Human Rights Violations

Martin Horwood Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who mentioned some alarming instances of the targeting of courageous journalists, even in this country. I am grateful to her.

I commend the hon. Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland) on securing this debate, on his eloquent and comprehensive speech and on the report produced by the Conservative party human rights commission. It has reinforced many campaigns in the UK and worldwide by organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Article 19. It has also reinforced the commitment to human rights across the coalition parties and the House, which has been emphasised in government by the regular production of the human rights report, with its courageous list of countries of concern. That might not seem like a courageous thing for a Government to do, but when we are pursuing business and trade probably as desperately as we ever have, highlighting human rights concerns in countries such as Russia and China, putting those concerns boldly in print and raising them with the Governments is a courageous thing for our country to do. I am proud to support a Government who have done that, and I know that the Minister has a strong personal commitment to the human rights agenda.

In the time available, I will not go into a huge amount of detail—the hon. Member for South Swindon has already given us a lot of detail about many cases—but I will mention a few of the countries that he spoke about. In Bahrain, we can see that the Arab spring has not been an uncomplicated or one-way process. The Government of Bahrain have had a deeply ambivalent approach to rising demands for democracy and human rights, and the intervention of Saudi Arabia in that country has been profoundly unhelpful.

However, Bahrain was not a totalitarian state along the lines of the old Iraq or the Libyan regime. It is creditable that Bahrain has set up a national human rights institution and that the King commissioned a human rights report, which highlighted human rights abuses committed in the previous year or so. That is to Bahrain’s credit. However, I would be interested to hear the Minister’s thoughts on how well he thinks the Bahraini Government are implementing the report’s recommendations, and on why, for instance, campaigners such as Nabeel Rajab are still in prison in Bahrain.

The hon. Member for South Swindon highlighted cases in China. I am afraid that the catalogue of human rights abuses in China is depressing, and the evidence that he cited of a fresh crackdown is particularly depressing. Although we are seeking high levels of trade and investment with China, it is nevertheless important to maintain a human rights dialogue. I was particularly proud that the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were prepared to risk the wrath of Beijing by meeting the Dalai Lama, albeit in a personal capacity. It made an important statement about a commitment to human rights, not just in Tibet but across China. It is important to keep emphasising that.

On the cases of business people working in Russia, the points made by the hon. Member for South Swindon were well made in the report and in his speech. One of two iconic cases is that of Sergei Magnitsky, in which Britain has a particular interest. The company that Mr Magnitsky was representing when he was arrested was a British company, Hermitage Capital, and Bill Browder, a British citizen, is conducting an extraordinary personal campaign to seek justice for Magnitsky, albeit posthumous justice. Britain should show leadership in the case. There is also the current imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Unfortunately, in a case that parallels Magnitsky’s, their attorney, Vasily Aleksanyan, died in custody, refusing to collaborate by implicating his colleagues in Yukos in the accusations against them made by the Russian Government. He probably died for his beliefs in much the same way as Magnitsky.

Those cases have been highlighted at numerous levels in this country and in the European Parliament, which made a resolution in 2010 urging member states to take measures reinforcing sanctions against individuals implicated in human rights abuses. I strongly support the calls made in the report and by the hon. Member for South Swindon for further action, and I look forward to the Minister’s statement on whether we will take further action on freezing assets and taking advantage of the fact that London is a destination of choice for many in the Russian hierarchy. I urge him to do so.

Finally, on Russia, it is noticeable that the European Court of Human Rights has been a strong supporter of cases such as Khodorkovsky’s, and has declared his imprisonment unlawful. We are rightly seeking reform of the ECHR, as the backlog of cases is making the Court potentially unworkable, but we must be rather cautious that in our language we do not endorse the idea that Governments can pick and choose which cases from their countries come to the Court, because Russia would take great advantage of that. We must be careful that in our legitimate desire for reform, we do not accidentally damage the prospect of human rights in Russia and other European countries.

The hon. Member for South Swindon mentioned one other country, Belarus. I particularly commend a campaign by Liberal Youth called “Bears for Belarus”. That campaign grew out of the extraordinary action taken by a Swedish public relations company: it dropped cuddly toys with pro-democracy and human rights messages into the Belarusian state. Two journalists were arrested simply for having their photographs taken with cuddly toys as a subtle protest against the regime. A regime that can arrest people for having their photograph taken with a cuddly toy is some way away from the acceptable European level of human rights. The Government must do more to highlight human rights abuses in Belarus and to encourage other states to take action against them. I urge anyone listening to the debate or reading it on the internet to look up the “Bears for Belarus” campaign, and to get their photograph taken with a cuddly toy and make that statement, too.

Finally, perhaps it is a natural Conservative inclination to highlight the plight of professionals, but might I extend the remit slightly to other people who seek work and are vulnerable to human rights persecution? I ask the Minister to address the issue of migrant workers. Governments such as those of Indonesia and India have legitimate fears about, and have campaigned very hard for, the rights of migrant workers, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, who are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses and who do not always attract the attention of international non-governmental organisations, or have the resources of companies such as Hermitage Capital to highlight their cases in the capitals of the world. They are suffering human rights abuses too, and I would like to hear that the British Government support Governments such as Indonesia and India in raising those issues.

Respect for universal human rights has been a Liberal and democratic tradition since the days of Gladstone, but I am very happy to commend the report of the Conservative party human rights commission to the House. I strongly support the words of the hon. Member for South Swindon, and congratulate him again on securing the debate.