Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the allegations of torture and mistreatment of prisoners at the Azouli prison reported in The Guardian on 23 June; and whether they will make representations to the government of Egypt in relation to them.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
Recent allegations of torture and mistreatment in Egyptian prisons are deeply worrying. A recent Amnesty International report suggests that up to 400 civilians are being held without charge at the Azouli prison, with no access to their lawyers or families.
The European Union made a statement on 19 June at the 26th Human Rights Council regarding the treatment of prisoners in Egypt. The statement expressed concern at the continued detention of thousands of Egyptian citizens, many of whom were detained on unclear grounds, and the conditions under which they are detained.
Representatives of our Embassy in Cairo raised the issue of Azouli prison with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 24 June. The British Government condemns the use of torture in all its forms and strongly urges the Egyptian authorities to ensure that all human and legal rights of all detainees are upheld.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the light of reports in The Guardian newspaper on 11 June, they intend to make representations to the government of Thailand about the exploitation and abuse of workers in that country's fishing industry and to United Kingdom companies which purchase the products of that industry.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
We are aware of labour rights issues and allegations of human rights abuses in the Thai fishing industry, though not until now of the specific allegations made by the Guardian. We regularly raise our concerns about labour rights in Thailand with the relevant Thai authorities, for example during the UK-Thailand Strategic Dialogue in May 2013. The Guardian's report contains very serious allegations. We look to the Thai authorities to investigate.
Given the acute and continual political uncertainty in Thailand our ability to raise these issues with the authorities at this point is limited. However, we take the allegations very seriously and will look for opportunities to raise our concerns. At a minimum, we will continue to press for an improvement in labour rights in Thailand through ongoing negotiations towards an EU-Thailand Free Trade Agreement.
The UK remains a global leader in tackling human trafficking and slavery as shown by its recent introduction of a Modern Slavery Bill. We welcome any investigation which sheds light on these horrific allegations.
We also launched our action plan on business and human rights in 2013, becoming the first country to set out guidance to companies on integrating human rights into their operations. We engage regularly with British companies as part of our efforts to boost UK trade and inward investment, but at the same time we also clearly set our commitment to protecting human rights and its expectations of UK companies in this area.