Human rights report fears

Campaigners have voiced concerns after it emerged that the Foreign Office's annual human rights report could be downgraded to save money.

The document has been published since 1997 to highlight levels of torture, oppression, capital punishment and arms trading around the world, but it may now be issued only online.

A Foreign Office spokesman denied the publication was being scrapped altogether, saying: "The only question is how that report can most cost-effectively be produced in the current climate."

Amnesty International said that dropping it would leave a "huge gap in terms of accountability and transparency".