§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made at the conference on hijacking at The Hague; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleThe Conference at The Hague, in which 77 States took part, adopted on 15th December an International Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft. A copy of the Convention, which was signed by Her Majesty's Government on 16th December, is being placed in the library of the House. Of the States present at the Conference on the final day, 73 voted for the adoption of the Convention and 2 (Algeria and Chile) abstained. Those supporting included the United Kingdom, the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Arab Republic.
The Convention provides for the creation of the offence of unlawful seizure of aircraft to be punishable by severe penalties. It includes provision for arrest and for extradition of offenders between 426W contracting states, and confers jurisdiction to prosecute on any state where the offender is found, if that state does not choose to extradite him.