HL Deb 20 December 1979 vol 403 cc1813-4WA

Lord AVEBURY asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will give the names and nationalities of the members of the Working Group on Communications of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; on what dates the Working Group next meets, and where; what is their attitude on the proposals to extend the meeting of the Sub-Commission from three weeks to four and to make the meetings twice instead of once yearly; whether it is their policy to send an observer to the meetings of the Sub-Commission; who will be appointed for the next meeting and what instructions he will be given to raise particular issues and whether they will assemble all documents relating to the 1503 procedure and the work of the Sub-Commission in the Library.

The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (Lord Carrington)

On 7th September 1979 the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities decided that the composition of its Working Group on Communications should be as follows:

  • Mr. Prizada, Pakistan.
  • (Alternate: Mr. Sadi, Jordan).
  • Mrs. Warzazi, Morocco.
  • (Alternate: Mr. Jimeta, Nigeria).
  • Mr. Martinez Baez, Mexico.
  • (Alternate: Mr. Holguin Holguin, Colombia).
  • Mr. Whitaker, United Kingdom.
  • (Alternate: Mrs. Questiaux, France.)
  • Mr. Smirnoff, Soviet Union.
  • (Alternate: Mr. Bahneb, Bulgaria).
The Working Group will next meet from 4th to 15th August 1980.

The Government support the proposal that the Sub-Commission meet for four (two two-week sessions) rather than three weeks each year, as at present. An observer, appointed ad hoc from among the staff of the United Kingdom Mission to the office of the United Nations and other International Organisations at Geneva, attends most open meetings of the Sub-Commission when it is in session there.

Members of the Sub-Commission are elected by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for a three-year term; they are nominated by Governments but serve in their personal capacity. Mr. Benjamin Whitaker, a United Kingdom nominee, was re-elected to the Sub-Commission in 1978.

The voluminous documents concerned with the "1503" procedure for dealing with communications relating to violations of human rights (including document E/RES/1503 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council which set up the procedure), and with the other work of the Sub-Commission, are in the Library in another place. But the procedure is confidential, and records of proceedings of the Sub-Commission in closed session and of the Working Group on Communications are not made available to Governments.