§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is an element of their foreign policy to encourage the governments of the new democratic member states of the Council of Europe to accept the competence of the Committee Against Torture, the committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the United Nations Human Rights Committee to receive complaints from individuals of breaches of the relevant international human rights treaties. [HL1776]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)We encourage all states to ratify and implement the core international human rights conventions, including the Convention Against Torture and the Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and to co-operate fully with UN and other human rights monitoring mechanisms.
In the Council of Europe it is a requirement that all new member states become party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which includes mandatory acceptance of the right of individual petition. The focus of our policy towards new member states is to encourage and assist them fully to meet their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and to respect the jurisdiction of the Court.