HC Deb 21 October 1968 vol 770 cc204-5W
60. Mr. Archer

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will expedite the acceptance by the United Kingdom of the Optional Clause in the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Mr. Goronwy Roberts

As I told my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford (Mr. Luard) on the 8th of July, we intend to consider acceptance of the Optional Protocol only at a later stage when we have seen how the Covenant itself operates. The United Kingdom signed this Covenant and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in New York on the 16th of September. —[Vol. 768, c.1.]