TNAG-1152-FCO40-1432-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-Commonwealth-1982 — Page 13

His Excellency

Mr Shridath Surendranath Ramphal

Kt CMG QC

Commonwealth Secretary-General Marlborough House

Pall Mall

SWI

UNR 24116

4 NOV 1980

ANNEX B

772

Act

29 October 1980

COMMONWEALTH WORKING PARTY ON HUMAN RIGHTS: INTERIM REPORT

In your circular letter 34/80 of 24 April you asked for any views Governments might have on the recommendations contained in the Interim Report.

The United Kingdom Government has studied the report with great interest and considers that its recommendations form a useful and constructive basis for further work. Since the Commonwealth association is committed to principles of human dignity and equality, the United Kingdom Government considers it appropriate that the Commonwealth demonstrate its interest in safeguarding human rights. At the same time, it will be important to ensure, both for reasons of principle and for the sake of economy of manpower and resources, that any Commonwealth machinery established as a result of the present review should not lead to problems of overlapping jurisdiction with existing UN bodies or with regional human rights machinery. We suggest that the terms of reference of any new Commonwealth bodies which might be established should be formulated with this consideration in mind.

With regard to the recommendation for a special unit in the Commonwealth Secretariat, we assume from the Interim Report that it is the intention that this unit would have an advisory rather than an executive role. For reasons of economy, we suggest that it might best be sited within the Secretariat's Legal Division, where we would hope additional staff would prova unnecessary.

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/With regard to