The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and Amnesty International UK were delighted to hold their annual joint reception to mark International Human Rights Day, by kind permission of Mr. Speaker in the State Rooms in Speaker’s House, on 7 December, 2017, with short presentations by:

• Ann Clwyd MP – PHRG Chair;
• Kate Allen – AI UK Director;
• Lord Ahmad – FCO Minister for Human Rights;
• Mr Speaker – Speaker of the House of Commons;
• Jeremy Corbyn MP – Leader of the Opposition; and,
• Issa Amro – Palestinian Human Rights Defender.

The event was also an opportunity for UK Parliamentarians to support AI UK’s 2017 Annual Write for Rights campaign, which this year included the following cases: Istanbul 10 and Taner Kilic (Turkey); Azza Soliman (Egypt); Issa Amro & Farid al-Atrash (Israel/OPT); Ni Yulan (China); and Xulhaz Mannan (Bangladesh).

For more about AI UK’s 2017 Annual Write for Rights campaign, see https://www.amnesty.org.uk/write-rights-2017?&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqJjk-q2y2QIVF0kZCh3tDgTwEAAYASAAEgKd8PD_BwE.

We would like to thank all those who took part..

PHRG Chair Ann Clwyd MP also led a short Westminster Hall debate to mark International Human Rights Day – and to raise concerns in a number of countries around the world, including in Burma, Yemen and Turkey, to stress the continued importance of the UK Government promoting and protecting international human rights in its foreign policy and to highlight AI UK’s 2017 Write for Rights campaign – on 20 December, 2017. The debate can be read here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-12-20/debates/D51973B8-A353-44EA-A0F9-52C6802461C5/InternationalHumanRightsDay

 

The photos from the event included in this article are reprinted with kind permission of the photographer, Marie-Anne Ventoura