Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-10-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to oppose the UN decision to put Saudi Arabia in charge of a human rights panel, and, if so, what action they will take.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government has no locus to oppose the appointment of the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia as Chair of the UN Consultative Group. Saudi Arabia was nominated by the Asian Group. The Council is made up of five ambassadors, serving in their personal capacity, from each of the five regional groups in the UN. The Ambassador has served on the Consultative Group since 1 January 2015. It is standard procedure for the chairmanship of the Group to rotate during the course of the year.