UK Government criticised in Human Rights Report over Regeni’s murder

Just two weeks after the UK government finally issued a response to the murder of Girton College PhD student, Guilio Regeni, the Foreign Affairs Committee report on Human Rights has criticised their actions. 

It took over a month for the UK government to respond to the death of Guilio Regeni, who was murdered whilst in Egypt whilst investigating trade unions for his PhD.

This report criticises the government’s reaction to the murder

Whilst the statement issued by the UK government maintained that they were ‘appalled’ by the case and that they would continue pressuring the Egyptian authorities to further their investigation, this was clearly not enough and has come under fire by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Paragraph 8 of the report focussed on the response of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the human rights crisis in Egypt in general, especially criticising the energy with which the government responds to issues of human rights. However, specific attention was drawn to the example of Giulio Regeni,:

“For example, we also noted the tone of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State’s statement in Westminster Hall13 on the death of the University of Cambridge doctoral student, Italian national Giulio Regeni; and, following our recent visit to Cairo, we feel that overall the UK has not been supporting the Italian authorities as forcefully as his murder deserved.”

#justiceforgiulio Credit: Luke Naylor-Perrott

This criticism comes after protests from academics and students in Cambridge themselves, all which aim to show that the government is not doing enough to solve the case.

Although the case seems to be making little progress, especially with the lack of UK involvement, Italian and Egyptian officials have met in Cairo today to try and solve the deadlock.

If the UK government is being criticised for within, surely the time for more action is nigh?