§ 3.6 p.m.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Soviet Russia has fully met all her financial obligations to the United Nations; and what, if any, is the sum total of her outstanding liabilities to that organisation.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD CHALFONT)My Lords, on June 16 the total of outstanding assessed contributions by the U.S.S.R. to the United Nations was £33,183,806. Of this amount, some £5.6 million represents the U.S.S.R. contribution to the regular budget for 1967, most of which will presumably be paid in due course
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask whether he would not agree that a measure of Soviet Russia's faith in the United Nations would be her willingness to assist in its financial solvency? May I ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to see that Russia pays her full share of contributions to the activities of the United Nations, or else is debarred from using the United Nations as a sounding board for her own national policies?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, while I would sympathise with the general proposition that any country which fully supported the United Nations would want 1538 to pay its dues towards the upkeep of that Organisation, I would point out that the Soviet Union has, of course, openly refused on principle to pay the whole of her assessed dues to the Emergency Force in the Middle East and to the Emergency Force in the Congo. We have rejected this view but, nevertheless, the Soviet Union has held and still holds that the assessments for those two operations are illegal.
As regards what action can be taken to ensure that the Soviet Union pays its dues in the future, this is of course a matter for the United Nations. It may be worth while recalling to your Lordships that in 1965 the General Assembly adopted a consensus which, among other things, decided that Article 19 of the Charter—which says that a country which falls behind with its dues for the preceding two years should be deprived of its vote—should not apply in this case. We shall do all we can to ensure that dues are paid, but our own powers in this respect are obviously limited.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, if we were to fall behind with our subscription to the extent of £33 million, could we also get away with it? Would the United Nations take no more steps to make us pay up than they have taken to make the Russians pay up?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, I cannot think of a question more hypothetical.
§ VISCOUNT DILHORNEMy Lords, if there is a question about the legality or illegality of these dues, could not the United Nations refer it for determination by the International Court?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, I have no doubt that this is a possibility and one which ought to be investigated. Certainly that has not been done up till now, as the noble and learned Viscount knows.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, would my noble friend not agree that the sum outstanding is rather colossal, and could not some persuasion be used to get Soviet Russia at least partly to increase her present contribution?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, of course this sum is an enormous one. It is, in fact, about 50 per cent. of all the total outstanding contributions to the United Nations. I fear, as I say, that our 1539 powers to get the Soviet Union to pay up are severely limited, but we shall, within the limit of our powers, do all that we can.