Tag: Baroness Tonge

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent report from B’Tselem about the closure policy imposed in Jerusalem, what discussions they have had with the government of Israel regarding the new restrictions placed on Palestinians living in East Jerusalem that limit their movement.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement in East Jerusalem. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised this issue with Israeli National Security Advisor Cohen on 2 November. Our Consul-General to Jerusalem also raised this issue with the Mayor of Jerusalem on 28 October.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to increase their financial assistance for family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Myanmar, in the light of the reduction in funding by other donors.

Baroness Verma

DFID is helping to improve the health of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Burma, including funding programmes to increase access to modern methods of family planning and other reproductive health services. We are supporting the 3MDG health fund in Burma with nearly £90 million between 2010 and 2017. The 3MDG health fund is providing family planning services for a population of 4.4 million. DFID is currently reviewing our approach for all country programmes for the next five years as part of the government’s overall spending review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the hospital bills sent to the Palestinian Authority for medical treatment of Ahmad Dawabsha.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We have not made representations to the Government of Israel on this issue. However, the Government of Israel has confirmed to us that they covered the cost of the medivac. We had also previously understood from contact with the Dawabsheh family that their hospital fees were being met by Israel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the results of the training of police and security forces in Bahrain by UK armed forces.

Earl Howe

The Defence relationship contributes to UK objectives in Bahrain through programmes of world class training and education. Whilst this relationship is almost exclusively military to military, the one element that is delivered to the police and security forces concerns training to counter improvised explosive devices. This work has undoubtedly saved Bahraini lives and potentially those of UK citizens and our own Armed Forces based there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning the case of the Hares Boys.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We continue to monitor developments in the case of the Hares boys and raise the issue with the Israeli authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take following the second postponement of the visit to follow up the June 2012 report Children in Military Custody.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

On 18 February during his visit to Israel, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), expressed his disappointment to Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister at Israel’s unwillingness to facilitate meetings for the British lawyers. We are now considering alternative means to take forward this work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-03-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Israel about why the Israel Defence Forces have been positioned behind the Green Line and on 1 March fired on Beit Hanun farmland and farmers working in fields east of Juhor al-Dik.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We have not had any discussions with the Israeli authorities on this issue. However, we have an ongoing dialogue with the Israeli authorities about the Israeli Defence Forces use of live fire.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the fact that donations to the Jewish National Fund are tax deductible, and that one of its primary activities has been the creation of forests over disputed Palestinian land, what action they are taking to rescind the charitable status of organisations that are for the benefit of one group at the expense of another.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Jewish National Fund is not a charity. The Jewish National Fund Charitable Trust is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales having exclusively charitable purposes. Under s34 of the Charities Act 2011, the Commission must remove a charity from the register if it no longer considers the organisation to be a charity or if it has ceased to exist or does not operate. None of these criteria apply to this charity. Any concern regarding the charitable status of an organisation is a matter for the Commission.

Taxation is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs who do not comment on individual cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take to enable UNRWA to deliver urgent aid to Palestinian refugees trapped in Yarmouk camp in Damascus.

Baroness Verma

The UK is extremely concerned about the situation in Yarmouk camp in Syria, especially given intense fighting between Daesh and Al-Nusra Front in recent weeks. According to UNRWA, the intensified fighting has acutely aggravated shortages of food and clean water for the approximately 6000 civilians residing inside Yarmouk. We condemn in the strongest terms the grave crimes committed by Daesh and Al-Nusra Front against civilians in the camp, and continue to call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, ensure humanitarian access to the area, and allow the safe passage and evacuation of civilians.

We welcome UNRWA’s efforts in protecting and assisting vulnerable Palestinian refugees. To date, the UK has allocated over £59 million to UNRWA to provide assistance for Palestinian refugees affected by the violence in Syria and the region.

The UK has given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to besieged and hard to reach areas and continue to use our position in the UN Security Council to push for humanitarian access to be granted to these areas. We are also part pf the International Syria Support Group that agreed at its meeting on 11 February that humanitarian access would be opened to a number of priority areas, including Yarmouk, as a first step to accelerating full and sustained access across Syria. Since then, UNRWA has delivered 21 convoys with multi-sectoral assistance to 19,000 people in Yalda, Babella, Beit-Sahm, including thousands of residents in and from Yarmouk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they intend to make to ensure that decisions on follow-up and review of the World Health Organization’s report Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are fully integrated into the work of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum when following-up and reviewing the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

Baroness Verma

The UK is fully engaged in the development of the follow up and review mechanisms for the United Nations High-Level Political Forum.

As these mechanisms become clearer we will promote alignment with the accountability processes for specific goals and themes in the 2030 Agenda, including the World Health Organization’s report: Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.