THE ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM LAWYERS

PRESS RELEASE

CONFERENCE CONSIDERING THE CONTENT AND EXTENT OF THE FORTHCOMING RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION

There is now growing evidence that religious discrimination can and does result in the denial of basic human rights to minorities living in this country and to Muslims in particular. The Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML) has organised a conference on the 14th July 2002 at the London School of Economics to highlight these issues.

One of the main issues about which the AML has been lobbying for several years is the lack of protection afforded to Muslims under any legislation. At present, anyone in the UK is free to subject a Muslim to abuse and discriminatory treatment simply because they are a Muslim with impunity. Religious discrimination is not illegal. Muslims can be deprived of any right to practice their religion, for example praying during meal or tea breaks at work, or wearing a head scarf - and can be dismissed because of this - without their having any remedy or means of being compensated at law. At present, there is no law which prohibits or protects against religious discrimination in the UK. By virtue of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998, the government is under a duty, by passing secondary legislation, to secure the basic rights of freedom of religion, freedom to practice one's religion and freedom to educate one's children in accordance with one's religion. Until recently, all political parties were united in attempting to pretend that religious discrimination is synonymous with racial discrimination, even though this is clearly not true.

Many bodies, however, such as the Commission for Racial Equality and the Bar Council, realizing that there exists a serious lacuna in the law, have written into their codes of practice an all encompassing anti-discrimination policy which includes the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion as well as of race and sex. After several requests by the AML spanning a period of more than four years, the Law Society has at last commenced consultation with a view to extending its anti-discrimination rule to include discrimination on the grounds of religion.

This is because the Employment Directive adopted under Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty in November 2000 requires the British government to introduce legislation prohibiting religious discrimination in employment by the 2nd of December 2003. The AML has been involved in advising the government as to what form this legislation should take.

It is the Association's intention to present the recommendations made at the conference to the Government. The conference will benefit all employment practitioners and anyone involved in discrimination work.

For further details please call Farah Khan on 07970 812307 or the AML on 01494 526955.

Speakers include Lord Nazir Ahmed, Ajmalul Hossain QC, Khurshid Drabu (Vice-President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal) and Maqsood Ahmed (Advisor to the Prison Service).

Sponsors for the conference include The Law Society and the Bar Council.

The Association of Muslim Lawyers
P O Box 148
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP13 5WJ

Tel/Fax 01494 526955

Email: aml@aml.org.uk
Web Site: www.aml.org.uk