- Part I Para 2 Insert the word Cornish
after Welsh in line 7.
The Cornish are a nation with its own law (Stannary Law), based
on pre-conquest Cornish common law, which has not
been, and cannot be repealed or amended by the UK Government
as it proceeds from a Royal Charter (The Charter of
Pardon 1508), and fully meet the mandatory criteria to be defined
as a racial group in the same way as the Scots, Welsh
and Irish as per Lord Fraser (Mandla v. Dowell Lee 1988).
- Part 2 Para 47 Insert the word Cornish
after Welsh in line 1
The Cornish are a formerly independent nation, finally conquered
by Athelstan, King of West Saxons, in 936 AD. He
misappropriated all Cornish lands east of the River Tamar and
established the boundary of Cornwall for all time as the
East Bank of the Tamar. Until the 14th Century, all legal references
were made to "Anglia et Cornubia" - England and
Cornwall, as Cornwall was not incorporated in England, despite
having been conquered.
In 1351, the Black Prince, first Duke of Cornwall, initiated
a survey of his property in "Cornwall and England".
The
establishment of the Duchy of Cornwall contains the words "we
do by this present charter, for us and our heirs, annex
and unite to the aforesaid Duchy, to remain the same for ever,
so that from the same Duchy they may at no time be in any
wise separated". There has been no constitutional change
to the Duchy which can be construed as changing either the
national identity of the Cornish people nor Cornwall's distinct
segregation from England.
- As a consequence of this amendment, the
Government will need to "include in this Report details
of the measures taken to
maintain and develop the Cornish language and Culture".
- Para 48 Delete
With the inclusion of the Cornish as a National Minority, this
paragraph becomes redundant. If HMG is not minded to
effect inclusion of the Cornish, it must be made clear that the
stress of this paragraph on individual rights is incorrect.
Cornish organisations, who differ on several issues but are united
in their Cornishness, have made representations, not
about the rights of Cornish individuals, as much as the right
of the ethnic Cornish as a community to be recognised as
such and for them to be afforded the protection of the Convention
as a community.
- Exclusion of the ethnic Cornish from protection
under the convention will mean that HMG can, and will continue
to, deny
the Cornish Community, and individuals belonging to it, any collective
rights under the convention, specifically Articles
1,2,5,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,16 and 17.
- As has been said before, it is not necessary
to prove that individuals are being discriminated against to
accept that a group
of people with a common cultural and linguistic heritage are
a national minority. The Cornish, as a national minority, are
fully entitled to the protection of the Convention in respect
of their language and culture, in the same way as the Welsh,
to
whom they are related. For HMG to recognise the Welsh but not
the Cornish is utterly illogical and discriminatory, and
we earnestly ask that they reconsider their position.
-
-
- With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Richard Ford
Political Liaison Officer
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