HC Deb 19 January 1999 vol 323 cc700-1
10. Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry)

What training his Department provides to diplomats in the execution of an ethical foreign policy.[64595]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tony Lloyd)

All new entrants attend a one-day human rights course. We run regular courses for other officers, with non-governmental organisation participation. New heads of mission are briefed by the head of the human rights policy department before posting. Where relevant, they are briefed by NGOs such as Amnesty International and the Save the Children Fund.

Mr. Boswell

Does the Minister agree that the logic of the Government's position is that Ministers and diplomats must resist all temptation to discriminate by picking on smaller and perhaps less significant countries in respect of minor defects, because it is safe to do so, while conveniently overlooking much greater defects on the part of countries that are powerful or where major trade interests are involved? Will he remind his diplomats that in those circumstances, and in the context of the Government's general policy, they have not merely a responsibility but an obligation to draw to the authorities' attention any cases of inappropriate discrimination?

Mr. Lloyd

I am delighted to be able to agree with everything that the hon. Gentleman said. Of course it is right and proper that no distinction should be made between abuses of human rights, whether perpetrated by large or small nations. I assure him that the Government try to and succeed in maintaining a consistency of approach, whether such abuses are perpetrated by countries with which we have strong bilateral interests or by those with which we have relatively little contact.

Mr. Ernie Ross (Dundee, West)

The House must be heartened to see the sudden interest in a moral and ethical foreign policy exhibited by the Opposition. Those of us who have been here for the past 18 years certainly did not discern it in the Conservative Government's approach to some of the minor and larger Governments with whom they dealt.

Is my hon. Friend aware that he will have the support of the whole House if he and his colleagues continue to take actions such as those which led to the establishment of the international criminal court, which is clearly needed given the evidence of what we have seen of Milosevic in Kosovo in the past few days?

Mr. Lloyd

My hon. Friend is right. The previous Government's record did not stand close examination in respect of human rights. That was a disgrace, not only for Parliament but for the whole nation. Since the general election, Britain's image has undergone a radical transformation abroad, precisely because of this Government's level of activity. My hon. Friend mentioned the international criminal court, but I could also mention the human rights fund, a changed policy on arms sales, support for the international tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda and many more initiatives, not all of which received support from the Opposition.

Mr. Michael Trend (Windsor)

Will the Minister consider it a success for the Government's ethical foreign policy if reports in this weekend's press prove to be accurate? I refer to the report that the Foreign Office assured the Chilean ambassador on Friday 16 October that nothing would happen to Senator Pinochet before 20 October, four days later. However, within 24 hours, Senator Pinochet had been arrested. The Minister will surely understand that suggestions that the senator was entrapped in Britain by the Government, deliberately or through incompetence, will do little to enhance their ethical reputation. Will the Minister now clear up that question for the House?

Mr. Lloyd

I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware that he should not believe everything that he reads in the press.

Mr. Michael Howard (Folkestone and Hythe)

Answer the question.

Mr. Lloyd

I intend to answer the question. Had the shadow Foreign Secretary taken the trouble to read Hansard this morning, he would have seen that it is already answered today in any case. There is absolutely no truth whatever in such suggestions. No such commitment was given either directly to Senator Pinochet or to his representatives. The House should know that we respect the rights even of Senator Pinochet, which is why his case is now before the judicial system, not the political system—a very important distinction that he did not make in Chile.

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