PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
************************FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE************************
BMELAWYERS4GREENFELL
& OTHERS TO CONSIDER JUDICIAL REVIEW (JR) AS A
RESPONSE TO LACK OF CONSULTATION RE INQUIRY CHAIR & PANEL, LACK OF
DIVERSITY OF BOTH & THEIR CHAOTIC & INSENSITIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
MEETINGS ON TERMS OF REFERENCE
BMELAWYERS4GRENFELL, survivors,
residents, community members and other groups remain extremely concerned about
the lack of the promised consultation on the appointment of the Inquiry Chair,
Sir Martin Moore-Bick. This has been
compounded by the complete lack of openness surrounding the appointment of his Inquiry
Team. It has been further compounded by the lack of diversity – until last
Thursday, the Team was all white with one female, when an Asian female
barrister appeared to have been appointed. We do not challenge the ability of
the Inquiry Team and Chair. We do
challenge their appropriateness for this phenomenally important Inquiry. This,
and other concerns, have been repeatedly raised since 19 June 2017, via written
communications and broadcast and print media but continues to be ignored.
This is further compounded by the
Team’s attempts at ‘community engagement’ designed to involve the community in
the Terms of Reference and take note of community concerns.
Community consultation should be an
effective mechanism for the survivors, their families, local residents and the
community, to ensure that the Public Inquiry is both credible and that it
inspires confidence. The huge loss of life means that a whole community has
been devastated and traumatised. This process ought to have begun the process
of healing and recovery for the community. Instead, they are being
re-traumatised.
3 meetings: 19 July, 20 July and 25
July 2017. The first two held outside of
the community. None properly advertised. Community members and groups had to
fill this void to ensure that people attended. The meetings were extremely
poorly designed and managed and without any agenda, resulting in chaos - which
will no doubt be blamed on those attending. No interpreters were provided for
survivors and their families and no counsellors arranged to support them during
and after the meeting.
A more disorganised and incompetent
consultation process could not have been devised if they had planned to do so
and further shines a light on the need for diversity. At each of the meetings,
one attendee after another expressed their distress about this and their lack
of confidence, calling for the Chair and Team to resign or, at the very least,
appoint, on their merits, a panel of suitably qualified BME professionals, of
whom there are many.
At the final meeting, 25 July 2017,
approximately 150 people were forced to share one microphone. The panel did not
introduce themselves properly or explain the format of the meeting. Those who
shouted the loudest were heard, more than once. No consideration was given to
the survivors and survivor’s families in attendance, some of whom were clearly traumatised
and crying during the meeting. They
and the vast majority of attendees left traumatised and distressed. They felt
patronised. They felt they were not listened to. The little confidence they had was shattered.
They were left deeply concerned that justice would not be seen to be done.
Again, it was left to the community to support the survivors.
BMELAWYERS4GRENFELL have attended
all the meetings. Its members have significant experience of community
engagement and Inquiries. The Public Inquiry consultation process is
fundamentally flawed for the following reasons:-
- It has
failed to properly advertise meetings, despite ample contact sources,
including the “Gold” group command;
- There
has been complete disregard as to how people will attend these meetings
and failure to provide any transport from hotels for survivors and
families to attend. In contrast, this group provided transport 29 June
2017 for the local community to attend the meeting at the House of
Commons, Chaired by Diane Abbott MP;
- It has
failed to provide any mental health trauma counsellors to prepare
survivors and families for the meetings or to be on standby during and
after the meetings to cope with the extremely distressing and triggering
content of these meetings. The impact on mental illness and exacerbation
of trauma has been negligently ignored;
- It has
failed to provide for any silence for reflection or spiritual space at the
start of the meeting given the significant proportion of survivors who
hold to a religious faith;
- It has
failed to provide any leaflets, or agendas for the meetings to enable a
structured approach to be followed;
- It has failed
to provide any leaflets or website in any language but English despite
being aware of the diversity of the community; Farsi, Arabic, Pashtu, and
Amharic are the first languages of some 50% of survivors.
It had failed to offer or provide interpreters to make meetings more
inclusive.
- It has failed
to provide any questionnaires available on line in a multi lingual format
for people who could not access the meetings to comment on the Terms of Reference,
composition of the panel and the format of the Inquiry;
- The
Chair and Inquiry team have repeatedly refused to answer key questions
asked by the community, including how they were appointed and what
qualifications they possess to justify their appointments;
- The
Chair and Inquiry team have failed to conduct the meetings with any
apparent sense of empathy for the survivors and local community, or their
cultural needs. This has been noted and commented upon by attendees who
were visibly distressed by this.
D
Peter Herbert O.B.E., barrister and Chair of the Society of Black Lawyers
commented:
“AS
BME Lawyers and community engagement experts we were appalled at the amateurish
approach of the Inquiry team and Chair who did not appear to have a clue as to how
to engage with such a diverse multi faith community. The audience were in turn
patronised, and treated with thinly disguised disdain or pity that did little
to engender any trust & confidence. The failure to reach out in a
meaningful manner undermines the Inquiry from the outset, as many voices were
simply not heard in the chaos that ensued. The responsibility for this mess
lies with the Public Inquiry team and not with this traumatised community which
deserves far better than this after such a horrific event.”
Ismet
Rawat, barrister & President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers commented:
“Anyone
who still questions the need for diversity should take a long hard look at how
this process has been conducted to date and the repeated failures to
acknowledge or respond to the concerns that have been very clearly conveyed.
The survivors, their families and the community are being repeatedly
re-victimised and re-traumatised. The
negligence in the handling of this process and abrogation of any duty of care
is deeply worrying. Furthermore, the cries for the Chair and the Inquiry Team to
stand down are a direct consequence of their continuing failure to inspire trust
and confidence in the local community due to their insensitive handling of this
key process. A real opportunity has been lost by the Chair and the Inquiry team
to show that they can deliver justice for the people of Grenfell. Judicial
Review was always going to be the last step.
It may now be the only step which will be listened to.”
Zita Holbourne,Chair
BARAC UK commented:
"There
were many people attending who were visibly traumatised but there was nothing
put in place to help people through the meeting, as has become a pattern it was
left to the community to support each other. The panel did not set out clearly
the remit or format for the meeting & it became evident during the course
of it that this was much needed. The panel were reluctant to answer questions
with Sir Martin Moore-Bick stating that they were only prepared to listen not
respond, within minutes of him saying this, appallingly another panel member
ordered the attendees to be quiet. There was a complete lack of sympathy,
empathy or humanity demonstrated by the Inquiry panel which is quite
unacceptable given what survivors, families, residents and the community and
going through. It's no wonder that there is zero confidence."
Lee
Jasper, former Race Adviser to the Mayor of London commented:
“This
chaotic and mismanaged community consultation led by the Chair & his Team makes
a mockery of the good practice developed over the last thirty years and is an
insult to those that have died and suffered so much in this atrocity. A
consultation that makes no attempt to communicate with the survivors, in a
manner that is sensitive to their religious, language and cultural needs, with
no logistical assistance to attend meetings or a questionnaire only permits for
the loudest voices to be heard. That is a fundamentally flawed consultation
that flies in the face of the lessons learnt from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
These failures are all the more astonishing as they have occurred with the close
involvement of the Prime Ministers Cabinet office at the highest levels of the
civil service.”
For further information please contact:
Ismet.rawat@gmail.com
Barac.info@gmail.com
ashlee@.bpa@outlook.com
D Peter Herbert – SBL: 07973 794 946;
Ismet Rawat - A.M.L: 07852 146
056;
Zita Holbourne – BARAC UK: 07711
861660
Viv Ahmun - Blaksox: 07985
395 166;
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.