The elephant in the room

Since October 2015, the UK has hosted a state visit for the President of China and the first official UK visits of the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of India. The visits have prompted many to ask whether the UK government is putting human rights at the heart of THESE relationships. CSW’s Parliamentary Officer shares his insights…

Q: Is trade more important than human rights?

A: While it is the responsibility of any government to foster good international relationships, this must include full and frank discussions about human rights – something which the Conservative party committed to in its 2015 manifesto.

During last year’s visits from China, Egypt and India, CSW made public and private calls for the Prime Minister and his government to honour their manifesto commitment and to raise the religious freedom situation in all three countries as part of their talks. The government was disappointingly quiet on human rights during all three visits, prompting many to question whether trade was being prioritised above human rights.

Q: Are human rights being downplayed in favour of prosperity?

A: According to the most senior civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), “[Human rights] is not one of our top priorities… I would dispute that it is low down, but I would not dispute that right now the prosperity agenda is further up the list.”

Appearing before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, he did caveat his candid answer with assurances that, although human rights work may not have the profile it had in the past; it is still an integral part of the FCO’s work. Indeed, there are FCO staff both in the UK and overseas who work tirelessly in promoting and protecting human rights in often immensely testing circumstances.

But the work of civil servants and Ministers has to be led from the front: public engagement from the government on the aforementioned official visits has been muted.

During the visit of President Sisi of Egypt, Ministers were called to the House of Commons to answer an urgent question on the human rights record in the country. The same also happened during the visit of President Xi of China, who was praised in a widely criticised statement, released from the British Embassy in Beijing, lauding the progress of human rights in China.

And when India’s Prime Minister visited the UK, David Cameron responded to concerns over Mr Modi’s human rights record by pointing out that the people of India had ‘made him prime minister with a record majority’.

We believe that human rights shouldn’t be downplayed in favour of the prosperity agenda.