Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Browne Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

7. What recent guidance he has issued to overseas posts on implementing the new Government strategy on human trafficking.

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr Jeremy Browne)]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary wrote to all overseas posts on 19 July welcoming the strategy and outlining its aims. We soon expect to finalise with the Home Office the strategy for priority countries. When that process is complete, the Foreign Secretary will write to ambassadors and high commissioners in those countries, instructing them to incorporate trafficking objectives into their work.

[Mr Bone]

I thank the excellent Minister for that response. Prevention is better than cure. If a young woman is trafficked into this country, she will be rescued, but it is better that she is not trafficked in the first place so that she does not have to suffer modern-day slavery and all that goes with it. It is our ambassadors and delegations abroad who are our first step in warning people of the dangers of trafficking. Does the Minister agree?

[Mr Browne]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. We are working with foreign Governments to build their capacity to disrupt human trafficking—for example, we are working with judges and prosecutors in priority countries to increase prosecutions; we are working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency to prevent trafficking by building capacity; and we are addressing the root causes by alleviating poverty through our work with the Department for International Development.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

The key necessity is to track down and prosecute those who are responsible for trafficking. Four international organisations are involved: Europol, Interpol, the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, and the European Union. How are the Government attempting to co-ordinate those organisations?

[Mr Browne]

I agree that it is desirable to co-ordinate that kind of international work, but we are also working in tandem with countries where our embassies are developing programmes of the type that I have just mentioned. We are not ruling out any ways of trying to achieve our common objectives.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

8. What recent steps he has taken to strengthen relations with countries in central Asia; and if he will make a statement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

9. What recent discussions he has had with the Mexican authorities on progress in the investigation into the abduction of Lydia Hunt.

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr Jeremy Browne)]

I raised the case directly with the Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister during my meeting with her in Mexico City last Tuesday, and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary also raised it when he met the Mexican Foreign Minister in London in June. We expressed our concerns about Lydia Hunt’s welfare, the delays in locating her, and the slow progress in resolving the case through the courts.

[Stephen Timms]

I am very grateful to the Minister. My constituent Jonathan Hunt has been seeking his daughter’s return for three years since she was abducted to Mexico, although the country is a signatory to The Hague convention, which requires the determination of cases involving minors within six weeks. What more can the Minister do to help Lydia, and how can he tackle non-compliance with the convention by member states such as Mexico?

[Mr Browne]

That, in essence, is the point that I put to the Minister when I saw her last week. We are keen for progress to be made as quickly as possible, but we are told by the Mexicans that legal obstacles prevent it from being made as quickly as we should like. We continue to press the case of the right hon. Gentleman’s constituent.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

10. What assessment he has made of the political situation in Syria.

--- Later in debate ---

[Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East) (Lab)]

I should like to declare an interest.

Following the self-immolation of nine Tibetan monks in the past few weeks, what representations have the British Government made to the Chinese authorities to stop the consistent and systematic eradication of Tibetan culture, religion and language, and to give the Tibetan people their much needed and correct desire for self-determination?

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr Jeremy Browne)]

The Government continue to have the same policy as the previous Government with regard to Tibet’s position in China, but we still make representations on a regular basis with respect to human rights and the conditions of the Tibetan people.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

T8. As Shaker Aamer approaches the 10th anniversary of his incarceration without charge in Guantanamo Bay, can the Minister update the House on the Government’s representations on his behalf?