HL Deb 29 March 2004 vol 659 cc127-8WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean of 9 March (WA 155), when they expect that each of the British Dependent Territories which do not have guarantees of human rights in their written constitutions will gain such guarantees. [HL1902]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)

The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and St Helena are in the process of reviewing their constitutions. We regard it as essential that human rights provisions are included in their revised constitutions, and for this purpose we have provided the territories with a model human rights chapter.

As the British Virgin Islands have only recently established a Constitutional Review Committee it will be some time before the government of that territory are in a position to submit their proposals for a revised constitution. Agreement has not yet been reached with the Government of the Cayman Islands on the inclusion of human rights provisions in their revised constitution, but we remain committed to that objective. In respect of St Helena, we have agreed with the territory's government on the inclusion of human rights provisions in their revised constitution and it is our objective that the new constitution should be in place by July 2005.

In respect of Pitcairn, to date human rights provisions have been taken as forming part of the territory's law. The possible application of the UK Human Rights Act to Pitcairn is currently one of the issues before the Pitcairn Supreme Court, but no decision on the matter has yet been made.

We are working to ensure that relevant provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights are extended to the sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The target date for implementation is 1 May 2004.

Since the other territories which do not have guarantees of human rights in their written constitutions do not have a settled resident population, the inclusion of such guarantees of human rights in their written constitutions would serve no purpose.