§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government support the proposal that the European Community should become a signatory to the European convention of human rights; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggI have been asked to reply.
All member states of the European Community are parties to the European convention on human rights. We see no need for the European Community, as a legal entity, to accede separately to the convention. The European Court of Justice applies the convention in cases coming before it which raise issues of human rights.