§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Polish Government about the respect for human rights in Poland on the occasion of the third anniversary of the banning of Solidarity on 13 December.
§ Mr. RifkindWe made clear publicly in 1982 and have subsequently repeated, that we deplored the action of the Polish authorities in dissolving Solidarity and in refusing to allow Polish workers to decide for themselves what trade union organisations should represent them. The ban was inconsistent with the spirit of the Helsinki final act.
During my official discussions in Poland from 3–7 November I raised various aspects of human rights with the Polish authorities and conveyed the widespread parliamentary and public concern in the United Kingdom at the continued detention of political prisoners, including Solidarity members Bogdan Lis and Piotr Mierzejewski.
We welcome the recent release from detention of Mr. Lis and Mr. Mierzejewski. We remain concerned, however, about human rights in Poland. In our further exchanges with the Poles we will emphasize those concerns where appropriate.