Download or read book First Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee Session 2005 06 written by Great Britain: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication sets out the Government's response to the Committee's report (HC 574, session 2005-06 (ISBN 0215027590) on the eighth annual report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ('Human Rights Annual Report 2005', Cm. 6606, ISBN 0101660626). Issues discussed in the report include: the international legal framework and the work of international institutions; the war against terrorism and treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary rendition and the use of information derived from torture, the situation in Iraq and the trial of Saddam Hussein; the arms trade and military assistance, and corporate social responsibility. Amongst the Government's responses, it disagrees with the concerns the Committee raised over i) the fact that the Minister responsible for human rights issues is also the Minister of State for Trade, roles that the Committee found to be often contradictory; and ii) the decision to subsume human rights work into the more general category of sustainable development.

Download or read book Congressional Record written by United States. Congress and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 1084 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture Academic Edition written by Senate Select Committee On Intelligence and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study edition of book the Los Angeles Times called, "The most extensive review of U.S. intelligence-gathering tactics in generations." This is the complete Executive Summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the CIA's interrogation and detention programs -- a.k.a., The Torture Report. Based on over six million pages of secret CIA documents, the report details a covert program of secret prisons, prisoner deaths, interrogation practices, and cooperation with other foreign and domestic agencies, as well as the CIA's efforts to hide the details of the program from the White House, the Department of Justice, the Congress, and the American people. Over five years in the making, it is presented here exactly as redacted and released by the United States government on December 9, 2014, with an introduction by Daniel J. Jones, who led the Senate investigation. This special edition includes: • Large, easy-to-read format. • Almost 3,000 notes formatted as footnotes, exactly as they appeared in the original report. This allows readers to see obscured or clarifying details as they read the main text. • An introduction by Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones who led the investigation and wrote the report for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a forward by the head of that committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Download or read book Human Rights Annual Report 2005 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-02-23 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the eighth annual report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ('Human Rights Annual Report 2005', Cm. 6606, ISBN 0101660626) published in July 2005. Issues discussed include: the international legal framework and the work of international institutions; the war against terrorism and treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary rendition and the use of information derived from torture, the situation in Iraq and the trial of Saddam Hussein; the arms trade and military assistance, and corporate social responsibility; and states of concern. The Committee welcomes the report as making a substantial contribution to the transparency and visibility of the Government's work on human rights matters. However, concerns are raised over the fact that the Minister responsible for human rights issues is also the Minister of State for Trade, roles which are often contradictory. The decision to subsume human rights work into the more general category of sustainable development is also criticised, since it would suggest that human rights issues are not being given sufficient strategic priority within UK foreign policy.

Download or read book Foreign Policy Aspects of the War Against Terrorism written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-07-02 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the seventh report in a series on the foreign policy aspects of the war against terrorism. During the course of these inquiries the Committee has covered subjects such as the fall of the Taliban and efforts to rebuild Afghanistan, shifts in the organisation of Al Qaeda, the war and subsequent situation in Iraq, multilateral efforts to tackle terrorist financing and global work to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This report returns to a number of these themes and discusses the situations in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and Iran. In addition it looks at the UK's relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Not only are both countries allies in the war against terrorism, they also have experience in understanding and then thwarting the recruitment of extremists.

Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual report 2006 07 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-19 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources. This year a key area off interest has been the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review because the Committee think it is one of the tightest in Whitehall and it risks jeopardising some of the FCO's important work. Apart from this the other subjects covered are: measuring performance; operational efficiency; management and leadership; FCO services; diplomatic representation overseas; transparency and openness; public diplomacy; British council; BBC World Service.

Download or read book The work of the British Council 2008 09 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-02-04 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Council is the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Its purpose is to "build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide." As well as education, it runs programmes in the arts, science, sport, governance and English language in 110 countries and territories worldwide. 2009 marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Council. It receives Grant-in-Aid from the FCO for its public diplomacy activity: £209 million 2008-09, a 6% increase from 2007-08. The Committee concludes that the change in extent of data provided and the presentation of that data in the British Council's 2008-09 annual report makes it more difficult to track and evaluate the Council's performance over a period of years. In future the annual report should include fuller performance data, including corporate performance scores and reach, to facilitate year-on-year analysis. The recent decline in some of the scores achieved in relation to quality of service, particularly in that relating to engagement with decision makers and senior influencers, gives cause for concern. The Committee welcomes the Council's efforts to re-establish itself in Iran and Zimbabwe, its increased focus on China, and its progress in implementing NAO suggested administrative reforms (HC 625, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102954173). 2009-10 will be a difficult year for the British Council and further cuts in staff and services may be unavoidable. In these circumstances it is important that the Council concentrates its activities on its core business and key objectives.

Download or read book East Asia written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-08-13 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East Asia is a dynamic region, with half of the world's population, the world's fastest-growing economies and a wide spectrum of diverse cultures and political systems. The region has huge economic potential, but also has hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people, as well as a number of significant security risks and unresolved disputes. Despite significant economic reforms, the People's Republic of China remains an authoritarian one-party state, with widespread human rights abuses and little sign of political liberalisation. The Committee's report examines economic and political developments in China since its previous report on the topic (HCP 574-I, session 1999-2000, ISBN 010270600X) was published in November 2000. Amongst the 58 conclusions and recommendations made, the Committee finds that the growth of China's trade will continue to have an enormous impact on the world's economy, and the UK Government should work bilaterally and with its EU partners to help ensure China meets its World Trade Organization obligations and to establish a legal framework to enforce intellectual property rights. The report criticises the collaboration of Western internet companies in the Chinese Government's censorship and policing of the internet as 'morally unacceptable' and calls on the UK Government to continue to promote religious freedom in the country and to press the Chinese Government to allow the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet in his capacity as spiritual leader.

Download or read book Human rights annual report 2008 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-08-09 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the Government's record in relation to securing the human rights of British citizens and others overseas and its work in promoting human rights in other countries. The report covers rendition, allegations of UK complicity in torture, transfers of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan and the regulation of private military and security companies. It also provides an examination of the international human rights framework and human rights abuses in individual countries of concern including Burma, China, Colombia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Zimbabwe and also in the UK's overseas territories.

Download or read book TERRORISM Commentary on Security Documents Volume 108 written by Douglas Lovelace Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume 108 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents tackles the contentious issue that appears in the volume's title: "Extraordinary Rendition". Although many commentators and publications have focused on the U.S. policy of such troubling transfers, little focus has been devoted to the reaction to this policy by the rest of the world. In this volume, new General Co-Editor Aziz Huq both presents the key documents demonstrating that reaction and comments authoritatively on what those documents mean for the future of torture-based international transfers. For ease of research, Huq has divided the volume into two sections: the first deals with U.N. and E.U. responses to the U.S. policy, including a case before the U.N. Committee Against Torture, and the second section tours the reports and cases on rendition that have arisen from national jurisdictions, specifically Italy, Sweden, the U.K., ireland, and Canada.

Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007 08 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources, examining the departmental annual report for 2007-08 (Cm. 7398, ISBN 9780101739825). Chapters cover: new strategic framework; performance measurement; global network; essential services; FCO Services; personnel issues; transparency and openness; financial management; public diplomacy and communication; the British Council; the BBC World Service. The Committee is concerned that the FCO is facing serious financial pressures in this financial year due to the Treasury's withdrawal of its support for the Overseas Pricing Mechanism (OPM) which used to protect departments from the weakening of sterling. There is a risk that the FCO may not be able to meet higher international subscriptions over the next two financial years, causing its performance against Public Service Agreement targets to suffer. The likely increase in the UN Regular Budget and other international subscriptions will push this figure even higher. The FCO should have to shoulder the financial burden from within its already tight budget to pay for subscriptions which also benefit other Government departments. The Committee recommends that additional nondiscretionary costs should properly be met by the Treasury.

Download or read book South Asia written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05-04 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Asia is inhabited by some 1.4 billion people, and is one of the world's most dynamic economic regions. This report focuses on India, the geopolitical centre of the region, the world's biggest democracy, and expected to overtake the UK as the fifth largest economy within a decade. It examines: political and economic developments in India and its growing importance; relations between India and Pakistan, and the question of Kashmir; India's role in the region and its links with its neighbours; India's contribution to the international system, including to the United Nations and other multilateral fora, such as the non-proliferation regimes; and the roles of the United Kingdom and the European Union in South Asia.

Download or read book The work of the Committee in 2007 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-30 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work of the Committee In 2007 : Fourth report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book Foreign policy aspects of the detention of naval personnel by the Islamic Republic of Iran written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-22 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the UK Government's diplomatic handling of the seizure of eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in March 2007. Issues discussed include: Iran's objectives and strategy during this incident, the Government's diplomatic strategy, the role of regional states and the United States, the sale of stories by captured personnel to the media, and the value of diplomacy to resolve such incidents. Amongst its findings, the report condemns the treatment of the British personnel by Iranian authorities as unacceptable, particularly the use of public confessions and its refusal to grant consular access to detainees. It broadly supports the Government's dual-track diplomatic approach against Iran but criticises the Government's failure to engage with the appropriate interlocutors within the Iranian regime at a sufficiently early stage. The Committee also finds that the MoD's decision to allow returning detainees to sell their stories to the media displayed a disturbing lack of judgement and calls on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to state in its response to the report who took the decision to give authorisation. Overall, the Committee supports the FCO's overall approach during the crisis, despite some tactical mistakes, and argues that the incident shows the value of diplomacy to resolve a crisis peacefully.

Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2008 09 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The FCO departmental report and resource accounts 2008-09 published as HC 460-I,II (ISBN 9780102961614)

Download or read book Thirty first Report of Session 2005 06 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-26 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-first report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 14 June 2006, including: A citizens agenda - delivering results for Europe; Preliminary draft budget 2007, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book British foreign policy and the Arab Spring written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighteen months since the Arab Spring began, there has been extraordinary progress in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Yet many challenges still lie ahead, not least the need to support and reform the economies of these Arab Spring states. In 2011, the G8 Deauville Partnership identified $38 billion of funding available to support reform. The UK must use its leadership in the EU and G8 to ensure that we deliver on our promises. The Government needs to learn lessons from its experience in anticipating and handling the Arab Spring. Questions arose about the FCO's staffing levels, linguistic expertise and information gathering in the Middle East and North Africa region, although diplomats understood well the long-term problems in the region. The report welcomes the Government's recent moves to establish contacts with Islamist parties in the region and calls for deeper engagement to demonstrate at an early stage the UK's support and assistance for democratically elected leaders who respect human rights and democratic reforms. The BBC's Arabic Service further highlighted the importance of the BBC World Service in providing an independent news service and enhancing the UK's standing in the region. The Committee welcomes the Government's decision to reverse planned cuts to the Arabic Service last year, expresses concerns that cuts made elsewhere in the World Service will prove detrimental to the national interest, and urges that there be a sustained investment in the World Service