§ Mr. George Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government in relation to the United Nations draft convention on torture; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RifkindWe take a keen interest in this convention and hope to see it finalised soon. We are working to this end in the discussions currently taking place at the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
§ Mr. George Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 305W countries where, since May 1979, he or Her Majesty's representatives have protested against the torture or ill-treatment of a British subject by the authorities; and how many individual cases were involved in each country.
§ Mr. RifkindI am not aware of any cases involving death or torture but during the period in question we have made representations about the alleged ill-treatment of British subjects to the Governments of:
Cases Spain 8 Malta 7 Greece 4 Saudi Arabia 2 Iraq 2 South Africa 1 Zambia 1 Zimbabwe 1 El Salvador 1 Soviet Union 1 Turkey 1