Speeches

Ann Clwyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) financial and (b) other assistance his Department is providing to the Bahraini government for (i) security sector and prison reform, (ii) judicial independence and rule of law and (iii) good governance and related matters.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will have provided in the region of £1.2 million worth of support to Bahrain’s reform programme this financial year. Our reform assistance is focused on strengthening human rights and the rule of law. As part of this we have funded work with the Ministry of the Interior’s Ombudsman’s Office on several priority areas. This includes sharing UK best practice on complaints procedures, investigation reports and the role of prison inspection, as well as youth justice and court administration. We have also provided capacity building support to key institutions.