| 1. | We again recommend that future editions of the Annual Report should demonstrate greater consistency in the way activity in individual countries is reported. We believe this would help the Government to demonstrate greater consistency across its human rights policy-making agenda (paragraph 6).
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| 2. | We do not in every case agree with the policy the Government has chosen to pursue in each country, but we applaud the Government's decision to explain its reasons for adopting certain policies in a number of the countries that it views as a challenge. We believe that this allows individuals and organisations an opportunity to examine those policies and to seek modifications (paragraph 7).
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| 3. | In view of the length of this year's Annual Report, we recommend that subsequent editions include a full index rather than the present index which is limited to country references (paragraph 9).
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| 4. | We expect the Government to list in its next Annual Report the practical results it has achieved since the publication of the 1999 Annual Report in response to the human rights dialogue it has with China and to list any specific commitments it has elicited from the Chinese authorities to improve human rights standards. (Paragraph 14).
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| 5. | We recommend that the next Annual Report should outline how constructive dialogue on human rights with Saudi Arabia has been taken forward and what specific improvements have been achieved since the publication of the 1999 Annual Report (paragraph 16).
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| 6. | We continue to believe that it is important for the Government to make explicit the criteria on which it bases decisions to pursue a policy of constructive engagement in preference to a more robustly critical approach to a country's human rights record or indeed a policy of constructive disengagement. We recommend that it do so in the next year's Annual Report (paragraph 17).
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| 7. | Reporting on the human rights situation should form a customary part of each Head of Mission's report to London, even in countries where there is little or nothing to report. Human rights reporting should be the specific responsibility of a member of the post's staff, but may in some cases be the responsibility of the Head of Mission. We also re-iterate our earlier recommendation that human rights issues should be the specific responsibility of a senior member of staff at each post, and note that this nominated individual may well be the Head of Mission in some countries where human rights concerns weigh heavily in our bilateral relations (paragraph 18).
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| 8. | The Government must take urgent steps to close whatever loopholes remain in the existing legislation because the continued export of such equipment [such as leg irons] from the UK weakens its ability to lobby against torture and the use of torture equipment (paragraph 20).
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| 9. | We urge the Government to consider Amnesty International's suggestion of including accounts of the activities of other departments to further the human rights policy agenda in subsequent editions of the Annual Report. This would help demonstrate whether and in what ways human rights concerns have crossed departmental boundaries (paragraph 21).
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| 10. | We welcome the decision of the Department for Education and Employment to include human rights in the citizenship element of the UK national curriculum. We commend this as a good example of joined-up government (paragraph 22).
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| 11. | We recommend that the Government work both bilaterally and with its European partners to ensure that the human rights elements of the EU's Partnership and Cooperation Agreements are fully respected. PCAs should have teeth and, when appropriate, the teeth should bite. States which consistently fail to meet their obligations should have their PCAs suspended (Paragraph 25).
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| 12. | We understand that the Government "cannot, unilaterally, release the documents [ie human rights reports from EU heads of mission] to the public" but we expect it to campaign for publication with greater ardour than is apparent at present. It should make every effort to work alongside those states that are seeking transparency. We disagree strongly with the EU's decision to keep the reports on the Occupied Territories and on other countries confidential; such secrecy and silence give comfort to the authorities responsible for the abuse, creating the conditions in which human rights abuses are able to flourish (paragraph 27).
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| 13. | We believe the Government should give the Bill [which would allow the United Kingdom to ratify the statute which will lead to the establishment of the International Criminal Court] greater priority. Given the FCO's evident eagerness to ratify the statute, we urge the business managers to let Mr Hain off his leash, to ensure that scrutiny of the draft Bill is concluded as soon as possible, to seek agreement with Opposition parties and to make time available for the passage through both Houses of this important Bill in this Session (paragraph 29).
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| 14. | We expect this Green Paper [on mercenary activity] to be published by November 2000 in accordance with the time frame previously announced by the Government in its Response to our Report on Sierra Leone. (Paragraph 30).
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| 15. | We recommend that the Government reconsider its policy on a global ban on the use of child combatants. (Paragraph 31).
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| 16. | We urge the Government to ratify ILO Convention 138 [on the minimum age for admission to employment] as soon as possible and to make time available for any necessary enabling legislation. (Paragraph 32).
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| 17. | Whilst we have indicated some ways in which the Annual Report might be improved, we welcome its publication and support efforts to give human rights a central role in foreign policy (paragraph 34).
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