UK parliamentary panel calls for \u2018end to torture and politically motivated arrests\u2019 in Bahrain
\nWednesday, 20 July 2011 – By RAY MOSELEY – Al Arabiya<\/p>\n
A British parliamentary committee called on Wednesday for immediate action to ensure an end to torture and politically motivated detentions in Bahrain and accused Iraq of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and poor conditions in prisons.<\/p>\n
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee also said it plans to launch in inquiry in the autumn concerning aspects of British foreign policy and the Arab Spring.<\/p>\n
In a report on human rights around the world, the committee said events of the Arab Spring should remind the Foreign Office that there are risks for the United Kingdom in failing to take a stronger and more consistent stance against rights violations by foreign regimes.<\/p>\n
It said the committee was less confident than the Foreign Office that there is little conflict between Britain\u2019s simultaneous pursuit of commercial interests and improved human rights standards abroad.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Office, it recommended, should take a more robust and consistent position on human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa. It said the Foreign Office should have treated Bahrain as a \u201ccountry of concern\u201d in its 2010 annual human rights report.<\/p>\n
The committee welcomed the Bahrain government\u2019s establishment of a commission to investigate recent events involving protestors but said: \u201cWe remain concerned that immediate action is needed to ensure an end to torture and politically motivated detentions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Human rights, it said, should be at the heart of Foreign Office work in implementing its so-called Arab Partnership program. The government recently announced a four-year, \u00a3110 million partnership fund to support political reforms, give economic aid and carry out public finance reforms. …more<\/a><\/p>\n