Barking and Dagenham Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement, Cllr Saima Ashraf has won the Local Authority Upstander Award at the NO2H8 Awards 2022 Ceremony.

The awards evening, which took place recently, saw Cllr Ashraf win the award for the fantastic work she has done to lead the council in tackling hate crime in the borough.

In the first ceremony since the Covid-19 pandemic, the No2H8 Crime Awards honour those individuals and organisations who stand against hatred, prejudice and intolerance. These are annual awards that go through a public nomination process and through two national judging panels.

Councillor Ashrafsaid: “I’m really proud to receive this award and I am over the moon that our work to prevent hate crime in Barking and Dagenham is being recognised.

“Nobody deserves to experience hatred and we will continue to work hard to put a stop to it. I’d encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness of hate crime to report it.

Last month, Barking and Dagenham Council marked National Hate Crime Awareness Week where they held a number of online training and discussion events as well as an information day with partners at Barking Town Hall.

The awards ceremony took place in London on Thursday 17 November.