HC Deb 08 July 1997 vol 297 cc761-2
8. Barbara Follett

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on human rights in Nicaragua. [5733]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

I say with no apology that human rights are at the heart of our foreign policy. I recognise this receives approbation from hon. Members on both sides of the House. We will monitor human rights closely and raise our concerns with the Nicaraguan Government as necessary. We will encourage further steps to address police standards, prison conditions, banditry in the north of the country and discrimination against women and indigenous groups.

Barbara Follett

Does my hon. Friend share my concern at the legislation recently introduced by the Nicaraguan Government which restricts the rights of women and children in that country and is in direct violation of the international agreements that Nicaragua signed in Beijing in 1996 and Copenhagen in 1995?

Mr. Lloyd

I think that my hon. Friend is referring to the legislation on the ministry of the family. While we have not seen a draft of that legislation, I understand that it has received considerable criticism from non-governmental organisations in Nicaragua and more generally, which believe that it will discriminate against certain women and families.

The Government's position is that we support the rights of all women and families. Within that framework, we urge the Nicaraguan Government, which has signed and ratified the UN conventions on the removal of all forms of discrimination against women and on the rights of the child, to recognise that those conventions have to be put into practice in domestic law. We ask the Nicaraguan Government to study them carefully to ensure that any legislation conforms with their international treaty obligations.

Mr. Swayne

Will the Minister take this opportunity to distance himself from the position taken by the Secretary of State for International Development who, before free elections in that country, called for the expulsion of the American ambassador and the suppression of La Prensa, the anti-Sandinista newspaper?

Mr. Lloyd

I merely suggest that the hon. Gentleman should take those matters up directly with the Secretary of State for International Development. I am reliably advised that there is not a shred of truth in what he said. Perhaps he ought to check the source of the information, rather than simply pander to the prejudices of an era that even in Nicaragua is long gone.