HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF REPORT OF UNITED KINGDOM

Human Rights Committee
73rd session
18 October 2001
Afternoon





Calls, in Preliminary Findings, for a National Human Rights
Commission, Free-Standing Right to Non-Discrimination



The Human Rights Committee completed its consideration this afternoon of a fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, noting among its preliminary responses that the country could benefit from establishment of a national human rights commission, that currently there was no free-standing legal right to non-discrimination, that it was concerned by a large number of complaints charging racist behaviour by the police, and that aspects of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were not incorporated into United Kingdom law and that none of the Covenant was incorporated into the law of UK overseas territories.

The Committee, in remarks read out by Chairman Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati, cited among positive developments recent passage of a Human Rights Act, creation of a Human Rights Commission for Northern Ireland, and establishment of an independent mechanism for police complaints in Northern Ireland.

The panel's official conclusions and recommendations will be issued before the end of its autumn session on 2 November.

Earlier in the afternoon, a United Kingdom representative -- one of a 17-member Government delegation -- responded to the last of the questions put by Committee members in relation to human-rights matters in the United Kingdom's overseas territories. Henry Steel, Overseas Territories Consultant for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said among other things that the death penalty had been abolished in all overseas territories except for the Turks and Caicos islands, where because of a technicality it continued to exist for crimes related to piracy, but would soon be abolished; that corporal punishment in schools was allowed by the Governments of some territories, especially in the Caribbean, and the matter was sensitive, so that it would be difficult to persuade them to outlaw the practice; and that a state of emergency on Monserrat following volcanic eruptions in 1995-97 had had no effect on human rights.

The United Kingdom, as one of the 148 States parties to the International Covenant, is required to provide periodic accountings to the 18-member Committee on efforts to implement the Covenant's provisions. The country's fifth periodic report was introduced on Wednesday.

The Committee will reconvene on Friday, 19 October, at 10 a.m., to take up a second periodic report of Switzerland.


Discussion


HENRY STEEL, Overseas Territories Consultant for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, responding to questions put by Committee members, said some answers would have to be provided later in writing, since information would have to be sought from the territories. Documents referred to in a number of cases in responses given to written questions had been transmitted to the Committee Secretariat as noted in the UK's supplementary report, Mr. Steel said.

The death penalty had been abolished in all territories except in Turks and Caicos islands, where it still existed for piracy crimes because of a technical problem; it would soon be abolished there as well, Mr. Steel said.

The state of emergency following the volcanic eruptions in 1995-97 in Monserrat was in keeping with article 4 of the International Covenant, Mr. Steel said; even during acute crises following the eruptions, there was no need to derogate from the Constitution and hence no need to derogate from the Covenant; there had been no decline in the observance of human rights.

Women on Pitcairn Island were treated equally and in fact played a prominent part in public life, so far as that made sense when one talked about a community of 44 persons. Only men, it appeared, were appointed as elders of the church; he was not fully informed on church affairs on Pitcairn, but he knew of no formal bar to the appointment of women as church elders.

There was no discrimination against Spaniards in Gibraltar -- there was no discrimination against anyone there, Mr. Steel said. On St. Helena, for its part, there was legislation against racial discrimination consciously modelled on UK legislation; the general thrust of this legislation was not so much towards criminal process as towards prevention and removal of discrimination in the private sphere. If and when St. Helena's Constitution was modified to include measures on human rights, as anticipated, a provision would likely be added to fully cover discrimination, including in the public sphere.

Departure or removal -- just what happened was a matter of contention -- of civilians from the Chagos Islands, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territories, was completed in 1973, Mr. Steel said; the copra plantations for which these residents had originally come had closed and a large military base on the island of Diego Garcia made civilian residence there impracticable; most civilians had returned to their islands of origin in Mauritius or the Seychelles. A system requiring civilians who wished to go to the Chagos Islands to have permits, for which most requests were denied, including those of former copra workers, was challenged in the British High Court and overturned, and these populations were now allowed to return, but no provisions had been made for resettlement, since there was nothing there: no roads, no housing, no operating business. Whether resettlement would occur or be aided by the Government was yet to be determined.

Non-judicial corporal punishment in some of the overseas territories was a matter of considerable interest, Mr. Steel said; some had abolished corporal punishment in schools and some had not; in some Caribbean territories it was allowed, and this seemed to reflect a long-standing attitude in many Caribbean countries; it was a sensitive matter, and the UK would have to consider what persuasion it would be right and feasible to apply to the relevant Governments in efforts to get them to change the policy.

Removal of prisoners from small territories to serve long-term sentences in other countries, where there were prisons designed to hold such prisoners, was highly undesirable, the Government agreed, Mr. Steel said. The only territory where this problem existed was Monserrat, and the matter was being remedied. There was no indication that the Governments of territories imposed custodial sentences more often or with less justification than was acceptable, and as far as he was aware alternatives to custodial sentences were considered when appropriate.

A territory that decided against seeking independence could change its mind later, Mr. Steel said; the UK would remain open to such proposals.


Preliminary conclusions and recommendations

A number of preliminary conclusions and recommendations were read out by the Committee's Chairman, Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati. The panel's official conclusions and recommendations will be issued before the end of its autumn session on 2 November.

Mr. Bhagwati said, among other things, that the report was detailed, comprehensive, and thorough, although an update unfortunately had been submitted too late for translation into French and Spanish; that much progress had occurred since the UK's last report five years ago, including passage of new laws and the enactment of the Human Rights Act 2000 which gave effect to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights but did not give effect to International Covenant rights that were not reflected in the European Convention. It also was a matter of concern that the Human Rights Act had no status higher than standard law, meaning it could not be used to override domestic legislation that was in violation of it, although it was clear that the courts could use it as a guide to declare legislation illegal.

It was encouraging that a Human Rights Commission had been established in Northern Ireland, but a matter of concern that such commissions did not exist for the rest of the United Kingdom, Mr. Bhagwati said; a national human rights commission would be a valuable addition to existing commissions dealing with specific human-rights matters but not mandated to look at general human-rights concerns. It was further hoped that an independent mechanism for complaints against the police in Northern Ireland would be given greater powers to make it more effective. A large number of racist complaints attributed to the police in the UK was a matter of concern, Mr. Bhagwati said; a study had shown that non-white persons were five times as likely to be stopped and searched by the police, and it was hoped that training courses for the police in human rights could change attitudes and practices.


There was no free-standing legal right to non-discrimination, Mr. Bhagwati said, and existing common law was not a sufficient substitute. The Committee also was concerned about under representation of ethnic minority citizens in elected, Government and civil service posts, he said.

Unfortunately, the Covenant was not a part of the domestic law of UK overseas territories, and there was no human rights commission except in Bermuda, Mr. Bhagwati said; and it should be recommended that the Covenant be incorporated into the laws of these territories or that the UK Human Rights Act be extended to apply to those territories.




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