asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is now in a position to ratify the Genocide Convention.

His Majesty's Government hope shortly to reach a decision on this question.

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider, first of all, that this matter has been before the Government for a very considerable time; that 32 States have already ratified or acceded to this Convention; and there is really no reason, in view of the decision of the International Court at The Hague, why steps should not be taken immediately by the Government to ratify it?

We naturally abhor the crime of genocide, but there are legal difficulties.

indicated dissent.

The hon. Gentleman shakes his head. I have not his legal knowledge, but I am told that there are legal difficulties in embodying this into the law of the land, and they were very well explained to him, if I may say so, by the late Minister of State on 8th May, 1950. The reasons were very good then, and, so far as I have been able to discover, they are quite as good today.

I am afraid that will not do. May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he put those reasons before the International Court of Justice when they were arriving at their decision, which was reached on 28th May, 1951, that every State could and should ratify or accede to this Convention; and whether he opposed, and for what reasons he opposed, if he did, the decision of the Assembly recently that every member State should be called upon to do so?

I think that what the International Court said was that States were entitled to have reservations when they ratified, and States have had reservations—all sorts of reservations—and that is one of the reasons why we have to look at these reservations before we can decide what we can do.

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the answer, I beg to give notice that I propose to raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.