The Barnet Multi Faith Forum, the Strategic Voice of the Faith Sector in Barnet is alarmed shocked and greatly disturbed by the recent reporting of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate rhetoric emanating from within the main political parties.

The Faith communities of Barnet will stand united together to oppose all forms of racial or religious bigotry and maintain our determination to enhance social cohesion and integration. The Forum will continue to promote informed educational dialogue by demonstrating our shared values and mutual respect for all those of different faiths and beliefs. 

As we mark the centenary of the end of World War 1, the Government is seeking to make faith and belief representation at the National Remembrance Service more reflective of modern Britain, both for this year and going forward.  

We are running an open application process, inviting organisations representing different faith/denomination and belief groups across Great Britain, who are not currently represented, to be part of the annual commemoration service.

At present, 15 faith and belief denominations are represented at the Remembrance Service. These are Anglican, Catholic, Church of Scotland, Methodist, United Reform Church, Unitarian, Free Christian Churches, the Salvation Army, Baptist, Greek Orthodox Church, Jewish (United Hebrew Congregations), Jewish (Reform), Islam, Hindu and Sikh. These representatives do not lay a wreath during the service but are there to pay their respects on behalf of their faith and belief communities.

For more information, please email: cenotaph@faithsforum.com 

Acts of bravery and heroism by people of different faiths need to be remembered and revered whenever and wherever they occur.

The Srebrenica genocide and the Shoah (Holocaust) and  will forever be linked and people of all faiths and none, need to remember and work together to ensure these stories of love, friendship and courage are celebrated.

Es

    https://www.facebook.com/rememberingsrebrenica     www.srebrenica.org.uk

For a third year in a row, the Home Office is providing funding to help places of worship tackle hate crimes against them through the installation of additional security equipment.

Hate crimes, for the purposes of this fund, are defined as any crimes committed against a person because of their real or perceived religion.

The criteria for this year’s bids has been made more flexible – bidders will need to provide evidence that they are either vulnerable to hate crime or have been subject to a hate crime within the last two years.

The funding is available to churches, gurdwaras, mosques, and temples, but not for synagogues, as a similar commitment was made to fund Jewish community sites through a grant administered by the Community Security Trust.

There is a total funding pot of £1 million for this round. Grants of up to £56,000 per place of worship are available for projects costing up to £70,000.

The funding is to be used for the cost of additional security equipment. Match funding of at least 20% of the total project costs is required.

Examples of security equipment that can be applied for include, but are not limited to, the following:

• CCTV.
• Perimeter fencing.
• Access control gates.
• Bollards.
• Door locks.
• Window locks.
• Intruder alarm.
• External lighting.
• Security doors.

Funding is also available to pay the appropriate labour cost to install the security equipment.

All funded work must be completed by 31 March 2019.

Commenting on the new round, Minister for Countering Extremism, Baroness Williams said:

“This scheme has already helped many places of worship bolster their security and we encourage those who have suffered from or fear hate crime attacks to apply.”

The deadline for applications is 10 August 2018.

An online application form can be found on the GOV.UK website

 The Met Police are working with a UCL postgraduate student from the Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science and have been advising on her research project. The project’s aim is to explore why most antisemitic behaviour is not reported by victims or witnesses to the police, and to organisations like CST / Shomrim.

The research is being conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire which can be completed by adults who are interested in this subject.  While there are no immediate benefits for people who respond to the survey, it is hoped that this research will contribute to our understanding of the problem of significant under-reporting, and to explore ways to make it easier for victims and witnesses to report antisemitic abuse in future. The ultimate goal is, of course, to lead to improved detection rates and more effective sanctions against perpetrators which we know is directly related to prompt and direct reporting of incidents. 

If you are interested in looking at the survey, you can find it by clicking on this link

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/reporting-antisemitism

Please pass this message on to friends or family who you think would like to take part. The survey is open from 1st June – 30th June, and will take 10 minutes or less to complete.