Russian Federation: Council of Europe

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

As I now have the human rights brief at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, I see that there is an interesting dilemma in terms of human rights records around the world and the position that we adopt on them. There is also the question of how we implement human rights decisions in relation to the UK. However, I am very front-footed and clear when I say that abuses that are taking place in places such as Russia, which form the basis of the report that noble Lords are aware of, are very different from the case of voting rights for prisoners.

[Lord Alton of Liverpool]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that at a meeting in your Lordships’ House this morning, Mr Peter Horrocks, who runs the BBC World Service, expressed concern about the blocking of the BBC by Russia? In the context of the right to free speech and the importance of information and encouragement to those who uphold democracy in Russia, what are Her Majesty’s Government doing to raise our concerns about the blocking of the BBC World Service?