HIJACKING OF AIRCRAFT (Hansard, 27 January 1971)

LORD JANNER
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, the United Kingdom played an active part in the conclusion at The Hague on December 16, 1970, of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, and we are one of the 50 original signatories. The text was laid before Parliament as a White Paper on January 21, 1971.

LORD JANNER
My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl two supplementary questions? First, in view of the fact that this Convention has to be ratified and considering the urgency of the matter, will he take immediate steps to introduce such legislation as is necessary for that purpose, particularly in view of the fact that such a Convention as that on genocide was kept for about 17 years before it was actually ratified by us? May I also ask the noble Earl what steps are being taken to expedite the adoption of the draft convention on combating the menace of attacks made against persons who use or serve international civil aviation or against aircraft or installations employed in that activity?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, dealing with the noble Lord's first supplementary question, the Government are extremely concerned that this Convention should be ratified as soon as possible; but before it can be ratified legislation will 951 have to be introduced to alter the existing law, and it is Her Majesty's Government's hope that this will be done at the earliest possible opportunity. With regard to the second part of the noble Lord's supplementary question, there is at the moment a Convention on unlawful interference against aircraft which has been prepared by the International Civil Aviation Organisation which met in London, at our invitation, in October. That is due to be considered and concluded at a diplomatic conference in September of this year. United Kingdom delegates played a very leading part in developing this draft convention at the extraordinary session of the ICAO in June of last year.

§ LORD BESWICK
My Lords, while not detracting from what has been done by the United Kingdom representatives, may I ask the noble Earl whether he is aware that there is a feeling that the element of urgency seems to have gone out of this matter? It rather seems as if we are awaiting another hijacking, with a consequent threat to human life, before countries generally are seized of the urgency of the matter. Will the noble Earl see whether something extra can be done in this matter?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I will certainly pass on the noble Lord's observations. I think he is being slightly pessimistic about this. In fact, the Convention was called and attended by 77 States. It was signed straightaway by 50 of them, and this, of course, was done only last month. It is now up to the Governments to get the signatures ratified. Her Majesty's Government are anxious that this should be done as soon as possible.

§ LORD SHEPHERD
MY Lords, on the question of ratifying legislation, can the noble Earl say whether this is a question of drafting, or of Parliamentary time? If it is the latter, I hope that the noble Earl will rest assured that both Houses of Parliament would wish to see this form of legislation expedited as much as possible.

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that assurance. In fact, it will be necessary to 952 introduce a Bill to alter some of the existing legislation, and the actual act of ratification is done by an instrument afterwards.

§ THE MARQUESS OF HEADFORT
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that, alone among airlines who have been attacked, the Israeli airline have successfully fought off hijacking attempts by the use of armed guards on board; and would he not agree that possibly this process would be useful to our own airlines?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I think that is another question.

§ LORD DAVIES OF LEEK
My Lords, can the noble Earl say, or would he regard it as Utopian to hope, that among the nations which have signed this international agreement it should be understood that neither comfort nor succour will be given to anybody committing any piratical action against, or hijacking of, the planes of any nation, and that we should ask nations to see that such hijackers or pirates are handed over to international justice?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, while obviously one cannot impute motives to other countries, I would assume that that was the feeling they had in their minds when they signed the document.

LORD JANNER
My Lords, in regard to the second supplementary question, am I right in understanding that this matter is to be delayed until September? Is it not possible for something to be done about it earlier, in view of the urgency of the whole matter and of the severe difficulties caused to passengers, aircraft crew and many others in consequence of the types of action which are dealt with by that Convention?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, under ICAO rules and procedures, member countries must have at least six months to study and comment on draft conventions prepared by the Legal Committee. Her Majesty's Government have in fact pressed the ICAO Council for an earlier date, but it is not possible to obtain general acceptance of this because of the very heavy programme of legal matters at the ICAO conference.