The Council of Europe

I complained to the European Commission of Human Rights on 10 June 1977 that "The United Kingdom Government allowed, and still allows, foreign and Commonwealth men the right to permanent residence in the United Kingdom through marriage to a woman who has British nationality (even though British men often cannot reside in foreign and Commonwealth countries as of right if they marry local women). Naturally, this is an incentive to foreign and Commonwealth men to marry British women - and so deprive British men."

In support of my complaint I wrote "... the 1971 Census revealed that in Great Britain there were 1,660,690 unmarried men in their 20s as compared with 973,425 unmarried women in their 20s...."

The European Commission of Human Rights stated in its 11 May 1982 Decision (E56.486), which determined the applications of three women whose husbands were not allowed to live in the UK to be admissible, that the traditional privileged position of women where international marriage is concerned was recognised by the international community. This is because inasmuch as an individual is subject to immigration controls (c.f. Commonwealth citizens entering the UK prior to 1 July 1962; present-day EU citizens within the EU) a woman who participates in an international marriage can live in her husband's country as well as her own. By facilitating foreign men to live abroad through marriage the Council of Europe has (more than?) doubled that perceived privilege. Couples in an international marriage have the advantage over mono-national couples because they have the flexibility of a choice of countries in which to live.

This encourages more miscegenation and migration to member states.

The last thing the Council of Europe should do is enable citizens of non-member states to settle in member states. (Because it was set up to prevent events that took place during the Second World War from happening again.) The second last thing it should do is privilege some people over others.