Submission from Julian Griffiths, Bermuda
The term "racial discrimination" shall
mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based
on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has
the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural
or any other field of public life. (UN definition).
The UN defines racism as, among other things,
discrimination based upon national origin. The EU uses similar
language and I believe that the UK government has supported both
these definitions.
If one applies these definitions the laws and
regulations of Bermuda are racist as they allow the Bermuda Government
to discriminate against a large part of its population by denying
them status or equality; even to British citizens who have been
in Bermuda for 20 or 30 years or longer. These people are denied
basic human rights including, but not limited to:
2. The right to be treated equally under
the tax system.
3. The right to own a home on an equal footing
(basically denying the vast majority of them the right to own
a home).
4. The right to own a business.
Worse, all these rights are denied to children
born in Bermuda after August 1989 if their parents are not Bermudian
even though they may have lived all their lives in Bermuda. By
extension this situation could lead to stateless people in the
next generation.
Past British Governments are complicit in this
discrimination as they are responsible for the Governor who signed
the laws that permit these inequities to happen and because they
had and have the authority to ensure that it does not happen.
The British Government gave Bermudians full
British citizenship including the right of abode and, as a result,
equal status in Europe without ensuring that other British citizens
are treated equally in Bermuda.
19 March 2008
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