§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what obstacles remain to his signing the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. [160322]
§ Mr. BattleThe UK ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1986 and is fully committed to its implementation. The Optional Protocol to the Convention was opened for signature on 10 December 1999. In 1999, following a review of our obligations under international human rights treaties, the Government concluded that priority should be given to the Human Rights Act 1998. The Government would prefer to give the Act, which has been fully in force only since 2 October 2000, longer to bed down before returning to the question of whether our citizens need an avenue of complaint to the UN human rights committees. The Home Secretary has said in a recent letter to the Law Society that we can return to the issue later in the year, but cannot give a precise timetable just yet.