Bahrain: Human Rights Abuses Debate
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Baroness Northover
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Bahrain: Human Rights Abuses
Baroness Northover Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
The noble Baroness is muted and we cannot hear her. We will have to move on to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover.
Baroness Northover (LD)
My Lords, far from what the Minister has said about progress, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN have all concluded that human rights abuses have been getting worse in Bahrain over the past few years. So why do the Government still fund training for organisations in Bahrain that are implicated in human rights abuses, such as the Special Investigations Unit?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con) [V]
My Lords, through the technical support that the United Kingdom provides, we have seen real progress on a broad range of human rights issues. I have referred to the reforms on children, the unified family law, alternative punishments for adults and the creation of oversight bodies. Of course, I do not for a moment accept that the job is done. We continue to work constructively, and I believe that this is paying dividends, and will continue to do so.