Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Director, EU, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
I am writing following the Foreign Secretary's
session at the Foreign Affairs Committee Oral Evidence Hearing
on 10 December, to provide further evidence on the following:
— Q47: Moldova/Transnistria;
— Q53: China human rights; and
— Q75: Deployment of EU naval forces
along Somali coast.
The Foreign Secretary wrote to Sir John Stanley
on 23 December to provide further evidence on the situation in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Q60). I shall write separately to you
about the PCA Mandate (Q27).
MOLDOVA/TRANSNISTRIA
SITUATION
You asked whether the UK was doing anything
to help the Moldovans resolve their issue with Transnistria.
The UK remains concerned about the unresolved
conflict in Transnistria and has been working closely with the
OSCE and the EU Special Representative on Moldova to improve the
prospects of a lasting settlement. Our focus has been in bringing
groups from both sides of the conflict together to discuss shared
problems and identify solutions. We do this with young people
through our Transnistrian Dialogues project, which has encouraged
discussion and been a forum for them to express their concerns
for the future to senior politicians involved in settlement negotiations.
We brought together political leaders from both sides at a Wilton
Park Conference on Moldova in October last year. This was the
first time that many of them had been in the same room as each
other, and is testament to the work our embassy in Chisinau has
done in building relationships with both sides.
CHINA HUMAN
RIGHTS
Sir John Stanley referred to Chinese citizens
who had exercised their right of petitioning, being arrested and
subjected to enforced treatment in mental health institutions,
and asked whether the Foreign Secretary would investigate those
allegations and report to the Committee.
The abuse of compulsory medical treatment remains
a problem in China, including in high profile cases. In 2008,
the US Department of State estimated that there were 20 "ankang"
(lit Peace and Health) institutions across China directly administered
by the Ministry of Public Security. Ankang are psychiatric institutions,
many of which are prison-hospitals. Those committed to ankang
have no mechanism for objecting to public security officials'
determinations of mental illness. NGOs estimate that there are
3,000 people currently detained in ankang. The Department of State
report says that "some dissidents, persistent petitioners,
and others were housed with mentally ill patients in these institutions."
This will be one of the themes covered in our
next Human Rights Dialogue with the Chinese on 12-13 January,
including a field trip to a psychiatric institution.
DEPLOYMENT OF
EU NAVAL FORCES
ALONG SOMALI
COAST
Sir John Stanley asked whether the operation
for the deployment of EU naval forces along the Somalian coast
was offered to NATO first.
There was full transparency in the preparation
of the EU operation. The US signalled strongly that it supported
an EU operation and NATO agreed to investigate ways of supporting
the EU and wider international effort in the region, including
provision of an interim capability until the EU operation was
ready. It continues to keep other supporting measures under review
and we are keen that it continues to play a role.
The EU operation is one part of a broad-based
international effort to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia.
The UK is working with our EU, NATO and Combined Task Force 150
partners, regional countries as well as the International Maritime
Organisation and the shipping industry, to ensure a coordinated
approach. Key recent events helping to galvanise international
action have been the UN conference on Somali piracy in Kenya on
10-11 December, attended by Lord West, and the UN Security Council
meeting at Ministerial level on 16 December which endorsed UN
Security Council Resolution 1851, attended by the Foreign Secretary.
The UK welcomes plans for an international contact group on piracy,
likely to meet for the first time in January and which is likely
to include both the EU and NATO.
Matthew Rycroft
Director EU
9 January 2008
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