ABSTRACT
The Parekh Commission – short for the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain – was established by the Runnymede Trust in January 1998, 'to consider the political and cultural implications of the changing diversity of British people'. The Bouchard-Taylor Commission clearly rejected a 'very rigid system of secularism', which would not 'acknowledge any obligation to accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of minority groups', and recommended, much like the Parekh Commission, a substantive notion of equality in which reasonable accommodation would hold a key place. The Parekh Commission was forthright in recommending a legal duty of reasonable accommodation on the grounds of religion or belief in employment and beyond. The Parekh Commission took stock of the practical and theoretical concerns surrounding the introduction of laws protecting against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief but provided solid counter-arguments. The general approach adopted by the Parekh Report and the Stasi Report is strikingly different.
