Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the reasons were for the Government not supporting the motion in the UN General Assembly on 21 November 2016 condemning the glorification of Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; and if he will make a statement.

Her Majesty's Government is firmly committed to tackling racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, but does not judge that endorsing UN General Assembly Resolution 70/140, passed on 21 November 2016, would have contributed positively to these goals. We consider Resolution 70/140 unbalanced and politically motivated. It does not address all contemporary forms of racism in a comprehensive way. Furthermore, it is too restrictive in its treatment of the right to freedom of expression and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association which are enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For these reasons the UK Government did not support the Resolution.

We hope that further amendments to the Resolution, to address these concerns, will make it possible to reach a consensus in the future.