The Monitoring Group has been working in London for over 30 years.

Its history dates back to April 23rd 1979, when the far right group, the National Front were allowed to hold a public meeting in Southall, west London, a decision clearly taken to provoke the areas large Asian community in Southall. Around 20 far right supporters were escorted by hundreds of police officers, and a peaceful protest held by the local community in Southall resulted in over 700 people being arrested, hundreds of injuries and the murder of Blair Peach.

The campaign into the death of Blair Peach focused local people to examine the presence of racial attacks on local estates, and later the Golf Links Racial Attacks Group was set up to help families facing racial violence on the estate in the London Borough of Ealing.

The work of the group was mainly undertaken by volunteers who would visit the families and stay with them to act as independent witnesses to incidents of racist violence. The work of the Group quickly developed and within a year the Southall Monitoring Group was born.

The Southall Monitoring Group worked mainly in west London, but over time as it developed a casework portfolio from other parts of London the group decided to change its name to The Monitoring Group (TMG), reflecting its broad geographical remit.

Over the time TMG has been at the forefront of many of the campaigns, which have shifted and improved policy and practice for victims of racial violence and harassment in the capital. Its achievements include

•    Helping to develop a national focus on racial violence through its public interest campaigns including those for Blair Peach, Kuldip Singh Sekhon, Stephen Lawrence, Micheal Menson, Ricky Reel and Zahid Mubarek.
•    Helping families through three public major public inquiries that have helped improve policy and practice for tackling racism
•    Gaining recognition by many agencies in the criminal justice system and by victims for its victim focused advocacy service.
•    Developing innovative community empowerment projects to meet specific needs
•    Continuing to help thousands of families each year through its casework and Helpline service.

The London Project is now funded by London Councils and over the next three years (2009-2012) we will

1.    Develop the Helpline across each of the 37 London Boroughs to improve the consistency of reporting and recording racist violence.
2.    Develop a discussion forum to highlight the needs of the new arrivals/refugee group and the business sector to London Crime and Disorder Partnerships
3.    Continue to provide help and support to victims across the Capital through a advice service
4.    Develop our website to ensure victims can access quality information and link to their local crime and disorder partnership
5.    Set up forums with CDRP’s, Criminal Justice agencies and others to improve the services provided to victims across the Capital

For further information please contact

Heng Chin Goh

TMG London Project

28a Museum Street London WC1A 1LH

Tel 0207 636 6000