§ Dr. Dickson Mabonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government will now embark upon the ratification procedure for the Council of Europe Convention on the reduction of cases of multiple nationality and on military obligations in cases of multiple nationality; and whether he will now make an explanatory statement.
§ Mr. KershawAs its title implies, the Convention has two objects; to reduce cases of multiple nationality and to ensure that persons possessing the nationality of more than one country are required to perfom compulsory military service in one of those countries only.
The British representatives made it clear during the negotiations of the Convention that the United Kingdom would not be able to adhere to the former provisions since they were incompatible with British nationality law but saw advantage in the latter provisions.
Article 7 of the Convention permits States to declare that they will apply the provisions relating to military service only. The United Kingdom availed itself 361W of this option and signed the Convention on 6th May, 1963. It is hoped to ratify the Convention in the near future.