In their long awaited draft UK Framework Convention Compliance Report, the Westminster Government have once again shied away from including the Cornish under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

As has been reported previously on the Celtic League news site, the report is almost three years overdue of the Council of Europe deadline.

The report states:

Since the UK government ratified the FCPNM, a number of Cornish organisations and individuals have made representations to the Government arguing that the Cornish should be considered within the scope of the FC's application in the UK.

The Government therefore included these organisations in its consultation prior to the preparation of this 2nd report under the FC. The Government has considered the arguments put forward for the inclusion, but has not been convinced that a move away from the RRA formula can be justified.

This means that the Government is sticking to its belief that the Race Relations Act (RRA) is the only possible recourse for an ethnic group in the UK to be included under the Framework Convention. In other words, it implies that a Cornish individual must bring and win a civil court case in order to be included under the Convention, like the Welsh and the Scottish have done in the past for example.

However in the Compliance Report itself, mention is made of minority ethnic groups (e.g. Chinese, Black people), who the government indicates receive official support as per the Convention (FCPNM), but do not have RRA case law references either.

It seems that the Westminster Government is unclear about its own criteria.

Campaigners have until 20 January 2007 to recommend ant changes to the draft document, an electronic copy of which can be obtained by contacting neil.harris [at] ...

Recommendations should be sent to:

Mr Ian Naysmith Race Legislation & International Team Home Office 1st Floor, Seacole Building Home Office 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

Tel: 020 7035 3732

Fax: 0870 336 9059

Ian.N aysmith [at] ...

Alternatively Phil Woolas MP is the Minister for Local Government and Social Cohesion and the Secretary of State is Ruth Kelly MP and can be contacted at the following addresses:

Department for Communities and Local Government Eland House Bressenden Place London SW1E 5DU C ontactus [at] ...

It is recommended that any correspondence with be copied to:

Mr Antti Korkeakivi Executive Secretary Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights - DG II Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and of the DH-MIN F - 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Tel +33 (0) 3 90 21 44 33 Fax +33 (0) 3 90 21 49 18

antti.korkeakivi [at] ... AND

Ms Elena JURADO Administrator elena.jurado [at] ...

(Report prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

20/12/06

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