Lewes MYP supports anti-racism campaign

On the National Day of Action (Friday, January 22), Members of Youth Parliament called on politicians and schools to join their campaign ‘Don’t Hate, Educate!’ in their bid to ‘help young people speak out’ about religious discrimination, particularly against people who are Muslim and Jewish.

Robin Holmes has been serving as Member of UK Youth Parliament for just under a year; she was elected in February 2015, from the East Sussex Youth Cabinet, who voted her in. She has been a very active member of the Cabinet for the past two years and has been overjoyed to begin working on a national level more recently, attending many conventions and spreading campaigns over social media. She is currently in her first year studying A Levels in Law, Politics and Sociology, and is also involved in debating competitions.

Over the next year, UK Youth Parliament will campaign to challenge negative attitudes around race and religion; work with others to educate their communities in order to tackle ignorance around race and religion; and promote integration in their communities. The campaign starts following the Make Your Mark ballot which took place in the autumn of 2015.

Robin, 17, Member of Youth Parliament for Lewes and Wealden constituency, said: “I am thrilled to be working on tackling religious discrimination as our new national campaign; there is lots to be done and I feel some excellent results can be gained from this”

The issue is thought to have come out as one of the top issues for young people in the Make Your Mark following increases in race and religion related hate crimes between 2014 and 2015. In England and Wales the Home Office reported there were 42,930 race related hate crimes (representing a 15 per cent increase from the year before) and 3,254 religion related hate crimes (43 per cent increase from the year before).

Visit www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk for details.

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