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  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to support the Maldivian government in counter-terrorism efforts.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Counter-terrorism is an area on which we are keen to work closely with the Maldivian Government. I discussed this with representatives of the Government, including President Yameen, during my visit to the Maldives in January 2016. Most recently, in April 2016, a group of Maldivian police officers visited the UK to discuss further cooperation.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to assist the Maldivian government with its governance reform plan.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Government, along with others in the international community, has a number of concerns about governance and human rights in the Maldives. This includes the decreasing independence of institutions, the diminishing freedoms of expression and association, and the arbitrary detention of political figures. I discussed these issues with President Yameen and his Government when I visited the Maldives in January 2016.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) migrants and (b) people seeking asylum who have attempted to travel to Europe via Egypt in each of the last two years.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We do not hold figures for the number of migrants and asylum seekers who have attempted to travel to Europe via Egypt. According to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex), in 2014 there were 170,760 detections of illegal border-crossings on the Central Mediterranean route (not only from Egypt). In 2015, the number of detections was 153,946.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32522, who the 22 Tibetans referred to in that Answer are; and what the response was of the Chinese authorities in the case of each such Tibetan.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We included the cases of nine Tibetans detained by the Chinese authorities on a list of cases submitted to the Chinese delegation ahead of the 2015 UK-China Human Rights Dialogue. These included Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Dhondup Wangchen. In 2014, we included the names of 16 Tibetan individuals on our case list. Three cases, including Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, appeared on both case lists. The UK-China Human Rights Dialogue is a platform for detailed, expert exchanges on human rights issues. We do not make our full case lists public as in some cases the individuals concerned do not want us to. We do not publish Chinese responses to cases raised as we assess this will be counter-productive. We continue to make our concerns about the human rights situation in China, including Tibet, known publicly via other means, such as in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Russian government on the Arctic.

    Mr David Lidington

    The UK has not recently discussed the Arctic bilaterally with the Russian government. The UK is a State Observer at the Arctic Council, of which the Russian Federation is a full member. The UK participates in all Arctic Council meetings, including the most recent senior official meeting in March 2016.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 995, what steps the Government is taking to support the (a) gathering and (b) preservation of evidence of crimes that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Evidence is being gathered and preserved by a range of state and non state actors for potential prosecutions. The UK is supporting a number of these efforts. In Syria, the UK is funding the work of NGOs who are gathering evidence of Human Rights violations committed across Syria, including by Daesh and the Asad regime. This is being done to the standards required for criminal prosecution against high level perpetrators in a domestic or international court. In Iraq, we are considering how the UK might best complement similar efforts already underway. Working with international partners, we are doing everything we can to assist in the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used by judicial bodies to make a judgement on this matter. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 995, whether any UN Security Council member has blocked an initiative to refer the perpetrators of suspected genocide and war crimes by Daesh in Syria and Iraq to the International Criminal Court.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    When efforts were made by the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the response of the government of China was to representations the Government made to it during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogues held in Beijing in April 2015 and in London in 2014 on human rights violations against Tibetans.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I should like to refer my Hon. Friend the Member of East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) to my response to PQ35360.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 996, what evidence has been gathered and preserved of potential (a) war crimes and (b) genocide in (i) Syria and (ii) Iraq.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Evidence is being gathered and preserved by a range of state and non state actors for potential prosecutions. The UK is supporting a number of these efforts. In Syria, the UK is funding the work of NGOs who are gathering evidence of Human Rights violations committed across Syria, including by Daesh and the Asad regime. This is being done to the standards required for criminal prosecution against high level perpetrators in a domestic or international court. In Iraq, we are considering how the UK might best complement similar efforts already underway. Working with international partners, we are doing everything we can to assist in the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used by judicial bodies to make a judgement on this matter. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken through the UN to promote the human rights situation in (a) China and (b) Saudi Arabia.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    In respect of China, the UK made a national statement on 15 March under Item 4 of the UN Human Rights Council about the human rights situation there. We highlighted our concerns about the application of due process and transparency of justice, as well as the importance of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. We also supported the EU’s Item 4 statement on China the same day. On 10 March, we signed up to a cross-regional Item 2 statement delivered at the Human Rights Council, alongside eleven other countries, on China’s deteriorating human rights record. In respect of Saudi Arabia, the British Government’s position on human rights is a matter of public record. We regularly make our views well known including through the UN Universal Periodic Review process and we supported the EU’s Item 4 statement on Saudi Arabia on 15 March at the UN Human Rights Council, which noted a range of human rights concerns. We will continue to raise our human rights concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities at the highest level.