Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 25 November 2024.

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

First, the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic and unacceptable. Famine is likely imminent in some areas and the unthinkable hardship that millions of civilians, including children, are already facing in Gaza is set to get even worse as winter continues.

As my Foreign Secretary reiterated last Monday to this Council, there is no excuse for Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid. We need much better protection of civilians in Gaza, a huge surge in aid, and for the UN and humanitarians to be able to operate in safety.

An immediate and unconditional ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages is the best way to achieve this.

Second, as we have repeatedly said, the UNRWA bills that Israel’s Knesset has passed are gravely concerning and risk jeopardising the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza, and delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank.

UNRWA is indispensable.

No other agency can get aid into Gaza on the scale needed or replace its mandate to serve Palestinian refugees. Israel must ensure that UNRWA can continue its vital operations.

Third, we remain deeply concerned by instability in the West Bank. The economic situation is dire.

We urge the Government of Israel to extend Correspondent Banking Relations for at least one year, to immediately release withheld clearance revenues, and to stop settlement expansion on Palestinian land, which is illegal under international law.

The rate of expansion is unprecedented, and it undermines stability and the prospects for peace. We have announced three tranches of sanctions targeting illegal settler outposts and organisations that have supported and sponsored violence against communities in the West Bank.

Palestinians must be able to live without fear of violence or intimidation.

Colleagues, we must continue to work together to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, to secure the release of all the hostages who are living an unimaginable horror and to stop the suffering of civilians.

Too many people have lost their lives. The region needs a lasting peace, with a two-state solution at its core.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 18 November 2024.

Statement by the Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, at the UN Security Council meeting on peace and security in Ukraine.

Here in this Council, 1,000 days into Putin’s full-scale invasion, the UK is keeping the spotlight on Ukraine.

Not just for the security of the Ukrainian people.

Or just for Europe’s security.

But for something much more fundamental.

Which every UN member should care about.

The right to be a sovereign, independent country free to choose its future, protect its borders and stand up to aggression.

Everyone on this Council should be familiar from the climate crisis with the concept of tipping points.

The critical moment, after which changes are irreversible.

These exist in geopolitics as they do in science.

And unless Putin fails, I believe we face one over Ukraine.

Unless Putin fails, we could plunge into a world where the principles enshrined in the UN Charter will have lost their meaning.

Unless Putin fails, others will be inspired to wage imperialist wars of conquest.

Unless Putin fails, our faith in international law may never return.

And unless Putin fails, each of our borders will be less safe.

If anyone doubted Putin’s intent, this weekend’s massive missile attack on Ukraine and its energy infrastructure should serve as a reminder.

Putin wants to plunge Ukraine into darkness.

For years, the Kremlin has tried to bully Ukraine into submission.

Russian missiles have struck hospitals and grain ships destined for Africa.

Russian troops have raped and tortured Ukrainian prisoners.

And Russian police have abducted Ukrainian children for indoctrination in Russia.

Like a desperate gambler, Putin has gone all in on this illegal war.

Putin has lost so many soldiers, a 1000 days into a war he thought he would win in days, he is now turning to North Korea for reinforcements and to Iran for ballistic missiles.

These actions must be met with firm response.

And that is why today I can announce fresh sanctions on Iran Air and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, a direct response to Iran’s ballistic missile deliveries to Russia.

We are using the full force of our sanctions to constrain the Kremlin’s illegal actions.

From their shadow fleet of oil tankers to suppliers to their war machine.

From shady kleptocrats, to mercenaries destabilising the continent of Africa.

And we are stepping up our support to put Ukraine in a position of strength.

With a new loan backed by profits from sanctioned Russian assets, part of a new G7 package of $50 billion in assistance.

And a commitment to $3 billion in military aid, for as long as it takes.

Let me be crystal clear.

There is no equivalence,

No comparison,

No parallel,

Between those reckless states who support Russia’s illegal aggression.

And those who stand with Ukraine in its defence of sovereignty.

Council, the Kremlin wants to plunge Ukraine into darkness.

But we must stand for the light of its freedom.

Ukraine and its partners want peace in line with the UN Charter that brings us together today.

But we know that Putin only responds to strength.

To have a lasting peace, lasting security, we have got to stand as strong, as united, as patient as determined, as the Ukrainian people.

And so I say that my message to Vladimir Putin is simple: we will never let up on countering Russian aggression at every turn.

1000 days in, we still stand for Ukraine.

1000 days in, we still stand for the international order.

1000 days in, we still stand for the principles which the United Nations was founded upon.

1000 days in, we are as ready to face down your aggression as the day you started this senseless war.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 18 November 2024.

The conference brought together experts on law, tech, and Holocaust remembrance and education, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence.

On 29th October in Bucharest, the UK Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) co-sponsored a conference on current and emerging challenges in Holocaust distortion and education, alongside Romania, the United States, and the OSCE’s ODIHR.

Examining the impact of emerging technologies on Holocaust denial and distortion is a key priority of the UK’s IHRA Presidency, and this conference followed a commitment made at the most recent IHRA plenary meeting hosted by the UK presidency in Glasgow in June, to step up action and build greater expertise on this subject.

In introductory remarks, Lord Pickles, UK Special Envoy on Post-Holocaust Issues, noted the appositeness of the conference being held in Bucharest, where the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism was negotiated and adopted. He paid tribute to the late Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu, who was vital in achieving this adoption.

The power of generative AI, and its potential capacity to both facilitate and counter Holocaust distortion, was a key focus of the day. Delegates explored the use of AI in interactive Holocaust testimony projects and the possibility of broadening the audience for these projects through AI language dubs, while acknowledging the ethical concerns of dubbing the testimony of survivors who are no longer with us. Panellists also discussed instances of generative AI models being oversensitive to Holocaust distortion, refusing to depict the Holocaust in any form and thereby potentially rendering it invisible.

Educators from a wide range of backgrounds and institutions, including UNESCO and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, shared their approaches to making Holocaust education as engaging and relevant as possible to their respective audiences. Ligia Deca, Romanian Minister of Education, offered reflections on Romania’s compulsory secondary education module ‘History of the Jews – The Holocaust’, taught for the first time in the 2023 academic year, and delegates agreed on the importance of having educators situate the Holocaust within the wider context of Jewish life and history. The conference also provided an opportunity for educators to discuss the impact of the 7 October 2023 Hamas terror attack against Israel and the Israeli military operation in Gaza on Holocaust education, and to share best practice on navigating the challenges that have subsequently emerged.

The outcomes of this conference will provide a foundation for further discussions on the role of emerging technologies in Holocaust distortion and education at the next IHRA plenary meeting hosted by the UK Presidency in December.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 18 November 2024.

The UK’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN in Geneva, Simon Manley, gave a statement during Nigeria’s Trade Policy Review.

Chair, thank you very much and let me also welcome the Permanent Secretary very warmly and his enormous team here. It is great to see you all here. I promise you the weather is normally much better. Let me also express my gratitude to the team from Nigeria and the team from the Secretariat for their respective reports. To you, Chair, for your insightful comments and of course to our Discussant, who was as ever, as you said, elegant, eloquent and clear. We shall miss her greatly. But I still have hopes for lobbying to keep her.

Bilateral Trade

1. Just last week, my Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, was in Nigeria. Indeed, it was his first visit to Africa as Foreign Secretary. Of course it was perfectly timed, deliberately timed, just ahead of this Trade Policy Review.
2. The core mission of our new government is growth. And therefore it was an entirely logical place to go because, as we know, Nigeria is on track to be the world’s fifth largest economy by 2075. Most of us here may no longer be around to see it, but never mind, it is a tremendous prospect. Just over 60% of Nigerians are under the age of 25. Home to the consumers and workers who are going to power 21st-century growth. And David Lammy was clear that trade and investment is what gives people jobs. Both in the UK and in Nigeria. So, this is the lens through which we are approaching this trade policy review today.
3. As part of his visit last week, David Lammy launched consultations on our government’s new approach to Africa. And that consultation will, we hope, guarantee that our relationships across Africa, including of course Nigeria, are based on mutual respect and on partnership.
4. And as an early demonstration of that commitment to partnership, on 4 November, he signed a UK-Nigeria Strategic Partnership. A comprehensive framework for jointly achieving our shared objectives and further strengthening our already flourishing, vibrant bilateral relationship. It builds on our Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership, signed in February of this year.

Reports Analysis

1. Under this Strategic Partnership we have committed to working together to identify opportunities for mutual economic growth, including through reducing barriers to trade. And this is where this organisation – and today’s discussion – has a crucial role to play.
2. So we are pleased to see from the reports, and from the Permanent Secretary’s introduction, that the Nigerian economy continues to go from strength to strength, despite the various challenges it has faced whether it be Covid-19 or fluctuating commodity prices. Trade as a proportion of GDP up from 27 to 35% over the review period, demonstrating once again the economic benefits that flow from deeper and more open free trade.
3. Increased diversification – so crucial for economic growth – has seen manufacturing and agriculture grow in economic importance, and we would like to congratulate Nigeria on its continued infrastructure investment in areas such as energy, housing and transport.
4. We also welcome, as we gather in Baku, Nigeria’s decreasing reliance on oil and gas exports. Greener growth is a core part of our new Strategic Partnership, and we look forward to continuing to work with Nigeria to generate investment and jobs in the new growth: sustainable manufacturing, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy.

Business Environment

1. We also welcome Nigeria’s efforts on challenging, but necessary, economic reforms. And the Permanent Secretary said a word at the beginning about that. In particular, we have been pleased to see the work done to improve the monetary policy environment and the removal of fuel subsidies. However, to be honest Permanent Secretary, we would like you to go even further and faster.
2. For example, there are concerns around the impact of state-owned enterprises on the business environment. As the Secretariat noted in its report, as of 2022 around 40 state-owned enterprises were operating in key sectors like energy. These state-owned enterprises, to be honest, often employ market distorting practices and benefit from unfair competition in our view.
3. Other concerns that British businesses investing in Nigeria have raised include examples of harmful subsidies, forced technology transfer, discriminatory enforcement of competition policy and of complex regulatory barriers. And we have indeed picked up on some of those issues and concerns in our Advanced Written Questions.
4. So we would encourage our Nigerian colleagues to address these harmful practices in order to boost investment, boost trade, improve its business environment and ultimately increase Nigerian prosperity.

AfCFTA

1. One agreement that is, in our view, already benefitting the country’s economic and business environment is, as others have mentioned, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). We congratulate Nigeria on commencing commercially meaningful trade under the Agreement by joining the Guided Trade Initiative on 16 July.
2. We, in the UK, are proud to have supported the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office on reaching this milestone and we are currently supporting the implementation of the Digital Trade Protocol flowing from the Agreement, which is an ambitious and comprehensive framework designed to facilitate digital trade and unlock the potential of the digital economy right across the continent. According to the joint World Bank-WTO Policy Note last year on digital trade in Africa, if African countries were to improve their digital regulatory environment to that of the best on the continent, trade costs could fall by 17% in goods and 25% in business and professional services. So, we look forward to Nigeria implementing that Digital Trade Protocol to the benefit of its businesses, its consumers and its future growth.
3. And it would be remiss of me as one of the co-chairs of the Informal Working Group on Gender not to say how pleased I am to hear about the steps you have taken to promote women’s economic empowerment. As a little practical example, I was delighted to hear the recent story of Madam Chinwe Izenwa. A 73-year-old female entrepreneur and CEO of LeLook, a bags and fashion accessories company, who was the first Nigerian, I understand, to use the AfCFTA’s Guided Trade Initiative. She has even given herself the nickname 0001, as she holds the first Agreement certificate of origin. An excellent example of Nigeria’s action on women’s economic empowerment, delivering real world benefits.

WTO and Multilateral Institutions

1. Closer to home, as others have done, we welcome Nigeria’s proactive and constructive engagement in this organisation. Nigeria is a friend of the multilateral system and a partner to us all.
2. And, of course, right at the heart of that is the significant contribution of this organisation’s most renowned Nigerian – our beloved DG – where let me echo your comments, Chair, about her resourceful and enthusiastic leadership of this organisation, which we look forward to continuing. And we should not forget, indeed, our beloved Ambassador Adamu Mohammed Abdulhamid, who, when not presiding over this distinguished Committee, has done so much right across this organisation to bring us his wisdom and his energy.
3. Outside of this room, we would particularly note Nigeria’s efforts on Dispute Settlement – as the Africa Group’s focal point – and on Fisheries.
4. Nigeria has been a strong ally in plurilateral negotiations, whether on Services Domestic Regulation, Investment Facilitation for Development and e-commerce. While we may not always see eye to eye, Nigeria has, rightly, kept our feet to the fire in ensuring that those plurilateral outcomes are balanced for all Members. Thanks to Nigeria’s input we can be confident that the agreements reached are a fair compromise of ambition, commercial value and inclusivity. We were glad to have reached a stabilised text on e-commerce this summer. We welcome your confirmation, Permanent Secretary, this morning that consultations are ongoing back in Nigeria and we hope to count you as one of the Agreement’s founding parties as we move swiftly forward towards legal incorporation.
5. Thank you, also, for your efforts on the e-commerce moratorium showing why it is so important for your development and for that of countries across the world.

Conclusion

So let me finish by encouraging Nigeria to continue its reform efforts and end by quoting what I believe is an old Nigerian proverb: ‘Only the things for which you have struggled will last.’ So let’s keep struggling. Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 18 November 2024.

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Chair Lord Pickles addressed the challenges posed to Holocaust memory by generative AI and other emerging technologies.

I am this year’s Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

We are a global community of governments and experts who focus on promoting, strengthening and advancing Holocaust education, remembrance and research.

Over the past two and a half decades, IHRA has safeguarded sites and challenged distortive narratives. Our experts are the backbone of everything we do. They fearlessly tackle complacency and warped misinformation in equal measure.

Our experts spotted the mushrooming of Holocaust distortion in 2010. They immediately understood how it threatened liberal democracy.

Holocaust denial is not mainstream; few serious people would publicly say the Holocaust is an invention.

Distortion is different. It is often misdiagnosed as a lesser evil.

Distortion takes many forms with two dominating trends: trivial comparisons and minimising numbers and treatment.

Suggesting Global Warning is a Climate Holocaust or Anti-Vaxers persecuted to the same extent as the Jews under Hitler trivialise the suffering of the Holocaust.

The second type masquerades as freedom of speech or earnest enquiry.

I was once attacked on Twitter for saying Treblinka was a death camp. My attacker said I could not be more wrong; it was a transit camp where a few people died due to influenza but nothing more

This questioning has become mainstream with the advent of Artificial Intelligence.

The threats associated with AI in safeguarding the record of the Holocaust are many,  including the potential for manipulation by malicious actors, the introduction of falsehoods or dissemination of biased information, and the gradual erosion of public trust in authentic records.

The latest wave of Antisemitism arrives as a perfect storm when reliable news outlets are at their weakest. Newspaper readership has plummeted, regional and local newspapers have disappeared, and the once powerful nightly news bulletins have diminished in influence.

This year, it is estimated that 52 per cent of the UK’s population relied on news via a social media platform, where there is little moderation or balance

One of the most graphic examples of this false narrative is the use of AI tools to create deepfakes.

As this decade progresses, the number of survivors who witnessed the Holocaust as children will move from contemporary memory into history. In anticipation of this, much effort is being made to secure testimony and protect archives. The very depth of this knowledge might be our Achilles’ heel

You don’t need programming skills to create a deepfake. You can make it for free in less than 30 seconds using many free deepfake applications.

We live in an era in which “seeing is no longer believing”.

The consequences of cheap, widespread fakery are likely to be profound.  It is possible to imagine Holocaust survivor testimony being manipulated. We may see Holocaust survivors with false words put into their mouths; the concentration camps were “not that bad”;  ‘we had plenty of food’; “we played cards on a Thursday with SS” and such like..

How do we meet this challenge.

The first thing we need to understand is AI is here to stay. That governments will always be playing catch up to cheep widely used AI.

The second thing is: we ourselves will use AI to improve our archives, it will find links and connections. We will use it to improve training and teaching

We need to enhance AI literacy and research skills so that users know how to verify AI-produced texts.

Key to all this is the necessity of understanding Large Language Models, and those in the Large Language Model community will need to understand the Holocaust to ensure its accurate representation.

Put simply, Large Language Models are a type of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning algorithms to replicate human language. It uses massive data sets to develop its ability to translate languages, predict text, and generate content.

As Large Language Models become more complex and human-like, they raise more ethical questions about their diversity, energy requirements, ability to make decisions, and use as content creators. This is why Large Language Models are so important in our field.

The big tech companies struggle to understand the issues around the Holocaust the same way we struggle to understand AI.  The intersection of understanding between policy makers, AI experts and Holocaust experts needs to grow.

That is why we will be focusing on Large Language Models during a special AI conference in London as part of the UK IHRA Presidency. The conference will bring together those involved in creating Large Language Models and our experts. It is an opportunity to learn from each other and to expand our work.

More than a decade ago IHRA adopted a working definition of Holocaust denial and distortion.

We made countering Holocaust distortion a pillar of the IHRA strategy.

With the support of voluntary contributions by Germany, Israel and the United States the IHRA established the Global Task Force against Holocaust Distortion.

Now the dangers of Holocaust distortion are addressed in the EU Strategy for Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life.

The United Nations passed a resolution condemning Holocaust distortion.

And we are here today, with IHRA Member Country Romania and OSCE ODIHR, who have both been close partners of the IHRA in our joint mission to counter Holocaust distortion.

Romania became one of the first countries to implement the new IHRA–UNESCO capacity building training to counter Holocaust distortion.

Romania successfully localized the campaign #ProtectTheFacts.

ODIHR has been a partner to #ProtectTheFacts since January 2023.

And the UK has just completed capacity building training to counter Holocaust distortion with NGOs and Policy Makers.

It’s clear that our work is far from done.

Over the past few days, like you, I have frequently thought about IHRA’s late Honorary Chairman, Yehuda Bauer. He had a way of taking complex ideas and making them simple. Yehuda once addressed our current dilemma when he said a half-truth is worse than a whole lie.