Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to help ensure a secure and stable Government in Lebanon.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I spoke with former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri on 9 December 2019 about the situation and with new Lebanese Foreign Minister Dr. Nassif Hitti on 28 January. Members of the International Support Group for Lebanon – including the UK – met in December 2019. The group reiterated its support to Lebanon and was unified in calling for the swift formation of a Government capable of meeting the aspirations expressed by Lebanese and capable of delivering the urgently required economic reform; it also reiterated that the right for peaceful protest must continue to be respected. The UK's Defence Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa visited Lebanon on 12 December 2019 and met with senior Lebanese authorities, including President Aoun, to discuss the current situation.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support children in conflict zones throughout the world.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The UK is firmly committed to protecting all children affected by conflict and in particular ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The UK is the largest single financial contributor to the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), contributing £800,000 over the last five years to her Office and £450,000 for the 2019/20 financial year in support of her mandate. The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on CAAC which leads the international response on child protection, supporting the SRSG's work by applying diplomatic pressure to listed governments and armed groups.
In 2018, the UK endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment to reduce the impact of conflict on education, and the Vancouver Principles, a political commitment to operationalise child protection during the conduct of United Nations peacekeeping operations. We continue to support these key instruments. The UK is mainstreaming child protection into its own military deployments through bespoke training. Through the Department for International Development, we are one of the largest bilateral donors to "Education Cannot Wait", an initiative which protects access to education for children in conflict zones.
In November 2019, the UK will host an international conference on preventing sexual violence in conflict. A key focus will be how we can better support children born of sexual violence in conflict, including tackling stigma.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) governance of and (b) humanitarian situation in (i) Uighur and (ii) Xinjiang province, China.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We have serious concerns about the human rights and humanitarian situation in Xinjiang, where there are credible reports of over a million Uyghurs and other minorities being detained in so called "re-education camps." British diplomats in China visit Xinjiang regularly, most recently in May, in order to see the situation at first-hand. Their observations have supported much of the recent open source reporting, including reports of widespread surveillance measures, restrictions targeted at specific ethnic groups, and restrictions on the ability to freely practice religion.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) governance and (b) humanitarian situation in (i) Uighur and (b) Xinjiang province, China.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
“It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.”
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of the UK's diplomatic relations with Egypt.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK wants Egypt to succeed as a stable, prosperous and democratic country. The UK-Egypt relationship is important and spans a wide range of fields, from foreign policy, to trade and investment, economic reform, education, and healthcare. British companies continue to be one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment into Egypt. The Government works closely with the Egyptian authorities to counter shared threats from terrorism, to promote the safety and security of over 450,000 British citizens who visit Egypt each year, and to support longer-term reform. A close relationship enables us to register concerns where we have them, for example on human rights. British Ministers regularly meet their Egyptian counterparts. I visited Cairo last month for discussions on a wide range of bilateral issues.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the UK's role in global ocean conservation.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The UK's vision is to achieve a clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse ocean. As set out in the Government's 25 Year Environment Plan, we will work domestically and internationally to deliver this vision and our commitments under UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life Below Water, the objective of which is to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. At the UN General Assembly in September, the Prime Minister called for urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity as part of global efforts to tackle the drivers and impact of climate change. Action on climate change is linked to ocean conservation – tackling acidification, deoxygenation, temperature and sea level rise. The UK's nomination, in partnership with Italy, to host COP26 in 2020 in Glasgow is expected to be formally confirmed at COP25 (the "Blue COP") in Santiago in December. We will seek to build on the outcomes from COP25 and ensure that the ocean remains high on the climate agenda.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Chinese counterpart on the treatment of the Uighur people by the Chinese Government.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
On 26 September during an Urgent Question on Hong Kong I set out the UK’s serious concerns about the credible reports of over a million Uyghur Muslims being held in so-called “re-education camps”. As I stated in the House, we will continue to ensure that these concerns are expressed directly with Chinese authorities. We also raise the issue multilaterally: the UK recently co-hosted an event on Xinjiang at the UN General Assembly where the Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, called for China to allow UN observers unfettered access to the region. The former Foreign Secretary highlighted our concerns about Xinjiang with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his last visit to China. The former Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific did the same with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during his last visit to China.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role his Department plays in the prevention of human trafficking.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to realising Sustainable Development Goal 8.7, the eradication of all forms of modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking by 2030, and has made tackling modern slavery and human trafficking a foreign policy priority.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works closely with bilateral partners to counter modern slavery and human trafficking. For example, the UK has signed Memoranda of Understanding on aspects of combating modern slavery with Malta and the Philippines, and has contributed to the improved effectiveness of law enforcement authorities, including in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Philippines. In cooperation with other Government departments, the FCO supports a range of projects in this area, including on child labour, children in conflict, those working in the garment and construction industries, and safe migration. We also drive forward the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking in multilateral fora, including in the UN, Commonwealth, Council of Europe, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking launched by the UK at UNGA 2017 has now been endorsed by nearly 90 countries, showing a growing international consensus to tackle these heinous crimes. The Government wants to harness this momentum to deliver further tangible progress towards delivering SDG 8.7.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role his Department has in preventing human trafficking.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
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 his Indian and Pakistani counterparts to encourage dialogue between the two nations and to help ease tensions in Kashmir.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.