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Ministers can't ignore human rights issue Bethan Jenkins AM has called upon UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey to rethink Government plans for S4/C after an influential scrutiny committee in the House of Lords questioned whether the proposals might prevent Westminster from meeting its human rights obligations. The Human Rights Joint Committee's seventh report, detailing Lords' scrutiny of a number of pieces of legislation including the contentious Public Bodies Bill, and how they might affect human rights protection, says: The UK has obligations under Article 9 of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, to facilitate access to information and media in minority languages. In the past, the UK has referred to the role of S4/C in meeting this obligation. Any changes to S4/C might prompt members of either House to ask the Government how it intends to meet the obligations in Article 9 of the Convention in practice, despite any reform. Bethan, the Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales West, and chair of the Cross Party Group on Human Rights in the Assembly, said: I urge the Minister to consider this very carefully, because it ties in the changes to S4/C directly to the Government's human rights obligations under the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, that it must provide ways of allowing media and information to be accessed through languages like Welsh. To date, Mr Vaizey and his Cabinet colleagues have remained unmoved by Welsh arguments against the Government's proposed reforms. But this is different. This points to a potential legislative minefield for the Coalition. The last thing anybody wants is for the channel to move forward under a blizzard of law suits. I see this as a possibility, because people in Wales remain very angry over the Government's plans for S4/C and the way it is going about implementing them. Litigation remains an option, and Mr Vaizey's reported refusal to meet with Welsh Government counterparts has only raised tensions even further. We all want an S4/C properly purposed for the 21st Century and at the heart of the community it serves. Any chance of a sensible debate around these issues has been drowned out by the din of battle. If the Government ignores the Lords' concerns, this could only get worse.
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