Speak Out Nelson Tasman tackles racism

December 9th
[TDC press release]

A reporting system for racist incidents in Tasman and Nelson was officially launched on Monday 29 November 2010 with a procession along Trafalgar Street, Nelson, and a celebration at the 1903 site.

Speak Out Nelson Tasman is an initiative of the Nelson Multicultural Council with the support of government agencies, the Nelson Safer Community Council and the Human Rights Commission.

Project coordinator Alistair Webber says the user friendly system allows racism to be reported confidentially on the Speak Out website, to a call free number or face to face at several community centres, with reporting done by victims, witnesses or support people.

“We’ll be logging all reports and referring victims to the appropriate agency for action, depending on how they want to handle it,” he said. “Victims decide whether they provide their personal details for follow up or they can remain anonymous.”

A racist incident is defined as ‘any incident that is perceived by the victim to be racist’. It ranges from incidents involving racist insults, through to serious assaults.

“The intention is to make Nelson Tasman safer for people of all cultures,” Mr Webber said. “We’ve got fantastic support from the community – from the police, councils, NMIT and numerous other groups.”

Speak Out Nelson Tasman is the first regional reporting system in New Zealand to operate across the whole of the community. Mr Webber said this is really something to celebrate.

The website address is www.speakout.org.nz, the call free number is , and the list of community agencies where reports can be found is on the website. The project was made possible with support from the Canterbury Community Trust.

Click here to go to the Speak Out on Racism reporting website »

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