§ Dame Joan Vickersasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the Government has taken on Resolution (68)30 adopted on the 31st October, 1968, by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and relating to measures to be taken against incitement to racial, national and religious hatred.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsThe United Kingdom Instrument of Ratification of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination was deposited on 7th March this year. Although this was not accompanied by an interpretative statement, Her Majesty's Government's recognition and support of the rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms have been constantly demonstrated. Comprehensive legislation in the form of the Race Relations Act 1968 has recently been enacted in the United Kingdom.
We regret that no progress could be made in the Third Committeee of the United Nations General Assembly at its Twenty-Third Session on the drafting of a convention for the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief. Her Majesty's Government have always supported the early adoption of an effective international instrument on this subject.