British Foreign policy and the 'Arab Spring'

Amnesty International believes that human rights abuses have combined to play a major role in fuelling the eruption of the protests and drive for reform in the MENA region. Detention without trial, torture, deaths in custody and curbs on freedom of expression and restrictions on assembly and association are common; long term poverty exacerbates the situation further. Amnesty International is concerned that the UK Government has not done enough previously to support human rights in the region and must reassess its approach by not over-looking human rights and repression in future.