Tag: Foreign Office

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 July 2023.

Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention. As delivered by the UK.

Thank you, Mr President.

The United Kingdom would like to thank the Special Advisers for their ongoing contribution to flagging atrocity risks to the Secretary-General and UN Member States. We remain committed to atrocity prevention and the responsibility to protect.

We continue to see atrocities being committed around the world. To highlight one instance, reports of an increase in ethnicity-based violence in Darfur, Sudan, are deeply troubling, and the international community must act to prevent history from repeating itself.

The responsibility to prevent atrocities cuts across the whole UN system, and we encourage the Office to play a key role in ensuring that an atrocity prevention lens is applied across the UN’s work. We also call on the Office to prioritise drawing information from across the system to inform an effective approach to early warning. Indeed, the UK is working to strengthen our monitoring and analytical capability at the country, regional and global levels.

Special Adviser, how is your office working with the High Commissioner on Human Rights to gather and use information on human rights globally? Secondly, last year, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination referred the human rights situation in Xinjiang to your Office. We would be grateful for an update on this matter.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 July 2023.

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Adviser to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide. Joint Statement by Sudan Core Group, delivered by the UK.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 July 2023.

UK Statement on role of digital & media in promotion & enjoyment of right to freedom of opinion & expression. Due to time constraints, this was not delivered.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 June 2023.

Enhanced Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Afghanistan. Delivered by UK’s Ambassador to the WTO & UN, Simon Manley.

Thank you, Mr President.

It has been more than 600 days since schools for girls were shut down across Afghanistan. 600 days. Two years of lost schooling, lost opportunities. To the girls of Afghanistan: I know that many of you are here today or listening online and we stand with you.

Since their takeover in August 2021, the Taliban have continued their campaign of repression and violence against Afghan women and girls. Due to the Taliban’s restrictions on female workers in the humanitarian aid and development sector, they are unable to provide life-saving support to women and girls in their own country. This is taking place at a time when over 28 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian aid, more than half of whom are women and children. These decisions have life-threatening consequences.

So let me repeat our call to the Taliban: Re-open the schools. Let girls learn. Let women work. End the violence and discrimination against women and girls.

Special Rapporteur, Members of the Working Group,

We thank you for your steadfast efforts. How can we better support civil society in Afghanistan, particularly women’s rights organisations?

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

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

President, I would like to start by thanking SRSG Bathily, Ambassador Ishikane, and Ms Imneina, for their briefings today.

I visited Libya earlier this month, to meet the SRSG and the UNSMIL team. I want to thank them for their engagement and tireless efforts to support Libya on its path to peace and stability.

During my visit, I also met Libyan people to hear and understand their concerns. The clear and consistent message was the urgency of moving the political process forward and for political leadership to deliver the stability and security the people of Libya want and deserve as we have heard so clearly from the SRSG.

But this is not just an abstract point about politics and governance. I visited a World Health Organisation health centre project, to which the UK has contributed over two and a half million dollars of funding. I want to thank the WHO for facilitating my visit and for their work to bring physical and mental health support into primary healthcare services in Libya. This is important work but the point is that the political impasse directly impacts the healthcare system, and Libyans who need healthcare, antenatal checks, dental treatment, primary care and so on.

Hospital services, healthcare provision and long-term investment, which Libya can well afford, are stalled because of the political impasse.

President, I therefore return from my visit with clarity about the importance of Council Members and the international community supporting SRSG Bathily in his work to  facilitate an effective political process for positive change, through a clear roadmap to successful elections and beyond.

In this context, the UK takes note of the 6+6 Committee’s hard work to agree draft electoral laws. However, the reception to their announcement demonstrates the need for broader political agreement between Libyan power-holders and we welcome the SRSG’s commitment to convene stakeholders to reach agreement to make the draft law implementable. Only in this way can we overcome the issues preventing elections and then make progress towards long-term stability.

President during my visit, Libyan people told me they want to engage actively, freely and safely in the political sphere. They want to exercise their democratic right to vote, to work towards a better future, and move beyond, as the SRSG said, slogans which prolong the status quo and are detrimental to Libya people.

The UK will continue our work to ensure these aspirations are fulfilled – including through our support to the SRSG and his efforts towards peace and stability.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

Statement by Quad members: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America on High Commissioner’s report on Sudan.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I am delivering this statement on behalf of the Quad members: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States of America.

We express our deep concern about the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan. We urge the warring parties to fully respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law and to agree an effective and sustained ceasefire to ensure safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access.

The warring parties must uphold their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration to Protect the Civilians of Sudan. Their fighting endangers the lives, livelihoods, and human rights of the people of Sudan.  Many cannot access food, safe drinking water, health care, or reliable information. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable.  Sudan’s rich cultural patrimony is at risk.

The Quad stands by the people of Sudan at this difficult time. We implore the warring parties to resolve their differences peacefully, protect civilians, return to an inclusive political dialogue process, and intensify coordination with Sudanese civilian stakeholders, who must be the authors of their country’s future.

I thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

Statement on the report of the High Commissioner on the human rights situation in Sudan as delivered by UK’s Ambassador to the WTO & UN in Geneva, Simon Manley.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

UK Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk was in Paris today (19 June 2023) to meet French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

Statement on the report of the High Commissioner on human rights situation in Sudan, as delivered by Simon Manley, UK Ambassador to the WTO and UN in Geneva.

Thank you Mr President,

This statement is on behalf of the Core Group on Sudan – Germany, Norway, the United States and the UK.

We condemn the Sudanese authorities’ move to declare SRSG Volker Perthes persona non grata. We continue to support him, and urge Sudan to cooperate fully with his mandate.

The human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan as a result of this conflict has deteriorated even further since the recent Special Session. Every day there are new allegations of human rights violations and abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law, by both parties to the conflict, that have driven mass displacement within and out of Sudan. We are particularly horrified at reports of increasing ethnic-related violence, and sexual and gender-based violence, in parts of Darfur.

Mr President,

We stand in solidarity with the Sudanese people, and condemn this conflict and the violations and abuses it has led to. We call again for an immediate, complete and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.

As Ministers meet today to pledge their support for the humanitarian response in Sudan and neighbouring countries, we urgently call for full, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, protection of civilians and full respect for humanitarian principles. Sudan must return to peace, stability, and transition to civilian government through an inclusive political process. Anything less is a betrayal of the Sudanese people.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 June 2023.

Justin Addison (UK Delegation to the OSCE) tells the OSCE’s Economic and Environmental Committee that intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.