EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (Hansard, 13 July 1959)

§ 36 and 37. Mr. G. Jeger
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) why, in view of the fact that under the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 32, the Committee of Ministers is required to decide whether there has been a violation of the Convention, the Committee of Ministers did not state whether there had been any violation of the Convention concerning Application No. 176/56, but merely reported that no further action is called for;
(2) whether he will now publish the Report of the European Commission of Human Rights, including its opinion as to whether the Convention had, or had not, been violated, as presented to the Committee of Ministers on 20th April, relating to the complaints against British actions in Cyprus.

§ Mr. Profumo
Article 32 provides the procedure by which the Committee of Ministers may decide whether there has been a violation of the Convention. It does not oblige the Committee to say in the case of every allegation whether there has been a violation. On Application No. 176/56 the Committee considered that there was no need to make a pronouncement either way. On the question of publication, Article 31 lays down that individual states shall not be at liberty to publish the reports of the European Commission of Human Rights.

§ Mr. Jeger
Is not the Minister aware that considerable propaganda has attached to the allegations against our forces in Cyprus, and that those allegations were themselves made by murderers and terrorists, and that unless the matter is cleared up and the facts made known many British ex-Cyprus soldiers, some of them my constituents, will always have those suspicions and allegations hanging over their heads?

§ Mr. Profumo
I quite appreciate the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, but I think that the House will draw its own conclusions from the decision of the Committee of Ministers that no further action was called for. Had there been any violation calling for action by Her Majesty's Government, it is hardly likely that the Committee of Ministers would have arrived at that decision.