Gestures on human rights are insufficient – Shami Chakrabarti

Shami Chakrabarti, Labour’s Shadow Attorney General, commenting on the government’s appointment of an international ambassador dedicated to the promotion of human rights, said:

“Any nod in the direction of human rights is welcome and we wish the new Ambassador well.

“But gestures alone are insufficient, and Rita French’s task will be
an uphill struggle in a party that has consistently campaigned to scrap
Human Rights instruments and cosied up to every despot in the pursuit of
trade.

“The race to be next Tory leader has so far involved pretenders
competing to be the most authoritarian. We wait to see if this
announcement sees a reversal of this worrying direction of travel.”