§ 16. Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to ensure that applications from Algeria for United Kingdom visitors' visas are not unfairly rejected on the ground of political instability in that country [44529]
§ Mr. FatchettThe Immigration Rules set out the requirements which must be met in considering visit visa applications overseas. These concentrate mainly on the circumstances and intentions of the applicant and include an assessment of the intention to leave the UK at the end of the visit. When relevant, the political and security situation in a given country would be taken into account in assessing applications, but would not in itself constitute grounds for refusal.
§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will request the United Nations to appoint a special rapporteur to co-ordinate an investigation into human rights abuses in Algeria. [45978]
§ Mr. FatchettAs EU Presidency, we maintained close contact with the United Nations throughout this year's UN Commission on Human Rights. At that conference and in our regular contacts with Algeria, we reminded the Algerian Government that we would welcome their full co-operation with the requirements of UN human rights mechanisms. There remains international concern about continued allegations of human rights abuses; we believe that access by UN experts to Algeria would be in the country's own best interests for the sake of greater domestic and international transparency.