UK Government Abandons Attempt to Reduce Mandate of Equality and Human Rights Commission

London, 24 April 2013 
 
The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) welcomes an announcement made yesterday by the UK government that it will not seek to reduce the mandate of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and that it will introduce protection from caste-discrimination into UK law for the first time. ERT was one of a number of organisations which had called for the Commission’s “general duty” to be retained and which had advocated the introduction of protection from discrimination on grounds of caste. ERT argued that both were necessary to ensure conformity with the UK’s obligations under international law.

 
On Friday 19 April, ERT wrote to members of the House of Lords calling on them to insist on amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012-13, which would retain the “general duty” of the Equality and Human Rights Commission provided under section 3 of the Equality Act 2006. ERT argued that the general duty provides the Commission with a clear direction and allows the Commission to look broadly at issues involving human rights rather than focusing narrowly on questions of discrimination or disproportionate impact. 
 
ERT also argued strongly that section 3 fulfils the obligations of the United Kingdom under the Paris Principles relating to the status of national institutions to ensure that national human rights institutions are “given as broad a mandate as possible”. ERT proposed that removal of section 3 would put the UK’s ability to meet this criterion at risk, and thereby threaten the current “Status A” designation awarded to the Commission by the United Nations.
 
In addition to calling for the retention of the Commission’s general duty, ERT’s letter urged the House of Lords to insist on amendments which would prohibit caste-based discrimination for the first time in UK law. ERT’s letter pointed out that the introduction of protection from discrimination on grounds of caste would ensure that the UK complies with its obligations under international human rights law, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has made it clear that discrimination on grounds of caste is prohibited by the Convention. 
 
To read ERT’s letter to the members of the House of Lords, click here. 
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