To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have been held with non-governmental human rights groups in preparation for the forthcoming UN Human Rights Convention, which opens on 17 March 2003 in Geneva. [100511]
I attended a pre-Commission on Human Rights (CHR) briefing session with NGO human rights groups on 13 February this year. The aim of the meeting was to brief the human rights community on the UK's approach towards the CHR and to give them the opportunity to feed in their views. The Forum is a key part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's dialogue with NGOs. Among a total number of 26 NGOs, representatives from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group attended the meeting.The UK delegation to the CHR in Geneva will keep in regular contact with British and International NGO representatives during this year's session of the CHR.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who the United Kingdom representatives will be at the United Nations Human Rights Conventions to be held in Geneva from 17 March 2003. [100517]
I will attend part of this year's session, and, as is customary, will address the Commission in plenary. Mrs. Audrey Glover CMG will head the United Kingdom delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights as she has done since 1998. The delegation will include officials from the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels, UK Missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York, as well as London-based officials from the Human Rights Policy Department and Global Issues Research Group of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and a representative from the Department for International Development