TNAG-1022-FCO40-1272-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-United-Nations-1981 — Page 99

CONFIDENTIAL

NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS

1.

Proposals concerning National Liberation Movements

(NLMS) can appear in a variety of forms; if the delegation is in doubt it should refer the texts of any draft

resolutions to the FCO for instructions (233-5024).

(In

particular, any questions of material or financial assistance

to NLMS by a UN body should be referred.) We try to keep

in respectable company in any position we adopt over NLMs,

taking particular note of the position of the Americans

and the Ten. Other Ten members, notably France and the

Netherlands (and Spain outside the Ten) have to deal with

terrorist groups who could present themselves as movements trying to liberate themselves from alien occupation. The French have taken a strong line in the past and may take the lead on unacceptable references to NLMs.

2.

In general, delegations are likely to encounter two main

proposals:

i)

ii)

that members of NLMs should attend meetings of UN

Agencies, or conferences convened under UN auspices,

as observers', and

that NLMS should be permitted to become Contracting

Parties to legal instruments which may be concluded

at those meetings or conferences; in other words,

bestowing on NLMS some of the attributes of a State.

OBSERVER STATUS FOR NLMS

3. We are prepared to acquiesce (though reluctantly) in the

granting of observer status at meetings and conferences to

members of NLMS recognised in their region by the Organisation

of African States (OAU) or the League of Arab States' or,

as an alternative formula, 'recognised in their regions by the

appropriate regional intergovernmental organisation'. In either

case, representation must be in accordance with the constitution

of the Agency or the Rules of Procedure of the Conference.

proposals for full participation by NLMS should be referred

to the FCO, as should any attempts to refer to NLMS by name,

as opposed to through the formulae above)

4. It is important to note the inclusion in both formulae

of the wording 'in their regions'. We would not wish to see

(70) CONFIDENTIAL

/regional

(Any