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SUMMARY:
UK GOVERNMENT EXCLUDE ULSTER-SCOTS FROM COUNCIL OF EUROPE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES. IRISH AND WELSH ALSO LIKELY TO BE EXCLUDED. CORNISH ALREADY EXCLUDED.
BACKGROUND:
THE UK
SHOULD HAVE FORWARDED ITS SECOND, COUNCIL OF EUROPE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION
for the PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES, COMPLIANCE REPORT TO THE COUNCIL OF
EUROPE IN READINESS FOR THE IMPORTANT C OF Eu ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING OF
20TH FEB 2007.
FOR TEN
YEARS THE GOVERNMENT HAS INSISTED THAT ONLY THOSE UK MINORITY GROUPS WHO ARE
DEEMED ‘RACIAL GROUPS’ BY THE COURTS ARE INCLUDED WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE
CONVENTION.
GOVERNMENT ACTIONS TO DATE SUGGESTED THAT THE ULSTER-SCOTS, WELSH AND IRISH ARE INCLUDED BECAUSE THE COURTS HAVE RULED THEY ARE ‘RACIAL GROUPS’. CONVERSELY, GOVERNMENT SAY, AS THE COURTS HAVE NOT RULED THAT THE CORNISH ARE A RACIAL GROUP, THE CORNISH MUST STAY EXCLUDED.
THIS PROMPTED CORNISH CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP 'CORNWALL 2000' TO INVESTGATE THE SITUATION, WHICH IN TURN LED US TO COMMENCE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE UK GOVERNMENT IN THE HIGH COURT. BUT WHY?
PAGE 8
OF THE DRAFT REPORT STATES THAT THE GOVERNMENT MUST STICK BY ITS ALLEGED
RACIAL GROUP FORMULA FOR INCLUSION. THEY SAY THAT TO DO OTHERWISE WOULD BE
TO ALLOW ADMINISTRATORS TO “PICK AND CHOOSE” WHICH GROUPS ARE COVERED.
SOUNDS FINE. THE TROUBLE IS, UNLIKE THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH, WHERE THE RACE RELATIONS ACT CASE LAW IS READILY AVAILABLE [NORTHERN JOINT POLICE BOARD V POWER 1997 IRLR 610 & BBC SCOTLAND V SOUSTER 2001 1RLR 150], IN SPITE OF REPEATED REQUESTS TO DO SO, THE UK GOVERNMENT CANNOT PRODUCE THE CASE LAW REFERENCES THAT DETERMINED THE WELSH AND IRISH TO BE 'RACIAL GROUPS' PRIOR TO 1999, WHEN THEY WERE FIRST INCLUDED IN THE CONVENTION. MOREOVER, THE UK COMMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY NOTIFIED US ON THE 14TH FEBRUARY 2007 THAT THE COURTS HAVE NOT YET RULED THAT THE WELSH AND IRISH ARE RACIAL GROUPS. THEREFORE THE APPLICABLITY OF THE CONVENTION TO THE IRISH AND WELSH IS IN SERIOUS DOUBT.
WHAT IS NOT IN DOUBT HOWEVER, IS THE FACT THAT THE UK GOVERNMENT HAS NOW FINALLY ADMITTED AT COMMENT 17 OF ITS DEFENCE PAPER LODGED WITH THE HIGH COURT ON 16 FEBRUARY 2007 THAT "THE ULSTER SCOTS ARE NOT A RACE RELATIONS ACT RECOGNISED GROUP". WHEN WE ASKED WHY THEY ARE INCLUDED WITHIN UK CONVENTION COMPLIANCE REPORTS, COMMENT 10 OF THE DEFENCE PAPER STATES "NOT ALL GROUPS MENTIONED IN UK COMPLIANCE REPORTS ARE RECOGNISED BY THE UK AS COMING WITHIN THE CONVENTION". GOVERNMENT STILL WILL NOT ADMIT IT, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE CONCLUSION TO BE DRAWN FROM THIS - THE ULSTER SCOTS, LIKE THE CORNISH, ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE CONVENTION.
HOWEVER, ANY STUDY OF THE UK COMPLIANCE REPORTS WILL SHOW THE UK GOVERNMENT TREATING THE ULSTER-SCOTS AS IF THEY ARE INCLUDED WITHIN THE CONVENTION, AND REFERENCES BY ULSTER-SCOTS MEP JIM ALLISTER ON HIS WEBSITE, AND MINUTED SPEECHES MADE BY ULSTER-SCOTS MP DR IAN ADAMSON ON THE FLOOR OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY, SUGGEST THAT THE ULSTER-SCOTS THEMSELVES SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT THEY DO COME UNDER THE CONVENTION.
THIS FALSE BELIEF HAS BEEN GENERATED BY GOVERNMENT VIA EVENTS SIMILAR TO THAT OUTLINED IN THE UK HOME OFFICE [JULY 2001] "RESPONSE TO THE CONVENTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE'S LIST OF POINTS". FOR WHEN ON PAGE 15 OF THAT DOCUMENT THE COMMITTEE ASKED WHAT MEASURES WERE BEING UNDERTAKEN TO HELP FRAMEWORK CONVENTION GROUPS "MAINTAIN AND DEVELOP THEIR CULTURE, AND PRESERVE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THEIR IDENTITY" THE UK GOVERNMENT SAID THAT IT HAD INVESTED £4.35MILLION IN "ULSTER-SCOTS LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT, CULTURE, EDUCATION AND PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF ULSTER-SCOTS ISSUES".
IN ORDER TO KEEP THE CORNISH OUT OF THE CONVENTION, THE UK GOVERNMENT HAS REPEATEDLY ASSERTED, SUGGESTED, OR OTHERWISE INFERRED [THROUGH COMPLIANCE REPORTS, PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH INDIVIDUALS/NGO'S/MP'S] TO PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND MORE RECENTLY TO THE HIGH COURT, TWO CONTRADICTORY CONDITIONS. THE FIRST BEING THAT THE WELSH, ULSTER-SCOTS AND IRISH ARE CONVENTION GROUPS. THE SECOND BEING THAT ALL CONVENTION GROUPS HAVE BEEN DETERMINED BY THE COURTS TO BE 'RACIAL GROUPS' UNDER THE UK 1976 RACE RELATIONS ACT.GOVERNMENT ALWAYS KNEW THAT ONE OF THESE CONDITION HAD TO BE UNTRUE.
FOR WHAT OTHER REASON WOULD MINISTERS GO TO SUCH LENGTHS TO DEPRIVE A SMALL HARMLESS MINORITY OF EQUAL TREATMENT?
WE ARE DUE TO MEET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE IN MARCH OF 2007.
**********
EVIDENCE:
CONTACT
DETAILS:
Cornwall 2000:
John
Angarrack, 45 Higher Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall. Tel 01208
76336
Email: mail@cornubian.eclipse.co.uk
GOVERNMENT:
Responsibility lies with Secretary of State for the Department of
Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly MP.
The operational section is headed by Helen Judge, Head of Race Equality Unit, Communites and Local Government, 7th Floor, Eland House, London SW1E 5DU.
Tel 020
7944 0538
Email ian.naysmith@communities.gsi.cov.uk
Email:
helen.judge@communities.gsi.gov.uk
COUNCIL OF EUROPE:
Mr Antti KORKEAKIVI
Executive Secretary
Secretariat of the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Directorate
General of Human Rights - DG II
Council of Europe
F - 67075
Email: antti.korkeakivi@coe.int
Tel +33 (0) 3 90 21 44 33
Fax +33 (0) 3 90 21 49
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