Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Equitorial Guinea on human rights and freedom of speech in that country.

James Duddridge

We remain concerned about the human rights situation in Equitorial Guinea, including the lack of freedom of expression and assembly, the lack of transparency and high levels of corruption. We are concerned about a recent Presidential decree which saw a total dissolution of the judiciary. Equitorial Guinea must meet its international obligations to protect the independence of the judiciary and respect the rule of law.

We have no diplomatic mission or resident diplomatic staff in Equatorial Guinea. Nonetheless we remain committed to raising human rights concerns with the Government of Equitorial Guinea where we can, and we have outlined concerns to the Equitorial Guinea Ambassador in London, and through visits to Equitorial Guinea of our non-resident Ambassador (based in Cameroon). We will continue to raise our concerns through these channels.