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  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to engage with the Polisaria Front; and if he or Ministers of his Department will meet senior Polisario Front officials.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Government officials engage with the Polisario Front regularly, most recently on 16 March in London. We regard the Polisario Front as a pro-independence movement and party to a UN-mediated dispute, but not all Sahrawis consider it to be their representative. Therefore the UK Government does not regard the Polisario Front as representing all Sahrawis. Because of this, Ministers do not meet Polisario Front members.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on recognition of the Polisario Front as the representative of the people of Western Sahara.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Government officials engage with the Polisario Front regularly, most recently on 16 March in London. We regard the Polisario Front as a pro-independence movement and party to a UN-mediated dispute, but not all Sahrawis consider it to be their representative. Therefore the UK Government does not regard the Polisario Front as representing all Sahrawis. Because of this, Ministers do not meet Polisario Front members.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library copies of all departmental documents relating to the lifting of EU sanctions from Suleiman Marouf in August 2013.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    All decisions to designate and lift EU listings are made by the EU Council. The underlying evidence to support a designation or propose a delisting is made available to the Council and held on file.

    The Council decides collectively on the sharing of information externally. Member States are bound by a duty of professional secrecy with respect to Council documents unless they have been made publicly available, as set out in the Council’s Rules of Procedure. In this case, they have not been made public.

    Professional secrecy maintains non-disclosure of the identity of the proposing Member State and limits the scope for third countries to play divide and rule with the EU’s sanctions policy.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will establish a treatment programme to support the rehabilitation of young Yazidi and other women.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is committed to supporting the victims of Daesh’s brutality. Through our Human Rights and Democracy Fund we are supporting a project that offers survivors of sexual violence, including from the Yezidi community, access to health and psychiatric support. This project plans to reach 2,400 women across Erbil, Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk and Zakho. We have also translated the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict into Kurdish, to build further the capacity of Kurdish human rights, justice and healthcare professionals to respond to and document these crimes.

    We are providing £750,000 to help implement Iraq’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to support women’s involvement in conflict resolution and the response to gender-based violence. More widely, the UK is providing £79.5 million to the humanitarian response in Iraq. This assistance is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including the most vulnerable groups, such as Yezidis. All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure British citizens employed on international marine vessels are not arrested for entering the territorial waters of a country with incorrect paperwork for arms held on the ship to combat pirates.

    James Duddridge

    It is the responsibility of employers and employees to ensure that they hold the correct paperwork for any arms held. The Department for Transport’s advice to UK flagged vessels employing Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSC) on board their ships is that the PMSC has, amongst other things: access to legal advice, given the imprecise position of armed guards under various national jurisdictions and international law; and an understanding of port State and coastal State laws and requirements with respect to the possession, carriage, and movement of firearms, ammunition and other security related equipment (such as body armour).

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills trade controls in the private armed sector apply to UK companies operating in the UK, and to UK nationals working for non UK companies. The use of the Open Government Trade Control License Maritime Anti-Piracy ensures that companies operating in the sector do so in adherence to industry standards and international law.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with the government of Morocco on the holding of a free and fair referendum on the governance of Western Sahara.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is for the parties to the dispute to agree a resolution of the final status of Western Sahara. The UK encourages both sides to cooperate with the United Nations process to reach a mutually acceptable solution that provides for the self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on what date and in which location his Department last met with AdvanFort, the operator of the Seaman Guard Ohio; and what subjects were discussed at that meeting.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I spoke most recently to AdvanFort’s owner Samir Farajallah on 3 May by telephone concerning the detained men’s situation.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with which countries the UK has negotiated bilateral tax conventions; and how many of those conventions contain tax evasion information-sharing agreements in a similar form to Article 26 of the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital, published by the OECD.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK has double taxation agreements (DTA) in force with 127 countries and territories. They all contain provisions governing the exchange of information.

    In addition, the UK has 24 bilateral tax information exchange agreements. Fifteen of these agreements are with countries with which the UK does not have a DTA. The UK exchanges information with other EU Member States under the Administration and Cooperation Directive (EU Directive 2011/16/EU). The UK is also one of 94 signatories to the OECD/Council of Europe Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Romanian government on the treatment of the Roma community in that country.

    Mr David Lidington

    We closely follow the treatment of the Roma Community in Romania. The UK condemns discrimination in all its forms and has on numerous occasions discussed this issue with the Romanian government. The UK was represented at the Romanian Government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee responsible for monitoring the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion on 21 March. On 12 April the British Ambassador to Romania issued a public statement regarding discrimination against the Roma community, following acts of vandalism at the National Centre for Roma Culture’s tent at the University Square. We continue to urge the Romanian government to take all necessary measures to ensure that all its citizens can fully enjoy their rights.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government is making to the UN on incorporating a human rights mandate into the renewal of the UN peacekeeping force in Western Sahara.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are not advocating that the United Nations Security Council pursue the incorporation of human rights monitoring as part of the MINURSO mandate. The international community monitors human rights through other means; there was a technical visit by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in April 2015, a visit by the UN’s Independent Expert on Human Rights in January 2016 and there is an upcoming visit of the Special Rapporteur on Torture.