HC Deb 16 June 1969 vol 785 cc27-8
33. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will protest to the Soviet Government against the restrictive measures against Jewish people in Russia who wish to emigrate to Israel.

Mr. Goronwy Roberts

We are fully aware of the deeply held feelings of many people in this country, in Parliament and outside, but do not consider that further representations at the present time would be helpful.

Mr. Shinwell

In view of the behaviour of the Soviet Union against a small minority of people in the Soviet Union who are suffering from a deprivation of rights which are conferred on other Russian nationals, would it not be a little incongruous and invidious that the Soviet Union should be represented at the four-Power conference and in a position to act as a judge in a solution of the Middle East problem?

Mr. Roberts

I wholeheartedly subscribe to the first part of my right hon.

Friend's supplementary question. He has put it in words which I should be proud to command. We all deplore this kind of abominable persecution of minorities, especially religious minorities. As to the second part of his supplementary question, I think that it is essential to have in the four-Power talks, which are making progress, the presence of the Soviet Union as well as that of the three other permanent members of the Security Council.

Sir B. Janner

May I ask my right hon. Friend to reconsider his decision with regard to raising this matter further, particularly in view of the appeal which has just been published by the Action Group for the Defence of Civil Rights in the U.S.S.R., which is addressed to the United Nations Committee for Human Rights, and which is a courageous document and one which should certainly receive the Government's attention?

Mr. Roberts

I have seen the document as presented in the Press; I agree that it is a significant and, I hope, a hopeful development among certain Russian nationals. I think that my hon. Friend, who has seen me many times on this very poignant issue, will agree that we have to consider whether formal representations by us to another Government would be counter-productive rather than productive to an alleviation of the treatment of these unfortunate people. We are doing everything we can informally. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister formally raised this matter in Moscow when he saw Mr. Kosygin.

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