§ Lord MELCHETTasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they place equal importance on the decision of the European Commission on Human Rights in the Dudgeon case, where the decision went against the British Government, and the decision of the European Commission on Human Rights in the case brought by four prisoners complaining of their treatment while imprisoned in an "H" block of the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, where the decision was substantially in the Government's favour, and which the Government "have noted with satisfaction" (Official Report, Vol. 411, column 1994).
§ Lord ELTONThe Government attach importance to all decisions by the European Commission of Human Rights, but the commission's findings in respect of the two cases referred to by the noble Lord have a somewhat different status. In the case brought by four prisoners who have been engaged in the "dirty" protest at Her Majesty's Prison Maze, the commission declared inadmissible the great bulk of their application, including in particular their complaints under Articles 3 and 9 of the convention. This decision is final and that part of the case is now closed. In theDudgeon case, however, the commission, having decided that the complaint was admissible, prepared a report on the case, which it has now referred to the European Court of Human Rights for a final decision on whether the convention has been violated. The case is therefore continuing.