A/HRC/41/54/Add.2 Government’s Race Disparity Audit confirms these findings and what these communities, their advocates and others fighting for racial equality have long identified. Notwithstanding the existence of a legal framework devoted to combating racial discrimination, the harsh reality is that race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability status and related categories all continue to determine the life chances and well-being of people in Britain in ways that are unacceptable and, in many cases, unlawful. 21. According to the findings of the Race Disparity Audit, across the United Kingdom Black and Asian minority households and those in the “Other ethnic group” are twice as likely to be in persistent poverty as White households. 27 Asian and Black children (1 in 4) are much more likely to be in persistent poverty than White British children (1 in 10). 28 In 2017, the unemployment rate for Blacks in England, Scotland and Wales was more than twice as high as the national average of 4 per cent. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis experienced a 10 per cent unemployment rate, whereas the figure for Whites was just under 4 per cent. 29 22. In 2011–2013, children from Pakistani or Bangladeshi households (28.6 per cent) and Black households (24.2 per cent) were more likely to live in substandard accommodation than those in White households (18.6 per cent). 30 The Race Disparity Audit found that, in England in 2015–2017 Black African and Black Caribbean households were the ethnic groups most likely to rent social housing (47 per cent and 45 per cent respectively).31 The Equal Opportunities Committee of the Scottish Parliament found, in a 2013 assessment, that Gypsies and Travellers lived in “horrendous conditions”. 32 For example, the Committee observed that families paying rent to their local council were “expected to bathe young children in freezing cold amenity blocks with extortionate heating costs”. 33 The Committee also observed unacceptable conditions in some settlements, including “a putrid overflowing septic tank”, and wrote “that elderly and disabled people might have to go outside to a toilet block in the middle of a cold, winter’s night”.34 The Special Rapporteur’s own consultations with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities revealed that access to adequate housing solutions that respect ancestral nomadic traditions remain a major challenge across the United Kingdom, especially in Wales. 23. With respect to education, the situation is analogously grim. Race and ethnicity continue to have a significant impact on educational outcomes. The circumstances confronting Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are especially dire. In 2016–2017, Gypsy/Roma children, as well as children Travellers of Irish Heritage, had the highest rates of both temporary (“fixed period”) and permanent exclusions in England. 35 In secondary schools, over half of Traveller of Irish Heritage and 45 per cent of Gypsy/Roma pupils had fixed period exclusions. In special schools, such exclusions affected 51.24 per cent of Travellers of Irish Heritage and 31.94 per cent of Black Caribbean pupils. 36 24. The Race Disparity Audit found that, in England, “pupils from Gypsy or Roma backgrounds and those from a Traveller or Irish Heritage background had the lowest 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 See www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/static/race-disparity-audit-summary-findings.pdf, paras. 2.9 and 5.12–5.13, and www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/payand-income/low-income/latest. www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/pay-and-income/low-income/latest. www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/unemployment-and-economicinactivity/unemployment/latest. www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/healing-divided-britain-needcomprehensive-race-equality-strategy, p. 27. www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/housing/social-housing/renting-from-a-local-authority-orhousing-association-social-housing/latest. www.parliament.scot/S4_EqualOpportunitiesCommittee/Reports/eor-13-01w.pdf, para. 6. Ibid. Ibid. www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/absence-andexclusions/pupil-exclusions/latest. Ibid. 7