'UK brushes off human rights concerns to start trade talks with GCC', 29 June 2022

"The UK government has come under fire from human rights groups after it launched free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

The first round of talks between the UK and the bloc, which is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are expected to begin this summer, the government says, adding that the proposed FTA will be an “ambitious, comprehensive and modern agreement fit for the 21st century”.

Equivalent to the UK’s seventh-largest export market, total trade between the UK and the GCC was worth £33.1bn in 2021. The bloc’s demand for international products and services is expected to grow by 35% to £800bn by 2035, which the UK says will open “huge” new opportunities for its businesses...

...However, the proposed trade deal is not without controversy. During a consultation period held by the government ahead of entering talks, numerous stakeholders raised concerns about the GCC’s record on human rights, including the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation that represents the majority of trade unions in England and Wales, which highlighted “systematic violations”...

...the extent to which the GCC is open to including provisions for human rights within trade deals is unclear. “The UK government has consistently claimed trade will not come at the expense of human rights,” says Tom Wills, trade project manager at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a London-based NGO. “Beginning a new trade negotiation gives the government an opportunity to explain how they will deliver on that promise – but we’re none the wiser about how a UK-Gulf deal will uphold rights in the region.”

He adds that the UK should not be signing any trade deal with the Gulf countries unless it contains clear and enforceable commitments to human rights: “The GCC’s trade negotiations with the EU failed because the EU refused to budge on their policy of including human rights conditions in trade agreements. It seems that the UK will be happy to abandon these basic human rights standards in pursuit of a quick deal.”..."