Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to build consensus among international partners on halting the supply of arms to all parties funding, sheltering or supporting proscribed terrorist groups, including Hamas.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty and fully implements its provisions. While the Treaty does not explicitly prohibit transfers to non-state actors, the UK considers that the requirements in Article 7 (Export and Export Assessment) and Article 11 (Diversion) require States Parties to take all appropriate steps to prevent the sale or diversion of arms to undesirable end uses or end users, including terrorist groups. Specifically, Article 7 deals with exports which would 'undermine peace and security' or could be used to breach international conventions or protocols relating to terrorism to which the exporting state is a party.
The Government will also not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, which includes Criterion 1: respect for the UK's international obligations and commitments. An export licence will also be refused if there is a risk that the items will be diverted to an undesirable end-user or for an undesirable end-use, including to terrorist organisations.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for the UK’s foreign policy of Israel’s claims to have discovered a Hamas intelligence command centre and terror tunnels beneath UNWRA’s Gaza headquarters.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK takes allegations of neutrality violations seriously including any incidents related to UN installations. This is something we monitor closely in our annual assessment of UNRWA. When violations have been identified in the past, UNRWA has taken action including raising the issue with relevant parties.
We are aware that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and Catherine Colonna have now provided their interim reports to the UN Secretary-General. Their independent investigations include assessment of the policies and systems UNRWA has in place to ensure neutrality.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the Palestinian Authority's compliance with the Optional Protocol of the Convention Against Torture.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to further improve the performance of the security sector. An essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether reports of antisemitic and extremist content in Palestinian school textbooks adhere to (1) the Palestinian Authority–Department for International Development Memorandum of Understanding, and (2) the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to take action against incitement to violence.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our partnership with the Palestinian Authority (PA) includes a commitment from the Palestinian leadership to adhere to the principle of non-violence and to tackle language and actions that could incite violence or hatred. We have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and has no place in education. We continue to assess the PA's commitment to peace in line with our Partnership Principles.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to reports of the detention and intimidation of Palestinian human rights activists in the Palestinian territories, what recent discussions the Foreign Secretary has had with the Palestinian Authority about the activities of the PA Preventative Security Organisation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to continue to improve the performance of the security sector. An essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent any breaches of human rights by the Palestinian Authority; and what further steps they are taking to support the right of freedom to protest in the areas administered by that Authority.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, Officials from our Consulate-General in Jerusalem regularly raise the need for key legislative and security sector reform to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. We encourage the PA to ensure the harmonisation of Palestinian laws with International Human Rights conventions to which it has acceded. As we mark the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, we are again urging the PA at the highest levels to adopt legislation to ensure the protection and progression of women's rights.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what criteria informed the decision to direct £16 million of UK aid to improving educational links with Iran between 2013 and 2017, (2) what projects the grants were used on, (3) how the projects were monitored, and (4) what plans they have to publish the results of such monitoring.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Between 2013 and 2017, the total FCO bilateral spending on Iran was approximately £4.4 million. These funds were spent on developing long-term people-to-people educational and cultural links between our two countries, including supporting English teachers, artists and Chevening scholars. Chevening supports exceptional young people all over the world to reach their potential, and remains open for applicants in Iran. Given these projects were run by a combination of British Council, Chevening and the FCO, these programmes were monitored and evaluated in line with standard FCO and British Council processes. The British Council do not currently operate or fund programmes in Iran.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's working definition of a Palestinian refugee is in alignment with the UK's policy towards the Middle East Peace Process.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK recognises the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) unique mandate from the UN General Assembly, to protect and provide essential services to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. The UK continues to adhere to UNRWA's definition of a Palestinian refugee: those whose 'normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict'. We are clear that the status of Palestinian refugees must be agreed as part of wider peace negotiations. Meanwhile, the UK remains firmly committed to supporting the UNRWA across the Middle East. This is in line with our longstanding position on the Middle East Peace Process, which includes supporting a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for Palestinian refugees.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have issued to UK citizens intending to travel to Malaysia; and what advice they have issued to athletes intending to travel to the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On Sunday 27 January 2019, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) stripped Malaysia of the right to host the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships. British nationals can find our latest travel advice on the GOV.UK website. We keep this travel advice under constant review and make regular updates.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives of the Iranian government on the effect on regional relations of the international competition for cartoons and caricatures on the Holocaust organised by the House of Cartoons, under the auspices of the municipality of Tehran.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Our officials in Tehran have raised our opposition to the proposed Holocaust cartoon competition with their counterparts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.