Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy
Published 4 Apr 2023
Paragraph 17
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 when there is a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinion that a detention of a UK citizen is illegal, the FCDO assumes that the case will not be judged in line with international standards and should respond accordingly. The Government should as a matter of practice promote public acceptance of the opinion of the working group and consider promoting the concept of an additional category of “state sponsored hostage taking” to the criteria.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy (HC 166), paragraph 17, 4 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 July 2023 (deadline 4 June 2023).