Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

We will continue to speak up publicly as a Government and through the European Union and other international organisations of which we are a member to draw attention to the continuing abuse of human rights within Belarus, to urge the Belarusian authorities to take the path towards European and democratic values of pluralism and the rule of law, and to speak up for individual Belarusian human rights defenders—men such as Mikola Statkevich, still in prison in Belarus today—and demand that those prisoners be not only released but fully rehabilitated.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

If Britain were to leave the European convention on human rights, what sort of message would that send to human rights supporters in Belarus?

[Mr Lidington]

Of course, Belarus is not party to the European convention on human rights and is not subject to the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Whether we are looking at the European convention on human rights or the international covenant on civil and political rights, it is important to continue to urge the Belarusian authorities to end their flagrant abuse of normal human rights and democratic standards. That is something on which I hope the whole House will be united.