HC Deb 29 October 1956 vol 558 cc91-2W
59. Mr. Fenner Brockway

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the discussions at the United Nations conference at Geneva on the proposed supplementary convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices similar to slavery.

65. Mr. Wade

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the Representative of Her Majesty's Government at the conference held at Geneva to consider supplementing the 1926 Convention on slavery was instructed to withdraw his own proposals for the international control of the trade in slaves.

Lord John Hope

As my hon. Friend said on 24th October, Her Majesty's Government regard the Convention as generally satisfactory. The United Kingdom Representative at the Slavery Conference was instructed to withdraw our original proposals for the international control of the slave trade because it was clear that the majority of the States attending the Conference would not accept them.