Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 22
Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy
Published 4 Apr 2023
Paragraph 62
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)
UK nationals have been let down by the information shared by Ministers— actions which were counterproductive and may have contributed to less favourable conditions for an earlier release. Coherence and accuracy are vital not only in fairness to the families involved, but also to send the message to countries that may consider using detainees as leverage, that the UK will not tolerate this form of statecraft involving any of its nationals. Additionally, care should be taken to ensure that the British nationality of the detainee be stressed in communications. We recommend that a publicity plan be created with families from the early stages and is adjusted in collaboration with them as the case progresses.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Stolen years: combatting state hostage diplomacy (HC 166), paragraph 62, 4 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 July 2023 (deadline 4 June 2023).