Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/united_k.txu

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TITLE:  UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
        HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE


Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The many nongovernmental human rights organizations operate
with no government interference.  In 1973 the Government
established a Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights to
monitor human rights in Northern Ireland; but the Government
has declined to adopt many of its recommendations.

A number of international nongovernmental human rights
organizations, including Amnesty International, are based in
the United Kingdom.  The Government cooperates fully with
international inquiries into alleged violations of human rights.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

British laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race,
color, nationality, or national or ethnic origin, and outlaws
incitement to racial hatred; except that racial discrimination
is not specifically outlawed in Northern Ireland.  The
Government respects all the anti-discrimination laws.  In 1991
the Prime Minister announced that sexual orientation would not
longer be a bar to receiving a security clearance, but the
Ministry of Defense has continued to dismiss male and female
homosexual members of the armed services on grounds of
"incompatibility with the military services"; some 75 have been
administratively discharged every year on the basis of
information obtained in routine investigations by the Special
Investigations Bureau.

     Women

The law provides for equal opportunity as between the sexes.
An Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) supports persons who
bring discrimination cases before industrial tribunals and
courts, and it produces guidelines on good practice for
employers.  Employed women throughout the UK earned
approximately 25 percent less than their male counterparts in
comparable positions.

Although the UK has no written law specifically prohibiting
sexual harassment, the common law recognizes it as a valid
claim for unfair dismissal.  In August a court convicted an
employer of sexual harassment and two counts of sexual assault,
sentenced him to 18 months in prison, and awarded the victim a
record $53,720 (34,000 pounds).

The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act as amended in 1986 prohibits
indirect as well as direct discrimination in employment,
training, education, housing, and provision of goods and
services.  Industrial tribunals in 1994 ruled that the Ministry
of Defense had acted improperly in having required pregnant
soldiers, prior to a 1990 change in regulations, to quit or be
discharged.  The tribunals awarded the plaintiffs substantial
damages, the highest exceeding $460,000 (300,000 pounds); a
court later ruled that some of the awards had been excessive.

Women have equal rights regarding property and divorce.
Statistical and other evidence indicates that most victims of
violence are women.  The law provides for injunctive relief,
personal protection orders, and exclusion orders.  The
Government provides shelters, counseling, and other assistance
for victims of battery or rape, and it offers free legal aid to
battered women who are economically reliant upon their abuser.
It actively prosecutes perpetrators of domestic violence, and
the law provides for their imprisonment.  The courts have held
that nonconsensual marital sex can constitute a criminal
offense.  In 1994 London municipal authorities launched a "zero
tolerance campaign" to raise public awareness of the extent of
domestic violence, promote legislative change, and provide
adequate support to battered women and their children.

     Children

While there are no reliable data on child abuse, indications
are that it is a problem in the United Kingdom.

Various laws covering England and Wales stipulate that children
have the right to apply for court orders, to give or withhold
consent for medical treatment (for those capable of making an
informed decision), to make complaints to the relevant local
authority, to have their ethnic, linguistic, and religious
background considered in decisions affecting them, to have
reasonable contact with their family (usually applied in a
circumstance where there has been abuse), and in general to be
consulted regarding their desires.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has undertaken to
investigate possibilities for legislation that specifically
outlaws racial discrimination in that province; such a law
would fill the sole gap in the United Kingdom's legislated
prohibitions of discrimination based on race, color,
nationality, or national or ethnic origin.  The Secretary also
has undertaken to determine what more the Provincial Government
should do to promote equal treatment of ethnic groups.

A government-appointed but independent Commission for Racial
Equality (CRE) provides guidelines on good practice, supports
persons taking court action under the Race Relations Act of
1976, and may initiate its own court action.  After
investigating a complaint, the CRE may issue a notice requiring
that the discrimination be stopped.  The CRE monitors the
response to such a notice for 5 years.  In June the CRE
launched a campaign, "Uniting Britain for a Just Society," to
change attitudes throughout the Kingdom so as to make racial
discrimination socially unacceptable.

Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race,
persons of African or South Asian origin face substantial
unofficial discrimination.  An inquiry conducted by the Council
for Legal Education, a nongovernmental organization, found that
racial discrimination by barristers was a key factor in the
high failure rate among black students attempting to qualify
for the bar; the report recommended a series of reforms.
Several studies showed that ethnic minorities were less likely
to obtain jobs and mortgages and more likely to live in
overcrowded housing than were whites.  Members of Asian or
African minorities were also the targets of racial insults and
occasional "skinhead" violence.

Police recorded over 9,000 racial incidents in England and
Wales alone in 1993 (latest data), and a government report in
March estimated that, nationwide, the total including
unreported incidents was some 130,000 in 1993, which was double
the 1989 figure.  The great majority involved verbal abuse, but
there were also incidents of violence by skinheads.

In London's East End in early 1994, a series of nine apparently
racially motivated beatings of Asians by white males was
followed by two killings, by Asians, of white youths--a
13-year-old in February and a 12-year-old in August.  In the
first beating incident, police succeeded in promptly
identifying and arresting 5 of the 20 to 30 perpetrators.

     Religious Minorities

Although discrimination in employment on the grounds of
religious belief has been unlawful since 1976, it has continued
to occur in Northern Ireland, including at times by local
governments.  While active recruitment of Catholics to the
Civil Service has produced rough proportionality in overall
numbers, in 1992 the Northern Ireland Civil Service
acknowledged that Catholics remained significantly
underrepresented in the senior grades, and in November 1993 it
declared its intention to overcome this imbalance.

For a variety of historical and social reasons, the Protestant
community controls much of the local economy in Northern
Ireland, and anti-Catholic discrimination persists in the
private sector there.  Despite government efforts, the
unemployment rate there for Catholic men in 1994 remained 2 1/2
times that for Protestant men.  Government efforts to increase
recruitment of Catholics into the police force and related
security fields in the province have been hampered by
Provisional IRA assassinations and death threats, as well as
widespread antipathy there to the security forces.

The 1989 Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act as amended aims
to end even unintentional or indirect discrimination in the
workplace.  A Fair Employment Tribunal adjudicates complaints.
All public-sector employers, and all private firms with over 10
workers, must report annually to the Fair Employment Commission
on the religious composition of their work force, and must
review their employment practices at least once every 3 years.
Noncompliers face criminal penalties and loss of government
contracts.  Victims of employment discrimination may sue for
damages.  While critics of the Act have asserted that its
targets and timetables are too imprecise, most leaders of the
Catholic community have praised it as a positive step.  Still,
Catholics hope to strengthen it in 1995, when it is to be
reviewed by the Standing Advisory Committee on Human Rights.

     People with Disabilities

The UK does not have one overarching law which addresses the
rights of disabled people; instead, various pieces of
legislation provide for government assistance in education,
mobility, home care, and access to buildings.

Access to buildings is improving but inadequate.  Many
buildings are so old that they do not have elevators.  Since
1985, government regulations have required that all new
buildings meet the access requirements of all persons with
impaired mobility.  In June 1992 the Government effected
similar regulations for sensory-impaired persons.

Government regulations mandate that by 2000 all taxis be
accessible to wheelchairs.

A Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill, with provisions similar
to those in the laws against discrimination based on race or
sex, was defeated in Parliament due to concerns that its cost
to businesses would be prohibitive.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

Workers have the right to form and join unions, and the
Government fully respects this.  Unions participate freely in
international organizations.

Unions are free of government control.  Like employers'
associations, they must have their accounts certified by the
Government.  Senior union officers must be elected by secret
ballot.  The law mandates secret ballots before a strike call;
prohibits unions from disciplining members who reject a legal
strike call; and allows members to lodge complaints against
their union with a government-appointed commissioner.

There is no specific statutory "right to strike" in the UK.
Voluntary cessation of work may be considered a breach of
contract.  A system of legal immunities from prosecution for
unions engaged in lawful industrial action was narrowed by acts
of Parliament in the 1980's.  These acts exclude secondary
strikes and actions judged to have political motives; unions
encouraging such strikes are subject to fines and seizure of
their assets.  The legislation also restricts the ability of
unions to act against subsidiaries of prime employers with whom
they are in dispute when the subsidiaries are not party to the
dispute and are the employers of record.

In September 1993 the Council of Europe (COE) determined that
British labor law violated the European Social Charter by
permitting an employer to dismiss all employees who take part
in a strike and then, after 3 months, to rehire them
selectively.  The COE requested the British Government to
notify the COE of the measures to be taken to remedy this
defect, but the Government has not done so, as it has opted out
of the Charter.

Legislation in 1978 and 1990 made it illegal to deny employment
on the ground the applicant is not a union member.  The Trade
Union Reform and Employment Rights Act of 1993 abolished the
Wage Councils; set new procedural requirements for union
strikes, dues collection, and membership rules; and made it
possible for private citizens, when deprived of goods or
services due to strike action, to seek damages and to obtain
assistance for this from the Government.  An amendment reverses
a court ruling that had banned employers from offering workers
financial inducements to give up trade union representation.
The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) in 1993 lodged complaints with
the International Labor Organization (ILO) on various
provisions of the 1993 Act (see b., next); by year's end the
ILO had not completed consideration of these complaints.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Although there is no legal obligation for employers to bargain
with workers' representatives, and labor-management contracts
are not enforceable in the courts, collective bargaining is
longstanding and widespread, covering about 40 percent of the
work force.

The 1993 Act cited above abolished the Mediation Service's
mandate to promote collective bargaining; this was the subject
of another TUC complaint to the ILO.

Workers who believe themselves victims of antiunion
discrimination may seek redress through industrial tribunals.
Remedies available include payment of indemnities and
reinstatement.

Contrary to ILO Convention 98, on the right to organize and
bargain collectively, it is lawful for employers or others to
circulate blacklists of union members seeking employment.  In
May 1993 the ILO concluded that the British Government is
obliged to protect union members from such discrimination, but
the Government has not responded to this.

Export processing zones do not exist.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited and is not practiced.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

School attendance until the age of 16 is compulsory.  Children
under age 16 are not permitted to work in an industrial
enterprise except as part of an educational course.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

There is no legislated minimum wage.  The Trade Union Reform
and Employment Rights Act of 1993 abolished the wage council
system, which prior to September 1993 had established minimum
hourly wages and overtime rates for adult workers in 26
low-wage industries.  The United Kingdom has no legislation
limiting daily or weekly working hours.

The Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 requires that the
health and safety of employees not be placed at risk.  A Health
and Safety Commission effectively enforces regulations on these
matters, and may initiate criminal proceedings.  Workers'
representatives actively monitor the enforcement.