Foreign Office's annual report on human rights fails to hit the mark

Responding to the publication today of the Foreign Office’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report, Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs, said:

“The fact the UK publishes an annual report on human rights is itself something to applaud and we also appreciate efforts the UK has made over our unfairly jailed Turkey chair, Taner Kılıç.

“But we need to see the FCO’s human rights report – along with so much of the Government’s reporting on human rights – to come with a much heavier dose of realism, honesty and plain-speaking. 

“Countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey are in the grip of sweeping human rights crackdowns, and the report shouldn’t be pulling its punches about this.

“Meanwhile, with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British charity worker unfairly jailed in Iran, it’s surprising the report doesn’t mention her by name. We’d like to see Jeremy Hunt fully throwing himself into diplomatic efforts to secure Nazanin’s release.

“The big challenge for Mr Hunt and the UK Government generally is to ensure they’re speaking out in solidarity with brave human rights defenders across the globe. Whatever else 'Global Britain' means, it should mean defending human rights without fear or favour."