Does the UK have a duty residents and not just citizens?

[AtheneNoctua]

I'm just curious. I don't want to talk about Guantanomo. And I certian don't want to talk about the Texan who no longer resides on Pennsylania Avenue. But, I am resident in the UK and have been for about 7 years. My DH and my kids are UK citizens. If I got into trouble abroad, I would not expect the UK to be obligated to come to my rescue.

I'm just curious what people think.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7905657.stm

AFAIK, if you have a UK passport then you are entitled to ask for consular assistance abroad even if you commit a crime.

Not sure what the rules are if you are here on a long-term visa but hold a passport from another country or outside of the EU.

I do not quite understand your question. are you saying Ethiopia should have dealt with it rather than the UK?

This man has lived here for 15 years, since childhood and was in serious trouble - so I really would expect the authorities to step in and help in those circumstances. Especially as his former 'home' country is hardly in a position too.

What's terrible about his case is the apparent collusion of our security services in torture. Shameful.

I'm not sure of the legal obligations, but his resident status constitues a legal opportunity for the govt to intervene, which I think generates a moral obligation to intervene, given the extent of the man's ill treatment.

Very well put, Threadie.

I'm not saying anything about should or shouldn't. It just surprised me. I would have the thought the country whose passport I have would defend me. But never even considered being a resident would qualify me for any defense. Perhaps it is the right thing to do. It just surprised me. That's all I'm saying.

I agree with both edam and ThreadieMair.

It's interesting to see how quickly the West lost the moral high ground on issues such as torture and personal freedoms the minute it felt threatened. (Not entirely relevant to thread title, but anyway...)

A major objection to Turkey's demand for adhesion to the EU over the past decade, for example, was that it hasn't done enough to eliminate torture. Well, now it turns out that UK (and some other EU countries) have been collaborating with US to send people to be tortured and locked up without charge.

Another was "limitations" on personal freedom, specifically prohibiting women with headscarves from entering state schools & universities. "You are preventing them from studying, and that is against their human rights" bla bla. Soon after 9/11 and signs of resurgent Islam in Europe, France did exactly the same thing - barred women with headscarves from entering schools & universities.

Funny how fragile these "principles" turned out to be.

I don't think we have any duties to residents once they are out of our territory

That was demonstrated quite well with the UK rushing to the aid of British citizens caught up in the 2004 Tsunami . Most of the other countries in the world managed to offer support to their nationals. Not the UK until the media made a fuss!