HL Deb 08 November 1978 vol 396 cc300-2

2.42 p.m.

Lord JANNER

My 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 steps they are taking to deal with the hijacking of aircraft and the refusal to grant air facilities to those nations who train, harbour and otherwise aid hijackers; and what other nations have joined them in these efforts.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, at the Bonn Economic Summit on 16th and 17th July, the Heads of State and Governments of Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States declared their joint resolution that, in cases where a country refuses the extradition or prosecution of those who have hijacked an aircraft and/or does not return such aircraft, their Governments shall take immediate action to cease all flights to that country. At the same time, their Governments will initiate action to halt all incoming flights from that country or from any country by the airlines of the country concerned.

Lord JANNER

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. As this year marks the 25th anniversary of the coming into force of the European Convention on Human Rights, and as the British Government, along with the twenty other member countries of the Council of Europe, are a signatory to the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, may I ask my noble friend to seek additional methods of bringing home to those who are continuing in their terrorist actions what the position actually is and to try to force upon them their moral obligations? May I ask him to include those who are advocating the kind of terrorism which includes hijacking? Would he agree that a body like the PLO, which actually advocates the use of these methods, should not be allowed to try to influence people in this country by being allowed to remain here?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, representatives of the Seven have made a joint diplomatic démarche to over 120 Governments urging them to join the Seven in this commitment and the result has been encouraging. An appreciable number of countries have expressed their support for the declaration and almost all countries have stated that they agree with its basic objectives—the elimination of hijacking—and many of them are studying it from the perspective of their own national interest. I would add that Her Majesty's Government lose no opportunity of bringing to the attention of all countries the imperative need for them to join in this declaration and to accede to the three international airways conventions.

Lord BRUCE of DONINGTON

My Lords, would my noble friend explain the position of France in this matter?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

France was one of the signatories to the declaration I mentioned, my Lords.

Lord JANNER

My Lords, I am sorry to intervene again, but we must remember the very high respect for British opinion that exists throughout the world. I believe that if we endeavoured to utilise the media and other sources to bring home the serious position that has been created, that would be extremely helpful, and I therefore ask my noble friend to be good enough to consider the points I made.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

Certainly, my Lords, and I hope I made that clear to my noble friend in my reply to his first supplementary. We lose no opportunity of bringing the importance of this matter to the attention of all the Governments concerned.

Lord LLOYD of KILGERRAN

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that at the recent meeting of the Commonwealth Conference in Jamaica the British delegation, ably led by the noble Baroness, Lady Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe, put forward a view substantially the same as that given to the House by the Minister this afternoon? I had the honour of being on the panel of the seminar dealing with the matter prior to the plenary session, where there was full support from the 35 nations represented for the view the Minister has given.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

That is a most welcome addition to what I was saying, my Lords. We have circulated 120 countries out of the 149 who are members of the United Nations and the response has been encouraging. Of the 35 Commonwealth countries the response has been particularly encouraging, and what the noble Lord said about the proceedings at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting bears out what I said.