Racial discrimination is when a person is treated unfairly because of their race. This may have the effect of making a person feel offended, humiliated, uncomfortable and/or intimidated, where a reasonable person would anticipate that reaction in the circumstances.
Race includes colour, nationality and citizenship, and ethnic or national origins. However, if a person is not part of a certain group it may still be seen as discrimination if someone discriminates against them because they think that they are. This is known as discrimination by perception.
Racial discrimination can be direct or indirect. It may also be experienced as a consequence of racial harassment or racial stereotyping, and could result in victimisation. Racial discrimination is not always deliberate. Race discrmination can be intentional or unwittingly applied but the impact on the victim should be the key. A person may exhibit discriminatory behaviours without realising it or meaning to, however this could still result in an incident of racial discrimination.
Race discrimination can take many different forms and all are unacceptable. Below is more information on examples of conduct which may constitute racial discrimination and are clearly unacceptable, however this list is not exhaustive. There is no requirement for the behaviour to be repeated or frequent, a single incident will constitute racial discrimination if sufficiently serious.