Sunday, August 22, 2010

Human Rights or Profitable Trade ?

Surprise , surprise. Civil servants have been told to stop working on the next edition of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights, which highlights incidents of torture and oppression, monitors use of the death penalty and aims to expose the illegal arms trade. The report also acts as a guide to MPs and businesses over which countries it is ethical to trade with.
Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said "The government has already stressed that it will concentrate on trade when it comes to foreign policy...Amnesty International's fear is that this is the latest step in putting economics before human rights."
Tom Porteous, the director of Human Rights Watch in London, warned in an article
that by "blindly pursuing commercial interests" the UK risked undermining efforts to protect human rights.

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