Racist attacks in the North have risen sharply, according to a report released at the weekend.
The survey, the first of this type, covered the years 1996 until 1999. The study was ordered by the Equality and Social Need Division of the Office of First and Deputy First Minister and are based on police statistics.
The report suggests that race-motivated crime is rising, but the figures may also be influenced by a willingness of victims to report to the police and acceptance by police officers of the need to respond.
There were 357 incidents recorded between 1996-99, but 269 between 1999 and 2000. The proportion of incidents involving children rose from around 8 per cent to 16 per cent by 1999.
The reality could even be worse than the figures suggest, the report says. "The fact that these figures include no reference to harassment experienced in schools or hospitals, no incidents reported by any other statutory, community or voluntary body, and few incidents reported by members of the Travelling community, suggests that the current total represents a considerable under-documentation of the true scale of racist harassment experienced by all minority ethnic communities."
No ethnic group has remained unaffected but Indian and Pakistani communities have suffered most. About half of recorded incidents took place in Belfast, especially in the south and north, and most were likely to take place in Protestant areas of the city.