§ Mr. G. Campbellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how the United Kingdom voted in the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations on each of the resolutions concerning Mauritius, Fiji, and Spanish Equatorial Guinea; and what was his reason in each case.
§ Mr. George ThomsonThe United Kingdom abstained on the resolution on Mauritius. The reasons for this abstention were because the draft resolution took no account of the recent Mauritius Constitutional Conference and made no reference to the prospect of early independence for this territory.
We voted against the resolution on Fiji because it called upon Her Majesty's Government to repudiate the decision of the recent Fiji Constitutional Conference.
We voted in favour of the draft resolution on Spanish Equatorial Guinea, despite some reservations, because we agreed with the spirit and objectives of that resolution. It also emphasised the principle of self-determination, which has been the basis of Her Majesty's Government's own colonial policy.