Sir,
I have the honour to report on the adoption by the Third Committee, of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.

2. The discussions that took place on this matter may be conveniently dealt with under the following headings: First Debate in the Third Committee;
Consideration of the Legal Aspects of the Convention by the Sixth Committee;
Second Debate in the Third Committee.

First Debate in the Third Committee

3. The most important point discussed in the first phase of the debate was the question as to whether the offences defined in the Convention should be further qualified by the words "committed for purposes of gain". The Pakistani Delegation proposed the deletion of these words and, in accordance with our instructions, we opposed this amendment. It was carried, however, and we felt that after having marked our opposition, we could support the article as amended.

4. The Third Committee also decided to ask the Sixth Committee for advice on Articles 8, 9, 10, 12, 25-26-28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 of the Draft Convention. A special resolution was also adopted by the Committee requesting the Sixth Committee to inform it of the legal effects of deleting or retaining the clause "subject to the requirements of domestic law" which appears in various articles of the Draft Convention. The following is a detailed account of the votes taken in the Committee showing in each case how Canada voted.

Article 1

Pakistan proposal to delete the remainder of the Article commencing with the words "provided these offences are committed for purposes of gain".

Vote: For 22, against 15 (including Canada), abstentions 5.
Article 1 as a whole as amended: For 35 (including Canada), against 5 (including United Kingdom), abstentions 2.

Article 2 Chairman's proposal to add "or rents" after "lets" in sub-paragraph (b).
Vote: For 31 (including Canada), against 2 (U.S.A. and U.K.), abstentions 7.
Article 2 as a whole as amended: For 41 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 1.

Article 3
Amendment to delete "subject to the requirements of domestic law".
Vote: For 23 (including Canada, U.S.A. and U.K.), against 1, abstentions 17.
Article 3 as a whole as amended:-For 33 (including Canada), against 1, abstentions 8 (including U.S.A.).

Article 5
Vote: For 51 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 0.

Article 6
Vote: For 36 (including Canada), against 3, abstentions 10.
Several amendments all opposed by Canada were defeated.

Article 14
Vote: For 47 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 2.

Article 15
Vote: For 48 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 1.

Article 17
Afghanistan amendment to substitute "take and encourage" for "take or encourage".
Vote: For 13, against 25 (including Canada), abstentions 7.
U.K.-New Zealand amendment to add after the word "rehabilitation" the words "and social adjustment of victims of prostitution and of the offences referred to in this Convention".
Vote: For 43 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 7.
Article 17 as a whole as amended:-For 47 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 3.

Article 18
Brazilian amendment to substitute "seaports" for "ports of embarkation".
Vote: For 29. against 1, abstentions 19 (including Canada).
Lebanese amendment to revise sub-paragraph (d) to read as follows:='To take appropriate measures in order that the appropriate authorities be informed of the arrival of persons who appear prima facie to be the principals and accomplices in, or victims of such traffic".

Vote: For 17, against 1, abstentions 27 (including Canada).
Article 18 as a whole as amended:-For 44 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 4.

Article 21
Israeli amendment to add after "persons" the words "in particular, women and children".
Vote: For 31 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 10.
Article 21 as a whole as amended:-For 48 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 1.

Article 22
Vote: For 46 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 4.

Article 23
As revised by the U.S.A.
Vote: For 21 (including Canada), against 18, abstentions 10.

Article 24
(This was voted on after Article 27 was considered but before Article 27 was deleted.&dagger
Ukrainian amendment to add after "This Convention shall be open for signature or acceptance on behalf of any Member of the United Nations and also on behalf of any non-member State to which an invitation has been addressed by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations" the words: "For the purposes of the present Convention the word 'State' shall include all the colonies and Trust Territories of a State signatory to or accepting the Convention and all other territories for which such State is internationally responsible" and delete the words: "It shall also be open for signature or acceptance on behalf of any Trust Territory..." down to the end of the paragraph.
Vote: For 23, against 22 (including Canada, U.K., and U.S.A.) abstentions 5. This was a roll call vote.
Article 24 as a whole as amended:-For 28, against 18 (including Canada), abstentions 3.

Article 27
Ukrainian proposal to delete Article 27.
Vote: For 25, against 19 (including Canada), abstentions 4.

Final Protocol
U.K. amendment.
Vote: For 40 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 6.
Protocol as a whole as amended:-For 49 (including Canada), against 0, abstentions 1.

Preamble
Vote: For 45 (including Canada, against 0, abstentions 5.

Consideration of the Legal Aspects of the Draft Convention by Committee Six 5. The report of the Legal Committee (A/C.6/L.102) will already have reached you. A separate report outlining the Canadian position on the Committee's recommendations is being prepared by Mr. Pick.

Second Debate in the Third Committee 6. On November 28 the Third Committee convened to study the report of the Legal Committee- Generally speaking, the recommendations of the Legal Committee were adopted without much discussion but it may be of interest to outline the salient points of the debates. (a) Definition of prostitution-The Sixth Committee at the instigation of the Swedish representative had included in its report a remark to the effect that a number of States would be unable to accept the Convention if incitement to prostitution and similar acts were not further qualified by the words "committed for gainful purposes". The Pakistani representative in the Third Committee took exception to this part of the report on the ground that this was not a legal but a social matter, and that the Sixth Committee had therefore exceeded its competence. He argued furthermore the procedural point that Article 1 had already been adopted and that it could only be reconsidered with a favourable two-third majority vote. A vote was taken on this point, Canada voting in favour of the reconsideration of Article I (in accordance with the spirit of the instructions contained in paragraph 2 of your despatch No. 61 of October 26),† but the motion was defeated.

The Committee voted also against the inclusion of a general definition of the term "prostitution" for the purposes of the Convention, as suggested by Committee Six. We voted against this proposal on the ground that such a definition does not appear in the international instruments referred to in the preamble of the Draft Convention.

(b) The non-self executing clause (Article 30). It had been expected that the U.S. Delegation would try to introduce an amendment to the effect that Article 30 recognizes a reasonable time in which to adopt implementing legislation, but they did not do so and the Egyptian text as proposed by the Sixth Committee was adopted without any opposition.

(c) The Federal clause. Although the Sixth Committee had approved the principle that a federal clause should be included in the Draft Convention, it was unable to agree on the nature of such a clause. The French representative requested a vote on the question as to whether this matter should be reconsidered by Committee Three. We voted affirmatively in view of our preference for the inclusion of a federal clause in the Convention, but the French proposal was defeated by a large majority. The Convention as finally adopted does not therefore contain a federal clause.

7. When the vote was finally taken on the amended text of the draft Convention, it was adopted by 34 votes in favour, including Canada, with no opposition and 8 abstentions including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

8. I am attaching herewith a list of the votes taken in Committee Three indicating how Canada voted in each case.† I am enclosing also copy of a statement made by the United Kingdom representative explaining why he had to abstain from voting on the draft convention as a whole†

I have, etc.
PAUL TREMBLAY
for the Chairman, Canadian Delegation