SLAVERY AND BONDED LABOUR
33. We are glad to see the detail in the 2000 Annual
Report on efforts by the Government to combat the evil of bonded
labour in India and Nepal. There was no mention, however, of Pakistan,
nor of Bangladesh. We welcome Mr Hain's undertaking to us in oral
evidence to include regional coverage of this problem in future
annual reports.[58]
We recommend that next year's annual report contain a section
devoted to slavery and bonded labour across the Indian sub-continent
as a whole. We further recommend that the Government informs the
Committee in its response to this Report as to the outcomes for
which it will be pressing from the International Labour Organisation
conference on bonded labour to be held in June 2001.
Undertaking not yet fulfilled:
green paper on mercenaries
34. The Government announced in April 1999 in its
response[59]
to our Report on Sierra Leone[60]
that it would be preparing a green paper on mercenaries. It was
to be published by November 2000, a deadline which the Government
still intended to keep as late as October of that year.[61]
The Government subsequently admitted in response to a written
parliamentary Question[62]
that this deadline might be missed, but it has not been able to
say when the paper will in fact be published.[63]
We regret the Government's failure to publish the green paper
on mercenaries on time, and recommend that it states in
its response to this Report when this important document will
be published.
7 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Annual Report
on Human Rights 2000, Cm. 4774 (hereafter 2000 Annual Report),
available at http://hrpd.fco.gov.uk/reports.asp. Back
8
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International
Development, Annual Report on Human Rights 1998, available
at http://hrpd.fco.gov.uk/reports.asp. Back
9
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International
Development, Annual Report on Human Rights 1999, Cm. 4404,
available at http://hrpd.fco.gov.uk/reports.asp. Back
10
First Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1998-99,
Foreign Policy and Human Rights, HC 100 (1998-99). This
and other Reports from the Committee are available at http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmfaff.htm. Back
11
First Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1999-2000,
Annual Report on Human Rights 1999, HC 41 (1999-2000). Back
12
HC 100 (1998-99). Back
13
HC 100 (1998-99), para 98. Back
14
Tenth Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1999-2000,
China, HC 574 (1999-2000). Back
15
2000 Annual Report, p. 2. Back
16
HC 100 (1998-99), paras 172-3; HC 41 (1999-2000) para 6. Back
17
Cm. 4229, para 68; Cm. 4687, para 4. Back
18
2000 Annual Report, p. 2. Back
19
Available at http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/hrp_reports_mainhp.html. Back
20
Available at http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pagesbycountrytitle/gbrcountry+page. Back
21
2001 World Report available at http://www.humanrightswatch.org/wr2k1/. Back
22
Ibid. Back
23
Q120. Back
24
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 18. Back
25
QQ32-3 and 116-7; Appendix 1, p. 17. Back
26
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 8. Back
27
http://hrpd.fco.gov.uk/search.asp?region=World%20Wide Back
28
2000 Annual Report, p. 14. Back
29
QQ3 and 7. Back
30
2000 Annual Report, p. 9. Back
31
Q75. Back
32
Annual Report 2000, p. 120. Back
33
Annual Report 2000, p. 9. Back
34
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 17. Back
35
Cm. 4687, para 13. Back
36
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International
Development, Annual Report on Human Rights 1998, p. 14;
Cm. 4404, p. 19. Back
37
cf. 2000 Annual Report, p. 9. Back
38
Q10. Back
39
Q37. Back
40
Council press release 7481/95, 29 May 1995. Back
41
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 25. Back
42
Cm 4458. Back
43
Sixth Report from the Committee, Session 1998-99, HC 349. Back
44
First Special Report from the Committee, Session 2000-01, Work
of the Committee during the present Parliament: a progress report,
HC 78, Appendix 1, p. 18. Back
45
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 25. Back
46
QQ122-3. Back
47
Seventh Report from the Committee, Session 1999-2000, Strategic
Export Controls: Further report and parliamentary prior scrutiny,
HC 467, para 29. Back
48
Q31. Back
49
Appendix 4, p. 28, para 37. Back
50
Q29. Back
51
HC 41 (1999-2000), para 22. Back
52
Appendix 4, p. 23, para 7. Back
53
Q114. Back
54
First Special Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session
2000-01, Work of the Committee during the Present Parliament:
A progress report, HC 78, para 20. Back
55 Appendix
4, p. 25, para 22. Back
56 QQ
112-3; 2000 Annual Report, pp. 100-102. Back
57 Amnesty
International, Facts and Figures on the Death Penalty,
dated 16 November 2000. Available at http://www.web.amnesty.org/rmp/dplibrary.nsf/ba4275Back
58 Q
118. Back
59
Cm 4325. Back
60
Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1998-99,
Sierra Leone, HC 116. Back
61
First Special Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session
2000-2001, Work of the Committee during the present Parliament:
A progress report, HC 78. Back
62
HC Deb 5 November 2000, Col. 50W. Back
63
QQ22-27. Back