THE EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF BEING A MIGRANT IN BRITAIN
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Migrant experiences of harassment and violence
Experiences of harassment and violence have been alluded to in other chapters. Here, we look at the evidence in more detail, as well as the attitudes towards migrants that may underpin them. We also examine why the experience of domestic violence is different for migrants. 13.1 Harassment and racial violence The Macpherson inquiry, which investigated how the death of Stephen Lawrence was dealt with, defined racial harassment as ‘any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person’. It can assume various forms, including name-calling, verbal abuse, unprovoked assaults and racist graffiti. There is no specific research on racial harassment against migrants. The British Crime Survey reports on adult victims of crime and adult fears of violent crime only by ethnicity. However, views and evidence about incidents perceived to be racist can be found in other studies on migration. Research on local experiences of migration, in particular, reports many cases of racial harassment. Zaraonite and Tirzite (2006) found that in south Lincolnshire 37 per cent of respondents to a survey reported experiences of discrimination and harassment; the harassment coming from British people in shops, bars and cafés, or in the street, along with instances of refusal of services to migrants. Another study found that people working in Chinese catering establishments experienced racial abuse: 56 per cent of them reported it and 31 per cent told of physical attacks (McKay and Winkelmann-Gleed, 2005). Sometimes Chinese victims were arrested instead of the perpetrators, and some described racism from the police when they made reports 35 . Ward’s (2008) study of migrants revealed accounts of attacks in the street, and also found that reports to the police of racial harassment and attacks had been met with attitudes of indifference, with victims’ concerns often trivialised. Migrants who had experienced racist abuse, harassment or damage to property felt that the police ignored them or did not take their complaints seriously. McKay and WinkelmannGleed (2005) described harassment in the workplace (name-calling, harassment by supervisors and co-workers) as being frequent. There were also instances of employers refusing to pay wages (see below). There are differences, however, in the way asylum seekers and refugees on the one hand and economic migrants on the other are harassed. Refugee and asylum seeker respondents are more likely to report first-hand experiences of racial 35
See, for more on this, the accounts of the campaigning group Min Quan: www.monitoringgroup.co.uk/TMG%20services/minquan/min_quan_history.html
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