Plaid MEP Jill Evans will speak tomorrow (Saturday 28 February) at a human rights and civil liberties event which is taking place in seven parallel venues across the UK. Jill, who represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament, will speak in the session on Human Rights, Democracy and Governance, at the Convention on Modern Liberty, at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. She will talk about the right of self-determination for the people of Wales.

This important event will bring together a thousand people and fifty organisations, and the Cardiff section is organised by the United Nations Association, Wales: Vale of Glamorgan. The Convention is described as ‘a call to all concerned with the threats too our fundamental rights and freedoms’.

Jill Evans, who has recently returned from a delegation to Gaza, said that the principle of human rights also applied to the right to self-determination:

“As Plaid Cymru's Deputy President I believe that the people have the right to rule themselves, with decisions made as close to the citizen as possible. Every person living in Wales has a right to join in the discussion and contribute to building a better Wales.

“There is growing support for proper law-making powers for the National Assembly, with more and more people coming to the view that the Welsh nation should have the right to manage its own affairs. I am looking forward to the referendum on further powers that the One Wales coalition government has agreed to hold before 2011.

“In Plaid Cymru we are proud of our commitment to the equal rights of all individuals, and as a Plaid MEP I will always endeavour to campaign for Wales - and the rights of all of Wales's people - in Europe.”

Diwedd/Ends.