4th Report - The FCO’s administration and funding of its human rights work overseas
- HC No.
- HC 860
- Published
- 5 Apr 2016
- Items
- 0
- Government response
- Government response published 11 July 2016. Read the government's response ↗
Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Human rights inquiry
Closed
Opened 8 Jan 2016
Closed 3 May 2017
Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
Government Response The FCO's administration and funding of its human rights work overseas: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2015-16 The FCO's administration and funding of its human rights work overseas: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2015-16 (PDF 159KB) The Foreign Affairs Committee is inquiring into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) administration and funding of its human rights work overseas. Subsequent inquiries later in this Parliament will examine specific human rights issues and cases in more detail, consequent upon the conclusions of the report following this inquiry.
Where it stands
The inquiry is closed, opened 8 January 2016.
The committee has published 1 report, most recently 4th Report - The FCO’s administration and funding of its human rights work overseas on 5 April 2016.
The government's response
Published 11 July 2016.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The FCO "notes" the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, maintaining that human rights are "an integral part of our national interest and foreign policy goals" while declining some specific changes.
- On the Rainbow Flag, the FCO sets out a policy to fly the Union Flag "at all times" and does not fly other flags, saying this "has no bearing" on its commitment to LGB&T rights. It points to £900,000 of Magna Carta Fund projects in 2016/17.
- On funding unregistered organisations, the FCO says it conducts due diligence and "in most cases" would only agree with a compliant organisation, though it funds unregistered ones "in a very limited number of cases".
- On evaluation, the FCO says output targets are, "in many cases, not appropriate". It has added an annex to the Annual Report setting out its vision and goals for 2016. On the DFID Development Tracker, it "will consider" whether some presentational elements might be appropriate.
- On priority countries, the FCO states that Bahrain and Egypt "were both included" as Human Rights Priority Countries in the 2015 Annual Report. Posts in each such country have been instructed to draw up a human rights strategy "by this summer".
Reports
All reportsEvidence
- 2 oral evidence sessionsLatest 24 February 2016
Recent activity
- 2nd Special Report - The FCO's administration and funding of its human rights work overseas: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2015-1611 July 2016, Report published
- 4th Report - The FCO’s administration and funding of its human rights work overseas5 April 2016, Report published
- Oral evidence session24 February 2016, Oral evidence
Reports
Oral evidence sessions
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