Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the cost to the public purse has been of the case Turks and Caicos islands against Mr Michael Misick and others.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The trial of Mr Misick and its related costs are the responsibility of the Turks and Caicos islands Government.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of threat to the (a) Hindu and (b) Christian communities in Afghanistan.
Answered by Mark Field
Security Forces are committed to tackling this threat. As part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission, the UK supports the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in its efforts to improve security for all communities.
Ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, such as the Christian, Sikh and Hindu communities, continue to face challenges. We regularly raise human rights issues with the Government of Afghanistan, including the need to protect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups in line with the constitution. The UK condemns in the strongest possible terms the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs. Last year, I publicly condemned the 1 July attack on a group of Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad as "a despicable attack on Afghanistan's historic Sikh and Hindu community".
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of threat to the Sikh community in Afghanistan.
Answered by Mark Field
Security remains an ongoing challenge in Afghanistan. The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces are committed to tackling this threat. As part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission, the UK supports the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in its efforts to improve security for all communities.
Ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, including the Christian, Sikh and Hindu communities, continue to face challenges. We regularly raise human rights issues with the Government of Afghanistan, including the need to protect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups in line with the constitution. The UK condemns in the strongest possible terms the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs. Last year, I publicly condemned the 1 July attack on a group of Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad as "a despicable attack on Afghanistan's historic Sikh and Hindu community".
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has received from the German Government on the Rosenholz files.
Answered by Alan Duncan
None.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What diplomatic steps he is taking to tackle the constitutional and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and the effect of that crisis on the political and economic situation in neighbouring countries.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We are all concerned about the situation in Venezuela, a crisis of growing regional magnitude. Only yesterday 25 members of the National Guard revolted against Maduro's leadership. In October 2018, speaking at Chatham House, I called for a concerted regional and global response to what has become a man-made regional crisis. The UK is standing alongside American, EU and Lima Group partners to ensure a robust response to the crisis; all options remain open including further targeted sanctions.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the Indian Government on the continuing imprisonment of Jagtar Singh Johal.
Answered by Mark Field
We continue to press the Indian Government at official and Ministerial level to address concerns raised with them on behalf of Jagtar Singh Johal, including allegations of torture and mistreatment. Baroness Williams and I raised the case with the Minister of State for External Affairs, on 11 June and 7 May respectively, and most recently I raised Mr Johal’s case with the outgoing Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Y K Sinha, on 23 October 2018. Our consular staff in India continue to visit Mr Johal regularly.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps with his international counterparts to impose sanctions on the leading figures in the Venezuelan Maduro regime.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK does not have its own domestic sanctions regime but does act with the international community to implement UN and EU sanctions.
We agreed a tough EU sanctions regime on Venezuela in November 2017. Travel bans and assets freezes were imposed on seven government officials in February 2018 and a further 11 officials in July 2018.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Government of Venezuela in respect of the killing of and assaults made against opposition politicians; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As I stated in my Chatham House speech on 25 October, we are extremely concerned at the Venezuelan government's continued attacks on opposition politicians, a number of whom have been imprisoned, exiled or stripped of their political rights. The illegal detention of National Assembly MP Juan Requesens and the death of Fernando Alban whilst detained by the Venezuelan Intelligence Service are both particularly disturbing.
In October, our Ambassador met the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, and the Vice-Minister for Europe, Yvan Gil, and expressed our concerns. In London, the Head, Latin America Department, FCO, called in the Venezuelan Ambassador to express our concern about Mr Requessens and to urge the Venezuelan government to release all political prisoners.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of India on the release of Jagtar Singh Johal.
Answered by Mark Field
We continue to make frequent representations on Mr Johal’s behalf. Most recently, our Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi raised the case with the Ministry of External Affairs on 19 February. I continue to engage with the family and met the family and their MP, Martin Docherty-Hughes, on 1 February 2018. Our consular staff in India visit Mr Johal regularly.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made on behalf of Jagtar Singh Johal who is in custody in India.
Answered by Mark Field
The British High Commission has raised this case with the Indian authorities immediately on notification of Mr Johal's detention. We have urgently requested consular access so that officials can check on his welfare.