§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the question asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 19 November (HL Deb. col. 978), how they define the crime of "xenophobia" as listed in Article 2 of the proposed European Union arrest warrant directive. [HL1518]
§ Lord RookerThe term "racism and xenophobia" as listed in Article 2 of the framework decision on the European arrest warrant is a generic description. It is a decision for the issuing state as to how it frames the offence under its national law when it makes a request under a European arrest warrant.
If the United Kingdom were making an extradition request for offences under the heading of "racism and xenophobia", we would do so in terms of our law on incitement to racial hatred, racially aggravated offences and racial discrimination under the Race Relations Act, where a sentence of at least 12 months applied. All of these offences are drafted in terms of behaviour directed against members of a racial group. A racial group is defined as a group of persons by reference to colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins. In that sense our existing race hate laws cover hatred motivated by xenophobia.