The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a public Inquiry to investigate whether public bodies and public transport providers are fulfilling their legal obligations to prevent disabled people from harassment. Those who are found to be failing in their duties could face enforcement action.

The EHRC states that every working day at least one person on average appears in court charged with a crime against a disabled person, nearly half of which involve violence. It states that evidence it has already gathered suggests that many more incidents of targeted violence or hostility go unreported or are not dealt with properly by public transport providers and public bodies in Britain.


The Inquiry will examine:
•    what support victims of disability-related harassment receive from public bodies and public transport providers
•    what prevention measures these organisations have put in place to avoid such incidences

As part of the Inquiry, members of the public are asked to report whether they requested help and if so, what support they received as a result of being harassed either because they are disabled or because of their connection to a disabled person. Harassment is defined as including name-calling, intimidation, bullying or violence. The EHRC is also working with organisations of and for disabled people or victims of crime to help gather evidence, while public bodies and transport providers are being asked to disclose the steps they are taking to meet their legal duties. At the end of the Inquiry, public bodies and public transport providers found not to be doing enough to tackle the problem and to protect the human rights of disabled people could face legal action to force them to comply with their legal obligations.

The first wave of evidence will be collected until 10 September 2010. Evidence can be submitted via the EHRC website, and there will also be evidence gathering events around Britain during the summer, to which disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and victims of crime will be invited. Hearings will be held from September 2010.

For further information, visit the EHRC website
http://tinyurl.com/ehrc-harassment-inquiry