Tag: 2024

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 24 September 2024.

Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Myanmar. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.

Thank you Deputy High Commissioner for your update. And we thank the High Commissioner for his report.

The humanitarian and human rights crisis in Myanmar continues to deepen. In August, more than 42,000 people were displaced, and the Myanmar military conducted more airstrikes than in any other month since the coup, targeting villages, schools and hospitals. At the same time, the military continues to obstruct aid, preventing vital supplies from reaching those in need.

We call on the Myanmar military, and all other actors, to allow safe, unimpeded humanitarian access to vulnerable communities. This is crucial as people suffer from the impacts of flooding, growing food insecurity and shortages of health and sanitation supplies. The UK will provide more than £40 million in assistance this financial year. We encourage other Member States to also consider what more they can do.

20,000 people remain arbitrarily detained, including journalists, healthcare workers and political prisoners. The IIMM (Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar) has found credible reports of widespread torture and deaths in detention, including physical abuse and sexual and gender-based violence of the most horrific kind, including against children. The military must release all those arbitrarily detained. We also call on Myanmar to comply with the UN Convention against Torture and respect the rights of detainees.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 24 September 2024.

British nationals should leave Lebanon immediately, ministers have warned, as the government bolsters its presence in the region.

• Brits warned to act now, and leave Lebanon as soon as possible
• military teams move to Cyprus as contingency planning is rolled out to support British nationals in Lebanon and the region
• ministers continue to call for a ceasefire immediately to end the cycle of violence, as more than 500 people killed in Lebanon in the past 24 hours

British nationals should leave Lebanon immediately, ministers have warned, as the government bolsters its presence in the region.

Around 700 UK troops will move to Cyprus in the coming hours, as the government continues to prepare its contingency plans following significant escalation between Israel and Lebanon in recent days.

The military teams will be supported by Border Force and FCDO officials.

The government continues to advise against all travel to Lebanon, as the situation continues to deteriorate rapidly, with devastating consequences.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:

Events in the past hours and days have demonstrated how volatile this situation is, which is why our message is clear, British nationals should leave now.

We continue to urge all sides to step back from conflict to prevent further tragic loss of life. Our government is ensuring all preparations are in place to support British nationals should the situation deteriorate. I want to thank the British personnel who are deploying in the region for their commitment and professionalism.

The UK already has a significant diplomatic and military footprint in the region, including RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and Royal Navy ships RFA Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan, which have remained in the eastern Mediterranean to support British nationals and allies over the summer.

The Royal Air Force also have aircraft and transport helicopters on standby to provide support if necessary.

The call comes after the Defence Secretary held a meeting with ministers, intelligence chiefs and diplomats on Tuesday afternoon to test government planning.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 24 September 2024.

Statement by Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the UN Security Council meeting on the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy, the UK commends you not only for standing up for your people but for standing up for democracy.

Seeing you in Kyiv a few weeks ago with Secretary Blinken I saw ordinary people from all walks of life. The soldiers and the civilians. The firefighters and the first responders.

The mothers and the fathers working together in defence of freedom. Your bravery and courage is an inspiration to us all.

But Mr. President, I also want to speak directly to the Kremlin and its representative here today. And Vladimir Putin.

Russia sits on this Council. But its actions tear up the UN Charter.

Russia sits on this Council. But over the weekend we saw it put forward amendments designed to wreck the UN’s future.

Russia claims to stand for the Global South. But it runs roughshod over international law.

Vladimir Putin, when you fire missiles into Ukraine hospitals. We know who you are.

When you send mercenaries into African countries. We know who you are.

When you murder opponents in European cities. We know who you are.

Your invasion is in your own interests. Yours alone. To expand your mafia state into a mafia empire. An empire built on corruption.

Robbing from the Russian people as well as Ukraine. An empire built on crushing dissent. Courageous opponents like Navalny.

An empire built on lies. Spreading disinformation at home and abroad to sow disorder.

Mr President, I speak not only as a Briton, as a Londoner, and as a Foreign Secretary.

But I say to the Russian representative, on his phone as I speak, that I stand here also as a black man whose ancestors were taken in chains from Africa, at the barrel of a gun to be enslaved, whose ancestors rose up and fought in a great rebellion of the enslaved.

Imperialism. I know it when I see it. And I will call it out for what it is.

In this week, when I’m here talking to other partners around the world about our shared futures, and the future of the UN, Russia is trying to return us to a world of the past.

A world of imperialism. A world of redrawing borders by force. A world without the UN Charter.

We cannot allow this to happen. Ukraine’s fight matters to all of us. The UK will remain Ukraine’s staunchest supporter.

Because Mr. President these are the stakes.

If we let an imperialist redraw borders by force those will not be the last borders to be redrawn.

If we let an imperialist deny a nation its path Ukraine will not be the last state to be subjected. Maduro will take encouragement and go for Guyana next.

So let me be clear. We want peace in Ukraine. We want it for the Ukrainian people.

As President Zelenskyy has said, it must be a peace that respects the fundamental principles that underpin the United Nations.

The principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, as enshrined in this UN Charter. The Charter of the United Nations.  Putin’s Russia wants to unravel it. We want to uphold it. And we will.

As President Zelenskyy said, the UN Charter will prevail.

Slava Ukraini!

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 23 September 2024.

UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. Delivered by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and the UN, Simon Manley.

Thank you, Commissioners, for your update which as ever is all the more shocking and compelling for its sobriety and precision

As you make clear, Russia continues to commit appalling atrocities against the Ukrainian people.

It’s indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets have intensified dramatically. August and July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in 2024.

Thousands of deported Ukrainian children remain in Russia.  We will not know the exact number or whereabouts of these children until Russia shares this information.

Your update only reinforces the already overwhelming evidence of the systematic and widespread use of torture against Ukrainian detainees, including sexual violence. We have also seen reports of POWs being executed in the most barbaric manner.

Three volunteers from the International Committee of the Red Cross were tragically killed in Donetsk this month.

Soon we will mark two years since Russia’s attempted annexation of four oblasts in eastern Ukraine. Those living under Russian occupation in these regions have endured violence, Russification, and the suppression of their Ukrainian identity.

Russia must be accountable both for specific atrocities and its act of aggression. From the battlefield to the courtroom, the UK stands with Ukraine.

Commissioners, what more can be done to protect communities in Ukraine ahead of a worsening humanitarian situation this Winter, exacerbated by Russia’s ongoing strikes to critical energy infrastructure?

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 23 September 2024.

UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with group of Independent Experts on Belarus. Delivered at the 57th Human Rights Council in Geneva.

We are deeply concerned by brutal and systematic human rights violations in Belarus.  We condemn ongoing arbitrary arrests and widespread repression.

To mark the fourth anniversary of deeply flawed presidential elections in Belarus, we announced new sanctions on four commanding officers of penal colonies in response to ongoing human rights violations.

In addition, we announced £2.5 million support to Belarusian human rights defenders and civil society.

To the representatives of Belarus: while we welcome the recent release of some political prisoners, we urge you to immediately release the over 1,300 political prisoners who remain detained without reason.

Many face isolation, mistreatment, and a lack of medical care.

Six political prisoners are reported to have died since 2021.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 23 September 2024.

Mr Robert Tinline has been appointed British High Commissioner to Canada in succession to Ms Susannah Goshko CMG, who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment.

Mr Tinline will take up his appointment during February 2025.

Curriculum vitae

Full name: Robert Tinline

Year	Role
2022 to present	FCDO, Director Americas
2020 to 2022	FCDO, Director COVID
2017 to 2019	Joint Intelligence Committee, Chief of the Assessments Staff
2015 to 2017	Head of HMG Counter Proliferation and Arms Control Centre
2012 to 2015	UK Representation to the EU, Deputy Head of Mission
2011 to 2012	Madrid, Deputy Head of Mission
2010 to 2011	FCO, Head of Consular Assistance
2008 to 2010	FCO, Head of Near East Department
2007 to 2008	Basra, Deputy Consul General
2005 to 2007	FCO, Press Office
2003 to 2005	FCO, Counter Terrorism Department
1999 to 2002	Bogotá, Second Secretary
1997 to 1998	FCO, Security Policy Department
1997	Joined FCO

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 23 September 2024.

Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, as delivered by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and UN, Simon Manley.

Thank you, Madam Vice President.

We regret that due to timetabling problems, the Commissioners could not be here this morning. If they had been, I would have thanked them for their latest report, which clearly highlights the horrific violations and abuses Syrians continue to endure.

Of all the horrors of this conflict, one of the greatest tragedies is of those forcibly detained and missing. As the Commissioners report, over 100,000 Syrians remain missing yet Syrian authorities continue to obstruct families’ efforts to find their loved ones.

The UK firmly supports families, survivors and victims in their quest for the truth. So, we commend efforts to operationalise the Independent Institution on Missing Persons and call for the swift appointment of its Assistant Secretary-General, so that it can help clarify the fate of those missing Syrians and support their long-suffering families.

The Assad regime must address the issue of the missing and cease arbitrary detention. The Syrian people need assurances on their safety and security, if they are ever to return home.

This Council must not, will not, turn its back on the Syrian people, and those responsible for the abuses and violations of human rights must, will be held to account.