§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have had consultations with the United States Government and the Soviet Government in regard to the possibility of international pressure being brought to bear upon the Castro Government with a view to improving the conditions under which 75,000 political prisoners are at present being held in Cuba.]
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, my noble friend made this suggestion in a supplementary question on July 26 last, and the present Prime Minister, who was then Foreign Secretary, said that he would consider it. The O.A.S. 124 report, on which the suggestion was based, was published in 1963, on evidence mainly referring to conditions in 1961, two years earlier. It does not necessarily reflect the present condition or the present numbers of political prisoners in Cuba. As the Prime Minister stated on July 26, Her Majesty's Government deplore and condemn the ill-treatment of prisoners, whether in Cuba or anywhere else, but Her Majesty's Government see no prospect of the Soviet Government's intervening with Dr. Castro to secure an improvement: and still less of their doing so in co-operation with the United States Government.
§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, my information, from reliable Cuban sources, is that political prisoners in Cuba still run into many tens of thousands—probably there are up to 60,000. The conditions under which these wretched people, men and women, are living are as bad as those which obtained in Nazi concentration camps. Are there no means at all of bringing international pressure to bear on the Cuban Government to put a stop to this shocking state of affairs? We always seem to find that there are all sorts of ways to bring pressure to bear on the South African Government, when only a handful of political prisoners are involved, and where they are certainly not being charged and shot without trial indiscriminately as they are in Cuba.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, we strongly condemn the ill-treatment of prisoners anywhere, but our right to intervene is limited to action on behalf of British subjects.
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, could not this matter be raised at the United Nations, which is empowered to take note of matters of this sort? This is surely a breach of the Human Rights Convention, and the British Government could take the initiative at the United Nations.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I will certainly consider the noble Lord's suggestion. There are so many breaches of human rights taking place all over the world, and it is rather difficult to keep them all in one's range of vision at the same time.
LORD SALTOUNMy Lords, I apologise for asking a supplementary question from this place, but may I ask whether the Government have not some more recent information about the condition of those subjects who are prisoners in Cuba?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEENo, my Lords: I do not think we have any more recent accurate information. As I have said, the report mentioned in the Question refers to conditions three years ago.