Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Violence in Leicester, August-September 2022

Terms of Reference

Purpose (Mission)

During August-September 2022, serious violence between South Asians from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds shocked the city of Leicester, East Midlands, a city often viewed as a model for community harmony and conviviality. The violence threatened to spread to other major cities in Britain, and it also had international repercussions.

The Independent Commission of Inquiry will investigate the reasons for the violence and community disharmony in Leicester in 2022. It will investigate the roles of civil society organizations, independent actors, and social media both in the fostering of and mitigating against such disharmony. The Commission will evaluate the response of the relevant statutory agencies to the violence and consider the impacts of the events. The Commission will make recommendations about local, national, and community-based strategies aimed at preventing such hostility and violence in the future. The Commission is committed to fully exploring the events, including their consequences and impact on people’s lives and on Leicester’s civil society. It is committed to exploring what needs to be done in the face of such violence and disharmony, including addressing injustice, potential abuses of human rights, and discrimination.

The initial idea for a Commission of Inquiry into the events and their causes arose through work and engagement with community groups in Leicester. Local groups expressed strongly, and in the spirit of community reconciliation, the need to understand why the violence occurred and what steps could be undertaken to prevent such violence in the future.

The Commission will:

1. Examine the circumstances surrounding the public disturbances of August and September 2022 and their aftermath, including:

• The factual context of these events, including an evidence-based chronology of key events before, during and after the disturbances

• The causes and key drivers of violence and disharmony

• The response of local statutory agencies prior to, during, and after the events

• The role of civil society, local associations, independent actors, and social media in these events, including in mitigating the violence and working towards community peace.

2. Hold public hearings in which it will:

• Consider carefully individual experiences from members of the public. Although the Commission will not make detailed findings on individual cases, those cases will inform its conclusions and recommendations

• Gather evidence from statutory and voluntary agencies

3. Make legal and policy recommendations about appropriate mechanisms for future prevention, including by identifying:

• Relevant principles of equality and non-discrimination

• Material principles of transitional justice and reconciliation relevant to its work

• Factors relevant to ensuring justice

• Examples of good practice

• Relevant lessons learned

4. Provide regular information about the work it has undertaken.

5. Produce a final report of its findings and recommendations in a timely manner and as soon as reasonably practicable.

Values

The Inquiry will strive to work in accordance with the following core values:

• Commitment to high-quality, independent, evidence-based, impartial, and objective investigation

• Commitment to principles of equality and non-discrimination

• The highest standards of professional conduct, including in designing the study, collecting data and other evidence, and in ensuring appropriate data security

• Commitment to participation of local communities

• Strengthening dialogue between groups and within civil society

• Transparency in communications before, during and after investigation, relating to the process and the findings

• Aiming for the widest participation of affected local organisations and people, including in making submissions to the Commission, and in the dissemination of its findings

• Sensitivity to any safety concerns for those engaging with the Commission, including protection of information and making available routes for submission and discussion that guarantee confidentiality and anonymity where necessary

• Working to avoid wherever possible the exacerbation of disharmony in its approach and methods of working

The Commission of Inquiry

Without prejudging any factors, the Commission’s scope of investigation is flexible and will consider relevant local, national, and international dimensions. The Commission is attuned to the complex, multi-layered dynamics that are relevant in situations of conflict, including in Leicester. The Commission’s approach is multi-disciplinary, reflected in its composition, structure, and methods of working.

The Commission will comprise several dimensions of activity, including:

• Legal and policy analysis and recommendations informed by the panel’s expertise in domestic and international human rights, anti-discrimination and equality law, as well as expertise in the conduct of public inquiries following situations of community conflict.

• An independent stream of academic research that will inform the Commission and which is sensitive to several institutional and geographical scales of analysis. The research will be conducted by two reputable universities and a team of researchers.

• A Leicester-based Advisory Group that will advise the commission on local issues of community concern, including recent and historic issues of discrimination and disadvantage, as well as relations within communities.

• Community and youth engagement and development work with Leicester organizations, including religious and community groups, youth clubs and organizations, and the education sector.

The Commission Panel

The Commission of Inquiry will be chaired by Juan Méndez, Professor of Human Rights Law at Washington College of Law, American University. Juan Méndez was United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He was also Special Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The Chair is a renowned, experienced international expert of independence and probity, and panel members were selected because of their independence, experience, and legal and academic expertise. The composition of the Inquiry panel reflects knowledge and expertise in law and policy, human rights, anti-discrimination, work in South Asian communities, and academic research methods.

Lisa Magarrell, a human rights and transitional justice expert based in New York who was an advisor to the community-based Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in North Carolina (US).

Subir Sinha, Reader, Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies.

Chetan Bhatt, Professor, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Suresh Grover, Founder and national coordinator, The Monitoring Group, a pre-eminent organization working against racism and discrimination since the late 1970s, and which played a leading role in several public inquiries, including the Stephen Lawrence, Zahid Mubarek and Victoria Climbié inquiries and numerous other campaigns.

Leicester Advisory Group

The Leicester Advisory Group, Umesh Patel, Naim Razak and others, are community experts who will advise the Inquiry on various local matters that might arise, including community relations, race equality, youth provision, policing, minority representation, data confidentiality and security.

The Commission of Inquiry will aim to produce its final report in 2024.

The Commission is supported by the Open Society Foundations through a grant made to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS). The Open Society Foundations has no influence over the methods of working, conduct, or findings of the Commission.