Written question asked by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Monday, 10 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2003. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2003 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his Answer of 6th October, Official Report, column 1118W, on UN sanctions, what progress the Government has made in considering whether or not to re-initiate proposals for an independent sanctions monitoring mechanism.

Answer: Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 6 October 2003, Official Report, column 1118W, on UN sanctions, what progress the Government have made in considering whether or not to re-initiate proposals for an independent sanctions monitoring mechanism. [138611] Mr. Rammell: The UK and France floated informally our proposal for a semi-permanent monitoring mechanism on sanctions in the context of discussions within a Working Group of the Security Council which met in 2000 and 2001 to consider various aspects of UN sanctions regimes. Unfortunately our proposal failed to generate sufficient support among other members of the Security Council. We will consider whether to revive the proposal in 2004, when we have informally canvassed the views of the new members of the Council.

Secondary information