United Kingdom

Christian Hoteliers in the UK Must Not Discriminate Against Homosexual Customers

London, 6 December 2013

On 27 November 2013, the UK Supreme Court issued its judgment in Bull and Another v Hall and Another, in which it ruled on whether Christian hotel owners discriminated against homosexual civil partners through a policy to only let double rooms to “heterosexual married couples”. In a decision which robustly defends the rights of same-sex couples to equal access to goods, facilities and services, the Court held that the policy directly discriminated against civil partners whose status, aside from their sexual orientation, was indistinguishable from that of married couples.  

UK Court Allows Deprivation of Citizenship in Contravention of 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

London, 30 May 2013


On 24 May 2013, the UK Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in the case of B2 v The Secretary of State for the Home Department, overturning a ruling of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The Court, in deciding whether the deprivation of the respondent’s nationality following allegations of involvement in terrorism related activities would result in making him stateless, erroneously held that it would not, despite confirmation from the competent authorities in Vietnam (the only other country to which B2 had a potential claim to a nationality) that B2 was not a Vietnamese national. 

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.

ERT Opposes Narrower Mandate for Commission and Calls for Prohibition of Caste-based Discrimination

London, 19 April 2013 
 
The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) has today urged members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom to resist an attempt to narrow the mandate of the Equality and Human Rights Commission by voting for amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012-13 (the Bill). 

ERT's letter calls on members of the House of Lords to insist on amendments to the Bill, which would retain the "general duty" of the Equality and Human Rights Commission provided under section 3 of the Equality Act 2006. ERT has also called on the House of Lords to back amendments introducing protection from caste-based discrimination. 

The UK Takes Decisive Step to Better Protect Stateless Persons

London, 11 April 2013

On 6 April 2013, the UK became the latest country to implement a statelessness determination procedure. Despite there being 77 states that are party to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and all states having international human rights obligations which extend to stateless persons, less than ten have procedures in place to identify stateless persons in their territory, a first step to protection. ERT therefore welcomes this important development and the underlying commitment of the UK to the protection of stateless persons.

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