§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state (a) the number of breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights by the various States which are Parties; (b) their population sizes; (c) the dates of acceptance of the right of individual petition; and (d) any other relevant factors; so as to explain the basis of calculation upon which Baroness Blatch said (on 25 January, HL Deb., col. 1166) that the United Kingdom was fifteenth in the league table for breaches of the Convention; and for her further statement of 29 March, (Hi, Deb., col. 1697) that the United Kingdom is fourteenth in the league table.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyAll of the factors to which the noble Lord refers were taken into account in arriving at the "league table" positions referred to by my noble friend Lady Blatch on 25 January and 29 March. The change in the United Kingdom's position from 15th to 14th reflects more recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The relevant statistics as at 29 March 1995, as supplied by the Council of Europe, have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The widely varying characteristics of the States Parties preclude absolute comparisons, but the figures nonetheless provide a yardstick.