Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessments his Department has made in the last three calendar years.

The Government applies its Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) human rights guidance to ensure that such assistance meets its human rights obligations and values. This guidance was revised and re-published in January 2017.

The UK’s security and justice expertise is highly valued across the world and improves the standards and capabilities of law enforcement and security agencies operating in the most challenging environments. OSJA assessments are carried out before assistance is rendered and evaluates the risk of any training provided being used in a way that is not in line with human rights and British values. As the Foreign Secretary stated in his written ministerial statement on 26 January 2017 (HCWS441), the new OSJA process remains the most comprehensive and demanding tool of its type anywhere in the world.

As the lead Department for OSJA policy, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) engaged with a number of human rights organisations (including members of the Foreign Secretary’s Advisory Groups on Human Rights) as part of the recent revision of the OSJA guidance and will continue to do so with regard to its implementation. The FCO will include information on the steps taken to implement OSJA across Government when it publishes its Annual Human Rights Report.

Defence personnel consider the OSJA guidance for all new proposed assistance and extensions to existing assistance, and where a substantial change in circumstances has significantly altered the risk for existing assistance. The guidance is therefore considered in any country where assistance is planned. Authority for activity underpinned by OSJA assessments is made at different levels according to the risk, from personnel in-country to Ministers in Departments of State. The Ministry of Defence does not hold data covering all Defence OSJA assessments made in the last three calendar years.