5 July 1991
HRC241/2
2
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWŁA 2AHE
Telephone: 07270-2505
Peter Honour Esq
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate LONDON
SW1H 9AT
Dear Peter,
Minute to News D.
human rights general.
849/7
(41
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 1991
1. We have received an advance copy of the 1991 Amnesty International Report, which is due to be released on 10 July. The Report covers the period January-December 1990, and while it is out of date in some respects, it nonetheless provides a useful summary of Amnesty's concerns over that period. Their main areas of interest are: prisoners of conscience, right to a fair trial, freedom from torture and abolition of the death penalty.
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I attach a copy of the introduction to this year's report and the section on the United Kingdom. Copies of the entries on Hong Kong and Bermuda are enclosed for the relevant copy recipients.
3. You will see from the introduction that Amnesty have added refugees and assylum seekers to their concerns. They say that Amnesty works to ensure that no-one seeking protection from human rights violations is obstructed from gaining access to a proper refugee determination procedure (see pages 8 and 9).
4. Amnesty also makes mention of standard-setting in the field of criminal justice, in particular the "limitations on the permissible use of force and firearms by law enforcement official, adopted by the 8th UN Crime Congress in Havana last year.
5. The section on the UK has been overtaken by the publication in United June of a separate report entitled "Amnesty International Kingdom Human Rights Concerns". Guidance was issued to Posts abroad in response to this, based mainly on information provided by your office. This should continue to be used as almost up-to-date defensive material.
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