Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend will know that, along with our E3 colleagues, we have triggered the dispute resolution mechanism for the JCPOA on the nuclear side. It has always been the case that the JCPOA did not encompass the wider destabilising activities in which Iran engages in the region through militias and proxies, and we have always been open and willing, and indeed pressing, to try to incorporate a bigger agreement. But it is also right to say that until there is scope for that wider agreement, what we have is the JCPOA, which provides the vehicle for some kind of restraint on Iran, although I accept that it has been eroded because of systemic non-compliance. We would be reluctant to move to something bigger until it is in place, and should not lose sight of what the JCPOA adds.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (SNP)]

It has been two years since President Mnangagwa took office in Zimbabwe, yet progress in human rights reform has been non-existent. In the past year alone 70 critics of the Zimbabwean Government have been abducted and tortured by security forces; what steps is the FCDO taking to engage with the Zimbabwean authorities to progress reforms and ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice?

[Dominic Raab]

I share the hon. Lady’s concern about the situation in Zimbabwe. We follow it carefully and engage with our international partners as well as directly with the Government of Zimbabwe. Working with our partners, we have the tools, if the evidence allows and we decide it is the right thing to do, to apply targeted sanctions on those who commit the most egregious human rights abuses.