There are growing fears that the government is preparing to greenlight the continued provision of financial assistance to countries that have overseen appalling human rights abuses, despite previously being extremely critical of the policy.
It comes as a review into human rights abuses overseas is seemingly turning into a rubber-stamping process with no consultation of major campaign groups having yet taken place.
The government’s review of the UK’s Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance (OSJA), which was launched by the previous Tory administration, is designed to prevent UK assistance from contributing to human rights abuses abroad.
The UK’s current policy does not explicitly prohibit British involvement in countries accused of human rights abuses, including the death penalty and torture.
The guidance currently acknowledges that it is “important that we work with a wide range of countries”, including territories in which the UK has “concerns about human rights”.
While Labour took a strong stance on the issue while it was in opposition, in 2020 calling for a review, campaign groups have now warned that the probe - which Labour has taken over from the Tories - risks “rubber stamping the last government’s deeply flawed human rights policy”.
In a letter to the foreign secretary, seen by The Independent, a coalition of NGOs – including Reprieve, Amnesty, Liberty, Freedom From Torture and Redress – warn that it appears to have been “conducted in a hurry with too little consultation”.
While the FCDO has stressed that the review is still ongoing, the department would not specify how much longer it will run for.
In December 2023, Baroness Swinburne, responding on behalf of the then-government, said the OSJA guidance will be “updated shortly and will reflect the views of a broad range of shareholders.”
But it is understood no civil society groups with an interest in this area of policy have so far been consulted.
Green MP Ellie Chowns, who sits on the Human Rights group of cross-party MPs, told The Independent the OSJA guidance “seemingly falls well short” of its aim to prevent complicity in human rights abuses abroad.
She called for the government to put in place “watertight, consistently-applied guidance” to “restore the UK’s reputation globally, and to give the public assurance that our government is not complicit in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.”
Reprieve’s deputy executive director, Dan Dolan added: “The previous government’s policy failed to do what it was designed to do – stop UK security assistance from contributing to torture and the death penalty overseas – and instead UK taxpayers’ money has been funnelled to institutions implicated in appalling human rights abuses.
“The current government rightly criticised OSJA in opposition, and it should reject any closed door rewrite of this broken policy which has failed to take input from experts.”
The letter says: “In opposition, the Labour Party was sharply critical of the profound shortcomings of OSJA. This review appears to have been conducted in a hurry with too little consultation and risks rubber stamping the last government’s deeply flawed human rights policy.
“We urge your government to conduct a proper review which addresses the loopholes in the guidance, as well as its limited application and total lack of transparency. We urge you to begin by inviting a public consultation as part of that process.
“This is an opportunity for the UK government to restore Britain’s reputation as a global leader on human rights and international development.”
Since 2017, the UK’s OSJA policy has “repeatedly failed to prevent UK aid from benefitting human rights abusers”, the campaign groups warn, adding: “Recipients of assistance include Bahrain’s justice and security sector through the Gulf Strategy Fund, even while the Bahraini judiciary continues to admit confessions acquired through torture”.
In Bahrain, such evidence has been used to sentence people to death, such as in the cases of peaceful protestors Mohamed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa - who were given death sentences after being tortured.
In 2020, Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Stephen Doughty asked the government to freeze assistance to bodies complicit in Mr Mohamed and Mr Husain’s torture, and asked the government to publish its relevant OSJA assessments for public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, then shadow minister for the Middle East Sir Wayne David expressed dismay that the government “do not bother to implement their own policy” by consistently carrying out OSJA assessments.
The previous government also spent millions of pounds supporting Pakistan’s anti-terrorism courts, which sentenced more than 350 people to death between 2013 and 2018, according to figures from Reprieve.
And earlier this year, the previous government concluded an agreement with the Libyan authorities to hand £1m to the country’s law enforcement to stop people from entering Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
It came despite reports from the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya in 2023 that Libyan law enforcement, including the Coast Guard and the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, had committed human rights violations against migrants in detention that could amount to crimes against humanity.
An FCDO spokesperson said the department is “currently reviewing thegovernment’s guidance for the OSJA assessments, and we plan to engage with external stakeholders as part of the review, recognising the important perspectives of civil society.
“The guidance will set out how we ensure the UK’s overseas security and justice assistance work will meet our human rights obligations and values.”
