Prisoners: Torture
(asked on 13th July 2021) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2021 to Question 27270 on Prisoners: Torture, what information his Department holds on whether there have been any prosecutions of overseas officials by overseas authorities in their court systems for the torture of any British citizens imprisoned overseas as a result of his Department's intervention since its new torture reporting system was introduced in 2011; and how many such prosecutions occurred in (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.
This question was answered on 19th July 2021
The FCDO records all information about allegations of torture and mistreatment reported to us by British nationals, and the action taken in response to those allegations, within individual case files. The FCDO collates statistics on the number of cases, but these statistics do not include the proportion of allegations raised with the local authorities, nor whether allegations that were raised by the FCDO resulted in overseas prosecutions of overseas officials. Our statistics do not differentiate whether allegations would constitute torture, or whether they would constitute other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (mistreatment). Our Human Rights and Democracy report for 2020 reported that we reviewed a total of 124 open cases of torture and mistreatment in December 2020. This report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2020. Data on new cases of torture and mistreatment is available each month here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-consular-data-2021 . The number of open torture and mistreatment cases reviewed in 2021 will be included in the 2021 Human Rights and Democracy report.
The FCDO records all information about allegations of torture and mistreatment reported to us by British nationals, and the action taken in response to those allegations, within individual case files. The FCDO collates statistics on the number of cases, but these statistics do not include the proportion of allegations raised with the local authorities, nor whether allegations that were raised by the FCDO resulted in overseas prosecutions of overseas officials. Our statistics do not differentiate whether allegations would constitute torture, or whether they would constitute other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (mistreatment). Our Human Rights and Democracy report for 2020 reported that we reviewed a total of 124 open cases of torture and mistreatment in December 2020. This report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2020. Data on new cases of torture and mistreatment is available each month here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-consular-data-2021 . The number of open torture and mistreatment cases reviewed in 2021 will be included in the 2021 Human Rights and Democracy report.