Foreign Affairs Committee publishes “defensive” Government response

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The Committee’s letter describes the response as “disappointing” and “defensive” and failing to address recommendations directly.

The Government’s response says that “ministerial churn made no impact on the pace of resolution” of state hostage taking cases. Today’s letter by Committee Chair Alicia Kearns states that this “response failed to engage with the evidence cited that incoming ministers started from scratch with key relationships and strategies for release”.

The Government rejected the Committee’s recommendation for the establishment of the post of Director for Arbitrary and Complex Detentions. They also did not clarify whether they accepted the recommendation of a creating a media engagement plan with families from the early stages of a detention.

The letter voices concern that “the families who contributed to the inquiry will be discouraged and disillusioned by the Government’s failure to accept the case for improving communication”. The letter states that “the rejection of our case for better Parliamentary scrutiny of consular cases is disappointing”.

The letter says that the Committee “is still no clearer on why diplomatic protection is awarded to some and not others” nor “reassured that the department has applied lessons in this case to the use of this tool in the future”

The Chair of the Committee will give a Select Committee statement in Westminster Hall at 13.30 on 6 July.

Chair's comments

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns MP, said:

“State hostage taking and arbitrary detention are heinous and destructive crimes. For the detainees and their families, years of their lives have been stolen. But for abductor states, hostage taking is a powerful source of leverage that has been shown to force the hand of governments.

In our report ‘Stolen Years: Combatting State Hostage Diplomacy’ we called out the poor communication and generic, standardised responses issued to the families with loved ones in arbitrary detention. Unfortunately, the Government's response to our inquiry follows the same disappointing pattern.

This is a complex policy area that requires thoughtful and sensitive responses. As we continue our scrutiny of this serious issue, I hope that the Government’s engagement significantly improves and recognises that our recommendations are based on the evidence and experiences of detainees and their families.

It was upon this, and examination of international best practice, that we made our recommendation for a Director for Arbitrary and Complex Detentions which was roundly rejected by the Government.

We need to tackle this issue directly and honestly. The Government should embrace constructive feedback and treat Parliament as a supportive but critical friend to deliver on its primary responsibility: protecting the British people."

Further information

• Inquiry: The FCDO’s approach to state level hostage situations
• Foreign Affairs Committee
• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: UK Parliament/Tyler Allicock