HL Deb 30 October 1996 vol 575 c18WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps they will take to ensure that the mandate of the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention is renewed beyond March 1997, and that adequate resources are made available to the working group to carry out their existing mandate.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

At the Commission on Human Rights in 1994, we co-sponsored a resolution renewing the mandate of the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention for three years and requesting the secretary general to ensure that the group had the assistance necessary to enable it to discharge its mandate. We expect to support a similar resolution at next year's Commission when the group's mandate comes up for renewal.