A legal action against the British National Party about ethnic restrictions on its membership is due in court.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued county court proceedings against the far-right party on August 24 after voicing concerns in June about its constitution and membership criteria.
The party's membership criteria appeared to be restricted to those within certain ethnic groups and to white people, according to the EHRC.
The BNP responded by saying that it intended to clarify the word "white" on its website, but the Commission said it believed the party will continue to discriminate against potential or actual members on racial grounds.
"The BNP's membership criteria appear to restrict membership to those within what the BNP regards as particular "ethnic groups" and those whose skin colour is white. This exclusion is contrary to the Race Relations Act.
"The Commission believes the BNP's constitution and membership criteria are discriminatory and, further, that the continued publication of them on the BNP website is unlawful. It has therefore issued county court proceedings against party leader Nick Griffin and two other officials," said the Commission in a statement.
John Wadham, legal director at the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: "The BNP has said that it is not willing to amend its membership criteria which we believe are discriminatory and unlawful.
"The Commission has a statutory duty to use our regulatory powers to enforce compliance with the law, so we have today issued county court proceedings against the BNP. However, the party still has an opportunity to resolve this quickly by giving the undertaking on its membership criteria that the Commission requires."
The case will be heard at Central London County Court.
Comments:
From Politics.co.uk by Ian Dunt:
The BNP are off to court to defend their white-only membership. They should be ashamed. (Any problems caused by immigration cannot be a reason for) how despicable the BNP's membership criteria is. Anyone supporting it is to be held in disgrace. They need to go home and come back when they're intelligent and humane enough to debate with adults. Politics is not about the rule of one race over others. It is about the distribution of resources and freedoms. The BNP can't even be granted the credit of being political yet. They're just children struggling with ideas too big for them to comprehend. Those of us who really care about the working class, and about Britain, will do the hard work.Related articles
BNP frustrated in East Lancashire office bid Lancashire Telegraph - 3 hours ago
Comment: BNP membership is a disgrace Politics.co.uk - 13 hours ago
BNP forced to pay legal costs in white membership case Politics.co.uk - 13 hours ago
No comments:
Post a Comment