§ 1. Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to suspend air traffic with Libya consequent upon the support given by the Government of that country to the hijackers of the Lufthansa Boeing 727 on 29th October, 1972, in view of the fact that that Government have consistently harboured and aided and abetted those responsible for such crimes.
§ The Minister for Aerospace and Shipping (Mr. Michael Heseltine)As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State told the House on 6th November, suspension of air services would be ineffective unless it had wide international sup- 2 port. The International Civil Aviation Organisation is working on a new convention to provide for effective international action, and we are giving our full support to this urgent task.—[Vol. 845, c. 44.]
§ Mr. DavisIs the hon. Gentleman giving urgent support to the taking of effective immediate action against a Government, namely the Libyan Government, which openly rejoiced at the freeing of the Munich murderers and has given aid and comfort to other terrorists who have engaged in acts of international piracy? Cannot the hon. Gentleman offer some immediate views as to the action the Government can take now?
§ Mr. HeseltineI quite understand the hon. Gentleman's feeling. It is, of course, a matter that has concerned everyone who has considered it, but in the absence of international agreement any unilateral sanctions would be of no substantial benefit. I also certainly take the view that we must do everything possible to speed up the work of the ICAO legal sub-committee, the legal committee and ultimately ICAO itself. I have pressed for both its conferences scheduled for early next year to be brought forward in an attempt to reach international agreement, without which I do not believe we can make progress in the matter.
§ Mr. MasonThe ICAO legal committee works very slowly and it is not likely that it will come to a decision before 3 August 1973. What sort of international sanctions are the Government prepared to promote now so that they can make sure that there can be no havens for the hijackers? That is the only way in which the Government can succeed.
§ Mr. HeseltineAs the right hon. Gentleman knows, the Government cannot impose international sanctions without international agreement. When we sought to do first was to put forward a resolution at the recent meeting of the ICAO legal sub-committee, which commanded a certain measure of support. I have now tried to have the January legal committee meeting brought forward to an earlier date, but I have not been able to do so because of the legal procedures within ICAO. I have also tried to have the August meeting of the full ICAO council brought forward to try to deal with what comes out of the January meeting, and I shall continue to press for that to happen. We have put forward a number of suggestions, but it is an international agreement that we must seek. I have kept closely in touch with all parties to the ICAO proceedings and I shall continue to do so and to give the full weight of the British Government to initiatives of that sort.