Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 147856 on United Nations: peace keeping operations, if he will list the equipment that the UK received reimbursements for from the UN in each year since 2013-14.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK, as a Troop Contributing Country (TCC) to UN peacekeeping missions, receives reimbursements from the UN for equipment it has provided. These reimbursements fall into two categories: self-sustainment and major equipment. Self-sustainment can include items such as bedding and furniture. Major equipment can includes items such as generators, containers and vehicles. A full list of the equipment the UK has received reimbursement for, each year since 2013-14, is not held centrally by the FCO and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2018 to Question 148703, what voluntary ODA funding the UK has allocated for the purposes of UN peacekeeping in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK’s voluntary contributions to UN Peacekeeping from Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is as follows: 2013 £0.7m; 2014 £0.3m; 2015 £2.5m; 2016 £3.1m. Data for 2017 will not be available until Autumn 2018.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of UK ODA spending has been spent on UN peacekeeping in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Mark Field
UK ODA spending as part of our assessed (mandatory) contributions to the UN peacekeeping budget, in each of the last eight years has been: 2010 0.25%; 2011 0.24%; 2012 0.23%; 2013 0.22%; 2014 0.16%; 2015 0.16%; 2016 0.38%; and 2017 data will be published in Autumn 2018 in the "Statistics on International Development: Final UK aid spend 2017" report.
The UK has also given other voluntary ODA funding to UN peacekeeping on a case by case basis.
UK's ODA Assessed Contributions to UN Peacekeeping Missions as a proportion of total UK ODA 2010-2016
| Total UK ODA (£m) | Total core contributions to UN Peacekeeping Missions (£m) | Proportion of total UK ODA |
2010 | 8,529 | 21.4 | 0.25% |
2011 | 8,629 | 21.0 | 0.24% |
2012 | 8,802 | 20.3 | 0.23% |
2013 | 11,407 | 25.6 | 0.22% |
2014 | 11,700 | 19.1 | 0.16% |
2015 | 12,138 | 19.1 | 0.16% |
2016 | 13,377 | 50.9 | 0.38% |
| | | |
Source: Statistics on International Development 2017 | | | |
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much the Government has spent on UN peacekeeping in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Mark Field
UK expenditure on UN peacekeeping includes the following: our assessed (mandatory) contributions for individual peacekeeping operations; funding for UK troop deployments to Cyprus, South Sudan and Somalia and a number of staff officers and police deployed to UN peacekeeping missions and UN headquarters. We have also funded projects in the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) with the purpose of making peacekeeping more effective and efficient. Our expenditure on UN peacekeeping comes from the Cross Government Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Our assessed (mandatory) contributions for individual UN Peacekeeping missions were £265m in 2017/18, £277m in 2016/17, £312m in 2015/16, £347m in 2014/15, £304m in 2013/14, £324m in 2012/13, £367m in 2011/12. FCO internal records do not cover earlier years: however, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report states that our assessed contributions for peacekeeping overall (including contributions to peacekeeping undertaken by other multilateral organisations) was £408m. The funded projects in DPKO, via the CSSF, cost £4.4m in 2017/18, £2.6m in 2016/17 and £3.1m in 2015/16. Our UK troop deployment to Cyprus costs £18m per year and our troop deployments to South Sudan and Somalia cost £15m in 2016/17 with figures currently not available for 2017/18.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much money the UN has reimbursed the UK for the provision of (a) personnel and (b) equipment for peacekeeping operations in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Mark Field
Our Government receives reimbursements from the UN for both personnel and equipment deployed on peacekeeping operations. For personnel (troop reimbursements) we received £5.5m in 2017/18, £3.7m in 2016/17, £3.1m in 2015/16, £2.9m in 2014/15, £3.5m in 2013/14, £2.7m in 2012/13, £1.1m in 2011/12 and £3.5m in 2010/11. These reimbursements are for our troop contributions to Cyprus (UNFICYP), Somalia (UNSOS) and South Sudan (UNMISS). For equipment contributions we received £121k in 2017/18, £59.2k in 2016/17, £17k in 2015/16, £16k in 2014/15, £45k in 2013/14, £0 in 2012/13, £0 in 2011/12 and £10k in 2010/11.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
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 encourage the abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The British Government is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We raise our concerns at the highest level and will continue to do so. My Rt Hon. Friend the former Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron), reiterated our position to Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in April and I expressed my concerns following the executions which took place in July.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
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 promote LGBT rights in Indonesia.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The British Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission in Jakarta have discussed this issue with a range of civil society organisations and have raised our concerns with Indonesian Ministers, including the Minister for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection. Embassy officials will continue to meet the LGBT community and human rights activists to understand their concerns and provide support where we are able.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The UK strongly supports global abolition of the death penalty. It is part of the day-to-day work of all diplomatic missions to countries that retain the death penalty.
Under the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, the Foreign Office has this year approved funding for anti death penalty projects worth over £500,000, covering more than 10 countries.
We continue to work closely with our international partners to promote the abolition of the death penalty, including supporting the UN resolution on a global moratorium on the death penalty.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Indonesian government on the treatment of people living with mental health conditions in that country.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Deputy Head of Mission at our Embassy in Jakarta has raised this issue with the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection. The United Kingdom is committed to working with other states to ensure the rights of people with mental health conditions are upheld in full. It is important to recognise the inherent dignity and worth, and the equal and inalienable rights, of all people.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
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 promote human rights in West Papua.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We follow the situation in the province of West Papua with close interest, whilst respecting the territorial integrity of Indonesia. The British Ambassador to Indonesia has visited West Papua a number of times to raise our concerns on this issue with members of the police, religious and community leaders.