§ Miss Holtasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by what percentage the number of persons unemployed in Rhodesia has grown between 1965 and 1972.
§ Mr. KershawUnemployment figures for Rhodesia are not available. However, the figures for employment and for the population are, as follows:
Total employees Total Population 1965 743,800 4,490,000 1971 890,000 5,590,000
§ Mr. Benyonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he is able to provide any further information about breaches of United Nations sanctions against Rhodesia by other countries.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeIn the successive annual reports of the United Nations Sanctions Supervisory Committee—the committee established in pursuance of Security Council Resolution No. 253—copies of which are in the Library, various countries have been mentioned in cases of suspected sanctions violations involving their nationals. For170W the most part the countries mentioned are those named in the approximately 170 Notes which we have submitted to the United Nations Sanctions Committee, not by way of accusation but so as to enable the Governments of the countries concerned to investigate whether a breach of sanctions has occurred. A list of the countries so named would be misleading: our Notes are no proof of an offence, and in certain cases the reference to an individual country was purely incidental, for instance when a ship with suspect cargo called at a number of ports in different countries.
The evidence for widespread sanctions evasions by other countries is, in fact, general rather than particular. It is of four main types. There is, firstly and most importantly, the calculation made by the United Nations Sanctions Committee by reference to recorded trade statistics that at least one-third and possibly as much as a half of Rhodesia's exports are reaching United Nations member countries which claim to be observing sanctions. Secondly, there are the Rhodesians' own published export figures; after a drop of 40 per cent. in domestic exports by 1968 in comparison with 1965 as the relevant Security Council Resolutions began to take effect, there was a steady increase until 1971 when the corresponding figure was only 2.5 per cent. below that of 1965. Thirdly, there are the 120 specific cases of suspected evasions which we have reported to the United Nations Sanctions Committee; it is inconceivable that all of those transactions were innocent, yet in no case that I know of has a prosecution resulted. Lastly, there is the inference to be drawn by the Rhodesians' apparent ability to import up to a level limited only by the availability of foreign exchange; visitors to Rhodesia have commented on the extent to which traditional British exports have been replaced by supplies from other countries.
Granted that an export to an innocent destination may eventually end up in Rhodesia without the exporter's knowledge, that an importer may in the majority of cases have no reasonable cause to suspect a Rhodesian origin and that the Rhodesians have in the course of time and increasing experience become more adept at covering their tracks, the overall picture does nevertheless suggest 171W that had the general application of sanctions been as conscientious as it has in Britain many more violations would have been detected and punished. It is, in short, the will on the part of a number of Governments to implement sanctions rigorously which appears to have been lacking.