FCO Human Rights and Democracy Report 2010

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FCO : Press Release: Thursday 31 March 2011_________________________________________________________________

Foreign Secretary launches 2010 Human Rights and Democracy Report

Today the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has published Human Rights andDemocracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report, available online atwww.fco.gov.uk/hrdreport.

The report is a comprehensive look at human rights work of the Foreign & CommonwealthOffice (FCO) around the world in 2010. It highlights the UKs human rights concerns onkey issues and countries of concern and is a further concrete demonstration of the ForeignSecretarys commitment to strengthening the FCO's work on human rights at home andoverseas.

The report is more comprehensive than previous years, is being hosted online to make itmuch more accessible to the public and the website will include updates every threemonths to highlight key human rights events and actions that take place in each of thefeatured countries of concern. The update for the first three months of 2011 will bepublished today. People will be able to comment on the report and share and host thesections of the report that interest them on their own websites. The report informsParliament, NGOs and the general public about our work on human rights and enablesthem to hold us to account for our policy and activities.

Speaking at the launch at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office today, the ForeignSecretary said:

Our government promised from the outset a foreign policy that will always havesupport for human rights and poverty reduction at its irreducible core. It is not in ourcharacter as a nation to have a foreign policy without a conscience, and neither is itin our interests: The belief in political and economic freedom, in human rights and inthe rule of law, are part of our national DNA. Where human rights abuses gounchecked our security and our prosperity suffers.

We have to work with the grain of other societies, while always standing up foruniversal human rights. This will continue to be our approach. It is one that is fully
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consistent with our efforts to strengthen links between our economy and those ofthe emerging economic powers. We have to persuade such governments tochange, we have to make the case that it will become ever harder for undemocraticgovernments to deny their people basic freedomsThe uprisings in the MiddleEast and North Africa demonstrate the huge consequences of suppressing peoplesbasic and fundamental rights, and are just the start of a process which will no doubt

lead to similar demands elsewhere in the world. This is therefore an important hourfor these issues.

On Libya:

Britain and its allies have intervened in Libya to save lives, to prevent ahumanitarian catastrophe and to give the Libyan people a chance to determine theirown future. It is action that is legal, necessary and right. We led the drive to referLibya to the International Criminal Court and to suspend it from the UN Human

Rights Council, so that those responsible for atrocities know that there will be a dayof reckoning. Today, we are pressing for full and immediate access to Libya for ICCinvestigators and the Human Rights Councils Commission of Inquiry. The Qadhafiregime has lost all legitimacy, and today, I renew our calls for those remainingaround him to abandon him and to unite in support of a better future of theircountry.

On Musa Kusa:

I can confirm, as we did last night, that the Libyan Foreign Minister, Musa Kusa,arrived at Farnborough Airport yesterday from Tunisia. He travelled here under hisown free will, he said that he is resigning his post. Were discussing this with himand we will release further details.

We encourage those around Qadhafi to abandon him and embrace the betterfuture for Libya that allows political transition and real reform, that meets theaspirations of the Libyan people.

On the uprisings in the Middle East:

The torrent of change, hope and optimism flooding large parts of the Middle Easttoday puts paid once and for all to the myth that the Arab world is the one regionimmune from these aspirations. Their voices must be heard.

Our message to all governments of the region is that without change, legitimategrievances and demands for human rights and political freedom will not go away.

If change can be achieved peacefully in the Middle East it will be the biggestadvance of democratic freedoms since the collapse of communism in Eastern


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Europe. If it cannot, we are likely to see turmoil and unrest which sets back thecause of democracy and human rights. That is why our response to these eventsmust be bold, ambitious and historic, in its nature and scale...The eyes of the worldare on the Arab world today. But this must not diminish our efforts to defend humanrights elsewhere, in countries flagged up by this report.

On Iran:

Our report concludes that the human rights situation in Iran is bleaker now than atany other time in the last decade; with more executions per capita than any othercountry and more jailed journalists than anywhere else in the world. We continue towork hard with other countries to highlight and take action against human rightsabuses in Iran. Last week, the EU announced that it will seek swiftly to imposesanctions against individuals in Iran responsible for egregious human rightsabuses, and the UN created a new Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.

On Burma:

In Burma, the welcome release of Aung San Suu Kyi has not led to animprovement in the human rights situation there or greater political openness.Britain played an important role in securing the toughest and most comprehensivehuman rights resolution on Burma to date at the UN General Assembly inNovember.

On North Korea:

In 2010 serious human rights violations continued in North Korea; defectors fromthe country paint a picture of a place where torture, inhumane treatment and severerestrictions to freedom of speech, movement and assembly are routine.

On China:

The report finds that there was no significant progress on civil and political rights inChina in 2010. We remain committed to engagement with China on human rights.China has made progress on improving economic and social conditions, liftingnearly half a billion people out of poverty between 1990 and 2005. But thedevelopment of independent civil society and application of human rights under therule of law are essential prerequisites for Chinas long-term prosperity andsustainable growth.

On Belarus:

The inclusion of Belarus is a reminder that we cannot be complacent about thehuman rights situation closer to home. The human rights situation there is probably


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the worst it has been since the breakup of the Soviet Union. After Decembersflawed Presidential elections hundreds of protestors were detained includingseveral presidential candidates. Many allege torture at the hands of the securityservice.

The full text of the Foreign Secretarys speech is available athttp://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=Speech&id=576187382

Notes to editors:

1. The report is a further concrete demonstration of the Foreign Secretarys promise thatthere will be no downgrading of human rights under this Government. He has alreadyconvened anAdvisory Group on Human Rights to incorporate key NGOs, independent

experts and others (this group met for the first time in December); and re-issued andpublished FCO guidance to its own staff on reporting alleged incidents of torture orcruel, inhuman and degrading treatment they encounter in the course of their work.The improvement to our online human rights reporting is another step towards greatertransparency in our approach to human rights and the work we do.

2. The report features 26 countries of concern, with Chad, Eritrea, Yemen and Libyaincluded for the first time in light of the human rights issues in those countries during2010.

3. The report reflects how human rights are central to all of the Coalition Governmentsforeign policy priorities such as promoting Britains prosperity and safeguarding ournational security. For example, for the first time there is a section dedicated to tradeand human rights detailing our approach to ensuring that economic growth,development, human rights and the rule of law are complementary and mutuallyreinforcing.

4. Instead of producing the previous expensive glossy publication, we are hosting thereport online to make it much more accessible to the public. Users can comment on

the report and read, share and host the sections of the report that interest them.

5. We are also increasing the volume of our online reporting. For the first time, we arepublishing updates online every three months to highlight key human rights events andactions that take place in each of the featured countries of concern. This will allowusers to follow human rights developments in these countries, as well as the actionsthe UK is taking. The first of these quarterly updates covering the first months of 2011will be available online at www.fco.gov.uk/hrdreport.

ENDS
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=Speech&id=576187382http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/around-the-world/advisory-group/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/around-the-world/advisory-group/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-security/torture/http://www.fco.gov.uk/hrdreporthttp://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=Speech&id=576187382http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/around-the-world/advisory-group/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-security/torture/http://www.fco.gov.uk/hrdreport

Documents

FCO Human Rights and Democracy Report 2010