FUGITIVE OFFENDERS (UNITED KINGDOM DEPENDENCIES) ORDER 1968 (Hansard, 3 December 1968)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD STONHAM)

My Lords, I beg to move that the Fugitive Offenders (United Kingdom Dependencies) Order 1968, a draft of which was laid before this House on November 5, be approved. Your Lordships will remember that the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 governs the return of offenders from the United Kingdom to other Commonwealth countries. For these purposes an "offender" is a person who is accused of, or is alleged to be unlawfully at large after conviction of, an offence which is a returnable offence under Section 3 of the Act; and "Commonwealth countries" means both the independent countries of the Commonwealth and the dependencies of the United Kingdom. Under the Act, our dependencies are deemed to include not only the Colonies proper, but the Associated States of the West Indies and the countries in which Her Majesty has jurisdiction or over which she extends protection.

In the case of the Colonies proper and the Associated States the provisions of the Act apply automatically. The return of offenders to the independent countries of the Commonwealth is, however, dependent on those countries being designated under Section 2(1) of the Act, and this has been done by the Fugitive Offenders (Designated Commonwealth Countries) Order 1967, supplemented by two similar Orders in Council in 1968 relating respectively to Mauritius and Swaziland on those countries' gaining their independence. Similarly, for the provisions of the Act to apply to the return of offenders from the United Kingdom to a protectorate or a protected State, an Order in Council is required to be made under Section 2(2)(c) of the Act specifying the country concerned. Article I of the draft Order in Council now before the House thus applies the provisions of the Act to the return of offenders to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Brunei, the New Hebrides and Tonga.

In relation to Brunei, the New Hebrides and Tonga, however, the references in the 1967 Act to "The 24 Governor" are inappropriate, and Article 2 of the Order therefore provides for the modification of these references. Article 3 takes account of the fact that the New Hebrides are a condominium, and this section therefore provides that a person shall be returned there only if he is liable to be tried, or has been convicted, by the High Court of the Western Pacific or by the Joint Court.

I am sure your Lordships will be interested to learn that provision for the return of fugitives to the United Kingdom has been or will be made in the law of each of these countries and territories I have mentioned. The Fugitive Offenders (British Solomon Islands Protectorate) Order 1967 came into operation on January 1 of this year and the Fugitive Offenders (New Hebrides) Order 1968 on July 19, 1968. Both Brunei and Tonga have signified their intention of enacting laws similar to the 1967 Act. My Lords, I hope that with this brief explanation of the purposes of this simple but important Order you will give it your unanimous approval. I beg to move.