European Convention on Human Rights

HC Deb 03 July 2000 vol 353 c6W

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols, with special reference to those parts which some EU member states have not agreed to ratify. [127995]

Mr. Hain

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Convention has now been ratified by all 41 member states of the Council of Europe. It has become the Europe-wide standard for fundamental rights and freedoms providing, as its founders hoped, cohesive values and a bulwark against tyranny. In the UK, the Human Rights Act 1998, which comes into force on 2 October 2000, will enshrine in UK law the guarantees provided by the Convention.

Since the Convention's entry into force, a series of additional protocols have been adopted. Where these elaborate the rights set out in the Convention or add new rights, they are optional. Like other EU and Council of Europe states, the UK keeps under review its position with regard to those protocols it has not already ratified.