funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and commissioned by GTR development organisation GATE Herts.

Professor Greenfields said: “I am profoundly shocked by the findings which have emerged in this study. Anecdotally it has been known for a long time that there are high levels of avoidable deaths by suicide amongst members of the GTR, Showman and Boater communities, but the sheer scale of the problem and the escalating and life-long pattern of exclusion, exposure to hate speech, victimisation through hate crime and associated mental health stressors reveal a hidden and shameful picture of a community facing a rising tide of racism and abuse. It is unsurprising, albeit tragic, that mental health difficulties and suicide rates are so high amongst the communities.”

Dr Carol Rogers said: “The shocking extent of mental ill health and high suicide rates in the GTR, Showman and Boater communities is nothing less than a public health emergency and, as the report recommends, needs urgent policy enactment. This should start with the implementation of the recommendations of the Women and Equalities Committee 2019 report in relation to social inclusion of GTR communities, with particular attention to be paid to the Committee’s recommendations on education, hate crime, and health.”

Josie O’Driscoll, Chief Executive Officer at GATE Herts, said: “The last few years have seen a notable rise in suicide rates with families being left devastated needlessly and whole communities feeling the ripple effect without understanding or knowing why, until this study. The Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater communities have shown tremendous bravery in coming forward and speaking up, sharing their difficult and harrowing experiences. The time has now come for long-overdue action on the link between racism and poor mental health in the GTRSB communities, so that any further unnecessary harm to them can be prevented.”

Baroness Whitaker, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, said: “This ground-breaking report should be studied by all who care about real harm done to some of our most vulnerable communities by hate crime. It is now up to the Government and all concerned to get the report’s sensible recommendations implemented.”

Professor Nick Braisby, Vice Chancellor, Buckinghamshire New University, said: “This ground-breaking study is a key intervention in the continued fight for the rights of Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman, and Boater communities to be treated equally and valued by the institutions that should serve them. Our University continues to widen access to higher education and increase support for these communities, to close the equality gap and remove some of the unnecessary barriers to social inclusion they have faced for far too long.”

You can read the full report here.

For further information, please contact Matthew.Rogers@bucks.ac.uk