The Falkland Islands which is situated in the South Atlantic has around 3,000 inhabitants, many of whom can trace their family back to early 19th Century origins. There is also a sizeable Chilean and St Helenian minority population.
A new Constitution was adopted in 2009 which updated its chapter on individual rights to align its provisions to the rights in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The new Constitution also requires that the European Court of Human Rights’ findings are taken into account when Courts interpret Constitutional rights and provides for a new Constitutional remedy for rights.
In addition to the ICCPR and ECHR applying in the Falklands, other UN Treaties; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention against Torture (CAT) and Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) have also been extended to the Falklands. In addition to this, the Falklands is one of the three Territories which has had the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) extended to it. Individuals can bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights where no other remedy exists in the Falklands.
Project activities 2008-2010
The Falklands received an initial 5 days of human rights awareness training programme in March 2010 in which approximately 93 people attended the training. Participants came from 16 government offices and public agencies and 11 civil society organisations. A second round of human rights awareness training is planned for April 2011. This next training programme may include sessions on developing a national human rights action plan for the Falkland Islands.
Under the technical assistance facility, the project has provided the name of a draftsperson to assist with the drafting of new legislation, preliminary advice on establishing a Complaints Commissioner and included a special session in its initial human rights awareness training for the media in response to a request for training on rights and the media. The project has accepted Team Tranquil’s Challenge Fund application to fund a poster campaign raising awareness about rights in their Constitution.
The project works closely with the project’s Coordination Group which is made up of representatives of government and civil society and is chaired by Alison Inglis, Senior Crown Counsel. Alison Inglis can be contacted by e-mail on AInglis@sec.gov.fk