A member of the Kernow/Cornwall Branch of the Celtic League has taken part in the consultation process that is currently being undertaken by a European Academy to assess the impact of a European framework convention on national minorities.

The European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC) is inviting people belonging to national minorities, non-governmental organisations and experts working in the field of minority protection to provide their input into a study, which was launched in October 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). The aim of the study is to identify indicators that would help to review the impact of the FCNM in the legislative and political environment as well as in the field of the judiciary in member states of the EU.

Organisations like the Celtic League are being encouraged to forward information about the study to its members (in particular those from national minority groups) to provide their input in the study. The consultation process will end on the 31st March and those interested in taking part should send their comments to fcnm.consultation [at] ....

The Celtic League would like to invite its members therefore to take part in the consultation, especially those from the Cornish community, who still have no protection under the terms of the FCNM. The League has campaigned for the inclusion of the Cornish under the terms of the Convention, almost since its inception in 1998, when the (current) General Secretary of the League raised the issue with a Council of Europe representative behind the FCNM in Aabenraa, Denmark in 1999.

The full text of the letter sent by a Kernow Branch member to the EURAC for consideration in their consultation can be found below and the draft study can be viewed on the Council of Europe website ( (voir le site)

"The European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC)

Dear Sir/Madam

In response to your request for input into a study on indicators for assessing the impact of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) I would like to draw your attention to the position of the Cornish national minority which at present is refused recognition by the UK government for inclusion under the FCNM. No coherent reason has been forthcoming from the government as to this refusal.

The Cornish are an ethnic group and historic nation of the southwest of Great Britain. They have their own lesser used Celtic language, related to Breton and Welsh, more distantly to Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic. Alongside the Cornish language can be found specific sports and sporting tradition; Cornish music, dance and cuisine and a distinct political culture. These phenomena are all bound up together with a popular self perception as being other than English, as being Cornish Britons.

The ethnic data from the 2007 Cornish schools survey showed that 27% of children consider themselves to be Cornish rather than British or English. The results from the 2001 UK population census show over 37,000 people hold a Cornish identity instead of English or British. On this census, to claim to be Cornish, you had to deny being British, by crossing out the British option and then write 'Cornish' in the "other" box. This does not represent a mere clerical error or poorly thought through wording. This represents a denial of the right of the Cornish to describe themselves in terms of their identity. It might seem trite to complain about something that happened years ago, but the 2001 census will remain relevant until the next one (in 2011). How many more people would have described themselves as Cornish if they did not have to deny being British or if there had been a specific Cornish tick box? How many people knew that writing 'Cornish' in the "other" box was an option? This was extremely poorly publicised. How many ticked British but feel Cornish British would have been closer to the truth.

Over the last few years various Cornish groups and individuals have been campaigning for the Cornish to be recognised for protection under the Council of Europe's (CoE) Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). Such recognition would be a powerful tool to ensure correct treatment and protection of the Cornish national minority and its culture. The UK's Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in its shadow report on the FCNM produced on the 30th of March 2007 advised the government that the treaty could be extended to protect Cornish culture and also raised concerns about the lack of legal equality for minorities in the UK. Recently the Council of Europe has also suggested that the FCNM could be extended to include the Cornish.

This officially sanctioned silence on the existence of a Cornish identity must stop. Why will the government not ask the Office of National Statistics to include a Cornish tick box on the 2011 census? The 'Life in the United Kingdom' handbook, required reading for all who wish to immigrate to the UK, quotes the census heavily when describing the regions and ethnic diversity of the UK. Why are the Cornish not mentioned once? Why has UK government so far blocked all attempts at ensuring the Cornish are recognised under the FCNM and ignored the advice of the CRE and CoE?

In 2008 some decided that enough was enough and started to collect funds for a court action to challenge the governments' decision to exclude the Cornish from the FCNM. The purpose of the fund was to pay much of the costs involved in pursuing a legal action against the UK Government. The action was deemed necessary after government's constant, dogmatic and wholly irrational, refusal to include the Cornish within an international treaty designed to, among other things, introduce educational pluralism in their traditional homeland and thus bring to an end the forced assimilation of the Cornish people. Sadly not enough pledges of money where forthcoming. Even if £40,000 in pledges were collected this was deemed insufficient. For the latest news on the Cornish Fighting Fund visit their website at: (voir le site)

So it must be asked why the government is being so stubborn when it comes to giving the Cornish any form of recognition? Perhaps the answer rests in out constitutional subsoil.

Even if the UK government, Duchy authority, or history curriculum are loathed to touch the subject, Cornwall does in fact have a distinct constitutional history as a Duchy with an autonomous parliamentary legal system called the Stannaries. If you ask about the constitutional nature of the Duchy, if you are not ignored, then you will be told that the Duchy is a "well-managed private estate which funds the public, charitable and private activities of The Prince of Wales and his family. The Duchy consists of around 54,648 hectares of land in 23 counties, mostly in the South West of England". However this seems to fly in the face of the 19th century the legal arguments of Duchy officials, which defeated the UK Crown's aspirations of sovereignty over the Cornish foreshore. The Duchy of Cornwall at that time argued that the Duke had sovereignty of Cornwall and not the Crown. On behalf of the Duchy in its successful action against the Crown, which resulted in the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act of 1858, Sir George Harrison (Attorney General for Cornwall) made this submission:

That Cornwall, like Wales, was at the time of the Conquest, and was subsequently treated in many respects as distinct from England.

That it was held by the Earls of Cornwall with the rights and prerogative of a County Palatine, as far as regarded the Seignory or territorial dominion.

That the Dukes of Cornwall have from the creation of the Duchy enjoyed the rights and prerogatives of a County Palatine, as far as regarded seignory or territorial dominion, and that to a great extent by Earls.

That when the Earldom was augmented into a Duchy, the circumstances attending to it's creation, as well as the language of the Duchy Charter, not only support and confirm natural presumption, that the new and higher title was to be accompanied with at least as great dignity, power, and prerogative as the Earls enjoyed, but also afforded evidence that the Duchy was to be invested with still more extensive rights and privileges.

The Duchy Charters have always been construed and treated, not merely by the Courts of Judicature, but also by the Legislature of the Country, as having vested in the Dukes of Cornwall the whole territorial interest and dominion of the Crown in and over the entire County of Cornwall.

In the book "The Cornish Question" by Mark Sandford that was published by the Constitutional Unit, School of Public Policy, University College London in 2002 it states that - "The existence of the Duchy of Cornwall was once of constitutional significance, but is now essentially a commercial organisation". Considering that this commercial organisation is the largest landowner in Cornwall and claims to be nothing but a private estate and company, you would think it reasonable to expect there to be an official date of change-over from an official body of constitutional significance into a purely private commercial organisation.

The charters that created the Duchy, the first of 1337 being published in 1978 as Statutes in Force Constitutional law, give the Duke the powers of: "The King's Writ and Summons of Exchequer" throughout Cornwall. These powers of the Duke of Cornwall represent the powers of government and they are certainly not what you would expect from a simple private landed estate something. Research reveals that the public spirited Crown Estate provides cultural support and housing for the public everywhere in the UK except Cornwall. It is also subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Duchy of Cornwall is the analogous body in Cornwall but, in a departure from its historical role, it now claims to be a private estate with exemption from the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A stratagem designed to deter investigation into Duchy constitution and Cornish history perhaps?

In the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858 it states that the Duchy of Cornwall is a 'territorial possession' of Britain. So, sometime between 1858 and the present day, a territory of Britain transformed into a private commercial organisation, when, if at all, did this happen? When Cornish MP Andrew George raised questions on the 16th June 1997 about the affairs of the Duchy he was told that there is an injunction in the House of Commons that prevents such questions being raised.

In my opinion these are questions that should be deemed important enough to be answered by someone in authority, whether that authority is a Government office or the Duchy of Cornwall. Claiming a national territory and making it your own private business whilst denying the indigenous population its history and identity is no small affair. An attempt has been made to separate the Duchy of Cornwall, which is not subject to English tax legislation, from the territory of Cornwall, the argument being that the Duchy has a separate existence to the geographical area of Cornwall and holds property outside the area. The argument is spurious and flies in the face of the Duchy case of 1856. It seems no coherent description of the Duchy is available and all attempts to obtain a clear picture of this strange Janus faced body have been ignored. The Duchy of Cornwall Human Rights Association website explores these Cornish constitutional issues in much greater detail: (voir le site)

In present day Cornwall the playing field is tilted against the indigenous Cornish identity. The impression promoted is that the Cornish nation has only ever been an insignificant sub-division of some awe-inspiring, all-powerful, fully homogeneous, fixed and eternal England. With the English education system encouraging English nationalism in Cornwall at the expense of the indigenous Cornish identity, the exploitation of Cornwall has been acceptable to the state while the absence from English law of the international right to an enforceable equality before the law has protected the Duchy authority from an effective legal challenge. The result is that the Duke of Cornwall's fortune from Cornish assets continues to relieve England from paying tax to support the heir to the throne whilst all moves that would empower the Cornish, hence threatening the Duchy, have been stifled.

When the UK government and Duchy authority finally decide to be honest about the autonomous position of the Duchy of Cornwall within the UK perhaps then an open debate about recognition as a UK national minority can begin.

Yours faithfully"

Links:

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM):

(voir le site)

EURAC Consultation:

(voir le site)

(Article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League 24/01/09

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