Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to subsection 2 of Clause 1 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, for what reasons the list of purposes for which the Government may impose sanctions does not include an explicit commitment to promoting human rights.

The Government is committed to promoting and protecting human rights. We publish an annual Human Rights and Democracy Report which focuses on how the Government is striving to protect and promote human rights around the world. The 2016 report was laid before Parliament on 20 July. The purposes in subsection 2 of Clause 1 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill are broad enough to allow the imposition of a sanctions regime in order to address human rights violations. We would always consider if sanctions were the most appropriate tool to use in this regard before imposing them.