2025 In Focus: Making Consular Protection a Legal Right for Britons Abroad
By Chris Esdaile, Senior Legal Advisor
Around 5,000 Britons are arrested abroad each year, and 186 were tortured or ill-treated in 2024 alone. Cases like those of our clients Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Nicholas Tuffney show how important is for the UK’s response to be consistent and robust.
When Nazanin was unjustly detained in Iran, her husband Richard Ratcliffe fought for years to bring her home, even going on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office to force the Government to act. “Families shouldn’t have to go on hunger strike to get the Government to do something in cases of torture and unfair imprisonment,” he said. “A legal right to consular assistance would have made such a difference.”
After Nicholas Tuffney was detained in Panama on charges he always denied — which were later dropped — the Parliamentary Ombudsman found that Embassy staff did not act quickly or adequately to help when he reported being mistreated or raised other welfare concerns.
For British nationals detained abroad, consular assistance can be a lifeline, often the only link between them, their families, and the outside world. Yet in the UK, this crucial protection remains discretionary, not a legal right.
REDRESS, together with survivors and families, has long argued that it’s time to move from discretion to duty. A legal right to consular assistance would protect the most vulnerable and give families certainty and accountability when things go wrong.
This year there were signs of progress. Ahead of the July 2024 General Election, all major parties pledged to reform consular assistance, with Labour committing to “strengthen support for British nationals abroad” through “a new right to consular assistance in cases of human rights violations.” Following the election, the Government promised to appoint a Special Envoy for Complex Consular Detentions.
REDRESS continues to urge the UK Government to move consular assistance into a legislative footing. Last year, we published a briefing, designed to help shape a legal right to consular assistance in the UK.
It was developed with survivors, families, and legal experts, and endorsed by the Free Nazanin Campaign, Hostage International, Prisoners Abroad and British Rights Abroad Group. We also published a comparative study of 28 States, which showed that nearly half already guarantee a strong, enforceable legal right to consular assistance.
The UK must do the same.
©Free Nazanin Campaign