What to do about racism?

A panel thrashed out the topic for three hours at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and it's a debate that is far from over.

A high powered panel shared their views, with Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery who believes criminalising racism isn't the answer and that many other factors should also be taken into account.

"We've got to take steps as we have tried to address the imbalances of the past. We can debate those steps and what more can be done, but it's one element that needs to be taken into account. Another element is a more positive aspect and that would be in the national action plan which is trying to deal with racism and xenophobia to look at introducing positive policies in the different sectors and then setting up a mechanism to monitor them," he said.

He urged more discussions and debates on how to deal with the matter.