§ Lord GISBOROUGHMy 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 whether they will put pressure on the Government in Paraguay through the United Nations to ensure the alleviation of the suffering of the Guyaki natives.
§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, we take the initiative in raising such matters at the United Nations only when we are directly involved, when we have adequate evidence, and when we are satisfied that our actions will benefit the victims of the alleged violation in question. However, individuals and bodies have the right to petition the UN Secretary-General on such matters, and such petitions, if successful, would be heard in the Human Rights Commission. If this were to happen we 567 should look at the evidence carefully and objectively.
§ Lord GISBOROUGHMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Could the concern of this House be conveyed to the new tribal mission which has great responsibility in the terrible situation in Paraguay; and could the Government of Paraguay be pressured by trade embargoes, by the withholding of any aid or by world publicity, as we pressured South Africa where a similar situation exists?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I appreciate the noble Lord's concern in this matter which I believe we all share. But I doubt whether any bilateral action of the kind envisaged in the second part of his supplementary question would be productive or advantageous to the people we most want to assist. The first part of his supplementary question may prove helpful, in that exchanges in the British Parliament, and particularly in this House, on questions of this kind are immediately studied outside this country, and the exchanges that we have already had may have a real effect in the right quarters.
§ Earl COWLEYMy Lords, although the article in the Sunday Times made no mention of British subjects being involved in this alleged atrocity, can the noble Lord establish whether any United Kingdom citizens or missionaries are working among the Indians in Paraguay?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, so far as I know, no British citizen is involved. However, as the noble Earl had helpfully given me notice of this point, which I agree is important, I have instituted an inquiry to check on the position. I expect that the answer will be negative; but I recognise that this point should be checked and possibly double-checked.
§ Viscount MASSEREENE and FERRARDMy Lords, would the Minister agree that by the time this process of going to the United Nations and to all the various committees is exhausted, it may be that tens of thousands of innocent natives have been slaughtered? Does the Minister agree that we have had many instances over the last 15 years of the most appalling holocausts in Africa, 568 where the United Nations appears to have done nothing at all and where the situation is most unsatisfactory?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I think that the procedure I have described—while it might be expedited; and we are now taking a lead in securing improvements in speeding up this procedure—is better to be followed than bilateral action which might be counter-productive in the sense that those we wish to help might not, in the event, be helped. I take the point that we must do everything we can to expedite these procedures. But they are very sound in that they provide for cases like this to reach the United Nations Secretary-General for sifting processes to be instituted to separate the unsubstantial from the substantial, and for the substantial cases to reach the Human Rights Commission by the sub-Commission on Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. At that point we and other member States can intervene decisively.
§ Lord GISBOROUGHMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that the Government should make such a petition as he has been talking about?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSNo, my Lords, it is for a body such as the Anti-Slavery Association of this country, which I understand is looking at this matter, or for the League for the Rights of Man. There are many such bodies. It is provided for that non-Governmental organisations (of international rather than national character) should avail themselves of this procedure. At the point where substance is established the member Governments, through their representatives at the sub-Commission level or at the full Commission level, intervene objectively—and, I would hope, decisively.