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Written Answers
Monday, 14th July 1997.
Defence Equipment Sale Guidelines
Lord Chesham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the guidelines on the sale of defence equipment have been modified.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The detailed criteria used in considering licence applications to export conventional arms are currently under review. The new criteria will be made available to the House when the review is complete. In the meantime, officials have been instructed to consult Ministers whenever there are export licence applications which may raise concerns about human rights or international stability.
Intelligence Services Act: Commissioner's Recommendation
Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will take action on the recommendation, in paragraph 21 of the report by the commissioner under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 dated June 1997, that the Act be amended to extend the power of the tribunal to deal with certain complaints more satisfactorily.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Government will be giving careful consideration to the recommendations made in the commissioner's annual report and the commissioner will be informed to the outcome.
Women's National Commission
Baroness Denton of Wakefield asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why the announcement of their plans for women's matters included no reference to the Women's National Commission.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The two major objectives of my right honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security and Minister for Women and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State are to have a new dialogue between women and government and to ensure delivery of the Government's commitments to women.
My honourable friends attach great importance to building a new bond of trust between women and government. Government must reflect the views of all women and ensure that the channels of communication between women's organisations and government are
strengthened. The Government are reviewing the role and status of the Women's National Commission.NATO: Civil and Parliamentary Oversight
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, if NATO is now to undertake political and other civil activities, they consider a greater degree of transparency and civil and parliamentary oversight to be necessary, given the dominance of the United States in the organisation.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: NATO has undertaken political and civil activities since its inception. The Alliance's sixteen governments are all democratic and subject to parliamentary oversight. This House has debated NATO issues several times recently including at the noble Lord's instigation and my noble friend the Leader of the House has undertaken to ensure that the House has the opportunity for a debate on NATO expansion.
Members of the Parliaments of the NATO member states discuss NATO issues both nationally and collectively, in the latter format on a regular basis in the North Atlantic Assembly.
The Government do not consider that any further provisions for transparency or civil or parliamentary oversight are necessary.
OSCE States' Bilateral Military Relations
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they are fully informed by the US and by the other countries of the scale and scope of bilateral military relations, including military funding, in the whole Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe area and whether they are satisfied with the situation.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: OSCE countries, including the United States, are under no formal obligation to inform each other of the details of their bilateral military relations, but are encouraged under the Vienna Document of 1994 to exchange such information. Many, including the UK, US and, recently, Russia, provide such information and we continue to encourage as much transparency as possible in this area from all signatories. OSCE states are also required under the Vienna Document to provide annually information on their national defence planning and military budgets.
Bomb Test Drop
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they consider that the US Air Force's plans to test-drop B61-11 earth penetrating bombs from a B-2, as part of a series aimed at defining the repackaged nuclear weapon's aero-ballistic dispersion patterns, are compatible with the spirit of the nuclear test ban.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty bans nuclear weapon test explosions and any other nuclear explosions. It does not place any constraints on tests of bombs which do not involve such explosions.
Defence Exports: End-use
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- By what methods and through which agencies they expect the monitoring of the end-uses of arms and ammunition exported from Britain to be carried out.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: Work is in hand to consider how to strengthen monitoring of the end-use of defence exports in line with our commitment to prevent diversion to third countries and to ensure that exported equipment is used only on the conditions under which the export licence has been granted. Ministers have yet to take any decisions on what methods and through which agencies they expect the monitoring of the end-uses of arms and ammunition exported from Britain to be carried out. These matters are under active consideration. But we are also keen to build a common approach in this area within the European Union and under the Wassenaar Arrangement.
EU Membership
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Which other members of the European Community share their vision of Europe as "an alliance of independent nations".
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: All of them. No member state of the Union is suggesting that it should stop being an independent nation. But each is prepared to work with the other member states in the framework of the European Union where it is sensible to do so.
Turkey and the European Court of Human Rights
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish a table showing, for each of the years 1990 to 1996, the number of applications brought against Turkey at the European Commission of Human Rights; the number declared admissible; the number of cases referred to the Court; and the number of judgments of the Court, distinguishing between those where the Court found in favour of the applicant and of Turkey respectively.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The information requested is shown below.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | |
| No. of applications | 85 | 33 | 180 | 128 | 187 | 214 | 562 |
| No. admissible | 0 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 57 | 37 |
| No. of cases referred to Court | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| No. of Court judgments | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| of which: | |||||||
| --in Turkey's favour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| --against | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Georgia: CIS Peacekeeping Force
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have been informed by the Georgian government of its threat not to renew the mandate of the CIS peacekeeping force when it expires on 31st July unless the force's area of operations is expanded in line with the decision of the March CIS summit; if so, at what point they understand Georgia will notify the Secretary-General or the President of the Security Council of its firm intention not to renew the mandate; whether they will ask for a meeting of the Security Council, to review the position of UNOMIG well in advance of the actual withdrawal; and whether they will make representations to the Georgian government concerning the impact which such developments would have on Georgia's relationships with other states, particularly those which are members of the OSCE.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Georgian authorities have made the Friends of the Secretary-General on Georgia aware of their threat not to renew the mandate of the CIS peacekeeping operation when it expires on 31 July unless the force's area of operations is expanded in line with the decision of the March CIS Summit. There is no formal mechanism for notifying the United Nations of any change in the CIS peacekeeping force mandate but we would of course expect the UN to be so notified. The Georgian government is well aware of our views on the role played by the CIS peacekeeping force and the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) and of our concerns about possible withdrawal. The position of UNOMIG will be reviewed in good time before 31 July, as its own mandate also expires on that date and would also have to be reviewed in the event of a subsequent withdrawal of the CIS peacekeeping force.
NATO: Funding for Peacekeeping Personnel
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What are the arrangements for paying service personnel from non-NATO countries who are participating in (a) Partnership For Peace exercises and (b) peacekeeping operations in ex-Yugoslavia or elsewhere; and whether these payments are co-ordinated between participating governments.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert): The responsibility for the payment of service personnel involved in Partnership for Peace (PfP) activities or NATO peacekeeping operations lies with the government providing those forces. Limited NATO funding is available in exceptional circumstances to subsidise the travel costs and allowances of personnel from Partner nations participating in authorised PfP activities.
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