Tackling Race Discrimination Requires Legislation and Political Will, Lord Lester Says

Tackling race discrimination effectively requires legislation paired with political will, according to Lord Anthony Lester, a member of Blackstone Chambers and a Liberal Democrat Peer in the U.K. House of Lords who has played a key role in the enactment of race relations legislation in Britain since the 1960s. Lester spoke at CEU Nov. 13 as part of the annual Marek Nowicki Memorial Lecture Series, sponsored by the Open Society Institute in memory of the Polish human rights activist.


University Professor Wiktor Osiatynski introduces Lord Anthony Lester, seated, with Professor Renata Uitz. Photo: CEU/Daniel Vegel.

“We need leadership across Europe to combat the tide of racism against Jews, Roma and ethnic minority Muslims,” said Lester, who was introduced by Professor Renata Uitz, head of the Department of Legal Studies, and University Professor Wiktor Osiatynski. Lester outlined the disturbing rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Roma sentiment and incidents across Europe, and cited a survey indicating that hostility is greatest against minorities in France and Hungary.

“Law is no panacea and must be accompanied by political will to make it work in practice,” Lester said. “Laws declaring equality are meaningless unless translated into reality.”

In addition to playing a key role in the Race Relations Act of 1976, Lester was also instrumental in securing the passage of the Equality Act of 2010, which supersedes the Race Relations Act, prohibiting discrimination based on age, sex, disability, religion, marital status, and sexual orientation in addition to race.


Lord Anthony Lester. Photo: CEU/Daniel Vegel.

Civil law, rather than criminal law, is the best place for legislation against discrimination, Lester said, because criminal law seeks to punish perpetrators rather than compensate victims, for example. Legislation must be backed by a well-funded, professional equality agency that supports cases and has investigative monitoring and enforcement powers, he said. Lester and colleagues created such an agency in the U.K. in 2007, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Thirdly, the concept of unlawful discrimination must include unintentional and indirect forms, Lester said. This concept must be used to examine regulations that are not overtly discriminatory, such as a minimum height requirement for police officers – the question must be asked whether this disproportionately hits one ethnic or other protected group. If so, it is discriminatory.

For the latter concept, collection of statistics is very important. It is virtually impossible to prove indirect race or sex discrimination without statistics, which must be collected with respect for privacy. This data collection is a problem in many European countries, including Hungary.

“Europe’s Roma are among the worst victims of police and gang brutality, discrimination in housing, education, employment, health care, and public services,” Lester said. “It’s understandable that many Romani families are reluctant to give their ethnicity to authorities. Not so long ago, this data was used to send Roma to death camps. There’s a reluctance to place faith in the state.”


Lord Anthony Lester speaks to a packed CEU Auditorium. Photo: CEU/Daniel Vegel.

Statistics were key in Lester’s case against the U.K. in 1968 in which Lester argued in Strasbourg that an emergency law barring East African Asians who were U.K. citizens from returning to the U.K. after being expelled by newly independent African states was discriminatory. Similarly, Lester argued a case against Czech government policies that were not explicitly discriminatory but resulted in a disproportionate number of Roma children being placed in schools for those with severe learning disabilities. A similar case showed that Hungary had also failed to provide protection for this vulnerable group in ensuring the right to education.

“We need firm and courageous political leadership, voluntary action by the media, teachers, students and citizens to translate the principles of equality into practice,” Lester said. “This applies across Europe. The rise of extremism means that democracy must protect itself.”