In response to a UK government call for evidence to support implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); HRI and Release developed this submission.

The submission calls for drug control to be acknowledged as a policy that significantly contributes to the disproportionate policing, arrest, and incarceration of people of African and Asian descent in the UK.

The submission further highlights the racial disparities in stop and search practices; the government’s inability to examine intersectional experiences of race in the context of other factors (relevant to data collection); and the overrepresentation of ethnic minority individuals in the criminal system, amongst other issues.