UK charities fight hate crime against Asians

A new project to tackle the rising levels of hate crime against the British Chinese and East and Southeast Asian communities was launched on Monday.

The nationwide plan that aims to confront Covid-related hate has been put together by Protection Approaches, a charity committed to ending all identity-based violence, Chinese Welfare Trust and Newham Chinese Association.

This project will strengthen community-led responses to increasing hate crime, discrimination, and marginalization by reaching out to a network of 21 British Chinese and East and Southeast Asian community organizations.

They will offer help and support for victims of hate crime and abuse and offer counseling in partnership with the Chinese community Health and Wellbeing services.

The Confronting Covid-Related Hate group will also try to increase understanding among the community on what hate crime is and how to report it, and they hope to build sustainable relationships across other community groups, local authorities, police and frontline service providers.

Lai Mei Sim, chair of the Chinese Welfare Trust, said: "Our communities are facing increased racism in addition to the stress and harm caused by the pandemic. Through the Confronting Covid-Related Hate project, we are building a stronger network to respond to this double crisis, and provide better support to those who have experienced racist attacks."

According to police figures, hate crimes against the Chinese community have increased sharply, with the number of offenses reported in the first three months of 2020 nearly three times as high as the same period in 2018 and 2019.

Between January and March, 267 incidents of hate crime were reported across the United Kingdom, compared with 375 in the whole of 2019, and 360 in 2018.

Confronting COVID-Related Hate said research suggests a 900 percent increase in the global use of hashtags on Twitter encouraging violence against China and Chinese people.

Andy Fearn, co-executive director at Protection Approaches, said: "Since the outbreak of COVID-19, British Chinese and East and Southeast Asian organizations, from rural communities to those in big cities, have been calling out for the support they need to build their own teams' capacity to report and respond to the sharp increase of hate crime.

"This project will build sustainable relationships between impacted communities, their local authorities, and the police."