A clause of Bermuda's Constitution which has been used to question Dr. Ewart Brown's position as a sitting MP, contravenes international law and should be expunged, a PLP MP has claimed.

And Shadow Health Minister Renee Webb hopes to debate the issue at the next session of Parliament.

Ms Webb moved that clause 30 1 (a) of Bermuda's Constitution discriminated against born Bermudians.

Moreover she said it was at odds with Article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Since the United Kingdom Government was a party to both codes, she said, their requirements were binding on Bermuda as a British colony.

Ms Webb said:"That particular clause of our constitution, 30 1 (a), contravenes international law.

"Bermuda is a party to the European convention because Britain is a signatory.'' Ms Webb said that she wanted to send a message to Queen Elizabeth II because the offending clause was both discriminatory and in contravention of international law.

"My goal is to get the British Government to remove it,'' she added.

Clause 30 1 (a) states:"No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a member of the Legislative Council or elected as a member of the House of Assembly who is by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.'' The effect of the motion, she said, would be to get the matter debated in the British Parliament as well as in the House of Assembly.

Ms Webb said that the seminal issue centred on the right of any Bermudian to hold dual citizenship with all the attendant privileges.

However, in the case of PLP Warwick West MP Dr. Ewart Brown, his detractors said his oath of allegiance to America disqualified him from sitting in the House according to a literal reading of Clause 30 1 (a).

And it is this which has invoked the ire of Dr. Brown's supporters because they argued that his alleged inability to sit as an MP as a result of his sworn allegiance to the United States was discriminatory.

Ms Webb refused to comment on her strategy now that the motion has been laid before the House of Assembly, but it is thought that she will try to get the matter debated among MPs.

In June, PLP MP Alex Scott failed to get his motion -- to enable born Bermudians who have become citizens of other countries to sit in the House of Assembly -- passed.

At the time Government MPs rejected the Progressive Labour Party motion 16-15 which would have taken immediate action to have a section of the Constitution deleted.

Mr. Scott had argued that the section -- which prevents Bermudians who have sworn allegiance to a foreign power from sitting in the House of Assembly -- was discriminatory.

During that debate, he said that it was unfair that Bermudians who had become citizens of another country were barred from the House while people who were born elsewhere and later received Bermuda status were allowed to sit.

However, Government countered that there was a seminal difference. Politicians like those from Jamaica, (Senator Yvette Swan), Canada (former Transport Minister Sidney Stallard and former Senator Michael Winfield), or the UK, (former MP Dorothy Thompson) who sat as members, all swore allegiance to the Crown.

But the American oath on the other hand, demanded its citizens "absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure any and all allegiances to any prince, potentate...,''.

Dr. Brown, a US citizen, was elected in Warwick West back in 1993. He has lived and worked in the US for more than 20 years and took US nationality in 1990. He returned to his homeland in 1992.

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