§ 25. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what instructions he gave to the United 20W Kingdom delegate on the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations at their recent discussions on the question of safeguarding the rights of conscientious objectors.
§ Mr. BevinThe only reference to conscientious objectors in the Draft Covenant of Human Rights occurs in the definition of "forced or compulsory labour" in Article 8. The Commission had before it a definition under which the service exacted from conscientious objectors in virtue of compulsory military service laws was not deemed to be forced labour, provided that they were compensated for such services with maintenance and pay not inferior to that received by a soldier of the lowest rank. The United Kingdom representative was instructed to point out the difficulties of applying this criterion; and to support the view that a reference to the pay and maintenance to which conscientious objectors should be entitled was inappropriate in a definition of "forced or compulsory labour."