Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
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 safety of Afghan refugees in Iran.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
FCDO officials have engaged with regional governments to allow Afghan nationals to cross borders from Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds. Regional countries are vital to the response. Iran is reviewing its position, but has a register of all Afghans in Iran and recognises the Afghan population as legitimate migrant labour. The UK has provided £4.5 million to the UN Refugee Agency, £1 million to the World Food Programme, and £1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, for life-saving assistance, including shelter, sanitation, protection, food security and health services, for vulnerable Afghan refugees in Iran.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much aid the UK has provided to Iran to support Afghan refugees in that country.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
FCDO officials have engaged with regional governments to allow Afghan nationals to cross borders from Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds. Regional countries are vital to the response. Iran is reviewing its position, but has a register of all Afghans in Iran and recognises the Afghan population as legitimate migrant labour. The UK has provided £4.5 million to the UN Refugee Agency, £1 million to the World Food Programme, and £1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, for life-saving assistance, including shelter, sanitation, protection, food security and health services, for vulnerable Afghan refugees in Iran.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
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 level of threats from IS-K towards religious minorities in Afghanistan in winter 2022-23.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK monitors the terrorist threat from Afghanistan, including from ISKP, and regularly presses the Taliban to protect religious minority groups. We are working closely with international partners to ensure credible monitoring and accountability mechanisms are in place. The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) mandate was renewed in March 2022 and strengthens these mechanisms through direct engagement with religious minority groups. On 7 October, we co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution to extend the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate for another year. His recent report to the Human Rights Council included an assessment of the situation for religious minority groups.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to flooding in Pakistan in summer and autumn 2022, what steps his Department took to help ensure that religious minority communities in Pakistan had equal access to UK-funded humanitarian aid in that country.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK is working with partners to ensure that humanitarian aid is targeted towards vulnerable and marginalised communities. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, the Minister for South Asia and Minister for Human Rights, met with Pakistan's Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rahman, on 14 October to discuss the impacts of flooding and how the UK can best help long-term recovery efforts. During his October visit, Lord Ahmad raised human rights, including those of religious minorities, with both Pakistan's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Human Rights.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much aid funding the UK has provided to Pakistan to support Afghan refugees in that country.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK has provided £6.5 million to support refugee preparedness in Pakistan through multilateral organisations (World Food Programme, United Nations Children's Fund, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent). UK funds have been used to support communities in refugee-hosting areas to boost health services and provide additional nutritional support.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there has been an increase in the number of Afghan citizens claiming asylum in the UK since August 2021.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions on asylum applications from Afghan nationals can be found in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending June 2022. Data for the year ending September 2022 will be published on 24 November 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
The Home Office does not publish data on ethnicity or religion of asylum applicants.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Hazara Muslims have (a) applied for asylum in the UK, (b) been granted asylum in the UK and (c) reached the UK after being granted asylum through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions on asylum applications from Afghan nationals can be found in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending June 2022. Data for the year ending September 2022 will be published on 24 November 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
The Home Office does not publish data on ethnicity or religion of asylum applicants.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the International Bar Association entitled Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders, Opposition, and the Right to a Fair Trial in Myanmar, published in August 2022; and what steps his Department is taking to help promote (a) the right to a fair trial and (b) the rule of law in Myanmar.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
We continue to monitor the human rights situation in Myanmar and have made the UK position very clear. We are continually pushing for a political resolution to the crisis and calling for the release of all those arbitrarily detained. On 27 July, we agreed a UN Security Council Statement condemning the military's execution of pro-democracy activists and expressing deep concern over the state of emergency and arbitrary detention of members of those elected in November 2020.
We will consider all the tools at our disposal to maintain pressure on the regime and respond to serious human rights violations, including further targeted sanctions and keeping Myanmar on the UN Security Council's agenda.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court in accordance with Article 14 of the Rome Statute, in the context of the National Unity Government of Myanmar issuing a declaration in 2021 to the International Criminal Court accepting the Court’s jurisdiction.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK is clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK is supportive, in principle, of any attempts to bring these issues before the International Criminal Court (ICC), where they can be scrutinised.
The ICC, however, does not have jurisdiction over the situation in Myanmar and so a referral by the UK under article 14 of the Rome Statute would have no practical impact.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the findings of the Yazidi Justice Committee in its report on State Responsibility and the Yazidi Genocide, published on 6 July 2022, on the lack of Iraqi domestic legislation giving effect to the Genocide Convention, if she will take steps to urge Iraq to enact legislation on that matter.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We note the findings of the Yazidi Justice Committee's report. The UK advocated strongly for the passing of the Yazidi Survivors' Law in March 2021 and UK Ministers continue to raise the importance of full implementation of this law regularly with the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government. In parallel, we have also provided £2 million to the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD). We will continue to support the Yazidi community in Iraq and champion UNITAD's work in gathering evidence of Daesh crimes, including against minority communities.