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COVERING RESTRICTED
FROM: M C Bates
DATE:
Parliamentary Relations Unit
16 May 1991
cc PS/Lord Caithness
Sir J Coles
Miss Spencer
Mr Burns
HKD 026/14
UND
FED
HKD
FIVEC
CSCE Unit SED
3 OMAY 1991
PS/Mr Lennox-Boyd
Private Secretary
CER
PA
A
B
IPU: LETTER FROM SIR MICHAEL MARSHALL MP
Problem
1. A reply to Sir Michael Marshall's letter of 8 May.
Recommendation
That the Secretary of State replies as in the attached draft, which has been cleared with UND, HKD, FED and CSCE Unit.
2.
Background and argument
3.
The draft reply is largely self-explanatory but the Secretary of State might welcome some background on the question of IPU/UN relations.
Sir Michael Marshall first raised this matter with the Secretary of State when he called last November. Sir Michael is seeking observer status for the IPU at UNGA. The Secretary
4.
of State told him that closer IPU/UN relations were in principle to be welcomed but that the question of observer status was complex and needed further examination.
5.
UND subsequently consulted UKMIS who replied that there seemed to be no legal objections but that a successful IPU application for observer status would set an unfortunate precedent which might encourage a number of less desirable bodies to seek similar status. We also consulted posts in Paris, Bonn, Rome and Ottawa. In each case, the host government indicated considerable reservations, referring to the difficulties they had had when the ICRC was given observer status in 1990.
COVERING RESTRICTED
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