Kiwis need to do more to foster inclusiveness following Christchurch terrorist attack: Islamic Women's Council

June 14, 2019

Spokesperson Anjum Rahman says good progress has been made since March 1, but there's still a long way to go.

Kiwis need to do more in the areas of inclusion and diversity following the Christchurch terrorist attack, says Islamic Women's Council spokesperson Anjum Rahman.

Mrs Rahman, who was recently made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to ethnic communities and women, told TVNZ1's Breakfast that good progress had been made since the deadly March 15 shootings, but there is more to do.

She said the Islamic community felt a sense of urgency around increased security risks but maybe weren’t able to convey them well enough to authorities.

"I hope that the country is still feeling that they need to do more work in this area (diversity and inclusion) to make sure we aren’t allowing our kids to be radicalised in any direction," she said.

"That we are learning how to get along with each other and fostering better relationships with each other."

Mrs Rahman was encouraged by many of the measures bought in by Government to combat racism and Islamophobia since March 15 but warned that there was no shortcuts.

"I understand last week they announced some training of teachers around racism, so I can see there is stuff happening," she said.

"What I would like to see and what I’m working on myself as well is a co-ordinated approach, like a national strategy around this so we take a broad overall picture of what’s needed and then we make sure we are working systematically through the various areas that need work."

"The thing is there isn’t a short-term fix to this, there isn’t one magical solution that we can just do and it will be fixed, this involves long-term and sustained effort.

"I hope Kiwis will be in it for the long run and I think a lot of them are, it’s just keeping it at the front of your mind, that we have to keep having conversations."

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