§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will publish the text of his letter to the hon. Member for Congleton of 13 March in connection with the agreement for the suppression of the circulation of obscene publications; [16525]
(2) pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Congleton of 28 February, what inquiries have now been made of the United Nations by his Department in connection with the status and operative provisions of the agreement for the suppression of the circulation of obscene publications; what proposals there are to comply with those provisions of the agreement which require the five-yearly consideration of the desirability of calling a conference on the matters covered by the agreement; and if he will make a statement. [16523]
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[holding answer 27 March 1995]: The United Nations treaty department has confirmed that an agreement for the suppression of the circulation of obscene publications was signed in 1910 and amended by a protocol in 1949, and a convention for the suppression of the circulation and traffic in obscene publications was concluded in 1923 and amended by a protocol in 1947. Article 16 of the 1923 convention, not the 1910 agreement, contains the provision for calling a conference at the end of each period of five years. As amended in 1947 it states:
Upon a request for a revision of the present Convention by five of the signatory or acceding Parties to the Convention, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations shall call a conference for that purpose. In any event, the Council will consider the desirability of calling a conference at the end of each period of five years".There is no record of five members asking for a conference. The secretariat of ECOSOC has confirmed to us that it has come under no pressure from signatories to review the 1923 convention, nor has it opted to call a conference as provided for under article 16.
The convention is still active: the Czech and Slovak Republics succeeded to it—independently—on 28 August 1993. If there were a proposal by five member states signatory to the convention, the Economic and Social Council would call a conference. We are not aware of any current proposals to do so.
Copies of the texts of the 1910 agreement and the 1923 convention will be lodged in the Library of the House in due course.