HL Deb 06 November 2003 vol 654 cc134-6WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many member states of the Council of Europe have ratified the Fourth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights; and which member states have not ratified the protocol. [HL5019]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

Thirty-seven member states of the Council of Europe have ratified Protocol 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They are as follows:

  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
    • WA 135
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • San Marino
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Sweden
  • FYR Macedonia
  • Ukraine

The following four countries have not ratified Protocol 4:

  • Serbia and Montenegro
  • Spain
  • Turkey
  • United Kingdom

and the following four countries have yet to sign this protocol:

  • Andorra
  • Greece
  • Liechtenstein
  • Switzerland

Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the explanation by the Baroness Chalker of Wallasey in a Written Answer on 12 November 1996 {WA 92) for the Government's decision not to ratify the Fourth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, namely that "Her Majesty's Government believes that Article 3(2) of the Protocol could conflict with the United Kingdom immigration and nationality legislation by giving British Dependent Territories Citizens, British Overseas Citizens, British Subjects and British Nationals Overseas a right of entry to the United Kingdom that they no longer possess", no longer applies given that the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 has given these categories of British citizens a right of entry into the United Kingdom.[HL5020]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

There is still conflict. The Immigration Act 1971 restricts the right of abode in the United Kingdom to British citizens and to a residual class of other Commonwealth citizens who had that right before 1983. The right to registration as a British citizen under Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981, as inserted by Section 12 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, is a conditional one. The individual must make an application to the Secretary of State and demonstrate that he possesses certain qualifications as specified in the Act. The requirements are that the applicant is either a British Overseas citizen, a British subject under the 1981 Act or a British protected person, and has no nationality or citizenship apart from the qualifying British status, and has not, since 4 July 2002, "renounced, voluntarily relinquished or lost through action or inaction any citizenship or nationality".

British Nationals (Overseas) are entirely outside the scope of the provision.

British overseas territories citizens—as British Dependent Territories citizens are now known—are also not covered by Section 4B. However, most of these were given British citizenship by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.

I should also mention, for the sake of completeness, that certain other provisions of the protocol may be incompatible with our arrangements for issuing passports and with Armed Forces discipline.