Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 16 February 2024.

The UK government has summoned the Russian Embassy to make clear that we hold the Russian authorities fully responsible.

A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said:

Alexei Navalny dedicated his life to exposing the corruption of the Russian system, calling for free and open politics, and holding the Kremlin to account.

We stand today with his family, friends, colleagues and supporters. Our thoughts go out to them.

The Russian authorities saw Mr Navalny as a threat. Many Russian citizens felt he gave them a voice.

In recent years, the authorities imprisoned him on fabricated charges, poisoned him with a banned nerve agent, and sent him to an Arctic penal colony.

No-one should doubt the brutal nature of the Russian system.

His death must be investigated fully and transparently.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office today summoned the Russian Embassy to make clear that we hold the Russian authorities fully responsible.

Mr Navalny was a man of great courage and iron will. Even from his prison cell, he continued to speak up for the rights of the Russian people.  His dedication to human rights and exposing corruption was an inspiration to millions. The ideals for which he stood and died will live forever.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 16 February 2024.

The US, UK and Canada have issued a joint statement on coordinated efforts to counter foreign state information manipulation.

The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada on coordinated efforts to counter foreign state information manipulation:

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada remain deeply concerned about foreign information manipulation and other actions designed to undermine our democracies and human rights globally.

Foreign information manipulation is a national security threat that undermines democratic values, human rights, governmental processes, and political stability. Given the borderless nature of information manipulation, we call on all like-minded countries committed to the rules-based order to work together to identify and counter this threat. Securing the integrity of the global information ecosystem is central to popular confidence in governance institutions and processes, trust in elected leaders, and the preservation of democracy.

The present international system, based on international law and respect for territorial boundaries, is competing with an alternate vision defined by autocratic impunity. This alternate vision deploys foreign malign influence aimed at undermining our safety and security, with disregard for universal human rights and the rule of law.

The time is now for a collective approach to the foreign information manipulation threat that builds a coalition of like-minded countries committed to strengthening resilience and response to information manipulation. We can do this through coordinated, whole of society solutions that work with experts, independent media and multilateral organizations, to address these transnational security threats.

That is why today, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada jointly endorse the Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation, which affirms our shared understanding of the threat and offers a holistic view of how to address the foreign information manipulation challenge. It aims to standardize our approach to this problem and build interoperable and complementary systems to resist this threat as technologies continue to emerge and adapt. The Framework complements the high-level international commitments from the Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online and reinforces our joint efforts and commitment to protect and promote information integrity.

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada intend to collaborate on building partner countries’ resilience to foreign information manipulation by advancing the Framework’s Key Action Areas: national strategies and policies; governance structures and institutions; capacity; civil society, independent media, and academia; and multilateral engagement.

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada intend to jointly work on operationalizing relevant Key Action Areas through new and existing multilateral mechanisms, such as the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, and in coordination with other likeminded partners and multilateral organizations.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 February 2024.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

Thank you, President, let me thank Under Secretary Voronkov, Executive Director Gherman, and Secretary-General Stock for their briefings today. I also thank the Monitoring Team for their work on the report.

The United Kingdom remains deeply concerned at the prospect of Daesh resurgence in the Middle East. As the report notes, though the threat in Iraq and Syria has been effectively suppressed, it remains a serious threat.

Iranian-aligned militias continue to attack the Coalition Forces that are directly working to remove Daesh’s malignant influence in the region, in partnership with the Government of Iraq.

The United Kingdom calls on Iran to use influence to stop these attacks and de-escalate regional tensions. It is in all our interests to prevent Daesh from projecting its poisonous ideology and inflicting death and destruction across the region.

Turning to Africa, the UK is deeply concerned at Daesh’s growing presence across the continent. We stand ready to support our African partners and intensify efforts to improve coordination and strengthen regional cooperation. UN entities play an important role and we welcome their cooperation with the African Union to build capacity and squeeze the spaces in violent extremist networks can flourish. We also encourage cooperation between UN Global Counter Terrorism Coordination Compact members, and we welcome INTERPOL’s role in this.

Finally, we must not ignore the disproportionate impact that terrorism has on women and girls. This year, we mark the 10th anniversary of atrocities committed against the Yezidi people.

We commend the important work done by UNITAD with the support of the Iraqi authorities to investigate sexual crimes by terrorists against women and girls.

President, we know that Daesh thrive in divided, fragile and unstable environments. We all have a responsibility to counter their ideology and provide an alternative future.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 February 2024.

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Libya.

Thank you, President and I thank SRSG Bathily and Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki for their briefings today.

We welcome the SRSG’s continued efforts to convene representatives of key actors for a preparatory meeting, as a critical next step towards breaking the political impasse and delivering elections.

But as we heard from the SRSG, constructive engagement and genuine compromise from all sides are necessary for this process to be successful. We note that some of the actors have either refused to nominate representatives or have attached conditions to their attendance. So we echo the SRSG’s call on all parties to engage meaningfully with the UN process, without preconditions, and to meet under UN auspices to resolve the issues that are delaying elections.

As I witnessed first-hand during my visit to Tripoli last year, it is the Libyan people who continue to suffer from this political stalemate. Nearly six months have passed since the devastating floods in Derna and reconstruction is hampered by the lack of a unified and transparent approach. Basic healthcare and other services are not functioning.

The political stalemate also exacerbates the challenges civil society organisations face across Libya. We remain concerned by the shrinking of civil society space, the rise of human rights violations,  particularly towards migrants and refugees as the SRSG highlighted, and the increasingly restrictive environment for women.

We welcome efforts by the High National Elections Commission to hold municipal elections across the country. However, we are concerned by reports that eleven HNEC field offices were forced to suspend operations in southern and eastern Libya at the start of February. We strongly urge Libya’s leaders to provide the necessary support to facilitate municipal elections, allowing Libyan people to exercise their democratic rights.

President, as the SRSG has asked, we need to put our collective effort and collective support behind building momentum towards elections. Libyans will benefit from a democratic, united, and stable state. So we urge Libyan leaders to engage constructively with the SRSG to fulfil their responsibilities to the Libyan people. And the UK will continue to work with partners and support the SRSG and UNSMIL towards this aim.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 February 2024.

Mr Philip Malone LVO has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Tonga in succession to Ms Lucy Joyce OBE.

Curriculum Vitae

Full name: Philip Malone

Place of birth: Leeds, UK

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 February 2024.

Ambassador Neil Holland thanks the ODIHR mission for observing the Presidential election that took place on 7 February in Azerbaijan.

The United Kingdom welcomes the fact that Azerbaijan invited an ODIHR mission to observe the Presidential election that took place on 7 February. We were pleased to contribute 10 Short Term Observers to this mission.

We also welcome the establishment of an Expert Group by the Azerbaijan Central Election Committee to consider election complaints. This election was calm and provisions to allow the Internally Displaced Population to vote in their historic constituencies have been positively noted. We also note the preliminary findings of the observer mission’s report, which indicate that the election took place in a restrictive environment without genuine political alternatives. Some serious violations were observed, some of which run counter to the 1990 Copenhagen Document. The United Kingdom respectfully encourages Azerbaijan to evaluate and fully implement ODIHR’s recommendations.

We would once again like to express our thanks to the ODIHR mission for playing an impartial and expert role in assessing the design and implementation of democratic processes in Azerbaijan and all OSCE participating States. The UK stands ready to support Azerbaijan in taking forward electoral reforms and improvements to the democratic process on the basis of ODIHR’s recommendations.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 February 2024.

Ambassador Neil Holland underlines steadfast international support for Ukraine and calls out Russia’s blatant violation of international law and futile attempts to distort reality.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Up until 24 February 2022, Russia denied its intent to invade its sovereign neighbour; yet almost two-years-on, Russia’s aggression persists. In that time, Russia has sought to seize and consolidate control of Ukrainian territory through violence and repression. There is mounting evidence that Russian forces are responsible for unimaginable atrocities against men, women, and children in the territories temporarily under Russian control, including torture, sexual violence, and summary executions.

In response to Russia’s aggression, the United Kingdom and our international partners have remained steadfast in our support for Ukraine. We have been clear Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated, and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic State. It is a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter. Furthermore, it contravenes OSCE principles, such as those contained in the Helsinki Final Act. We have responded to Russia’s futile attempt to distort this reality with unity, strength, and resilience.

To date, multiple OSCE participating States have committed billions to Ukraine, alongside the United Kingdom’s overall package of £12 billion. United in our efforts, the United Kingdom and our international partners have held Russia to account through the implementation of the most severe package of sanctions ever imposed on a major economy. Together, we have sent a strong message that any effort to undermine global stability will be stopped in its tracks.

The United Kingdom is proud to support Ukraine in its pursuit of a just and sustainable peace, as set out in President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula. Russia has never given any indication that it is serious about engaging in diplomacy. Instead, President Putin has repeatedly demanded Ukraine’s total capitulation of its sovereign territory – which the Ukrainian people have bravely resisted.

The United Kingdom has never prevented or stopped any peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine is a sovereign country that can decide its own future. If Russia wants peace, it knows what to do: unconditionally withdraw all its forces from the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine, and respect Ukraine’s right to sovereignty and territorial integrity, based on the UN Charter.

Peace, stability, and the adherence to international law remain in the interests of all OSCE members. Each of us must uphold this organisation’s core principles, including the non-use of force, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The international community is united in our support for Ukraine. No amount of Russian disinformation will break that. We will continue to stand up for the rule of law and global security and stability.

In closing, Madam Chair. We remain extremely concerned for the welfare of our three OSCE colleagues of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM). They have been wrongly held by the Russian authorities for over 600 days. There is absolutely no justification for their detention – despite attempts to pretend otherwise, they and their SMM colleagues were simply performing their official duties, duties mandated by all participating States of the OSCE. Russia’s pattern of disinformation is all too familiar, and so, I wanted to take this opportunity to lay out the facts. The UK again calls for their immediate release. Thank you.