Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they plan to take regarding the plight of Iranian women and girls who have been jailed for engaging in peaceful rights activism and for supporting freedom equality and basic civil liberties.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We continue to stand with women and girls in Iran in their daily fight for equal rights and fundamental freedoms. The UK was instrumental in delivering the Iran human rights resolution, adopted by the UN Third Committee in November 2024, which called on Iran to release women human rights defenders imprisoned for exercising their rights. On the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, we issued a joint statement alongside international partners, emphasising our commitment to holding Iran accountable for its rights violations. We continue to support the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, which is essential for monitoring rights abuses committed during the protests of 2022-23, especially against women and children.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing for the healthcare of women and girls in Syria; and whether they intend to ringfence funding within the Official Development Assistance budget for that purpose.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK does not ringfence funding specifically for women and girls. However, we put support to women and girls at the heart of all our work in Syria and require our partners to provide sex and age disaggregated data on the outcomes of UK-funded programmes. In financial year (FY) 2023/24, 53 per cent of UK humanitarian programming in Syria helped provide health, sexual and reproductive health services, education, and vocational training to over 690,000 women and girls. Through our health partner we delivered 783,649 medical consultations, of which 61 per cent were delivered to female beneficiaries. Through funding to UN organisations such as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UK provided Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) services to 145,490 Syrians, of which 96 per cent were female.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will seek a UN investigation into the recent killing of protestors in Iran.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK is committed to working with international partners to hold Iran to account for its persistent violations of human rights and violent repression of legitimate protests. This includes through the full range of multilateral fora, including the UN Human Rights Council, UN Security Council, G7 and the UN General Assembly Third Committee. We continue to support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Human Rights and have co-sponsored his mandate each year.
The UK supports holding a Special Session of the Human Rights Council on 24 November, and will be seeking a strong UN mandate to establish an investigative mechanism into the human rights violations currently taking place in Iran.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with international allies to increase (1) diplomatic, and (2) economic, pressure to respond to the government of Iran's handling of the protests in that country; and what representations they are making to the government of Iran regarding the response by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK works closely with our international partners to challenge the Iranian regime's violent repression of protests in Iran. The issue was discussed at the November G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting and we have put pressure on Iran through the United Nations, including the Human Rights Council, Security Council and General Assembly Third Committee. On Monday 14 November, the UK and the EU announced coordinated sanctions against various Iranian officials for their part in the violent repression of protests in Iran. This followed the sanctioning on Monday 10 September of the 'so called' Morality Police, its senior leadership, and several other security officials involved in the repression of protestors. Through our words and actions, the UK will continue to hold the Iranian regime to account for its repression of women and girls and the violence inflicted on the Iranian people.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest position of sanctions for Belarus.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Since 1 March we have launched a series of sanctions against Belarusian individuals and organisations in response to the role the country is playing in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including facilitating the invasion from within its borders. On 1 March four senior defence officials and two military enterprises were sanctioned with immediate effect under the UK's Russia sanctions regime. Individuals sanctioned will be unable to travel to the UK and any UK-based assets will be frozen.
These designations are in addition to the wide-ranging measures we have already imposed on Belarus under our Belarus sanctions regime, which include sanctions on President Lukashenko and 117 other individuals and entities as well as trade, financial and aviation sanctions. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have committed extending recent Russia sanctions to Belarus in due course. The Lukashenko regime will be made to feel the economic consequences for its support for Putin.