Belarus: Interception of Aircraft

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ms Nusrat Ghani (Wealden) (Con)]

I congratulate my constituency neighbour, the Chair the Foreign Affairs Committee, on securing this urgent question. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s very swift statements on how to respond to this hijacking, but I want to push him a little bit further. I am anxious that the tactics used recently will encourage other curious countries. What confidence can the Foreign Secretary give to journalists, activists or other individuals who are sanctioned for spurious reasons, in case their lives may now be under threat; what work can be done to strengthen western allies to ensure that their safety is met?

With your indulgence, Mr Speaker—piracy has been mentioned a few times and as the previous Maritime Minister, I cannot let this point go. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that the tactics that have played out may encourage countries such as China, which claims sovereignty over the whole South China sea? A third of the world’s maritime trade crosses through those waters, and if China could claim the right to intercept any ship or any plane crossing over the South China sea—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I allowed the hon. Lady a little latitude, but I think it is a bit much to take complete control of the debate; we want short questions.

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is understandably worried about the wider international implications of this action. One of the things we discussed at the G7 meeting of Foreign Ministers was the importance not only of addressing these issues country by country but of the thematic protection of the international order. I have already mentioned the coalition for media freedom; on top of that we discussed support for the other Canadian-inspired initiative to counter the arbitrary detention of nationals or, indeed, dual nationals abroad—I am thinking in relation to Iran, but also more generally. On top of that, I hope the House knows that in March we launched the international accountability platform on Belarus to collect, verify and store evidence of human rights violations. That initiative was led by Britain, Denmark and Germany, a total of 20 states support it and we have provided money for it. That allows us to gather the evidence not just to call out abuses but, as some have mentioned, to pave the way for prosecutions when that is feasible in due course.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman is right about the action we take and the deterrent effect it has. He mentioned asset freezes; asset freezes in relation to 99 individuals and entities are already in place, but we will, as I have already said, look right across the full range to see what further action we should take and look to work very closely with our international allies about which options to take forward.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am suspending the House for the necessary arrangements to be made.