A CALL was made at the John Hewitt International Summer School yesterday for the Northern Executive to lead the fight against sectarianism.
SDLP Assembly member for South Belfast Conall McDevitt said there should be a more cohesive approach to try to create a shared future for everyone in Northern Ireland. “We cannot be complete as a nation without a shared vision of our future.”
He was speaking at the school in Armagh city the day after new proposals for dealing with sectarian, racist and other hate crimes in the North were launched for public consultation by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
Under these proposals, a ministerial panel will co-ordinate efforts to tackle violence, protect migrant workers and other vulnerable groups and establish more shared spaces.
A zero-tolerance approach to attacks motivated by sectarian, racist, religious or hate prejudice is planned, including attacks on symbolic or cultural premises and monuments.
Issues around bonfires and flags and emblems will be addressed in the longer term.
The long-awaited draft plans were delayed by two years due to disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
Encouraging as wide a public response as possible, Mr Robinson said the 76-page Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration(CSI) would "address issues impacting on disaffected young people, tackle the conditions that perpetuate urban interfaces and rural segregation, as well as addressing those issues facing both established minority ethnic groups and new arrivals within our community."
UUP Assembly member Danny Kennedy welcomed the publication of the strategy but said “whilst it contains some positive sound bites it does not outline what if any specific objectives it wants to achieve”.
Alliance MLA Stephen Farry said “building a shared future is the biggest challenge facing this society”.
The public consultation period on the document will run until October 29th and a series of meetings have been convened throughout September to allow people to make their views on the proposals known.