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[handwritten]
(for the UN Seminar held in Yugoslavia, 1965. PUSS represented the
U.K.) |
[official crest] |
HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM |
BACKGROUND
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Multinational origins of the community |
| 1. The United Kingdom, as befits the founder and leading member
of a multi-racial Commonwealth of Nations, is itself a multi-racial
and multi-national society. It comprises four distinguishable ethnic
groups - English, Welsh, Scots and Irish - each with its own historical
traditions and surviving customs, language, culture, even dress. Claims
to unique indigenous origins have been largely obscured during the
long process of integration but ethnic consciousness and the distinctive
symbols of nationality are still cherished. Into this long-established
plurality of peoples, national from many other countries have poured
from time to time, encouraged by a liberal immigration tradition and
driven on by outside pressures. In the Middle Ages Flemish weaver
and [handwritten], later, the Huguenots each formed a notable
influx, mere decades ago refugees from Nazi persecution came in large
numbers to settle. Over the centuries such tides of immigration have
been large and not infrequent. Above all they have been highly beneficial
to the British community and accepted as such in both the cultural
and economic fields by expanding and stimulating the commonwealth
of skill and creative talent. |
The sources and status of human rights |
| 2. The history of the United Kingdom contains few recorded attempts
to extirpate the distinctive identity of any of the four major ethnic
groups. For this reason amongst others perhaps, the acknowledgement
of human rights has not been based on the defence, or definition,
of the rights of subject minorities, but has broadly developed in
the spirit of the general British attitude to the law. Human rights
in United Kingdom are not based on any fundamental laws specially
entrenched, like the constitutions of some countries, against the
normal processes of repeal and amendment, nor is the constitution
enshrined in a single document. The general body of law is an amalgam
of common and statute law and of convention, to be found in a variety
of sources and authorities. This code, like the system of government
itself, is highly flexible. It can be readily adapted to contemporary
public opinion, and to new political, economic and social conditions
as and when they arise. |
| 3. This flexibility has engendered confidence in the system of government
and in the procedure by which laws are framed and passed, and this
in turn has increased respect for the law. In such a climate, enlightened
public opinion has been free to show that failure to respect human
rights would be contrary to public interest and against the public
will. The British people have thus developed an instinctive respect
for the individual side by side with respect for the law; they have
a tender conscience on the subject of minorities and a tradition of
sympathy towards the under-privileged; and they are willing to extend
to their fellow men those liberties and freedoms without which they
feel that existence would be of small account. The principles derived
from this conception of human values have been woven into the British
constitution and national way of life. Thus, in law, every individual
in the United Kingdom whatever his race, colour, sex, religion, political
or other opinion, or national or social origin, has a right to his
personal liberty; to access to the courts and the legal remedies available
there; to assembly and association for lawful purposes; to practise
and propagate his religion; and to reside or move where he will. The
British people feel strongly, however, that the vitality of civil
liberty is not to be measured only in terms of constitutional guarantees,
or court decisions enforcing them; it depends in the last analysis
upon the degree to which the public opinion of the nation values civil
liberty and demands its effective protection. |
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