§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans have been made for an International Conference, attended by Government experts and others, to consider the reaffirmation and development of humanitarian law applicable to armed conflicts.]
§ THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIANMy Lords, the International Committee of the Red Cross convened a Conference of Government Experts in Geneva in May/June, 1971, to consider the re-affirmation and development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts. A second session of the Conference is to be held in Geneva in May, 1972, when it is hoped to agree draft Protocols to amend the Geneva Conventions of 1949 for adoption at a subsequent Plenipotentiary Diplomatic Conference. Her Majesty's Government participated fully in the work of the first session of the Conference and an interdepartmental Working Group is preparing for the second session to which we plan to send a strong delegation.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, in thanking the Minister for that very full reply, may I ask him whether Her Majesty's Government will support the proposal made by Senator Sean McBride, that:
Means of warfare which endanger the civilian population and are indiscriminate in their effect on combatants and civilians alike should never be used"?Was not that the practice before the Second World War, and could we not with advantage revert to it now?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIANMy Lords, I should like to consider the point the noble Lord has made. I do not think I can give him a definite answer to-day.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I supplement it by asking this further question? Would not that proposal, in addition to the outlawing of bacteriological war—and a convention has already been carried on that, through the initiative of the Labour Government—also mean that nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and indiscriminate bombing could not be used; and would not that be a tremendous progress?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIANCertainly it would, my Lords. I am not myself certain whether this particular Conference is the best forum for the discussion of nuclear matters, but, as I said to the noble Lord, I will consider what he said.