Human Rights

(asked on 7th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many formal representations they have made to other governments about human rights abuses in each of the last five years; to which governments they have made such representations; and of those, which they have raised with (1) the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or (2) at the UN Security Council.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 19th October 2020

Respect for human rights and democratic freedoms underpins the UK's foreign policy. UK Ministers and officials have regular and frank discussions about the full range of human rights concerns, wherever they occur, and we use our bilateral relationships, our development programmes and our presence in multilateral institutions to drive progress. Our Annual Human Rights Report sets out in detail the UK's approach to human rights priority countries, and the work we have undertaken to promote and protect human rights around world.

In discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ministers and officials raise the most pressing human rights issues of the day. We also set out concerns on a wide range of countries at every session of the Human Rights Council. For example, at the 45th session in October, we raised our concerns about human rights violations in China and Belarus, the case of Alexei Navalny in Russia, and led a resolution on the human rights situation in Syria. We also stand up for human rights at the UN Security Council; for example, in 2020 we spoke about the human rights situation in Libya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, including on issues related to conflict-related sexual violence, and the need for human rights to be at the core of peacekeeping.

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