-MA V
IRO
IRO guidelines, could we ratify for Hong Kong.
7.
We need to consider whether we should ratify on behalf of the
United Kingdom and Islands and some Dependent Territories now,
extending the Covention to the other Dependent Territories later.
Legal Advisers have confirmed that there is nothing wrong in
principle with this course of action. Nevertheless we must bear in
mind that not to include some Dependent Territories in ratification
may lead to criticism. Moreover it could set an unhelpful precedent
for the Euture with regard to the governments of the Dependent
Territories and make it difficult to extend Conventions to them in
the future.
8. On the other hand to continue to wait until replies are obtained
from all Dependent Territories before ratifying will lead to a
significant delay and increased Parliamentary and public criticism.
As there is no guarantee that we we will be able to persuade
Gibraltar to ratify, we could anyway eventually find ourselves in the position of having to ratify without Gibraltar. However, If
however it is agreed to proceed with two-stage ratification, we would need to make clear that the reasons for excluding certain Dependent
Territories were temporary and that we would be ratifying on their
behalf shortly. We would also need to ensure that this was fully
understood by the Territories concerned.
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