§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the statement by the United Nations special committee against apartheid that psychiatry is being misused in South Africa to suppress political dissent.
§ Mr. WhitneyWe, like many other Western countries, are not members of the special committee against apartheid and are not in a position to comment on the accuracy or otherwise of the committee's statements or publications. As we have made clear on many occasions, we strongly deplore the misuse, wherever it occurs, of detention and hospitalisation in psychiatric institutions and similar practices which violate human rights.