Council of Europe

Lord Richard Excerpts

Wednesday 1st February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right that discrimination against Roma and concerns for the position of Roma are very important issues. As she knows, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe convened a high-level meeting way back in October of not last year but the year before. That was after the really chilling example of the French deportations of Roma and it produced the Strasbourg declaration on the treatment of the Roma. However, I fully agree with the noble Baroness that this issue should remain at the top of the agenda, and it is one that we should examine and promote very carefully and assiduously during our chairmanship.

[Lord Richard]

My Lords, if there really is a campaign called Citizens in Action, would the noble Lord urge whoever is responsible for it to look again at the title, which, to put it mildly, has a certain ambiguity about it?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I am sure that the noble Lord, with his learning and skill, could contribute to better titles and labelling for some of these programmes.