§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will propose that the reports of the Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will be published immediately in the original languages of their authors, instead of waiting until all the translations have been done, as is now the practice. [HL637]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)We encourage the UN Secretariat to issue such reports as soon as practicable and welcome recent efforts to disseminate them more widely using the Internet. But changes to procedures involving the UN's official languages would be certain to be resisted by member states which consider themselves thereby disadvantaged.