HC Deb 09 February 1999 vol 325 cc210-1W
Mr. Livingstone

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Trinidad Government about the cessation of the jurisdiction of the Privy Council over appeals from Trinidad and Tobago; and if he will make a statement. [69647]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, the Lord Chancellor's Department,Official Report, column 181.

Mr. Livingstone

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made relating to prisoners on death row in Trinidad; and if he will make a statement. [69646]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

We call on all countries to abolish the death penalty. Where the death penalty is used we urge that it should be used only in accordance with the State's international obligations and international standards. Together with our EU partners we have made a number of representations in Trinidad and Tobago on the cases of individual death row inmates.

Last year, together with our EU partners, we also urged Trinidad and Tobago to revoke their decisions to withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights and to denounce and re-accede to the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with a reservation on death penalty issues.

We have also held a number of bilateral discussions on the subject of the death penalty with members of the Trinidadian Government, including discussions at the Caribbean Forum in Nassau, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, and attended by members of the Trinidadian Government. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Baroness Symons, also invited the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to call on her in response to their individual cases where death warrants had been served. We are currently considering, with EU partners, what further representations to make to the Trinidad and Tobago Government.

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