After riots, Britain to push for change in European Convention on Human Rights

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Monday that the UK would use its current chairmanship of the Council of Europe to try to push through changes in the European Convention of Human Rights. Cameron claimed the convention had "undermined personal responsibility", in a speech which focused on what he sees as the underlying causes of last week's riots in Britain.

Ảnh: REUTERS

Addressing an audience at a youth club in Witney in southern England, Cameron pledged to reverse what he called a "slow motion moral collapse", which he blames for last week's riots in which five people died.

"This has been a wake-up call for our country. Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face," Cameron declared.

The Conservative leader has long preached of a need to re inforce values such as social responsibility, and Britain's worst civil disorder for decades has led him to return to a favourite theme.

Children as young as 11 joined a four-night spree of looting and arson which began on 6 August in North London and spread throughout the capital and to other English cities, tarnishing Britain's image just a year before it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games.

A day after his controversial hiring of US "supercop" Bill Bratton to advise Britain on combating gangs, Cameron also announced a "concerted all-out war on gangs and gang-culture"

Police presence has been massively boosted in London, while more than 2,300 suspects have been arrested countrywide, but on Monday Cameron insisted that the "security fightback must be matched by a social fightback."

He said the government would consider toughening conditions for those who recieve unemployment and other benefits, improving parenting skills and ameliorating schools in deprived areas.

He announced plans to start a national citizenship service where all 16 year olds participate in some sort of helpful community work.

But in a rival speech, British opposition Labour leader David Miliband blamed the riots on a "values crisis" across society. He linked the riots to the financial crisis and scandals over members of parliament claiming false expenses.