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"If you
cross the path of tyranny, or incipient tyranny, I believe there is
a duty to fight it …. If you achieve a voice that will be heard, you
should use it to speak up for the voiceless and oppressed. If you
possess any power or authority, you must strive to use it to help
and to empower the powerless." - Craig Murray, former British
Ambassador to Uzbekistan, in Murder in Samarkand: A British
Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror |
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NEWS SECTION
UPDATES |
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18 Mar 08: |
New report on UN Reform launched at Chatham House |
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18 Mar 08: |
Hearing on rape and sexual violence as a
weapon of war |
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Click Here |
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18 Mar 08: |
Hearing on child soldiers |
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12 Dec 07: |
Commission holds hearing on Foreign Office Reform |
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EVENTS
HEARING ON RAPE AND SEXUAL
VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON OF WAR
The Conservative Party
Human Rights Commission will hold a hearing on rape and sexual
violence as a weapon of war, on Tuesday 25 March from 3-5pm in
Committee Room 19, House of Commons.
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EVENTS
HEARING ON CHILD SOLDIERS
The Conservative Party
Human Rights Commission will hold a hearing on the forcible
conscription of child soldiers, on Wednesday 23 April from 3-5pm in
a Committee room (to be confirmed), House of Commons.
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EVENTS WILLIAM HAGUE LAUNCHES
2007 ANNUAL REPORT
The Shadow Foreign Secretary William
Hague spoke at the launch of the Conservative Party Human Rights
Commission’s Annual Report, Monday 10th December 2007, in the
Jubilee Room, House of Commons.
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EVENTS
FRINGE MEETING AT THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE 07
The Commission
held a fringe meeting at The Conservative Party Conference in
Blackpool with William Hague MP, addresing an audience of over 200.
The meeting was also addressed by Simon Coveney TD, Benedict Rogers
and Mohamed Nasheed.
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ANDREW MITCHELL MP
FILM RECORDED FROM VISIT TO BURMA
Shadow International Development
Secretary, Andrew Mitchell MP, has returned from a visit to Burma,
where he recorded a video from his trip. Andrew also appeared
on internet TV station, 18 Doughty Street, with Ben Rogers talking
about their experience.
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ELBEGDORJ TSAKHIA
FORMER PRIME MINISTER
OF MONGOLIA
In an interview with the Conservative Human Rights
Commission, Mr Elbegdorj Tsakhia, former Prime Minister of Mongolia
and leader of the country’s democracy movement in the 1980s, spoke
of his support for democracy in Vietnam.
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SAM RAINSY
CAMBODIAN OPPOSITION LEADER
‘Be vigilant’ on human rights, warns Cambodian
opposition leader, Special report: Rado Tylecote talks with
Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy in Phnom Penh, 24th April
2006.
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CONSERVATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS
WHO ARE WE
The Commission was established in 2005 by the Shadow Foreign
Secretary and is chaired by Stephen Crabb MP. Human rights
activist Benedict Rogers serves as Deputy Chairman. The
commission includes several Members of Parliament.
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NEWGROUND
ORIGINAL POLICY PAPER
New Ground is a paper written by James Mawdsley and Benedict
Rogers, setting out a vision for a bold, principled and imaginative
foreign policy that promotes human rights and democracy.
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Click
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Welcome
to the website of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.
The Conservative Party follows in the tradition of William
Wilberforce, who as a Member of Parliament 200 years ago led the
campaign to end the slave trade. Freedom, democracy, human dignity,
opportunity and the rule of law are at the heart of our politics.
They are values which should be applied to all areas of policy,
domestic and international.
The Conservative Party Human
Rights Commission is a body established by the Shadow Foreign
Secretary to highlight international human rights concerns, and to
inform, advise and develop the party’s foreign policy by making
human rights a priority. Freedom and human dignity should be at the
heart of foreign policy.
Established in 2005, the
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission is chaired by Gary
Streeter MP. Members of the Commission include MPs Michael Gove,
John Bercow, David Burrowes, Mark Pritchard and Gerald Howarth, and
human rights activist and writer Benedict Rogers. The Commission
works closely with a number of human rights organisations, including
Amnesty International. The Commission builds on the ideas set out in
New Ground: Engaging People with the Conservative Party through a
bold, principled and imaginative foreign policy (www.newground.org.uk),
a paper published in 2003 by James Mawdsley and Benedict Rogers.
In its initial phase, the Conservative Party Human Rights
Commission will focus on about 20 primary countries of concern.
These include some of the worst possible offenders, such as North
Korea and Burma, and some of the smallest, most forgotten situations
such as The Maldives and Eritrea. The countries of focus are drawn
from all continents, from Cuba to Vietnam, Nepal to Iran, Sudan to
Belarus, and they include human rights violations perpetrated by
both State and non-State parties. For example, in Turkmenistan and
Uzbekhistan, violations are perpetrated by the State, but in India
the violations against the Dalits, which the Commission will
concentrate on, are primarily the result of societal and cultural
factors.
The Conservative Party Human Rights Commission
will:
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hold regular hearings on countries and themes
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publish weekly updates drawn from different human rights
organisations and
media sources
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organise speaker meetings, press conferences and events
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initiate Parliamentary Questions, Early Day Motions and debates in
Parliament ¨
publish an Annual Report on Human Rights
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develop policy proposals for a future Conservative Government
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