I wrote a speech which I was to deliver to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Tuesday 25 April 2023. Sadly I was unable to personally deliver this speech, but the text of it was submitted to the Assembly and is as follows:
Debate: European Convention on Human Rights and national constitutions
Mr Jeremy CORBYN (United Kingdom, SOC): (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2)
“I am very grateful to Mr George KATROUGALOS for his presentation today and the excellent draft resolution that is before us.
This debate goes to the very heart of the whole principles of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.
They were both far sighted creations of a post-war generation determined to protect human rights across Europe and have had a very beneficial effect on the rights of citizens and organisations all across our continent.
In the UK the 1998 Human Rights Act fully enshrined both the conventions into UK law and the case law from the European Court of Human Rights.
It is sad to say this to the parliamentary assembly today, but the current British government is moving in exactly the opposite direction by its constant criticism and undermining of the principles of the convention and is now proposing to parliament that Britain limits its acceptance of judgements. I strongly support para 18.3 of the motion which asks, ‘all governments to refrain from taking any steps that could exacerbate any potential conflict between the national constitutional order and the European Court of Human Rights’.
The background to this is the Government’s attempt to remove asylum seekers from Britain to an uncertain future in Rwanda on the back of a disgraceful media campaign against people who themselves are victims of wars and human rights abuses who are trying to obtain a place of safety in Britain.
Let’s be clear, at the centre and heart of his debate being promoted by the British government is a populous attack and on desperate asylum seekers and refugees.
Similarly desperate people are trying to obtain a place of safety in many other European countries. None have resorted to the methods of the British Government, and I hope they never do.
Our role as the parliamentary Assembly is essentially to support and uphold the convention on Human Rights and the role of the court of human rights in setting a benchmark of good quality decisions. In the past two days we’ve heard from our own human rights Commissioner, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, and from our own Committee Rapporteur on the importance of this work. Let’s resolve today to defend human rights and not let the populist and frankly racist language being used against asylum seekers dominate our Assembly here today.”
You can see this contribution on the PACE website here:
Verbatim of Tuesday 25 04 2023, Afternoon (coe.int)
And you can see all my contributions to PACE here:
