CONFIDENTIAL
a means of redress for individuals is already available in
the European Convention on Human Rights. Since the United
Kingdom accepts Article 25 of this Convention, all persons or
groups, wherever resident and of whatever nationality have
the right of recourse to the European Commission on Human Rights
if they consider that their rights, as set out in the Convention,
have been infringed by the government of the UK. Moreover the
Optional Protocol compares unfavourably in a number of respects
with the European Convention (there is no provision for oral
hearings, the procedure used is not a judicial one, no time
limit is imposed on complaints and there is no provision for
excluding those that are 'manifestly ill-founded' ie frivolous).
(57)
CONFIDENTIAL