Tag: Lord Alton of Liverpool

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their recommendation that members of the public donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal for Nepal following the earthquakes in 2015, what assessment they have made of (1) how much money was donated to that appeal, (2) how soon after the emergency those funds were spent, (3) individual donors’ levels of satisfaction with how their donations were spent, (4) how that money was shared between NGOs that are members of the DEC and Nepalese NGOs, and (5) what effect that spending had.

Baroness Verma

Funds raised by the British public for the DEC appeal have already reached over £85 million, which includes £5 million in matched funding provided by DFID. UK Government representatives in Nepal’s meet regularly with Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) members to discuss the ongoing earthquake response, recovery and reconstruction efforts.

The DEC publishes regular updates on the Nepal response on their website and through social media. Information on how funds are being used is also shared directly to donors via email and post. The DEC has also commissioned and published an independent evaluation of the work, which I have attached for ease, of members in Nepal which particularly focuses on the emergency response phase.

The DEC is planning on producing a ‘one year on’ report which will be published on the anniversary of the earthquake. This will give details of how funds were raised, how they were disbursed to member agencies, how they have been spent and what has been achieved.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Desmond Swayne, on 16 March (HC Deb, col 937), what assessment they have made of measures required to confer on the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over crimes committed by Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her press statement of 8 April 2015. As neither Iraq nor Syria are State Parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC has no territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed on their soil. In order for Daesh’s crimes to be investigated by the ICC, Iraq and Syria would have to declare their acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction, or the UN Security Council could refer the situation to the Court.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will apply the principles of the Responsibility to Protect to the situation in North Korea.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a governing principle of the British Government’s work across the conflict spectrum, including in human rights and development. R2P imposes an obligation on all UN member states to protect their populations and for the international community to assist.

The British Government continues to maintain pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to engage with the international community and take concrete steps to improve their appalling human rights record. We have urged the North Korean regime to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK Human Rights free and unfettered access to investigate the disturbing reports of human rights violations as documented in the UN Commission of Inquiry report.

The Government strongly supported the recent Human Rights Council Resolution on DPRK which created a Panel of Experts to investigate the issue of accountability for those accused of committing human rights violations. We will continue to support this process to ensure that those who are responsible for human rights abuses are held to account.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Report 2015 designated the DPRK as a Human Rights Priority Country. Improving the human rights situation in the DPRK remains a key objective of our engagement with the North Korean government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they are making to press for the publication of the UN Security Council Sudan Panel of Experts’ most recent report, presented to the Sudan Sanctions Committee in December 2015, detailing the use of cluster munitions and gold smuggling in Darfur.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK fully supports the work of the UN Panel of Experts on Darfur. We are extremely concerned that last year’s report has not been published and have raised this issue with our UN Security Council partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the aerial bombing of the Heiban locality in the South Khordofan and Blue Nile regions on 1 May, what assessment they have made of whether the government of Sudan is now in breach of international humanitarian law.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The reported aerial bombardment of civilians in the Heiban locality of South Kordofan is appalling. Targeting of civilians would be a clear breach of International Humanitarian Law. We continue to make clear to the Government of Sudan that they have a responsibility to protect citizens, distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and uphold International Humanitarian Law.

We consistently raise the importance of ending the conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile directly with both the Government of Sudan and the Opposition; most recently, the UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan raised this issue during his visit to Khartoum earlier this month. We continue to call on all sides to end the violence and believe that the Roadmap proposed by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel represents a viable way forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures they have in place to identify the occurrence of genocide for the purposes of fulfilling their obligations as a contracting party under Article VIII of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide 1948; and whether there is a protocol in place to guide those procedures.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK is party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948 which requires that we prevent and punish the crime of genocide in our jurisdiction. As a State Party to the International Criminal Court Statute (ICC), the UK has made it a domestic crime to commit any of the crimes in the ICC Statute, including genocide. Where such crimes take place in the UK, or are committed by UK nationals, they can be prosecuted before the UK courts. Responsibility for investigation and prosecution in the UK lies with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Police.

Our seat on the UN Security Council means that the UK is able to swiftly engage where a threat of atrocity crimes emerges. The form of that engagement depends on the particulars of any individual situation. Where prevention has failed, it is the international community’s responsibility to take collective action, through diplomatic, humanitarian and other means. Where timely and decisive action to end, or prevent, the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes is necessary, the UK is active in calling for UN action. However, the Government believes that formal recognition that genocide has been committed is ultimately a matter for the courts, not political bodies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-07-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 7 July (HL830), what prevents Genomic England from sharing all 8,408 genomes in the rare disease and all 1,671 cancer genomes programmes with the relevant commercial interpretation partners to accelerate the delivery of full reports back to patients.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The interpretation of a genome for clinical purposes requires high quality genomic and clinical data. Genomics England is expanding the access to genome data by clinical interpretation partners at an appropriate rate to avoid exceeding their capacity. This is to ensure there are interpretation services that are sustainable for the remainder of the project.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following North Korea’s launch of three ballistic missiles on 5 September, the UN Security Council will be convened to consider the implications of that launch and an international response.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UN Security Council (UNSC) met on 6 September to discuss a response to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) ballistic missiles launches on 5 September. The UNSC subsequently issued a statement condemning these launches as a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. The UK strongly supports this statement, as we have with previous UNSC statements condemning DPRK provocations in 2016. We will continue to discuss at the UNSC, and with close partners, further measures in response to the DPRK’s destabilising and provocative actions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 11 May (HL8212), what steps they are taking to ensure that the human rights of Christian pastors in Sudan are protected, in the light of the ongoing detention of Reverend Hasan Kodi Taour.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware that the four men in question remain in detention. Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum were present in court to observe the most recent hearing on 26 September, and are in close contact with the lawyers representing the defendants. We regularly raise our concerns over this case with the government of Sudan, most recently during the visit of the UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan to Khartoum in September. We will continue to monitor this case closely.

More widely, freedom of religion or belief remains a consistent theme in our ongoing human rights dialogue with the government of Sudan. We consistently call on them to ensure all legislation is consistent with the commitment to their citizens in the Interim Constitution of 2005, within which religious freedom is enshrined.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of deaths caused by the naval blockade of Yemeni ports; and what part the UK has played in that blockade.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

There is no blockade, although some measures were put in place to prevent the flow of arms to Yemen. We welcomed the Government of Yemen’s announcement in October 2015 that all of Yemen’s ports were open.

It is vital that commercial shipments of food and fuel enter the country to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. That is why the Department for International Development is providing £1.42 million to support the establishment of the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM), which became operational on 5 May. It is successfully verifying, and where necessary inspecting, ships in line with UNSCR 2216 (2015). This should speed up the clearance process for ships and improve commercial confidence, increasing supply and in turn aiming to reduce the price of basic goods. We call on all parties to facilitate and respect the operation of UNVIM.