§ Baroness Williams of Crosbyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are in favour of establishing an independent body to monitor human rights in Sudan, including the proposal to establish such a body through the United Nations Commission for Human Rights; and whether they would provide additional resources in order to fund such a body.[HL359]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)We recognise the need to monitor the human rights situation in Sudan closely and we raise human rights issues on a regular basis, both bilaterally and as part of the EU-Sudan dialogue.
We were disappointed that, despite our hard work and that of our EU partners, the EU-sponsored resolution on Sudan at the UN Commission on Human Rights was lost on 16 April. The result of the vote (24 in favour, 26 against and three abstentions) was the first defeat of this resolution in 10 years and meant the termination of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. We are currently considering how to approach the 2004 UN Commission on Human Rights.
Through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights Project Fund we have provided £50,000 to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights for work in Sudan for 2003–04 and we are also helping to fund the work of the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) which documents human rights abuses. We will consider further requests for funding as appropriate.