CAB129-52 — Page 112

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Page 112 in the case of France, Switzerland and the United States, in which countries many important organisations have their seats and where the great body of "international civil servants operates. If, in the case of the U.P.U., an exception were made because the Union had functioned efficiently in the past, this would seem both inconsistent and discriminatory.

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4. The history of the matter, and the effect of the Orders now to be made are set out in Annex I to this paper. It will be seen from paragraph 5 that Her Majesty's Government cannot accede to a Convention in respect of a Specialised Agency of the United Nations unless they bind themselves to the grant of these privileges and immunities. Similarly, Her Majesty's Government should not ratify, without reservation (which may not be possible), any agreements concerning any other organisations until the privileges and immunities provided by such agreements have been granted by Order in Council. The International Wheat Council is an example of a case where this practice has not been followed. The agreement granting privileges and immunities has already been ratified by Her Majesty's Gov- ernment without reservation, but no Order in Council has yet been made. Such Order would contain provisions only in respect of corporate personality and income tax relief, and administrative arrangements have been made temporarily to prevent breach of obligation.

5. There are clearly very strong objections to Her Majesty's Government enjoying the membership of an international organisation without granting to it the privileges and immunities which have been approved for it under international agreement, which have been granted by other countries and which are in some cases less than could have been held due under common international law, had no agree- ment been made. (Paragraph 14, Annex I). In my view the practical effect of what is now proposed will be inconsiderable because:-

(a) Compared with the amount of immunity and privilege already existing in London in respect of the Diplomatic Corps, the addition made by inter- national organisations is very small.

(b) Except in the rare case of the organisation having its headquarters in the United Kingdom, and, except for certain branch offices such as the representative of the International Children's Emergency Fund and the United Nations Information Agency, the personal privileges and immunities will normally be enjoyed only by people visiting this country for brief periods and in small numbers.

(c) There are at the present moment only two organisations which have their headquarters in this country. These are the Brussels Treaty Organisa- tion and the International Wheat Council. Privileges and immunities have already been granted to the former and the privileges and immunities of the latter, which have not yet been granted, are of an extremely limited character and include no personal immunity whatever. If the policy of Her Majesty's Government is now changed, it is probable that no international organisation would desire to establish itself in the United Kingdom.

6. For these reasons I recommend: -

(i) That Her Majesty's Government should grant to the international organ- isations to which they belong the moderate privileges which are defined in their individual agreements.

(ii) That a serious effort should be made by Ministers in both Houses to convince Parliament that criticism and dislike of Orders in Council conferring privileges and immunities is not, in general, well founded. (iii) That the draft Orders listed in Annex 3 below should be presented to

Parliament in due course.

A. E.

Foreign Office, S.W. 1,

12th June, 1952.

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