§ 11.12 a.m.
§ Lord HALEMy 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 what was the reason for the delay in presenting to Parliament the Onchocerciasis Fund Agreement 1974, what other countries have now signed the agreement and what information is available as to the first year's working.
§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, the delay was caused by an administrative oversight, which is regretted. The other countries which have now signed the 1974 Agreement are Canada, France, the Netherlands, the United States of America, the Federal Republic of Germany. Iraq and Belgium. A progress report for 1974 has been issued by the World Health Organisation, the Executing Agency. I am arranging for a copy to be sent to the noble Lord.
§ LORD HALEMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that Answer. Will he take note that this is a magnificent international achievement directed to the noblest objectives, and that it involves seven recipient countries and an estimated area very much larger than the whole of the United Kingdom? Would it not be well to see that publicity is given to some of these achievements at a time when the eyes of the world are focussed on the forthcoming Congress of African Peoples, as this involves a very large area of that continent? I am grateful for his promise to send information. I hope it will contain a Report of the first year's achievements.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords. I am sure that the whole House will agree with my noble friend in everything he said about the splendid work done in this respect in Africa by the United Nations. It is a great encouragement that the preservation of life is one of the preoccupations at the moment in that continent.
§ Baroness GAITSKELLMay I ask my noble friend to pronounce the name of the Fund?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSif it were spelled "Onkoserkiasis".
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend—and I hope that this supplementary question is relevant—whether the Government are in co-operation with the School of Tropical Medicine in regard to this very distressing disease, the clearance of which is like the clearance of flies in Panama and Suez earlier in history, and which will make possible a development in tropical Africa and elsewhere of great importance to the whole of mankind?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I am glad to confirm that a good deal of very promising research in this vital field is being conducted in such British institutions as the one named by my noble friend.
Lord BRUCE of DONINGTONMy Lords, will my noble friend deal with that part of the supplementary question asked by my noble friend Lord Hale which related to the publicity that ought to be given to actions of this kind? Is my noble friend aware that unless pub- 1708 licity is given these things rarely become known anywhere?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, my noble friend Lord Bruce will have noticed that I said that I agreed with everything that my noble friend had said, including the need for publicity of this kind of helpful and humanitarian activity. I will certainly see how it is possible to expand publicity. I agree that we should inform people much more than we do about this kind of activity, and I thank my noble friend for emphasising that point.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that the Government will find it difficult to get publicity for a constructive achievement of this sort, when the media are usually preoccupied with sex, perversion, rape, murder and other undesirable and antisocial acts?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I doubt whether the media are solely preoccupied with the themes my noble friend named. Judging from a number of documentaries that I have seen, I imagine that they might be interested in an exposé of this project.