Poland: UK embassy to fly the rainbow flag

Amnesty International welcomes the announcement by the British Embassy that they will fly the rainbow flag alongside the Union flag this weekend in support of Warsaw Pride 2008. The Pride March, which marks the end of a week of Equality Days in Warsaw, will pass the Embassy on the afternoon of Saturday 7 June.

Amnesty believes that Pride makes an important political statement. At its core, Pride is about recognising and respecting the rights of people to freely express their sexual identity without fear of discrimination or persecution. Homosexuality is still illegal in about 70 countries.

Amnesty International UK commends the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for starting to make good its commitment to promote the human rights of LGBT people internationally.

This announcment comes after almost 100 representatives from Amnesty International sections from around Europe took part in Riga Pride, Latvia, on 31 May.

• Find out more about Amnesty's work on LGBT rights
• Find out about the UK Pride season /li>