Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 September 2023.

The United Kingdom, Australia and the United States updated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on AUKUS naval nuclear propulsion.

The below statement was delivered by Australia on 14 September 2023 under agenda item 12: Any Other Business.

Thank you, Chair.

I have the honour of speaking on behalf of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Chair,

We thank Director General Grossi for his update in his written introductory statement to this Board on Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion program. As the Director General noted, bilateral technical consultations between the IAEA and Australia on Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion program are ongoing, including in relation to the development of an Article 14 arrangement. We remain fully committed to ensuring our approach meets the highest non-proliferation standard.

Chair,

Colleagues will recall that, at the previous meeting of the Board, the Director General reported (in GOV/INF/2023/10) that Australia had submitted the required declarations under its CSA, AP, and Subsidiary Arrangements; the IAEA had conducted in-field verification activities, including a design information verification visit; and discussions on the technical aspects of an arrangement pursuant to Article 14 of Australia’s CSA had been initiated.

Chair,

The Director General has confirmed the IAEA will develop a robust safeguards approach for Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion program which will enable the Agency to continue to meet its technical safeguards objectives established for Australia.

Since the June Board meeting, Australia’s bilateral technical consultations with the IAEA have continued. These discussions encompass technical and legal aspects of an Article 14 arrangement for Australia, including in relation to possible verification and monitoring activities and voluntary transparency measures.

As has been confirmed by the Director General, these ongoing bilateral consultations are taking place on the basis that Australia’s Article 14 arrangement will not remove nuclear material from IAEA oversight.

Throughout the lifecycle of Australia’s program, the Agency will be able to continue to verify and conclude that there has been no diversion of declared nuclear material, no misuse of facilities, and no undeclared nuclear material or activities.

Chair,

We wish to make clear that, contrary to what some delegations have suggested, we do not seek to impose a template or model Article 14 arrangement. When developing an Article 14 arrangement for Australia or another state, the Agency will need to account for state-specific factors.

The Director General has committed to transmitting the Article 14 arrangement, once developed, to the Board for appropriate action. As we have said previously, we fully support this approach.

Chair,

AUKUS partners have already addressed during this Board meeting some of the more egregious disinformation we have heard from other delegations, and I do not intend to go over that again.

In line with our abiding commitment to transparency, however, we welcome the opportunity to update the Board and, as appropriate, we will continue to address genuine questions from interested delegations regarding our non-proliferation approach through this and other fora.

Thank you, Chair.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 September 2023.

UK Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Corinne Kitsell, gave a statement on behalf of Australia, the UK and the US on AUKUS.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 September 2023.

Explanation of vote by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on UNITAD.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 September 2023.

Members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse gave a statement on women’s and girls’ rights to participate in public life.

Today, on International Day of Democracy 2023, the undersigned country members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse call attention to the pressing need to protect and promote women’s and girls’ right to participate in public life.

This is a pivotal year for the status of democracy globally with more than 100 countries scheduled to hold elections in the coming year. The active participation of all people, including women and girls in all their diversity, is essential for healthy and prosperous democracies. Yet women and girls engaged in public life are increasingly targeted by online threats and attacks, with insufficient avenues for response and redress. A global study* found that the majority of women parliamentarians surveyed had experienced psychological violence, primarily through social media, including threats of death, sexual violence, beatings or abductions. Some women face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including on the basis of age, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Online threats to women and girls in public life have proliferated with the increased adoption of digital technologies and are likely to continue to grow with new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, which has led to the rise of malicious deepfakes, non-consensual pornography, reinforced stereotyping and bias, and other harms. Multiple forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence have been shown to prompt women’s self-censorship and disengagement from the public sphere and can occur alongside offline intimidation and violence.

This undermines women’s ability to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression. Orchestrated, digital attacks deliberately use misogyny and disinformation to discredit, intimidate and silence women politicians, journalists, and activists. In addition to harming individual targets, these attacks are an affront to democracies globally. They should therefore be prioritised as an urgent concern given the serious threat they pose to inclusive, open societies. All people – including women and girls in all their diversity – should be able to speak out and actively participate in the public sphere without fear of harassment, discrimination, or violence. We must prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence to safeguard the very well-being of our democracies and economies.

We call upon states to join us in recognising the threat of technology-facilitated gender-based violence to democracies globally. We urge states and technology companies to take appropriate action to prevent and respond to this threat, support a Safety by Design approach to the development and deployment of platforms and technologies and defend women’s right to participate in public life freely, safely and without fear.

Co-signatories and sponsoring country members of the Global Partnership:

Australia: Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland; Chile; Denmark: Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Dan Jørgensen; Iceland: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir; New Zealand: Minister for Women, Hon Jan Tinetti; Republic of Korea: Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oh Youngju; Sweden: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billström; United Kingdom: Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia, Commonwealth, UN and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon; United States of America.

*Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) (2016). Sexism, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians. Geneva. Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: Preliminary Landscape Analysis (publishing.service.gov.uk) (PDF, 2.44MB) p.32

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 September 2023.

The Foreign Secretary has commended the bravery of Iranian women a year on from Mahsa Amini’s death and announced coordinated sanctions on the regime.

• Bravery of Iranian women commended by UK Foreign Secretary on anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death as he underlines the UK’s commitment to standing with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental rights.
• UK, US, Canada andAustralia  announce coordinated sanctions on Iranian officials to mark anniversary.
• UK sanctions focus on senior decision makers responsible for enforcing Iran’s mandatory hijab law, including the Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Mayor of Tehran and the Iranian Police spokesperson.

The Foreign Secretary has commended the bravery of the Iranian people a year on from the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Morality Police.

Marking the anniversary tomorrow, the UK, US, Canada and Australia have imposed coordinated sanctions on Iranian officials and entities.

The UK’s sanctions focus on senior Iranian decision makers responsible for drafting and implementing Iran’s mandatory hijab legislation.

Iran’s existing legislation prohibits women and girls from choosing what they wear, with punishments for refusing to wear a hijab including time in prison and severe fines.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

A year on from Mahsa Amini’s tragic death at the hands of Iran’s Morality Police, I commend the bravery of Iranian women as they continue to fight for fundamental freedoms.

Today’s sanctions on those responsible for Iran’s oppressive laws send a clear message that the UK and our partners will continue to stand with Iranian women and call out the repression it is inflicting on its own people.

Today’s sanctions include:

• Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili – Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
• Mohammad Hashemi – Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
• Alireza Zakani – Mayor of Tehran.
• Saeed Montazer Al-Mahdi – Iranian Police Spokesman.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance is responsible for ensuring adherence to government dress codes within Iranian society. As examples, Esmaili declared that actresses who remove the hijab in public or social media can no longer continue their careers in acting, and that action would be taken against businesses whose female employees failed to adhere to mandatory hijab requirements.

The Police Spokesperson Al-Mahdi threatened that the regime will ‘deal firmly’ with those women who removed their hijab, including for example by impounding the cars of women caught driving without hijab.

The Morality Police’s activities reduced following the outbreak of protests after Mahsa Amini’s death and a raft of international sanctions, including by the UK, but earlier this year its forces have reappeared as part of a renewed crackdown on women in Iran. This has included specific punishments against women for failing to wear the hijab, including being prevented from using the Tehran Metro, and female actors banned from working by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The UK has imposed sanctions on more than 350 Iranian officials and entities, including the Prosecutor General and the IRGC in its entirety, and announced its intention to create a new sanctions regime earlier this year to target decision makers in Iran for hostile activities in the UK and around the world. The UK has previously sanctioned the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, responsible for women’s dress codes in Iran.

Since Mahsa Amini’s death, the Iranian regime has been increasingly isolated by the international community, and faced growing sanctions’ pressure in response to serious human rights violations against its own people, and supply of UAV related technology to Russia for use in Ukraine. In December 2022, Iran was removed from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.