asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, with a view to promoting respect for human rights including the rights of religious and political minorities and the right of families to be reunited, he will favour the publication of the proceedings of the working groups at Belgrade on the Helsinki Declaration; if he will work with the other EEC Ministers to achieve this end; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Helsinki Declaration on Human Rights.
447.
The meeting to which the Deputy refers took place in Belgrade from October 1977 to March 1978. Its purpose was to conduct a review of the record of implementation by the participant states of the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and to consider new proposals aimed at developing and improving the implementation of the Final Act provisions and continuing measures of co-operation between European states.
The opening and closing statements of the 35 delegations were made in open session and verbatim records of these statements were made by the secretariat to the Belgrade meeting. I would be pleased to make available to the Deputy copies of the opening and closing speeches of the Irish delegation to the meeting. The main work at Belgrade, both in the review and negotiating stages, took place in closed session and no verbatim records of the proceedings were made. I might add here the delegations felt that these working methods encouraged the frankness and openness of the exchange of views on implementation and thereby contributed to the success of the review exercise. Arrangements were made to enable the invited guests of delegations to attend as observers the discussions held in closed session and during the course of the Belgrade meeting, many parliamentarians of various countries availed of this opportunity to sit in on the proceedings of the meeting. I believe the Deputy may already be aware of this from his visit to the Belgrade meeting.