The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has reportedly announced that it will reduce the number of warnings it issues to travellers in relation to terrorist threats around the world.
The Independent reports that, in a written statement to Parliament, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has pledged that UK travellers will only be warned to avoid a particular destination if there is an “acute, large-scale and specific threat” to them, adding that too many warnings were “doing the terrorists’ work for them”.
Mr Straw is quoted as saying that advice needs to “making public safety its prime concern while minimising the disruption which terrorists want to cause. Advice must inform people of the threat from terrorism and, when the threat is acute, it will inevitably lead to some disruption in the interests of public safety.”
The FCO is now ready to review its advice for 217 countries but, The Independent points out, it has not been made clear where changes will be made. At present, the newspaper states, the FCO advises against all travel to Burundi, Haiti and Somalia, with “all but essential travel” discouraged for Algeria, Central African Republic, Indonesia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
