Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy
Published 4 Apr 2023
Paragraph 14
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The FCDO’s approach to state level hostage situations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that within the next 12 months the Government formalises and publishes guidance outlining criteria for determining whether the detention of a UK national by a foreign state is considered arbitrary and at risk of being used for state leverage. Subsequently a review should be carried out of all UK nationals detained overseas according to the established criteria. The conclusions on the nature of the detention should be used to classify the case internally, in discussions with the family and, where appropriate, publicly. Where not deemed to meet the criteria, cases should be subject to ongoing assessment with the involvement of families.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy (HC 166), paragraph 14, 4 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 July 2023 (deadline 4 June 2023).