Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 23 November 2023.

The UK, France, Germany, and the US (the Quad) gave a statement on Iran implementing its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement obligations.

Chair, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States thank Director General Grossi for his report on the implementation of safeguards in Iran contained in GOV/2023/58.

We fully support and commend the DG and the Secretariat for their professional, independent and impartial verification of Iran’s fulfilment of its safeguards obligations. We commend their repeated efforts to engage Iran to clarify information concerning the correctness and completeness of its declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement.

Chair, one year ago, this Board adopted a resolution in response to Iran’s persistent lack of substantive cooperation with the Agency on outstanding safeguards issues. This was its third resolution on the subject since the IAEA raised questions 5 years ago regarding possible undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran. Since then, the IAEA at varying points has raised questions about such activities at four locations. In this resolution, the Board decided that it was “essential and urgent” that Iran take action and clarify all outstanding safeguards issues in order to ensure verification of the non-diversion of nuclear material.

One year later, Iran’s continuing disregard for its obligations, including to adhere to the decisions of this Board, now appears in the clearest light. The DG’s report is stark: Iran is not only dragging its feet on cooperating with the Agency to resolve the remaining outstanding issues, but it is also wilfully hampering the Agency’s ability to perform its verification mandate. Iran’s actions are not only inconsistent with its legal obligations, but also undermine the global non-proliferation architecture in disregarding the commitments and obligations at its core.

First, Iran has still not provided the Agency with technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at outstanding locations of Varamin and Turquzabad on which the Agency is currently seeking clarifications. It has not informed the Agency of the current location of related nuclear material and contaminated equipment. Iran has not engaged even at the most superficial level, despite the fact that cooperating with the Agency is a legal obligation stemming from Iran’s NPT Safeguards Agreement. This raises the question as to whether any of the nuclear material and/or contaminated equipment used at these locations remains in Iran and is not included in Iran’s declaration.

Second, the nuclear material discrepancy at the Uranium Conversion Facility remains unresolved. Previous explanations by Iran were not technically credible and therefore not acceptable by the Agency. This issue touches upon the very core of the Agency’s safeguards mandate: it is about Iranian undeclared activities at undeclared locations involving uranium metal, some of which is of unknown origin and might still be outside of safeguards. It is also worth recalling that this issue relates to safeguards concerns the Agency was pursuing previously over the Lavisan-Shian site – which Iran also failed to substantively address.

Third, Iran has “frozen” the implementation of the March 4 Joint Statement in spite of the Director General’s extensive efforts to achieve progress. The reports are once again very clear: “the lack of progress in implementing any of the three elements of the Joint Statement, put into question the possibility of continuing with its implementation”. It is now clear that Iran has not approached the Joint Statement in good faith and has not demonstrated any serious intention to fully implement its commitments. We urge Iran to promptly cooperate with the Agency on installing surveillance and monitoring equipment where requested, providing urgent access to camera data which it is currently withholding and addressing the gaps in the recordings. Without this information the Agency lacks key insight into Iran’s capability to expand its uranium enrichment program – possibly even in ways not declared to the Agency – at a time when it is advancing.

Fourth, Iran has doubled down on its hostile attitude towards the Agency and is threatening the safeguards system through its decision to de-designate a number of experienced inspectors in September. In the DG’s words, this “extreme and unjustified” decision directly and seriously affects the Agency’s ability to effectively conduct its verification mandate in Iran. The DG makes clear this stance is “not only unprecedented but unambiguously contrary to the cooperation that is required in order to facilitate the effective implementation of its NPT Safeguards Agreement”. It is unacceptable for Iran to retaliate against statements from IAEA member states by withdrawing Agency inspector designations of the same nationality. The independent technical work of the Agency cannot be subject to Iran’s political interpretation of other member states’ views in this way. We echo the Director General’s strong condemnation of Iran’s actions and urge Iran to reverse it and to promptly re-designate these inspectors.

Finally, we stress that implementation of Modified Code 3.1 of the Subsidiary Arrangements General Part to Iran’s Safeguards Agreement is a legal obligation for Iran that cannot be suspended or unilaterally modified. Iran has announced the locations of new nuclear facilities and the Agency has asked Iran to provide required preliminary design information. Iran must provide its response immediately. Iran’s unwillingness to work with the Agency to resolve this in accordance with its legal obligations, alongside its lack of transparency, is entirely unacceptable and deeply concerning given Iran’s history of constructing covert nuclear facilities. Is Iran attempting to claim a loophole that does not exist to enable the construction of clandestine nuclear facilities? Iran is the only state with significant nuclear activities implementing a comprehensive safeguards agreement but not modified Code 3.1.

Chair, the Director General has made clear asks in his reports and requested engagement from Iran. Unless and until Iran provides technically credible explanations in response to the Agency’s outstanding questions, the Agency will not be able to confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement or provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. Such assurances are critical for the international community and the international non-proliferation regime.

Our concerns with this behaviour are widely shared, as was reflected at the September Board by the statement made by Denmark on behalf of a group of 63 member states. We have already indicated that if Iran fails to implement the essential and urgent actions contained in the November 2022 Resolution, the Board will have to be prepared to take further action in support of the Secretariat to hold Iran accountable in the near future, including the possibility of additional resolutions. Iran cannot continue its lack of cooperation Board after Board without bearing consequences. The further Iran goes down its conscious path of non-cooperation, the closer this Board will get to reaching the conclusion that the Agency is not able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material.

We reiterate that, should Iran enable the IAEA Director General to conclude that these issues have been clarified and resolved and are no longer outstanding, we will not deem further reports and Board discussion necessary.

We would like to thank the IAEA for their impartial and professional work on this issue. We request the Director General to continue reporting to the Board of Governors and welcome making the report contained in GOV/2023/58 public, in line with longstanding practice.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 November 2023.

Explanation of vote by Ambassador to the General Assembly Richard Croker at the UN Second Committee.

The UK strongly supports developing countries’ efforts to scale-up domestic resource mobilisation to finance sustainable development.

At the UN General Assembly this year, our Deputy Prime Minister announced a new £17 million package to help developing countries collect taxes owed to them. We are funding peer-to-peer capacity building for revenue authorities in African countries including Ghana and Rwanda. We currently chair the OECD Forum on Tax Administration’s Capacity Building Network and we are contributing to the UNDP-OECD Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative.

As I set out earlier, our new International Development White Paper published on Monday commits to building a stronger and fairer international tax system for all.

We champion this work through the OECD’s Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and the Global Forum on Tax Transparency, which uniquely have the technical expertise, wide-reaching global membership, and political support to advance this agenda effectively through consensus-based policy-making.

These are strengthening our collective ability to address tax evasion and avoidance, combat harmful tax practices, and tackle evolving challenges posed by digitalisation.

We are also supporting efforts to strengthen the inclusion and voice of developing countries in these mechanisms.

As we have acknowledged during negotiations on this resolution, we think there is space for intergovernmental discussions on tax at the UN, which builds on existing initiatives. We believe it is possible to achieve this without duplicating the work of the Inclusive Framework and Global Forum, putting greater resource burdens on countries or fragmenting the international tax system.

Proceeding with Option 2, a “framework convention”, would be duplicative and create a parallel system rather than a complementary process. This risks fragmenting the international tax system, and would be negative for all countries.

That is why we and many others are not able to support this resolution today.

Any new process on tax at the UN should be based on a broad consensus to be effective. Unfortunately, as we have seen from the vote just now, this resolution does not command a consensus, with over a third of all Member States not supporting it today.

That is why we proposed a compromise based around Option 3 of the Secretary General’s report which could have achieved consensus, and put that to a vote. We hope that members continue to see that as an option which can be returned to in the future.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 November 2023.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Gaza.

Thank you, President, I thank Executive Directors Bahous, Russell, and Kanem for briefing us today.

The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is acute. The loss that innocent civilians are suffering is incomprehensible. Too many – including women and children – are losing their lives. Our collective priority must be to alleviate this suffering. It is crucial that all sides uphold international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to protect innocent civilians, including at hospitals and schools.

We welcome the announcement of the agreement reached today for a coordinated release of hostages and pause in the fighting. This is a crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We urge all parties to ensure the agreement is delivered in full.

The UK welcomes the immense international cooperation, including the efforts from Qatar, Egypt, the US, and Israel, that has led to an agreement being reached.

President, this pause provides an important opportunity to ensure much greater volumes of food, fuel and other life-saving aid can reach Gaza on a sustained basis. We are particularly concerned for civilians in northern Gaza, where there has been no water or food supplied for at least two weeks, and hospitals and health centres are unable to function. These people urgently need help, and they need it now.

The UK continues to call and advocate for increased land access through the Rafah crossing, and the full opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing, to get critical goods into Gaza at much greater speeds. We continue to press Israel to authorise the entry of at least 200,000 litres of fuel per day.

Whilst the UK regrets that resolution 2712 could not clearly condemn Hamas’ terror attacks of 7 October, we strongly support the objective of that resolution: to get aid in, and hostages and civilians out. And to achieve that objective, we call for the resolution’s urgent implementation.

Finally, President, we share colleagues’ concerns about escalatory actions which disrupt regional peace and security. The UK is intensively engaging with partners to prevent further escalation. We condemn the unlawful seizure of the MV Galaxy Leader by the Houthis on 19 November and call for the immediate, and unconditional, release of the ship and its crew.

We continue to work towards a two-state solution which provides justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

I thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 November 2023.

The Foreign Secretary hosted a delegation of Foreign Ministers from Arab and Islamic countries in London.

• the Foreign Secretary hosted Foreign Ministers from Arab and Islamic countries at Lancaster House today to discuss co-operation on the crisis in Israel and Gaza
• discussions with the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee focused on how to secure the release of all hostages, increase the amount of aid into Gaza, and reach a long-term political solution to the crisis
• visit followed agreement reached overnight between Israel and Hamas on coordinated hostage releases and a pause in the fighting

Following the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas for coordinated hostage releases and a 4-day pause in the fighting, the Foreign Secretary emphasised the importance of allowing humanitarian organisations to bring in more fuel so they can carry out lifesaving work unimpeded – including powering hospitals or desalination plants, which supply 80% of Gaza’s water.

The Foreign Secretary discussed with leaders at the meeting how to reinvigorate diplomatic efforts towards a viable two-state solution, which provides security for both Israelis and Palestinians, and restated the UK’s condemnation of the rise in settler violence in the West Bank.

He committed to continued UK support to prevent wider regional escalation, including in Lebanon and Yemen.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron said:

Today I have chaired a meeting of leaders from Arab countries and other Islamic states on the situation in Israel and Gaza.

The agreement reached last night is an important opportunity to get the hostages out and more aid into Gaza to help the Palestinian people.

We discussed how to use this step forward to think about the future and how we can build a peaceful future which provides security for Israel but also peace and stability for the Palestinian people.

Foreign Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as the Secretary General of the League of Arab States and Ambassador of Qatar attended the event in London.

The group was formed as a ‘Peace Committee’ at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit, held in Riyadh on 11 November. The group are visiting the capitals of Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, arriving in London after meetings in Beijing and Moscow, with further travel planned to Paris and Washington.

The UK has helped lead the international response to the humanitarian crisis, by recently announcing £30 million in additional aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 23 October – more than doubling the existing aid commitment for this year (£27 million).

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 November 2023.

Emma Logan, UK Delegation to the OSCE, condemns Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture.

Thank you, Chair, for convening us today on this important topic -the first time we have discussed this in the OSCE Security Committee and I hope it won’t be the last as this is clearly an important topic for all countries.

Reports of Russia’s deliberate looting, removal of cultural artefacts, and destruction of precious items of Ukrainian cultural property have been heard with indignation around the world. Recent destruction in Lviv and Odesa – UNESCO World Heritage Sites – has been a chilling reminder that culture is on the front line in this war. Ukrainian culture is a part of world culture, and attempts to destroy it cannot be tolerated.

The UK stands in full solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine and recognises the irreplaceable value of their cultural heritage. The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage is a war crime and the UK is working with international partners to support Ukraine in protecting its cultural treasures. This includes countering the illicit trafficking of cultural property as a result of the conflict.

The UK’s culture sector has played a key role in the UK’s response to the war in Ukraine. This has included knowledge exchange with Ukrainian counterparts, supporting and hosting Ukrainian exhibitions, hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine and welcoming Ukrainian tours of orchestras and ballets throughout the UK.

Furthermore, the UK Department for Culture Media and Sport’s International Cultural Heritage Protection Programme (ICHP) has provided practical support for Ukrainian heritage preservation. ICHP has funded interventions through the British Council to deliver emergency cultural heritage protection, support including preservation materials, as well as a study to assess the feasibility of prosecuting Russian forces for the intentional targeting of cultural property. The UK will continue to assess options to support the response to the illicit trafficking of cultural property which has been caused by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

Finally, we welcome the work of the OSCE’s Heritage Crime Taskforce and recognise it as an important response mechanism to countering the illicit trafficking of cultural property. We look forward to continuing to engage with the OSCE team on this work.

Thank you.