Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department plans to request that a mandate to monitor the human rights situation in the Western Sahara region is included in the renewal of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in October 2021.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK supported UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2548 on 30 October 2020, which renewed the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for 12 months. We have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the cost of educational materials with hateful content in the Palestinian education system that were recalled by the UN Relief and Works Agency.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We have not made this assessment. The UK will continue to monitor UNRWA's implementation of its curriculum framework to ensure UNRWA's educational materials, including those on the digital learning platform, are in line with UN values. We accompany our support for UNRWA with stringent attention to implementation of their neutrality policy, including how they apply this to any educational materials.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of (a) the human rights situation and (b) the actions of the Moroccan Government in Western Sahara.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK has consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to sustain their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf camps. We support UN-led efforts to achieve a lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the US Administration on the recognition of that country of claims by Morocco of sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
As the former Foreign Secretary stated on 11 December 2020, the UK regards the status of Western Sahara as undetermined. The UK supports UN-led efforts to reach a lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. We regularly discuss the situation in Western Sahara with international partners and with the parties, encouraging them to re-engage with the UN-led political process and the new UN Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has plans to review the allocation of funding to the Palestinian education system following the publication of the Georg Eckert Institute’s report on Palestinian textbooks in June 2021.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Following Official Development Assistance (ODA) prioritisation exercises undertaken in March 2021, the UK no longer provides direct funding to the Palestinian Authority to support the salaries of education workers and health professionals. This decision was not influenced by the publication of the Georg Eckert Institute's report on Palestinian textbooks published in June 2021. The UK remains firmly committed to ensuring a quality education for Palestinian children, demonstrated by our longstanding support to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and through the British Council.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 21 January 2021 to Question 138479, on Occupied Territories: Education, how much funding UK Aid has contributed to the salaries of educational professionals in the Palestinian Authority since 1 January 2016.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The FCDO's programme spend is publicly available on devtracker. UK funding to the Palestinian Authority since 2016 to support the salaries of carefully vetted teachers and education workers is available here: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-1-300050/transactions
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 20 March 2017 to Question 67423, on Dalal Mughrabi, whether the youth camp named after Dalal Mughrabi was renamed after the Government raised concerns with the Palestinian Authority.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable from all parties. We will continue to raise concerns about this with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and continue to urge all parties to condemn incitement wherever and whenever it occurs.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2021 to Question 43430, on Israel: Palestinians, what steps her Department has taken to take forward relevant recommendations in the research study undertaken by the Department for International Development entitled Value for money investment in people to people programming in Israel and Palestine.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are taking forward relevant recommendations in the research study undertaken by the Department for International Development: "Value for Money Investment in People to People Programming in Israel and Palestine". A just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue. The recommendations of the research report are already being incorporated into other UK peacebuilding programmes.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart on the election of Ebrahim Raisi as president.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign Secretary intends to speaks regularly with his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian. He and his officials, including those in the British Embassy in Tehran, engage with Iran on a wide range of issues, including our nuclear concerns, our consular cases, human rights and Iran's role in the region. We call on President Raisi to set Iran on a different course and expect to engage him on the full range of issues.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the 2020-21 Memorandum of Understanding between his Department and the Palestinian Authority, whether his Department undertook an assessment in 2020-21 of whether there had been a breach of the commitments in that memorandum by the Palestine Authority.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
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 any language and actions that could incite violence or hatred. We have a regular dialogue with the PA in which we reiterate the need for both sides to prepare their populations for peaceful coexistence, including by promoting a more positive portrayal of each other. We continue to assess the PA's commitment to peace in line with our Partnership Principles and we assess that the PA continues to demonstrate a credible commitment to our agreements.