From:
Sir John Leahy KCMG
in
ANNEX F
に
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SWLA 2AH
18 June 1982
8
His Excellency
Mr Shridath Surendranath Ramphal
AC Kt CMG QC
Commonwealth Secretary-General Marlborough House
Pall Mall
LONDON SW1
'NR 241/32
EX IN WEGKS D
16 JUN NE
Dear Secretary-General,
COMMONWEALTH ACTIVITY IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS
In your Circular Letter No.1/82 of 5 January 1982, you asked for governments' views on the conclusions of last year's meeting in Melbourne of Commonwealth Heads of Government on the subject of Commonwealth activity in the field of human rights as set out in the communiqué. In particular you invited governments' comments on the question of a definition of human rights appropriate in the Commonwealth context.
The United Kingdom endorses your proposal that the Commonwealth Declarations to which you refer and the relevant international instruments which member governments have accepted should provide the framework within which the. Special Unit proposed by the Working Party and approved in principle at Melbourne should operate.
I should like to take this opportunity, with reference to the Special Unit's functions and staffing, to reiterate our concern that an appropriate method of financing this initiative can be found and agreed by Commonwealth Governments, which takes due account of economic constraints.
Yours suincaily,
John Lenky
John Leahy
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