§ Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the draft resolution tabled by Sweden at the General Assembly of the United Nations providing for the prohibition of the use of napalm.
§ Mr. AmeryOn 22nd November the United Kingdom abstained in the vote at the United Nations on the Swedish resolution, after unsuccessful efforts to obtain alterations in the draft. These were designed to bring it into line with the resolution adopted on 12th November by the XXII International Conference of the Red Cross held at Tehran, which we supported. In particular, we wished it to be made clear that the proposed substantive discussions on the question of prohibiting or restricting the use of napalm and certain other weapons should be undertaken not by the Diplomatic Conference, to be held in Geneva next spring, but by a separate or subsidiary body. Substantive discussion in the Diplomatic Conference itself would in our view be likely to damage the chances of success of that conference in formulating important new protocols on humanitarian law.