Human
Rights Annual Report 2008
30. Each year, we take evidence and produce our conclusions
and recommendations on the annual human rights report produced
by the FCO. This provides a valuable opportunity for the Committee
to assess the Government's record in promoting human rights
worldwide. The Government published its Annual Report on
Human Rights 2008 in March 2009 and we published our ensuing
Report, Human Rights Annual Report 2008, in August 2009.[25]
31. In conducting our annual inquiry into human rights,
we this year adopted a slightly different approach to that of
previous years. In addition to reviewing the matters dealt with
in the FCO's report, which broadly relate to the work of the FCO
in relation to promoting human rights in other countries, we decided
to consider a number of further issues, which might be summarised
under the heading of "the responsibilities of the
FCO for securing the human rights of British citizens and others
overseas".[26]
When we announced our inquiry on 2 April 2009, we stated that
these issues would include: the case of Binyam Mohamed; allegations
of UK complicity in torture; extraordinary rendition (including
the possible role of Diego Garcia); the transfer of prisoners
in Iraq and Afghanistan; allegations of abuse at the British Embassy
in Iraq, and the oversight of contractors, including private security
companies, employed by the FCO and UK Posts overseas. In the event,
our inquiry was limited in its scope by the House of Commons sub
judice rule. We consequently did not comment on the
case of Binyam Mohamed in our Report.[27]
32. As a consequence of our decision to deal with
additional matters in this Report, our discussion of the contents
of the FCO's report was not as full as it has been in previous
years. We did, however, focus on countries of concern, including
Burma, China, Colombia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
33. In previous years, we have made suggestions as
to how the FCO could improve the format of its annual report on
human rights. We are pleased to note that the FCO accepted our
previous recommendation that the key issues of women's rights,
children's rights and the promotion of democracy should be given
greater prominence in this edition of its report.[28]
We recommended that next year the report includes what the FCO
is doing both to extend the right of freedom of association, and
to achieve progress amongst Commonwealth countries in implementing
the human rights provisions of the Harare Declaration.[29]
34. In its response, the Government accepted this
recommendation, and said that this information would be included
in its 2009 report, due to be published in March 2010. The Government
stated that it values "the positive co-operation that exists
between the Committee and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
on all issues, including the vitally important area of human rights".[30]
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Annual Report 2008-09
35. The Committee's annual inquiry into how the FCO
is managing its resources takes the Department's Annual Report[31]
as its starting point, and examines expenditure and administration
as well as policy. This inquiry forms a central part of our scrutiny
of the FCO and its associated public bodies.[32]
36. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual
Report 2007-08 was published in May 2008, and our Report,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007-08,
was published in February 2009.[33]
Our Report considered a wide range of aspects of the work of the
FCO, including the new Strategic Framework, which has guided the
work of the department since April 2008. In addition to returning
to many of the issues we have scrutinised previously (including:
the future of the global network of Posts; planned changes to
the overseas passport operation and visa services; and public
diplomacy), we focussed on the introduction of a new series of
PSA targets for 2008-11 and considered the work of FCO Services
and its transformation to a Trading Fund.[34]
We also considered the work of the British Council and the BBC
World Service, and an outline of our conclusions and recommendations
in relation to both public bodies is included in chapter five
of the present Report.
37. In 2009 for the first time, the Departmental
Resource Accounts were published at the same time as the FCO Annual
Report. Consequently, the Annual Report for 2008-09 was published
later than usual, in June 2009.[35]
This had a knock-on effect on the timing of our inquiry. We launched
this in July 2009 and oral evidence is scheduled to take place
in December 2009. We shall aim to publish our Report early in
2010.
25 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Annual Report
on Human Rights, Cm 7557; Foreign Affairs Committee, Seventh
Report of Session 2008-09, Human Rights Annual Report 2008,
HC 557 Back
26
Foreign Affairs Committee, Human Rights Annual Report 2008 Back
27
Ibid., para 4 Back
28
Ibid., para 7 Back
29
Foreign Affairs Committee, Human Rights Annual Report 2008,
para 10 Back
30
Seventh Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sesison 2008-09,
Annual Report on Human Rights 2008: Response of the Secretary
of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Cm 7723, October
2009, para 1 Back
31
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departmental Report, 1 April
2007-31 March 2008: Better World, Better Britain, Cm 7398,
14 May 2008 Back
32
See our previous comments in Foreign Affairs Committee, First
Report of Session 2006-07, The Work of the Committee in 2005
and 2006, HC 206, para 30 Back
33
Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 2008-09, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007-08, HC 195 Back
34
Ibid., para 3 Back
35
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departmental Report and Resource
Accounts: Better World, Better Britain, 1 April 2008-31
March 2009, HC 460-I and II Back
