Tag: Foreign Office

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

Foreign Ministers of Australia, Jordan, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Colombia gave a joint statement on the protection of humanitarian personnel.

Statement by Foreign Ministers of Australia, Jordan, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Colombia:

Australia, Jordan, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Colombia, today announced the formation of a Ministerial Group for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, dedicated to upholding and championing international humanitarian law and driving action to protect humanitarian personnel in conflict zones.

International humanitarian law is the foundation for alleviating human suffering in wars. It limits the effects of armed conflict and regulates the conduct of hostilities. It provides for the protection of civilians, including the protection and respect of humanitarian personnel who assist and protect the victims of armed conflict, and notably provide the food, water and medical care that civilians in conflict zones need to survive.

But respect for international humanitarian law is severely undermined, with consequences for current and future conflicts. Calls for compliance are not being heard.

2023 was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel, with 280 killed and hundreds more wounded and kidnapped. 2024 is on track to be even worse.

This year alone, we have seen humanitarian personnel killed in Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen and many other contexts. Gaza is the most dangerous place on earth to be an aid worker, with over 300 humanitarian personnel killed since the start of the war.

In forming this Ministerial Group, and in partnership with humanitarian organisations, we rededicate ourselves to the protection of humanitarian personnel. We stand together, seizing the momentum created by the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2730 in May 2024, to strengthen international commitment and translate it into action, to reverse current trends.

The Ministerial Group has decided to pursue a Declaration on the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.

The Declaration will be developed over the coming months, and will demonstrate the unity of the international community’s commitment to protect humanitarian personnel and to channel that commitment into action in all current and future conflicts. All countries will be invited to join the Declaration.

The Declaration will support the United Nations Secretary-General in his endeavours to improve the safety and security of humanitarian personnel, including in accordance with UNSCR 2730.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 21 September 2024.

Statement by the Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States on the announcement by South Sudan’s leaders of an extension of the country’s transitional period.

The Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States note with deep concern the announcement by South Sudan’s leaders of an extension of the country’s transitional period by two years.

This announcement demonstrates the persistent and collective failure of South Sudan’s leaders to create the conditions necessary to hold credible and peaceful elections in accordance with an established, publicly agreed-upon timeline.  Responsibility for this failure is shared by all parties in the transitional government.  As South Sudan’s leaders vie for power and fail to organise credible and peaceful elections, the people of South Sudan suffer the consequences. Millions face acute food insecurity year after year.

We acknowledge that elections cannot be credibly held as scheduled in December. This is because of South Sudanese leadership failures and lack of political will. Nevertheless, we cannot in good conscience endorse the extension of a status quo that prioritises the privileges of the elite over the welfare of the South Sudanese people.

We call on the transitional government to act with urgency to demonstrably create the conditions necessary for credible and peaceful elections. This includes expanded political and civic space to enable citizens to express their views without fear or repercussions, politically neutral security forces, funded and operationalized electoral institutions, and leaders’ public commitment to dialogue and the rejection of violence as a tool for political competition.

We urge South Sudan’s leaders to work toward sustainable peace, in particular through the Tumaini Initiative in Nairobi and broad-based leadership-level dialogue in Juba. It is also essential that the voices of women and youth are heard.

The Troika remains committed to the people of South Sudan in their journey towards a democratic future free from conflict.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2024.

Statement by Fergus Eckersley, Minister Counsellor, at the Security Council meeting on Syria.

First, the United Kingdom is gravely concerned by ongoing conflict and devastation within Syria and the risks this presents for the stability of the entire region. It must not be forgotten.

The regime and its backers continue to exploit this instability for their own gain. In a single attack last week, regime forces injured three innocent children in eastern Aleppo. And since we heard a lot from our Russian colleagues about the west today, let me also say that this month marks nine years since the start of Russia’s military intervention in Syria.

Since then, Russia has continued to defend and support the perpetrators of terrible attacks against the Syrian people.

And President, that violence across Syria continues unabated. This summer has also witnessed a concerning increase in Daesh attacks across Syria, made possible by the ongoing instability of a country locked in a cycle of conflict, with no resolution in sight.

The United Kingdom is dedicated to countering Daesh’s resurgence as a core member of the Global Coalition. We stand for the safety and freedom of the Syrian people.

Second, as we usher in the start of a new academic year, thousands of Syrian children are living in active conflict without access to education, a basic human right. Over 2 million children are out of school, and 1.6 million more are at risk of dropping out.

These children are the future of Syria and they deserve access to an equitable education system. This is why the United Kingdom is supporting over 200 schools across North West Syria, through our flagship Syria Education Programme.

Third, despite the tireless efforts of the UN Special Envoy, the Constitutional Committee has not met since the Assad regime and its backers blocked the meetings in Geneva. The regime has stifled progress towards a sustainable and lasting resolution to this conflict and chosen instead a path that prolongs the suffering of millions.

We urgently need a political solution to bring stability to Syria and to the region. In this regard, the UK fully endorses the Special Envoy’s efforts to implement UNSCR 2254.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2024.

Statement by Australia, the UK and the US to the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference on IAEA safeguards and AUKUS.

Thank you, President.

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

President,

I refer colleagues to the General Conference document 68/19 circulated on 11 September which reiterated our concerns regarding the addition of this political agenda item by one Member State. Australia, the United Kingdom and United States do not support the inclusion of this agenda item. We understand from our extensive consultations that the majority of IAEA Member States are of a similar view.

Under this agenda item, both here and at the Board of Governors, we continue to hear statements casting doubt on the Agency’s mandate and the established legal framework – statements targeted specifically at the Agency’s bilateral engagement with Australia. While the tone has varied, the substance has remained the same. Attempts have been made to call into question the Secretariat’s technical mandate, the established legal framework, and the Director General’s clear statements on the topic. This is regrettable.

President,

We recognise that there are genuine questions among Member States regarding naval nuclear propulsion in Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement states. That is why we have engaged in good faith with all Member States, consistent with our commitment to openness and transparency. In this regard, Australia provided an update through its national statement on our program to acquire naval nuclear propulsion technology at this Conference during the General Debate – as we did last year and the year before that. We have also provided updates at each regular Board meeting since the AUKUS partnership was first announced in September 2021.

As AUKUS partners have previously said, Australia is working with the IAEA to develop a safeguards and verification approach for its program that sets the highest non‑proliferation standard, including an Article 14 arrangement under Australia’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. This will not involve a template, or a prescriptive ‘one size fits all’ approach. Given state specific variations between naval nuclear propulsion programs, such an approach would not be effective. We are committed to an approach that will enable the Agency to meet its technical safeguards objectives for Australia at all times. This is important technical work that is entirely within the Agency’s mandate – as the Director General has confirmed.

It will clearly take time to develop this approach, and detailed technical discussions in the Board would be premature at this stage. But the Director General has been clear that, in due course, the Article 14 arrangement will come to the Board of Governors for appropriate action, and we fully support this approach. At that time, we expect, and intend, for the Board to consider it on its non-proliferation merits.

President,

I regret that we have heard disinformation from one country about the AUKUS Agreement for Cooperation Related to Naval Nuclear Propulsion, which was signed by our three countries on 5 August 2024 and has subsequently been submitted to our respective legislatures for consideration. The Agreement reaffirms the AUKUS partners’ respective non-proliferation obligations, including under the NPT and Australia’s obligations under the Treaty of Rarotonga, the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, and its CSA and Additional Protocol. It obliges the parties to ensure that Australia can provide the Agency with information and access necessary to fulfil Australia’s safeguards obligations to the IAEA, while also ensuring protection of sensitive information. Importantly, under the Agreement the US and the UK cannot transfer any nuclear material to Australia for use in naval nuclear propulsion prior to Australia having an Article 14 arrangement in place with the IAEA.

Our time here is valuable and so this is not the appropriate forum to rebut all the disinformation we have heard point by point. I instead refer delegations to the Agreement’s publicly available text, the statement made by the Director General on 15 August which notes the key non-proliferation relevant features of the Agreement, and to the AUKUS update I provided to the Board of Governors last week under Any Other Business.

President,

The Director General has made it clear that he will continue to keep Member States informed on developments in his engagement on naval nuclear propulsion programs. He did so in June 2023, in reports to the Board of Governors on the two countries with naval nuclear propulsion programs currently underway. He also did so in the Safeguards Implementation Report for 2023. And he has made clear he will provide further reporting, when appropriate.

As AUKUS partners have made clear, we welcome the Director General’s reporting on Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion program and will continue to support the Director General’s judgement as to when to report on naval nuclear propulsion programs. Technically focussed discussions on such programs in the Board, under agenda items proposed by the Director General and guided by his assessments, accord with the Agency’s character as a technical organisation. It is this approach that will uphold the Agency’s independent, impartial and technical role in safeguards implementation. This is of great importance to every Member State, and something we should all strive to protect.

President,

Once again, I would like to express our regret for needing to intervene at this point, under this agenda item. But it is important that we express our views for the record.

Thank you, President.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2024.

UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development. Delivered at the 57th HRC in Geneva.

Thank you Mr President.

First let me thank the Special Rapporteur for his report. As we approach the Summit of the Future, the theme, on children and future generations, is timely.

The Right to Development places the focus on States to ensure individuals, including children, can enjoy human rights, have equal opportunity to fulfil their potential and participate in development processes. In our experience, children are willing and able to take ownership of issues that affect their rights. States must continue to encourage and foster this, ensuring that young voices are heard on issues that affect their future.

However, in response to some of the assertions in the Special Rapporteur’s report, the United Kingdom is firmly of the view that human rights are held by those individuals who are alive and these rights cannot be given to future generations or ‘organisms’.

The UK government has made efforts to involve young people as part of our international development efforts including by consulting with the Youth Council on Global Education, a youth board made up of young people aged 16-25 representing civil society organisations to ensure our programming includes a youth perspective.

Do you have any examples of best practice in ensuring active and meaningful participation of children in policymaking?

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2024.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

President, I thank USG DiCarlo and High Commissioner Türk for their briefing today. This past year has seen continuous and devastating violence across the region. Civilians have suffered on a dreadful scale on both sides of the Blue Line.

The explosions in Lebanon this week and Israel’s strike in southern Beirut today are the latest in a deadly cycle of violence, and we are deeply concerned by civilian casualties resulting from those incidents. That children were among them is particularly distressing. Our condolences go to the families of the civilians killed.

My Foreign Secretary made our view clear last night: we need an immediate ceasefire on both sides. We are working in lockstep with our allies to de-escalate tensions and end this destructive cycle.

We want to see the implementation of a political plan, based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which allows both Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes and live in peace and security. We are ready to play our role in a diplomatic process to achieve that.

President, let us be clear: Hizballah launched an unprovoked attack on Israel on 8 October 2023. Since then, Israel has faced a near-daily barrage of Hizballah rockets.

We are resolute in our support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens against such threats. However, in doing so, international humanitarian law must be fully respected, and all possible steps taken to avoid civilian casualties.

Lebanese Hizballah’s aggression has been fuelled by Iran and its continued destabilisation of the Middle East, including through its support to partners and proxies. Iran supplies advanced weaponry in contravention of multiple Security Council Resolutions, only prolonging the suffering of the Lebanese people.

While Hizballah and Iran continue to undermine Lebanon’s future, the UK is providing practical support to bolster its stability and security.

This includes funding and training to both the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, as well as humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities, including in the south of Lebanon.

President, now is the time for calm heads and an urgent focus on an immediate ceasefire to create the space for negotiations.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2024.

Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela. Delivered by the UK’s Ambassador to the WTO and UN, Simon Manley.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The playwright Tom Stoppard wrote that: “It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.” Just last week, we stood with 48 other nations in New York to call for the Venezuelan authorities to respect the people’s choice in the 28 July elections.

In the eight weeks since those elections, which the UN Panel of Experts stated “could not be considered democratic” we have seen thousands arbitrarily detained (including minors), the passports of human rights defenders annulled, the approval of the NGO law threatening civic space, and the persecution of the opposition candidate Edmundo González, who appears to have won the most votes in those elections by a significant margin.

We commend the continuing important and necessary work of the Fact-Finding Mission and the OHCHR, we strongly support the renewal of these critical mandates, and call on Venezuelan authorities to cooperate fully with both by granting them immediate, full and unfettered access to the country.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and reaffirm our commitment to working towards a peaceful solution that respects each and every vote cast on 28 July.

Ms. Valiñas,

What more can be done to end the ongoing repression in Venezuela?

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 September 2024.

Statement by UK Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Barbara Woodward, at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

The death toll in Gaza has reached over forty thousand. Water, sanitation and health infrastructure has been almost completely destroyed. Disease and the risk of famine pose further deadly threats.

And Israel continues to reckon with the appalling toll of October 7th with 101 hostages still held captive in Gaza, subject to unimaginable horror.

Elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and across the region, tensions are escalating.

We need to see three things:

First, an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and ramping up of aid in Gaza. A deal is the best way to get the hostages home. Force will not provide a sustainable solution to the conflict. The ceasefire and hostage deal, driven by the commendable efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt, has to be finalised as a matter of urgency.

We call upon Hamas and Israel to agree the deal, and in the meantime for Hamas to grant the ICRC humanitarian access to the hostages whose ordeal continues. Our message to Hamas: let them go.

With winter fast approaching, we call on Israel to take swift action to allow the UN and humanitarian actors to do their job. By making de-confliction work, re-opening land routes for aid, and supporting preparations for winter by allowing a rapid increase in the volume of items for shelter and infrastructure repair.

Second, we must address the deteriorating situation in the West Bank. Expansion of settlements, in clear violation of international law, undermines prospects for peace and must cease immediately.

We have witnessed, with grave concern, how an increasing number of Israeli settlers have systemically used harassment, intimidation and violence to pressure Palestinian communities to leave their land. We call on Israel to hold those responsible to account.

We reiterate our clear position that any attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of the Occupied Palestinian Territories through the use of force and outside of a negotiated solution is wholly unacceptable and illegal.

We also call for an end to the divisive and inflammatory rhetoric we have seen from some Israeli Ministers, which serve to fuel aggression towards Palestinians and humanitarian workers.

Finally, we need to galvanise a political process towards a two-state solution. As the ICJ has advised, Israel should bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Territories as rapidly as possible.

The UK is clear: this must be done through a negotiated solution, with reunification of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in line with 1967 borders and under the effective control of the Palestinian Authority. Peace must be premised upon a safe and secure Israel alongside a safe and secure Palestinian state.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 September 2024.

Ambassador Holland thanks Minister Valtonen from Finland for presenting priorities as incoming 2025 OSCE Chair-in-Office, and gives full UK support.

Thank you, Chair. Minister Valtonen, on behalf of the UK, a warm welcome to the Permanent Council. Thank you for outlining the priorities for Finland’s time as OSCE Chair-in-Office. Please be assured of the UK’s full support for the very focused agenda you have set out.

I’d like to pick up specifically on the three guiding principles you have outlined today. The first is to welcome your commitment to keeping support for Ukraine at the heart of the OSCE’s work. Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally shifted the landscape of European security and global stability. And it is becoming more complex, as Russia increases the intensity of its malign and reckless activities across many of the States in our region.

Each participating State of the OSCE has an equal right to security, and each day, Ukrainians are risking their lives to stand up for this right – not just for their own country, but for every one of us. Your commitment to focusing the OSCE’s work on Ukraine, as well as the security of all our citizens and our resilience to evolving threats, is therefore very welcome.

Secondly, as you have reminded us, next year will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act: an important and symbolic milestone. That landmark agreement forms the bedrock of the OSCE, upon which we have built a unique institution through subsequent commitments and agreed principles. These commitments and principles have never been more important than they are today. They provide this institution with the tools it needs to pursue peace and security for our region. The OSCE continues to demonstrate its value every day. And those decades of experience supporting States to manage and resolve conflicts through the toolbox, Missions and instruments are of value to our entire region, and importantly, are already helping Ukraine with its current rebuilding and recovery efforts. We therefore welcome your ambition to make full use of the OSCE’s toolkit.

Lastly, in order to carry out its role effectively, we need an Organisation that is well-equipped. In the immediate term, this means we must get behind the Chair and agree new senior leadership appointments urgently. And more broadly, we welcome your commitment to prioritise inclusivity and strengthen the OSCE’s working methods and functionality, including through innovation. This simply cannot be done effectively without adequate funding. And we share your position that it is essential for the OSCE to have an agreed Unified Budget. We urge those obstructing agreement – to the Unified Budget itself as well as other important Draft Decisions on the organisation’s finances – to look beyond a narrow national focus, support the Chair-in-Office in good faith, and ensure all parts of the OSCE have the funding they need to effectively fulfil their mandates.

Your Excellency, we thank you for your open and consultative approach as you prepare for the task ahead of you. It will be challenging. You can rely on the strong support of the UK. We look forward to working with you and your dedicated team in Vienna, and wish you the best for your Chairpersonship.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 September 2024.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, together with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo, met in Brussels on Thursday 19 September.

This was the third meeting at political level and the first one in this format under the new UK government.

Building on significant progress of 12 April and 16 May, today’s discussions were constructive and productive, resulting in further progress on the complex issues of negotiations, namely in the area of people and goods.

The meeting reaffirmed their shared commitment to concluding an EU-UK Agreement to bring confidence, legal certainty, and stability to the people of the whole region, while safeguarding all parties’ legal positions.

They all agreed to remain in constant contact, with teams to work closely and intensely on outstanding areas.