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Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, I am not speaking as a Back-Bencher and therefore I am perfectly entitled to make a full speech, if your Lordships please.
We shall not oppose a Second Reading, but if the Bill is given a Second Reading we will move an amendment to cover Muslims, Jews and Sikhs equally. We will also seek to place a strong protective fence around free speech. Words, behaviour, and so on abusive or insulting to a religious belief should not be treated as giving rise to an offence unless they are intended or likely to incite violence against individuals who hold that belief. That will ensure that the stirring up of hatred against religious groups such as Jews or Muslims will be unlawful but that the stirring up of hatred against Islam or Judaism or any other religion would be unlawful only if it were likely to stir up violence.
Broadcasting, plays, operas, films, novels and other works of artistic or literary merit and popular entertainment should be protected by the law against threats posed by the intolerant, the ignorant and the politically correct. There is also the chilling effect on free speech. We need to draw a bright line in the Bill rather than leaving it to the Attorney-General and the courts to draw the line.
Soli Sorabjee, Senior Council, the former Attorney-General of India, gave evidence to the committee of the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, as follows:
"experience shows that criminal laws prohibiting hate speech and expression will encourage intolerance, divisiveness and unreasonable interference with freedom of expression. Fundamentalist Christians, religious Muslims and devout Hindus would then seek to invoke the criminal machinery against each other's religion, tenets or practices. That is what is increasingly happening today in India. We need not more repressive laws but more free speech to combat bigotry and to promote tolerance".
We should heed that wise advice.
4.7 pm
Lord Mackay of Clashfern: My Lords, because of the position from which I was speaking I was perhaps unduly hurried by the clock, but I omitted to say that I
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would like to send warm wishes to the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, in her present situation. We hope that all will go well.
EU: Turkey and Croatia
4.8 pm
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I beg leave to repeat to the House a Statement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in another place.
"With permission Mr Speaker, I should like to make a Statement on the European Union's decision on Monday last to open negotiations for full membership with Turkey and Croatia. First, Turkey. Turkey is part of Europe. It was a founder member of the Council of Europe in the late 1940s, and was invited by the United Kingdom, France and others to join NATO as early as 1952.
"The prospect of European Union membership was first offered to Turkey some 42 years ago. That promise was repeated by the Union in ever more concrete terms in 1999 and in 2002. In December last year, and again in June this year, a specific start date of Monday last—3 October—was set. By that date Turkey was required to, and had, introduced a further six laws and had signed the protocol to the Ankara agreement. In addition, the Turkish Government had actively co-operated to encourage a "yes" vote from the Turkish Cypriots for the Annan plan to reunify Cyprus. So, over this summer, there was understandable bitterness and apprehension in Turkey as further obstacles appeared to be put in the way, and as some in Europe argued that Turkey should settle for less than full membership.
"The result was that nine days ago the European Union stood at a crossroads. It had to decide whether it would honour its commitment to Turkey and begin accession negotiations or whether it would turn its back on the Union's nearest and largest Muslim neighbour.
"In the event, and after 36 hours of almost continuous negotiations, I am pleased to say that agreement was reached in Luxembourg to enable negotiations to begin. And, happily, by sticking to what I described as 'presidency time', we were able to do so, just, within the 3 October deadline.
"The negotiations, which had begun many weeks earlier, were at times difficult and complex, and I am indebted to many heads of government and Foreign Ministers for the political courage they showed.
"I also want to express my gratitude to EU Commissioner Olli Rehn and High Representative Javier Solana and their staff, and not least to Sir John Grant, UK Permanent Representative to the European Union, Sir Peter Westmacott, British Ambassador to Turkey, and FCO staff in Brussels, Ankara, London and many other posts for their sterling efforts to secure this profoundly important result.
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"And I am grateful to this House for the consistent, all-party support which Turkey's membership of the EU has for so long received.
"There is no doubt that Turkey and Europe as a whole will benefit from this decision in equal measure. For Turkey, it represents another significant step on its long journey to becoming a fully European nation. The process will strengthen the wide-ranging reform programme already pushed through in recent years and it will give renewed impetus to further improvements to the rule of law, respect for human rights and democratic institutions.
"For the European Union it means that a close partner will be brought even closer. Turkey has long been key to the security of Europe as a whole. Turkey's economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe; it is already a major market for European Union exporters; and Turkey plays a vital role in the fight against international terrorism, cross-border crime and drug trafficking. By standing by our promise to Turkey, we will make the European Union stronger, safer and more competitive.
"But the decision on 3 October is even more significant than that. For more than 1,000 years, the boundaries between Europe and Asia have principally been decided through bloodshed and conflict. By welcoming Turkey with its large Muslim population, we are embarking on a new era in which it is manifest that Europe is not some exclusive Christian club, at best cold to its neighbours, at worst actively hostile. Instead, we are able to show that what binds this modern Europe together is a set of fundamental rights and freedoms combined with a common purpose, regardless of race or religion. This is a powerful message not only to the people of other faiths who live in neighbouring countries but also to the millions who already live within the borders of the European Union.
"I do not underestimate the challenges ahead. Some of those challenges are for Turkey. Turkey, like all candidate countries, has to align its legislation with the European Union's. This is an enormous task, which is broken down into 35 separate chapters. They cover issues from justice and home affairs through to economic policy and the environment.
"Some of the challenges are for Turkey's neighbours—Greece and Cyprus—as much as Turkey. The accession process holds out the clear prospect of a satisfactory resolution of a host of historic regional issues, including disputes over rights in the Aegean and over the reunification of Cyprus. Achieving these aims will require a positive approach by all concerned and a readiness to compromise. I have already spoken to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the circumstances in which he would deem it appropriate to restart his good offices mission in respect of Cyprus under UNSCR 1250. And I have also spoken to Enlargement Commissioner Olli
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Rehn about other measures which are needed—specifically the European Union's commitments to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
"And some of the challenges ahead are for Europe as a whole. This includes continuing in good faith to help Turkey to prepare for full membership of the European Union.
"Equally it means setting out clearly to our own citizens why having Turkey as a member of the European Union will bring direct benefit to them. We need to show that the greatest threat to our European culture and heritage comes not from opening our doors to a vibrant, secular nation like Turkey, but from closing in on ourselves and allowing Europe to stagnate in the face of global competition.
"Secondly, I turn to Croatia. At its meeting last December, the European Council decided that accession negotiations for Croatia should begin on 17 March. Croatia has made remarkable progress in recent years, and had been able to satisfy the EU Commission that it had met all the so-called 'Copenhagen criteria' relating to human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which are a prerequisite to the beginning of formal negotiations.
"There was however one issue still unresolved, concerning the Croatian fugitive suspected of war crimes, Ante Gotovina. So the Council made the start date dependent on Croatia 'fully cooperating' with the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, in The Hague. In the event, it took until last Monday before the Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal, Carla del Ponte, was able to say that such full co-operation had been forthcoming. The Union acted immediately in response by opening negotiations. I am very grateful to Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his government for this significant improvement in co-operation, which I hope will lead to the early arrest of Gotovina.
"When the prospect of membership was first held out to Turkey, what became the European Union had just six members. Since then, the European Union has acted as a powerful magnet for countries seeing the benefits of membership from outside and wanting to come into the fold. Each successive wave of enlargement has strengthened and broadened the Union. Each wave has also demonstrated how the EU can be a great and powerful force for good in helping to spread good governance and human rights.
"Former dictatorships in the West and former Soviet satellite states in the East have been transformed since joining the European Union, creating an ever-wider community of stable, prosperous democracies. I have no doubt that this same force for good will now benefit the people of Turkey and Croatia. I know the House will support every effort to do so."
My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
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