§ Mr. AtkinsonTo ask the Prime Minister if she will say what further improvements in human rights performance in the Soviet Union will satisfy the criteria of Her Majesty's Government for attending a human rights conference in Moscow in 1991.
§ The Prime MinisterWe have agreed in principle to a Moscow human rights conference in 1991, provided that 329W recent progress in the Soviet human rights performance is maintained and consolidated, but obviously much remains to be done. If we are to attend such a conference the promised changes in Soviet criminal legislation must have been implemented, including the abolition or amendment of the political and religious articles; there must be effective guarantees of free speech, freedom of religion and freedom to emigrate, as well as of genuine judicial independence; there must be no political or religious prisoners and no long-term refuseniks; the Moscow conference must be held under exactly the same conditions as the CSCE meetings in the West; there must be no going back on the improvements which have already taken place and which made it possible for us to agree in principle to a Moscow conference.
All this assumes that nothing has happened in the meantime seriously to undermine the greatly improved state of East-West relations.