HC Deb 24 May 1971 vol 818 cc32-3W
Mr. Rose

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to further the cause of human rights through existing international agencies in European countries with regard to Spain, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Poland, Russia and Portugal, where political, ethnic and religious minorities are persecuted.

Mr. Kershaw

The only international agency based in Europe of which the United Kingdom is a member and which deals specifically with Human Rights is the Council of Europe, under whose auspices the European Convention on Human Rights was concluded in 1950. The countries mentioned are not members of the Council of Europe and are not eligible, therefore, to be parties to that Convention.

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