Contrary to reports, Hague will continue to highlight human rights abuses

By Tim Montgomerie

This morning's Observer reported that "Britain scraps annual assessment of human rights abuses across the world."

David Miliband is quoted in the article saying that the decision was a "serious step back".

Fortunately the "fierce resistance" promised by Ming Campbell to the FCO cutback won't be necessary. During the course of the day the Foreign Office issued a clarifying statement to Ben Rogers of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission (my emphasis):

"As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, our foreign policy will always have consistent support for human rights and poverty reduction at its irreducible core. It is not in our character as a nation to have a foreign policy without a conscience or to repudiate our obligation to help those less fortunate. We are continuing to work on annual human rights reporting. The only question is how that report can most cost-effectively be produced in the current financial climate. We are looking at alternatives to the expensive glossy colour publications of the past, for example online publication or publication by command paper. Final decisions will be announced in due course."

The clarification is welcome but 24 hours late. The Observer was not given this statement when they sought it yesterday.

Tom Porteous of Human Rights Watch has already expressed concern that the commercialisation of Britain's foreign ministry should not trump human rights.