UK and Human Rights abroad

As you can see by reading this article that was published today on the BBC NEWS website,
The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has accused the UK government  of inconsistency in its dealings with other countries over human rights.

According to the BBC:

The committee accepted it was "inevitable" that there would be occasional conflicts between the UK's strategic, commercial or security-related interests and its human rights values and a "balance" had to be struck.

The report reads: "In our view, it would be in the government's interest for it to be more transparent in acknowledging that there will be contradictions in pursuing these interests while promoting human rights values.

The government's role should be publicly to set out and explain its judgements on how far to balance the two in particular cases, having taken into account the need to adapt policy according to local circumstances and developments."

You can find the full report (as well as FCO's response) here.

The 2011 report mentioned above focuses on the UK's (apparently inconsistent) dealings with Ukraine and Bahrain.

If you're interested in some historical context, the British government's 'inconsistency' in relation to the case of the Greek Colonels' regime is highlighted in my forthcoming book.

To give you an idea, this is from the conclusion of the first chapter (pp. 41-42):

"All in all, the British stance towards the dictatorship of the Colonels, during the first two years could be characterised as one of ambiguity.  

London hesitated in almost every decision it had to take, oscillating between the two poles of its policy: namely, (1) protecting its mainly commercial and strategic interests and its ‘special relationship’ with Washington, and (2) upholding human rights and promoting a return to democratic rule, basically through trying to influence the regime and sustaining some efforts of the opposition. The initial inertia of the Labour government soon changed to a pragmatic policy of establishing relations with the junta, without, however, appearing to be too close to Greece’s military dictators. The catalyst for this change were three events that took place in 1967; the Six Day War, the crisis in Cyprus, and the failed royal counter-coup. The first demonstrated Greece’s augmented significance as a NATO ally in a troubled region, the second proved to the British the value of keeping closer relations with the Greek leaders, and the third confirmed the consolidation of the regime. When 1968 came and Britain recognized the junta anew, it became clear that, despite some instances of criticism of the dictatorship -mainly for public consumption- London was willing to make use of ‘different tactics’ in order to safeguard its (chiefly commercial and strategic) interests vis-à-vis Greece. The impact of international events was once again decisive as the Prague Spring and increased Soviet naval activity in the Mediterranean were conducive to a reconsideration of British policy towards the Colonels and the adoption of a ‘business as usual’ approach, thus acting as a prelude to the new era of relations that was soon to follow."

The Times article on Wilson's Britain, 1967-1970

I've come across this interesting article by Fay Weldon, who gives a very vivid picture of life in Britain (ok, mostly London) under Harold Wilson.

She concentrates on the 1967-1970 period, when the Labour government coincided with the Greek Colonels' regime.

The title of the article that appeared in The Times (22/05/2012) is aptly called ‘The white heat of Wilson’s new technology proved too hot to handle’.

Here's a short clip of PM Wilson in 1967:

And here's a clip of London during the so-called 'Swinging Sixties' to give you a part of the atmosphere of the time:

Papadopoulos and the British Parliament

In this 1994 article by Richard Clogg you can read how the leader of the Colonels' regime contributed towards cleaning up British political life, by giving 'a powerful boost to the process which culminated in the establishment in 1974 of the Register of Members' Interest'.

More LSE

Here are some photos of LSE, which (apart from being my host institution) is also where mass student demonstrations took place in '68 (more info, in Greek, here) and '69, where Ann Chapman used to work part-time, and, finally, where Andreas Papandreou secretly met FCO officials.