Coalition 'puts trade before human rights'

Alleged government proposals to scrap or downgrade annual Foreign Office reports on global human rights abuses suggest the government is putting trade before human rights, Amnesty has claimed.

The annual reports were introduced by former foreign secretary Robin Cook in 1997 and highlight incidents of torture, oppression and the illegal arms trade.

The annual report also provides guidelines to ministers and businesses over which countries it is ethical to trade with.

Amnesty said it believed that the coalition government, which has already stated that its foreign policy will be trade driven, is scrapping the report because it is more interested in its economic interests than preventing abuses.

A Foreign Office spokesman denied that the report would be scrapped, claiming that Britain's foreign policy will "always have consistent support for human rights and poverty reduction at its irreducible core.

"We are continuing to work on annual human rights reporting. The only question is how that report can most cost-effectively be produced in the current financial climate.

"We are looking at alternatives to the expensive glossy colour publications of the past, for example online publication or publication by command paper."

But Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen was not convinced.

"We have deep concerns about the government's plans to axe the annual human rights report," she said.

"If they do go ahead, it will leave a huge gap in terms of accountability and transparency and raise serious questions about how much they value human rights.

"The report is not perfect, but it offers an annual assessment of the UK's activities on human rights. Without it there will be a big hole."

Ms Allen said that the government's focus on trade could not come "at any cost.

"Our fear is that this is the latest step in putting economics before human rights," she said.

"The human rights responsibilities of UK companies must not be overlooked in the rush to secure trade. There will be pressure on UK missions to deliver on trade, but it must not be at the expense of human rights.

"We have seen the devastating consequences of UK-listed companies such as Shell in the Niger Delta and Vedanta in India and this cannot be overlooked for the sake of the bottom line."


(2010-08-22/morningstaronline)