United Kingdom We abhor torture; we will not co-operate or collude with it; and, in line with our international commitments, we are honour-bound not just to avoid wrongdoing ourselves but to try to reduce, and if possible eliminate, the use of cruel or inhuman treatment or torture around the world. —David Miliband, then UK Foreign Secretary, June 200951 The UN Convention Against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights...do not impose a positive obligation to report on or seek to prevent acts of torture carried out by other states abroad. —David Miliband, July 200952 The United Kingdom is a party to major human rights instruments imposing clear obligations with respect to the prevention, prosecution and eradication of torture.53 National law authorizes universal jurisdiction over torture.54 The United Kingdom has long maintained that the eradication of torture constitutes a vital dimension of its foreign policy. Each year, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) publishes a human rights report describing its work to promote human rights, and in particular to prevent torture, worldwide. Since 1998, when it launched an anti-torture initiative, the UK has supported regional organizations and local projects, produced a series of handbooks on the prevention of torture, and lobbied for wider ratification of the Convention against Torture. The UK was among the first countries to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, in December 2003, which creates an international system to monitor places of detention worldwide, and a parallel domestic monitoring system in each country that ratifies it.55 The UK has since engaged in an active campaign to encourage worldwide ratification and implementation. In June 2009, the UK government designated sets of existing statutory bodies in England and Wales, Scotland and 51 Oral evidence to FAC, June 16, 2009, Q92, FAC report on annual human rights report. 52 Further submission from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ev51, FAC report on annual human rights report. 53 ICCPR, ratified by the UK August 20, 1976; Convention against Torture, ratified by the UK January 7, 1989; ECHR March 8, 1951. 54 Section 134 of the United Kingdom Criminal Justice Act 1988. 55 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, A/RES/57/199, adopted on December 18, 2002, entered into force on June 22, 2006. “No Questions Asked” 22