Dealing with Discrimination

What is discrimination? It is where someone is made to feel unwelcome, is unfairly treated or is not given the same rights as other people because of factors that are outside their control.

These include age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, income, religion and ethnicity among others.

This section will highlight some of the issues and look at how Jersey deals with them in comparison to the UK.

Coping with Bullying

Bullying isn't just about being physically hurt, it can also be about name-calling, or even being ignored.

Sometimes bullying stops after a short time, but often you need to get help.

Your school or college should have an anti-bullying policy and if you tell a teacher they can use this to try to stop the bullying from carrying on.

Remember...if you are being bullied, it's not your fault!

Try to get some support from people that you trust, perhaps friends, family, carers, teachers or youth workers.

You can also contact:

Childline ~ Tel: 0800 1111 (free fone 24 hrs) or visit  their website

or

Kidscape ~ Tel: 08451 205204 (helpline for carers/parents) or visit their website

equal Opportunities

This means that everyone should be treated the same, that everyone has the same rights and opportunites.

Unlike the rest of the UK and the rest of Europe, jersey does not protect these rights with the law. Legislation is due to be in place withint he next few years.

The Human Rights Law, which was passed in November 2006, also protects some of these rights.

The States of Jersey are intending to bring in laws to deal with discrimination in the near future.

Instead Jersey uses "best practice" which is a voluntary set of rules, normally used in organisations to help employers and employees.

Many companies in Jersey, with head offices in the UK will have UK codes of conduct to follow.

See Equal Opportunites Commission website for further information.

Age Discrimination

If you feel that people are discriminating against you because of your age please see the contact ath the end of this section for help in dealing with the issue.

Discrimination against Disabled People

There is no Disability Law in Jersey. Jersey is not seen as being oversensitive to the needs of disabled people.

However it has a huge range of charities committed to help people with various disabilites and some of these offer tremendous support for both disabled people and their carers. See Association of Jersey Charities for a full list.

Disability Rights Commission is a goodwebsite to see how things are done in the UK.

JEND (Jersey Employers' Network on Disability) is an organisation which helps employers access potential employees who have a disability. They can be contacted on Tel: (01534) 449272 or go to the JEND website

JET (Jersey Employment Trust) is there to assist people with a disability in preparing, finding and maintaining employment in Jersey. They can be contacted on Tel: (01534) 788900 or go to the JET website

Race Discrimination

This is when someone is discriminated against because of skin colour, race, nationality, citizenship or ethnic group. It can be something as seemingly harmless as a dig at someone's nationality as a 'joke' but if that person is offended then the joke is not really harmless.

It is against the law in the UK and Europe, but there is no law in Jersey that protects against discrimination.

Employers are however, asked to adopt a voluntary code, that any discrimination should not be tolerated and people's backgrounds will not affect their opportunities in the workplace or indeed whether they are hired.

Laws will shortly be passed in Jersey that will outlaw some of the discrimination that can occur such as name-calling. Commission for racial equality website has more information.

Sex Discrimination 

This is where you are discriminated against because of your gender. it is normally linked to financial renumeration for the same work or can occur where people advertise for a particular sex for work, i.e. female bar staff wanted is not allowed in the UK as there is no lawful reason why men and women can't serve in a bar equally well.

There are no laws to stop this in Jersey.

For more information on discrimination matters contact:

JACS (Jersey Advisory & Conciliation Service) ~ Tel: (01534) 730503 or go to JACS website or email jacs@jacs.org.je for work related issues.

or the Community Relations Trust ~ email: community realtions@jerseymail.co.uk

European Convention on Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights:

This court is not connected to Government, and is totally independent of any political parties. Jersey is not part of the European union.

You can however take the States or any public authority to the European Court of Human Rights

The Jersey Human Rights law was passed in December 2006

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child