Carmichael welcomes UK government’s human rights sanctions

Alistair Carmichael

Isles MP Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, has welcomed new human rights sanctions from the UK government.

Known as Magnitsky-style sanctions, they target individuals rather than states in response to human rights abuses and other illegal activities.

Mr Carmichael noted, however, that the scheme initially did not target any representatives of the Chinese government who may be involved in human rights abuses and called for urgent attention to that area.

He told the House of Commons: “Can I congratulate [Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab] on what I think will be seen in years to come as a watershed moment in the development of human rights law.

“I think he’s absolutely right to focus on the most clamant cases, but I hope that that does now free up time and resource in the Foreign Office to turn attention towards those in China and Hong Kong for whom sanctions would appear to be the logical next step.”