Posts Tagged ‘FCO’
The FCO’s human rights work in 2011
The FCO’s human rights work in 2011
Written evidence from Hermitage Capital Management
May 2012
Specifically addressing the cross-Government strategy on business and human rights, expected to be published later in 2012, and how it should define the relationship between the FCO’s human rights work and the promotion of UK economic and commercial interests in UK foreign policy.
Short summary:
· British businesses should be able to invest in all countries knowing that they are fully supported by the UK government should they experience business and human rights problems.
· At present there is an apparent conflict between the British government’s promotion of business and its professed support for human rights. Based on our experience, the desire to promote British business takes precedence at the expense of any serious practical promotion of human rights. While this may appear to be the rational strategy at a time of economic recession, upholding human rights actually protects British businesses operating abroad as the Hermitage Capital case demonstrates.
There are a number of measures which the British government could take which would give it the leverage to protect international commerce and at the same time promote human rights:
· The British government should impose visa bans and asset freezes on all individuals involved in human rights abuses and high level corruption affecting British businesses.
· It should conspicuously publish a list ‘naming and shaming’ those individuals banned from entering the UK based on their involvement in such activities.
· UK businesses should be warned against investing in countries with dubious human rights records and with a history of economic aggression – such as Russia – in the same way that the FCO offers travel warnings to British tourists.
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U.K. Eyes Magnitsky Suspects
Britain has joined the United States in taking steps to bar entry to Russian officials implicated in the 2009 jail death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced strengthened immigration rules in its annual human rights report this week that would make it difficult for Russians accused of human rights violations in the Magnitsky case to enter Britain.
The U.S. State Department last year blacklisted 60 Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s death, and U.S. lawmakers are considering legislation that would bar people accused of human rights abuses at home from entering the United States. hairy woman hairy woman https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://www.zp-pdl.com онлайн займы
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UK restricts entry for rights abuse suspects
Britain has strengthened its immigration rules to make it more difficult for people believed to have perpetrated human rights abuses abroad to enter the country, according to Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials.
In a move this week that could make it particularly difficult for individuals accused of human rights abuses in Russia to enter the UK, the FCO announced a change to British immigration rules in its annual Human Rights Report this week.
In that report, the FCO states for the first time that “where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the United Kingdom.”
Before this week’s change, UK immigration rules stated broadly that an individual “could be refused a visa or entry on the general grounds that entry to the UK would not be conducive to the public good”.
FCO officials say this week’s change implies a deliberate new emphasis by the UK government on the need to penalise human rights abuses.
“Where there is reliable evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the presumption is that they would not be allowed entry in to the UK,” said an official. “Many people are drawn to visit London to buy property, invest money and educate their children. What we are saying is that if you are guilty of human rights abuses you cannot now expect to do that.”
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Dominic Raab MP: “Those with blood on their hands should not be allowed to waltz into this country, as if nothing had happened.”
On Sunday, The Observer trailed new rules enabling individuals to be banned from entering Britain, on the basis of their responsibility – supported by credible evidence – for gross human rights abuses. Whilst The Observer suggested this was a Lib Dem coup, in reality it follows the House of Commons backbench business debate on 7 March, when the House voted unanimously for mandatory targeted sanctions in these cases, including visa bans and asset freezes. A US Bill along the same lines, sponsored by John McCain (R) and Ben Cardin (D), is progressing through the Senate.
I proposed the motion, but critically it was backed by five former Foreign Ministers from the two largest parties. It was inspired by the tragic case of Sergei Magnitsky, a dissident Russian lawyer tortured to death for exposing the biggest tax fraud in Russian history. In the Kafka-esque Russian justice system, it was those who Magnitsky had exposed who initiated his persecution.
The Magnitsky case is a stark reminder of what human rights were designed to protect in the post-war era, at a time when their currency has been devalued by judicial legislation from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, demanding prisoners be given a novel right to vote and blocking Abu Qatada’s deportation because we can’t guarantee him a fair trial in Jordan.
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Magnitsky Case Highlights Russian Corruption
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office has named the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year old Russian anti-corruption lawyer killed in police custody in Moscow, as one of the most serious violations of the rule of law and human rights in Russia in its 2010 “Human Rights and Democracy” Report published last week. The 2010 Report highlights the call by the European Parliament for EU-wide visa and economic sanctions against the Russian officials involved in Magnitsky’s death.
“The investigation into the death in pre-trial detention of Sergei Magnitsky due to inadequate medical treatment had not concluded by the end of 2010. On the anniversary of his death on 16 November, the Prosecutor-General’s Office announced that it was extending the ‘preliminary’ investigation until 24 February 2011. On the same day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for sanctions against officials involved in Magnitsky’s death to prevent them from entering the EU, and to freeze their assets,” said the FCO in the 2010 Report.
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Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report – Russia
Despite some minor reforms and encouraging public statements about human rights in 2010, there was no evidence of systemic, far-reaching change. Continuing negative trends included restrictions on freedom of assembly, harassment and obstruction of NGOs and journalists, and racial discrimination and racist violence. The trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev was widely condemned for failing to adhere to basic standards of justice. No new information emerged in the investigations into the murders of the human rights defenders Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova, or the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky. Frequent reports of grave human rights abuses in the North Caucasus continued. The government also failed to provide full redress to victims of past abuses in Chechnya and elsewhere in the region.
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