ECHR: 20 years on
01 January 1995
The report of the European Commission on Human Rights on the case of the East African Asians v UK, in which it accused the government of racial discrimination so serious as to constitute degrading treatment under Article 3 of the Convention, was published in March 1994, over 20 years after its adoption. The reason for the lengthy delay is that both parties must agree to publication, and in this case, as in many others, the British government withheld its consent until February 1994.
The report is a fascinating reminder of the immigration and race politics of the late 1960s. The 31 applicants were UK citizens of Asian origin who had settled in Kenya, Uganda and pre-independence Tanzania (then named Tanganyika). Not qualifying for the citizenship of those countries on independence, they retained their UK citizenship. In the late 1960s, the governments of East Africa began imposing restrictions on their Asian populations as part of a policy of Africanisation. These culminated in the destruction of livelihoods, confiscation of homes and expulsion.
In February 1968, the Labour government responded to the increasing numbers of British Asians fleeing East Africa by the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, which went through all its stages in just six days and came into force just seven days after it was introduced (1 March). The Act removed residence rights from UK citizens with no ancestral connection with the UK, replacing rights with a special voucher system.
The arguments used then by Labour Home Secretary, James Callaghan, resemble the arguments used now by the government against refugees: fewer numbers make for better race relations. These arguments were to render racism respectable and gave a fillip to Powellism and to open manifestations of hostility towards black people. The first real epidemic of racist attacks, dubbed "Paki-bashing", was to occur in 1969. Despite the Commission's condemnation of the 1968 Act as racist, residence rights were never restored to the UK citizens it excluded, who had to wait their turn in the queue for "special vouchers", only 1500 of which were issued each year. Instead, the 1968 Act was followed up by the patriality clauses of the Conservative governments" 1971 Immigration Act, and then in 1981, citizenship was brought into line with residence rights and the British Asians were no longer British.
East African Asians v UK, EurComHR, Human Rights Law Journal, Vol 15 no 4-6, 26.9.94, p213.