14 October 2024

Haringey stands united for Hate Crime Awareness Week

Community and faith leaders from across Haringey joined together at the London Alevi Cultural Centre and Cemevi in Hornsey on Monday (14 October 2024) to mark the start of Hate Crime Awareness Week (HCAW).

Representatives from the borough’s Multi-Faith Forum (MFF) spoke of how hate crime can do lasting and significant damage to its unsuspecting victims, particularly with regards to their mental health and psychological wellbeing.

They also stressed how the solidarity and support among the various MFF groups from Haringey Council and local partners had provided a real source of solace and strength in recent times.

The Leader of Haringey Council, Cllr Peray Ahmet, and Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Ajda Ovat, both reiterated there is no place for hate in Haringey, where everyone and anybody should feel safe, welcome and proud to call the borough their home regardless of their background or religious belief.

Cllr Ahmet said:

Haringey is once again taking a firm stand against hate crime in our communities with a series of activities and events to mark this year’s awareness week.

We want everyone in the borough to feel part of our strong, diverse community and to know that they have a stake in our local democracy.

We have a great and proud history of championing our cultural diversity and fighting hatred – we should cherish that long-standing track record.

Fuelled by the far right, who – as always – seek to divide communities, we know anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have been on the rise in recent years and especially over the course of the last 12 months or so.

We continue to work closely with all our communities to build a place that is fair, inclusive and welcoming and remain firmly committed to being a collaborative borough.

Cllr Ovat said:

Following the recent far-right riots across the country, it’s of paramount importance for this year’s Hate Crime Awareness Week that we unequivocally reiterate there’s no place whatsoever for hate of any kind here in Haringey.

We’re proud of our long-standing history of standing up against bigotry and prejudice in this borough. We’ll be maintaining that track record now, and in the future as well to ensure that Haringey is a place where everyone can feel safe, welcome and proud to call their home.

Our greatest asset is – and always will be – the diversity of our communities. As we have done for many years now, we’ll be working with them and our faith groups to engage residents, police officers, teachers and council officers in a broad range of hate crime awareness activities throughout the week.

We must all tackle hate crime together and call it out for what it is whenever we come across it. I would urge anyone who encounters or experiences hate crime to report it immediately to the police.

The week will be marked in Haringey with a programme of activities, including:

Hate crime awareness training organised by the Community Safety Trust (CST) (Monday 14 October 2024 at 2pm). This training will look at how to deal with the five current strands of hate crime, the complexity of it, how it spreads and how it can affect entire communities
An autism and extremism/radicalisation course for professionals working with children and families (Tuesday 15 October 2024, 9:30am-11:30am). The course aims to examine the relationship between extremist ideologies and neurodiversity, exploring how such conditions can be functionally linked to – and influence – radicalisation while potentially increasing susceptibility to extremist beliefs
A hate crime and disability workshop from Disability Action Haringey (Thursday 17 October 2024, 1pm-2pm). This session is intended to develop your knowledge and skills in tackling disability hate crime in all its forms and help create a more fair, equal and just society
Community artwork sessions from Follow Your Art to raise awareness of hate crime and celebrate the diversity of Haringey. No need to register – just turn up on the day!