Dec 15th 2009 - Restrictive measures, rights of individuals following Lisbon

Delivered by Derek Clark on 15 December 2009

Tags: Lisbon, Sikhs, Kirpan, Treaty

Speech to Parliament Dec 15th 2009 Oral question,- restrictive measures, rights of individuals following Lisbon Like charity rights begin at home.

I ask about the rights of European Sikhs. Because they wear the Kirpan, a small ceremonial dagger within their clothing, they have been prevented from entering the Parliament buildings. The Kirpan is an article of faith which they may not remove, so their exclusion is a matter of religious and racial intolerance.

In successive years I wrote to each of the two previous Presidents of Parliament, and the commission, who all replied that the exclusion is on security grounds President, in celebrating her diamond jubilee Queen Elizabeth came to my region, the East Midlands, where in their place of worship in Leicester she talked to Sikhs, all wearing the Kirpan, standing as close to them as you are to your colleagues.

I am minded to speak on this today because a month ago I was at the Palace of Westminster. There, in our democratic Parliament, very close both to the House of Lords and to the House of Commons, I met several Sikhs all wearing the Kirpan. With them was a leading Sikh I have come to know. His forebears stood shoulder to shoulder with my forebears, fighting for democracy in those conflicts which have so disfigured Europe.

As a result you and 700 others have the freedom to come from the four corners of Europe to meet in this place. So what of the Lisbon treaty which speaks of a Union founded on respect for freedom, equality, the rights of minorities, values of non-discrimination. Will you live up to your treaty, or is it just empty words? Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg 15th December 2009 Footnote.

Baroness Ashton, summing up and speaking as the High Representative, said," The European Court of Justice will ensure that the rights of individuals will be protected". She did not say this in answer to my comments, nor did she refer to what I said, but rights are rights.