UK: selective approach to human rights abuse condemned

Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has been criticised for Britain’s selective approach to human rights abusers, following a recent article in the Guardian where the Member of Parliament for Braintree argued that, “Britain is not a passive observer on the world stage” and wanted “oligarchs and dictators to fear us.”

With the article turning a blind eye to the crimes of the state of Israel and the many human rights violations of Arab regimes and dictators — many of which are friends of the British government — Cleverly’s claim has been slammed for its “highly selective approach to human rights abusers.”

Cleverly pledged that he will ensure that the UK “uses its power and influence to advance its interests and values” before squaring up to dictators in Myanmar, Mali and Nicaragua, and Russia, for example, but conveniently ignores abuses by the likes of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and others.

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“Now that we have sovereign control over UK sanctions, we can act swiftly and robustly,” said the foreign secretary, pointing to Britain’s ability to impose sanctions unencumbered after leaving the EU. “Today, the UK is enforcing national sanctions against over 2,000 individuals and 400 entities across the world.”

He listed the countries placed under sanctions, a list which does not include Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, omissions which raised eyebrows. Defending his position on Sky News, Cleverley said that Saudi Arabia is an “incredibly important” partner for Britain despite its use of the death penalty.

“Saudi, of course, is a not just economically but culturally, religiously, an incredibly important, influential country in the Middle East and further,” he explained. “It’s incredibly important that we maintain an ongoing bilateral relationship with Saudi.”

In response, Guardian columnist Dan Dolan criticised the foreign secretary over Britain’s selective approach. “The UK foreign secretary talks tough on rights abuses, but where’s the action?” Dolan asked before highlighting the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia and India.

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The Times appeared to question the timing of Cleverly’s intervention and the sincerity of the foreign secretary in upholding human rights. With him expected to give a speech today about the challenge facing the UK in the coming decades, when an ever-greater share of the world economy, and therefore of world power, will be in the hands of nations in Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, his comments on human rights are thought to be geopolitical pandering to the whims of governments which are less than scrupulous when it comes to human rights.