BMH UK community round table at the House of Lords
Social Justice, Human Rights, Mental Health Care & The UK’s African Caribbean Black British Diaspora
Date: Monday 16th March
Time: 11.00 – 1.00 pm
Venue: House of Lords – full details will be emailed to registered delegates
To register: email:events@blackmentalhealth.org.uk with ‘BMH UK House of Lord’s Community round table‘ in the subject header.
A pre-election community round table looking at the issues of social justice, human rights and mental health care and the UK’s African Caribbean Black British Diaspora is set to take place at the House of Lords this month, organised by human rights campaigns group Black Mental Health UK (BMH UK).
Hosted by race equality chief, Lord Herman Ouseley this pre-election community round table event will take place on Monday 16th March 2015, chaired by BMH UK’s director Matilda MacAttram.
In a bid to move away from the BME banner which has consistently seen key issues affecting black people from the UK’s African Caribbean communities sidelined at the expense of other groups, this meeting has been convened for those from this community with a commitment to serve, agree on what the priorities that the political parities need to focus on in relation to black Briton in the run up to the May general election.
This meeting comes on the back of a BMH UK’s Harris Review round table, held in parliament in January this year, on the disturbing numbers of ‘self inflicted’ of young people in prison, in light of the mass incarceration of black Britons in this system. BMH UK convened this event because of their concerns over data which now shows that that there is now a greater disproportionality in the number of black people in prison in the UK than in the United States prison industrial complex.
Attendees at the event in January highlighted the need for a follow up meeting, where those who serve the community could agree on strategies that address the inequalities faced by those black Britons that come in contact the justice system, and other issues relating to the Diaspora ahead of the general election. This round table has been convened to facilitate this process and inform this agenda in the run up to the general election in May.
The primary focus of the meeting on the 16th May 2015 will be mental health as it relates to the Diaspora and also the justice system.
Matilda MacAttram, director of Black Mental Health UK said:
‘All the indexes show that it is people from the UK’s African Caribbean Diaspora living in the UK are among society’s most economically and socially excluded groups.
They have some of the worst experiences and poorest outcomes in the area of health, justice, education, employment or any other arena you care to look at, and yet there have been numerous strategies over the decades that have been focussed on addressing the inequalities of BME communities, which have consistently failed to improve the condition of this group.
It is important that we recognised this and prioritise the concerns of our communities if we are ever going to bring about positive change for those significant number of people who don’t have a voice, particularly in the area of mental health. It is clear that the BME banner doesn’t work for us, we urgently need to find solutions that do.’