ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE EXAMINES REPORT OF UNITED KINGDOM
Press Release
RD/853
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE EXAMINES REPORT OF UNITED KINGDOM
19960306GENEVA, 4 March (UN Information Service) -- Claims of ill-treatment of ethnic minorities by British police and alleged racial bias in immigration control were among the issues raised this afternoon as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination took up a report from the United Kingdom. The report outlines the steps taken by that Government to give effect to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Committee members, meanwhile, cited reports from non-governmental organizations and other groups expressing concern about the treatment of members of ethnic minorities. One expert said there were serious allegations of police brutality resulting in deaths and injuries of detainees, affecting in particular persons belonging to black and other ethnic minorities. He associated himself with the concern expressed by the Human Rights Committee in its comments of July 1995 on the United Kingdom regarding the treatment of illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and those ordered to be deported.
Report of United Kingdom
In its thirteenth periodic report, the United Kingdom states that the complex and sensitive mechanisms in place to combat racism and discrimination have helped improve the position of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom. While noting that racial prejudice is diminishing among the white population generally and within the younger age group in particular, discrimination and hostility still exist, and some sections of the ethnic minority communities still have special needs which Government policies are designed to address.
The report describes the Race Relations Act 1976, which makes discrimination generally unlawful in employment, education and the provision of goods, facilities, services and premises. The Act also makes unlawful "indirect discrimination". The Act established the Commission for Racial Equality with duties to work towards the elimination of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations, and to keep under review the working of the Act. A second part of the report deals with the United Kingdom's dependent territories, and specifically Hong Kong.
Introducing the report, MICHAEL HEAD, Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Equal Opportunities and General Department, Home Office, said there had recently been some significant advances in measures to combat racial harassment in the United Kingdom, including legislative powers to make the publication or distribution of racist material an arrestable offence and to introduce a new offence of intentional harassment. The Government was also keen to ensure that all sections of society, including ethnic minority communities, had full confidence in the criminal justice system. There had been a steady increase in the numbers of racially motivated incidents recorded by the police. That was due to the greater readiness of the ethnic minority communities to report incidents to the police, and to steps taken by the police service to increase the reporting rate.
Anticipating concerns about the United Kingdom's current proposals on immigration and asylum, he said provisions of the Asylum and Immigration Bill before Parliament were based on the view that fair and effective immigration control was necessary for maintaining good race relations. The Government was concerned that asylum procedures were being abused, which was unfair to genuine refugees. The United Kingdom was taking action now to ensure that it did not become a target in Europe for undeserving applications. In no way could the proposed measures be interpreted as a form of racial discrimination.
He acknowledged that there had been some criticism of what was seen as the United Kingdom's refusal to sign up to a number of European Union proposals in the area of joint action against racism. The issues arising in that context had illustrated clearly the need to achieve a careful balance between allowing freedom of speech for individuals and making certain kinds of acts subject to criminal sanctions. After careful consideration, the Government had concluded that, as currently drafted, some of the proposed requirements would go too far. The United Kingdom had some of the most comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in Europe, but the country was still some way from totally eliminating discrimination and disadvantage.
STEPHEN WONG, Principal Crown Counsel, Hong Kong Government, said the second part of the United Kingdom report explained the position of Vietnamese migrants in the territory. Not a single Vietnamese had ever been turned away. The Comprehensive Action Plan agreed in 1989 under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as the best strategy for resolving the problem of the exodus had as a basic principle that those who had been determined to be non-refugees must return to Viet Nam. Hong Kong had given effect to this principle in June 1988. All those now in the territory had arrived after that date. They had been determined to be non-refugees. Some 48,000 of those who had arrived after June 1988 had returned to Viet Nam, 46,000 of them voluntarily.
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Discussion of Report
THEODOR VAN BOVEN, expert from the Netherlands and country rapporteur for the report, asked whether the competent bodies had the legal and administrative means and resources to monitor systematically what the report called the "most comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in Europe". How did the claim that the United Kingdom was strongly committed to working with other countries to tackle racism square with the information that the United Kingdom was the only member of the European Union to effectively block a draft joint action proposal relating to legal cooperation relating to racism and xenophobia?
Noting that only 1.5 per cent of the officers in the police force came from ethnic minority communities, he asked what measures were being taken to recruit more members of ethnic minorities. During visits to Brixton and Newham, it had been impressed upon him that there was a total lack of confidence in the police as a guardian against racist attacks. There were serious allegations of police brutality resulting in deaths and injuries of detainees, affecting in particular persons belonging to black and other ethnic minorities. Were those matters being effectively investigated?
It was disappointing that the United Kingdom had no plans to accept the Committee's competence to consider communications, under article 14 of the Convention, from individuals or groups under United Kingdom jurisdiction who complained of violations of the Convention, he said. Regarding asylum and immigration issues, he associated himself fully with the concern expressed by the Human Rights Committee in its comments on the United Kingdom last July regarding the treatment of illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and those ordered to be deported. The Human Rights Committee had referred in particular to the length of detention, the use of excessive force and the non-availability of legal representation. The United Kingdom's Joint Council on the Welfare of Immigrants had made it clear on the basis of hard figures that there was much racial bias in immigration control. The Irish living in Britain experienced substantial disadvantage, he said. Was there any policy response to this issue on the part of the Government?
He said the Hong Kong Bill of Rights prohibited racial discrimination only on the part of the Government and public authorities. Would the Hong Kong authorities rectify that lacuna by enacting legislation prohibiting racial discrimination by private actors? He recalled that both the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had expressed concern about the treatment of Vietnamese asylum seekers in Hong Kong, in particular with relation to long-term detention and the fact that their children were deprived of many of their fundamental human rights. Also, the violence employed by police and correctional services officers in carrying
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out forced repatriation raised many questions. What measures had been taken in response to those concerns?
Hong Kong's ethnic minorities of South Asian origin would effectively become stateless after 30 June 1997, when the territory would come under Chinese sovereignty, he said. They would not be entitled to Chinese citizenship or to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports, which would only be granted to citizens of Chinese origin. What would the United Kingdom do to solve that question in light of the provisions of both the Convention and the Geneva Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness?
Other experts requested further information on issues such as the application of the Race Relations Act in Northern Ireland; the effectiveness of the Government's Equal Opportunities 10-Point Plan and of the "single regeneration budget" in back and Asian communities. One member requested information on the case of 21 Punjabi women reported to have been exposed to radioactivity during experiments conducted two decades ago. She also asked about developments since the June 1995 riots in the community of Bradford which had involved mostly Muslim youth. Another recalled that the non-governmental organization Justice held that the Race Relations Act did not constitute a general prohibition of racial discrimination, as its provisions, among other things, did not apply to many Government services and facilities.
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