The role your community could have to combat sectarianism/racism

Youth clubs - bring young people in a community together. The youth club could

organise events to help young people meet and become friends with people from
another religious/ethnic minority group.

Schools - can teach pupils in lessons about the causes and consequences of
sectarianism/racism. They can provide opportunities for young people to mix with young
people from other schools to learn to work together, learn about each other and
encourage inclusion. This could reduce community tensions and reduce
sectarianism/racism.

Celebrations/Festivals - can be organised by the local council to help raise
awareness and promote tolerance and understanding of different religious practices and cultural diversity.

Cross Community Groups - can be made up of a variety of people from different
ethnic or religious backgrounds. They could meet regularly to discuss problems or
issues that may be happening in the community and try to come up with actions that
could resolve some of the conflict in the community.

Report crimes to the Police - people within the community need to take responsibility
and report if sectarianism or racism has taken place in the community or has been
witnessed. The police should have a role and adapt strategies to help combat
sectarianism/racism in the community.

The media - can be used to report on and highlight the positive aspects of the

community and not focus their reports on sectarian or racist events.