INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES) ORDER, 1960 (Hansard, 19 December 1960)

§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE
My Lords, this draft Order is required to enable Her Majesty's Government to accept the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Atomic Energy Agency which was approved by the Board of Governors of the Agency on July 1, 1959. The United Kingdom is a member of the Agency, which was established by the Statute of October 26, 1956. The immunities and privileges to be conferred by the draft Order are in line with those authorised by 699 the International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) Act, 1950, and closely resemble those already conferred on the Specialised Agencies of the United Nations. Like the Orders relating to the Specialised Agencies, provision is made in this draft Order for immunities to be enjoyed by persons performing missions for the Agency. Normal diplomatic privileges will be enjoyed only by the Director-General and the four Deputy Directors-General. Her Majesty's Government intend to make a reservation absolving the United Kingdom from the obligation to grant immunities to other officials acting on behalf of the Director-General during his absence from duty.
The headquarters of the Agency are in Vienna and it has no resident staff in the United Kingdom. Some officials entitled to immunities may occasionally come to this country for short official visits. The Director-General, for example, may wish to come to the United Kingdom for discussions with the Atomic Energy Authority. It is not expected that any conferences will be held here. Her Majesty's Government propose to make a second reservation when they accept the Agreement. The effect of this will be to absolve the United Kingdom from the obligation to grant full personal as well as official immunities and privileges to a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies serving as Director-General or Deputy Director-General of the Agency or as an expert or official performing a mission on its behalf. I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that the International Atomic Energy Agency (immunities and Privileges) Order, 1960, be made in the form of the Draft laid before this House on 28th November last.

§ LORD SILKIN
My Lords I will not repeat what I said on the earlier Order. I take it that this Order is rather different, inasmuch as it confers new privileges on a very limited number of people not exceeding five, and a limited form of privilege.

§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE
My Lords, the number may exceed five, as it also may include, for example, those who may be coming to this country acting as experts.

§ LORD SILKIN
The number may exceed five, but I gather from the noble Marquess that it could not be a large number, and that the privileges would be restricted in the way which he has indicated. Of course, there can be no objection to that, but I think it right that we should scrutinise these privileges closely. I am glad that the Government have thought it right to make certain restrictions on the full privileges which are normally granted.

§ LORD OGMORE
My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Marquess a question, if I may. What exactly does the Agency do? Is it part of the inspection arrangements for atomic energy? There are so many of these Specialised Agencies and international organisations nowadays that it is difficult to keep track of them all. With regard to the final reservation the noble Marquess mentioned, I would ask him: what is the purport of that? I would assume that all the servants of an international body should be treated equally, in whatever country they might happen to be. They get their immunities, not because they are nationals of a particular country but because they are employed by an international organisation: that is the only reason why they get immunities. If that is so, is it not logically the case that it is of no consequence to us, or to any other member of the United Nations, from which country a servant of the Agency comes.
I think that this fact is rather important because, certainly ten years ago, in the earlier days, the aim of the United Nations and Specialised Agencies was to create a feeling of international obligation among its servants and to make them, so far as possible, forget, or cease to have any great regard for, the fact that they are nationals of a particular country. If it is important that we should emphasise the international-mindedness of United Nations servants, I think that this second reservation is not a particularly good idea.

§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE
My Lords, with regard to the first part 701 of the noble Lord's question, I think that it would be best if I read out this description of the International Atomic Energy Agency: It seeks to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. That is the purpose of the Agency. It now has 73 members.
As regards the second part of the noble Lord's question, I think it would be true to say that this is a further effort on the part of Her Majesty's Government to limit to the absolute minimum the extent of the privileges and immunities to be accorded by Her Majesty's Government. It has been done in the case of this particular Agreement because it has been brought into existence since the Diplomatic Immunities Restriction Act, 1955, came into force. I should have thought that it would be generally accepted that, so far as possible, Her Majesty's Government should seek to limit to the absolute minimum these immunities and privileges. We do not do this so far as other nationals are concerned, only in so far as our own are concerned.

§ LORD SHEPHERD
My Lords, Section 10 of this Order gives immunity to members of the staff of the Agency. Can the noble Marquess say what is the number of the staff of this Agency? I wonder whether the noble Marquess could give any information to the House as to how these authorities and organisations create themselves into an international status, and thereby obtain these immunities for their employees. It seems to me that in due course we shall have an International Wool Authority organising the sale and development of wool and enjoying international immunity. Can the noble Marquess give us any idea how these bodies get these powers and privileges?

§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE
My Lords, I cannot answer all the questions the noble Lord has put, but I will try to answer some. This particular Agency is a large Agency and employs 589 officers and as I have said, they are all stationed in Vienna. So far as the United Kingdom are concerned—and that, surely, is what matters to us this afternoon—the number of people is very small, as I tried to explain in my open- 702 ing statement. With regard to the other question put by the noble Lord, it would take me some time to answer, but if he would like it, I will write to him and give him a full answer. I do not think I can do it now.