Tag: Lord Hylton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek ways to contain and, if possible, eliminate the influence of al-Qaeda-affiliated and other jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq.

Baroness Warsi

The UK is deeply concerned by the growth of terrorism in Syria and Iraq, which threatens the Syrian and Iraqi people, the region, and the UK. We condemn all acts of terrorism committed in both states. Tackling the threat from foreign extremists currently operating as part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a priority. I repeated the Statement on Iraq outlining the Government’s response given to the House on Monday 16 June by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), House of Lords Hansard, Official Report, Columns 703-706.

The threat from foreign extremists is being tackled through a wide range of interventions from disrupting the flow of foreign-fighters travelling from the UK through to supporting the counter-terrorist efforts of regional partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Organisation for Securityand Co-operation in Europe election observers and military observers are present in Ukraine; and when they expect that the full planned number will be in country.

Baroness Warsi

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Ukraine in March. ODIHR’s Needs Assessment Mission judged that the EOM should consist of 1000 observers in total. 100 long term observers have been on the ground since late March; while a further 900 short term observers will arrive in the week before polling day on 25 May. These observers will also be joined by parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe amongst others. The ODIHR Mission will be crucial in providing an impartial view of the conduct of these extremely important elections, and the UK is providing over 100 observers to it.

Since March, 7 inspection teams of varying staff numbers from OSCE states have been deployed to Ukraine under the auspices of the Vienna Document to which all OSCE States subscribed, with the aim of building confidence and increasing transparency. This is in response to a Ukrainian request to carry out military inspections and separate from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, which has a different mandate. A UK-led Vienna Document team is currently in Ukraine and is working closely with national authorities to carry out their mission. The inspection team is made up of UK armed Forces Personnel and international observers. Following the UK-led mission, Vienna Document inspectors from other participating states will commence similar missions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect that an Organisation for Securityand Co-operation in Europe Summit meeting will discuss Ukraine and crisis management there in the immediate future.

Baroness Warsi

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been at the forefront of the international response to the crisis in Ukraine over recent months. The crisis has been a regular topic of discussion on the Organisation’s agenda since the Permanent Council met to discuss it in special session on 3 March. Both the Permanent Council and the Forum for Security and Co-operation have discussed Ukraine on numerous occasions since then.

The OSCE has launched a number of initiatives to contribute towards de-escalation of the crisis. On 21 March the Permanent Council agreed to the deployment of a Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine. That Mission, which includes a UK Deputy Chief Monitor and nine UK staff, swiftly deployed across the country with a mandate to gather information, report on the security situation and assess how best to meet the concerns of all parties. The Mission is providing regular reporting and recently played a key role in the negotiation of the safe release of the Vienna Document unarmed military inspectors who had been detained in Slavyansk. In Geneva on 17 April the US, the EU, Ukraine and the Russian Federation agreed that the Mission should have a role in verifying the implementation of agreed steps towards de-escalation. The Government fully supports this Mission’s work and is actively backing it with both finance and personnel. The UK has so far contributed over £1 million and is currently the second biggest contributor to the Mission’s core costs.

In addition to the SMM, the OSCE has been active in Ukraine through the work of its autonomous institutions, the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Representative on Freedom of the Media, while there has been a rolling programme of visits by unarmed military inspectors under the Vienna Document 2011. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is sending a large scale mission of 1000 observers to monitor the Ukrainian Presidential Elections on 25 May. The UK will be providing 10% of the total number of observers with 10 Long Term Observers and 90 Short Term Observers.

There are no current plans for an OSCE Summit, while the next formal Ministerial Council is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland on 4-5 December 2014. However the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has been in regular contact with OSCE Chairman and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, most recently when they met in Vienna on 6 May, while the Minister for Europe, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), spoke by telephone to OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on the same day.