'All-White' Commission criticised

The new Bill of Rights Commission launch last week has come under attack from the Society of Black Lawyers (SBL) who has issued a strong statement criticizing its all-white membership. 

The Commission launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg and Secretary of State for Justice, Kenneth Clarke will investigate the case for a UK Bill of Rights.

The commission was set up after insistent calls for a British bill of rights from  Conservative backbench MPs after objections to a number of rulings from the European court of human rights. The move also fulfils a coalition pledge to the Liberal Democrats.

But the all-white membership of the Commission has prompted an outcry from the SBL Chair, Peter Herbert OBE who commented: “The lack of diversity in terms of the composition of the Commission is appalling. 

“All nine members of the Commission are white and only one woman, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, has made the cut.  Apart from the chair, all of the Commissioners are drawn from one side of the legal profession - the Bar.

“This is a one-dimensional Commission that fails to reflect the contributions and expertise that exists within the UK's ethnic minority communities, amongst women's organisations, disability groups and indeed the civil society sector in general.

“We are deeply disappointed by the Coalition Government's failure to ensure that equality and diversity is embedded in this important initiative from the outset and we are therefore calling on the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Justice to take immediate steps to rectify this glaring omission.”

The SBL has also previously spoken out on the issue of the lack of diversity among judges in the UK's multicultural society.

Last year a government report was commissioned to look at ways of addressing the issue. It has made more than 50 recommendations to increase judicial diversity, including positive action, a US-style scheme for "judges' marshals" or judicial assistants, and schemes where judges would encourage students from minority backgrounds to pursue judicial careers.

The report follows repeated criticism of the lack of diversity in the judiciary, with statistics in 2009 showing that only 19% of judges were women, and 4.5% from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The new commission has overlooked an opportunity to improve representation by ts failue to  appoint a diverse panel of members.

Winsome-Grace Cornish

Main picture: SBL Chair, Peter Herbert OBE