Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020

Debate between Sally-Ann Hart and James Cleverly

Thursday 16th July 2020 General Committees

[James Cleverly]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady, who maintained a balanced, thoughtful and constructive tone in the Committee, as she and her party have done throughout the process in response to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary’s statement to the House. I thank her for engaging in that spirit, because it will enable this regime to become stronger over time, to transcend any future changes in Government, and to be a serious, meaningful and effective means of dissuading human rights abusers and of targeting and punishing such abuse where it takes place.

I listened to the hon. Lady’s examples of other potential targets for the sanctions regime. She will understand that, as I said, we will not publicly speculate in order to prevent things such as financial flight, but I listened to her points. It is important to understand that the sanctions are designed to target individuals and to separate the targeting of such individuals from the wider populations within those countries, or indeed from the Governments of those states. That is important to ensure the appropriateness and effectiveness of the sanctions regime.

The hon. Lady mentioned human rights defenders, and she is absolutely right to do so. We have to be careful to ensure that the work we do at an international level to dissuade human rights abusers does not have the perverse effect of increasing targeting, but the simple reality is that human rights defenders are often the target of aggressive action. We recognise and value their work.

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

Britain has always been strong on human rights and a world leader in adhering to the rule of law. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that these sanctions regulations come under the sovereignty of the UK and no other external jurisdiction?

[James Cleverly]

I thank my hon. Friend for that point. She is right: this is a domestic UK sanctions regime—the first such regime of its type. We will, of course, work with other like-minded partners around the world to ensure there is a co-ordinated effort. I mentioned the United States of America and Canada, and we will work with Australia in the future. Of course, we will maintain a close working relationship with our European partners, even though—or perhaps because—we have left the European Union. This is the United Kingdom’s discrete sanctions regime.

We will continue to fight human rights abuse and to highlight the plight of human rights defenders. It is important to understand that the sanctions regime is one weapon in a broader arsenal of protections for human rights and human rights defenders. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Government as a whole are absolutely committed to continue the UK’s position as a force for good in the world and to defend human rights defenders.

The hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green mentioned scrutiny of the process, and she was very generous to say that she would be happy for me to write to her on the subject. I suspect that, as often with these things, the exact nature of the scrutiny of the Government’s actions on this will evolve over time, because this is a new process. Quite frankly, this is something of which the Government are incredibly proud. We want to celebrate and champion the work we do, and we welcome the positive spirit in which the scrutiny we have received on this issue has been given thus far.

I repeat my thanks to the hon. Lady and to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye for their points. We are proud that the United Kingdom is taking a global lead with a sanctions regime targeting human rights abuse, and I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.