2.1       In February, 1995 the UK, along with 21 other member States of the Council of Europe, signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The broad aims of the Convention are to ensure that the signatory states respect the rights of national minorities, undertaking to combat discrimination, promote equality, preserve and develop the culture and identity of national minorities, guarantee certain freedoms in relation to access to the media, minority languages and education and encourage the participation of national minorities in public life.

  2.2       Article 25 of the Framework Convention binds the signatory states to submit a report to the Council of Europe containing "full information on the legislative and other measures taken to give effect to the principles set out in this framework Convention" (Council of Europe, 1994, 7). A UK Compliance Report duly appeared in 1999 (Home Office, 1999). This report will now be considered by the committee set up to advise a Committee of Ministers established by the Council of Europe to oversee the implementation and regulation of the Framework Convention.

  2.3       In its report the UK Government has decided that the Cornish heritage does not require special protection. It rejects the case put forward by Cornish organisations and representatives for the Cornish people to be considered as a national minority. Those making representations included MPs and MEPs, "seeking recognition of the Cornish as a national minority under the Convention. The Minister responsible for Race Relations, Mike O’Brien MP, has also met with an MP and an academic from Cornwall to discuss these concerns" (1999, UK Compliance to FCPNM). Nevertheless, despite this meeting with Andrew George MP and Dr Philip Payton, Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies, the UK Government has maintained "the view that we do not consider that the people of Cornwall constitute a ‘national minority’" (Home Office, 1999, paragraph 48). No detailed reasons are forthcoming, other than the repeated assertion that the Cornish do not qualify as a national minority under the criteria adopted by the UK Government.

  2.4       The first aim of this report is to review the case for recognising the Cornish as a national minority. Secondly, it will examine the links between the presence of a distinct Cornish group in Cornwall and the chronic levels of deprivation experienced in this region. The specific conditions of the Cornish people will be related to various Framework Convention articles, a duty the UK Government has avoided through its decision not to define the Cornish as a national minority. This report is necessarily provisional and interim in nature as much of the data required to document fully the state of the Cornish people as a national minority are not collected systematically. We hope therefore that this preliminary audit paves the way for a fully funded and resourced research profile of this particular minority.

Summary