HC Deb 01 May 1974 vol 872 cc1139-40
21. Mr. Whitehead

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards raising at the United Nations the matter of the treatment of political offenders.

Mr. Ennals

Our policy is to play an active and constructive rôle at the United Nations in the promotion of human rights, and we shall support practical measures designed to protect political freedoms and improve the treatment of prisoners, whether political or non-political.

Mr. Whitehead

In line with that very welcome declaration, will my right hon. Friend draw attention, through our Ambassador at the United Nations, to the growing barbarous practice of incarcerating political dissidents in mental hospitals, and will he link such observations with our very strong feelings about the case of Vladimir Bukovski, who is in a Soviet labour camp precisely because he communicated information about these practices to Western psychiatrists?

Mr. Ennals

We have already made known our views on what I entirely agree with my hon. Friend is a barbarous practice. This issue has been referred to in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and I share my hon. Friend's concern about it.

Mr. Cormack

Will the right hon. Gentleman or his right hon. Friend make it quite clear to the Soviet Ambassador, when either of them next sees him in London, that neither Russia nor any other nation can be regarded as a civilised nation while people are as barbarously treated as they are, not only in the case to which the hon. Gentleman referred but in the case of the many Soviet Jews and Christians whose names have been in the headlines in recent weeks?

Mr. Ennals

It is clear that Members on both sides of the House could voice criticisms about situations in all parts of the world. All I can say is that Her Majesty's Government regret any breaches of freedom and any acts of torture which may be committed in any part of the world, not only in one part.

Mr. Christopher Mayhew

Has this matter been raised by the United Kingdom delegates to the World Health Organisation?

Mr. Ennals

I should need notice of that question.