evident this week in a statement by a Portuguese rights group. It seemed to this newspaper that the Government made the correct and fair move when it granted the right to citizenship to children born overseas to Bermudian women.

It was clearly both sexist and unfair to have one law for the inclusion of children of Bermudian men and another for the exclusion of children of Bermudian women.

But the Portuguese Bermudian Organisation points out that hundreds of people born to Bermudian women abroad were now entitled to Bermuda status under the new legislation which removes sexual discrimination from the 1956 Immigration Act, yet a smaller number of children born here to Portuguese residents were still being "denied their birthrights''-- even though they had lived here all their lives.

The Portuguese Bermudian Organisation says: "The organisation applauds the UBP Government on the recent legislation granting birth rights to foreign born children of Bermudian women. Regrettably, Government has not chosen to implement any changes to the plight of Bermuda-born non-Bermudians who have been denied their birth right since 1956.

"We urge Government to once again, using statistics provided by our organisation, address the human rights violations of these individuals and their long-term resident parents living in Bermuda.'' The Organisation says that the number of people between 18 and 26 who were born and raised here is "a mere 103''. The number of people born to Bermudian women abroad could exceed 1,000.

This newspaper agrees that the Portuguese have been treated badly in Bermuda which has been content to use the best years of their lives and then send them home with little thanks. Those people who are concerned about human rights generally agree with us but those who see immigration through political eyes generally disagree. That comes about because some people feel that Bermuda should be saved for Bermudians and that "guest workers'' are just that, and should leave when they are no longer welcome.

There are basic human rights to be considered when dealing with people's lives and Bermuda must learn to do the right thing even though that may not always be politically popular.

The PLP's Senator Alex Scott was unhappy about the inclusion of children of Bermudian women created by the new law, despite overwhelming evidence that it was past time to be fair to women. Senator Scott did not seem happy in the Senate that some people might now call Bermuda home. Surely it is only fair if the children of Bermudian men and the children of Bermudian women are Bermudian and we stop worrying about where they were born. Bermuda has dealt in policies of exclusion for far too long. It is very strange, but some people seem to think that we protect ourselves by excluding ourselves.