Countering Iran’s Hostile Activities
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Chris LawWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Henderson. I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge) for securing this important debate and to the debate’s co-sponsor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith). They both know that I respect them hugely, and as has been mentioned by other Members today, there is very little on which we disagree.
I am grateful to the hon. Members for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), for Dundee West (Chris Law) and for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for their very thoughtful and accurate descriptions of Iran’s regime, including its violence at home and its malign influence overseas. I will respond as best I can, but obviously, if I miss any points, I will respond in writing. I want to show how we are working to deter and respond to the threats alongside our international partners, and, of course, we will never be complacent.
As the right hon. Member for Barking mentioned, Iran’s attack on Israel on 13 April was just outrageous. It was dangerous, unacceptable and the latest example of Iran’s destabilising activity in the region. Almost all the missiles were intercepted, saving lives in Israel and the region, thanks to a co-ordinated international effort that included the UK. Yet we should be clear: this was a reckless escalation by Iran, and had this attack been successful, it is hard to overstate just how serious the fallout for regional stability might have been.
The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary both condemned the attack in the strongest terms. The Foreign Secretary also communicated directly to his Iranian counterpart that the destabilising activity must stop. In the aftermath of the attack, we imposed sanctions targeting key parts of Iran’s military, as well as individuals and companies in Iran’s drone and missile industries. We have also announced plans to introduce further bans on the export to Iran of components that could be used in drone and missile production.
Many contributions talked about the regional instability fuelled by Iran. Iran has been fuelling regional escalation through its military, financial and political support to its proxies and partners, including Hamas, Hezbollah and militia groups in Iraq and Syria. We are clear that Iran must cease that support and use its influence to prevent further attacks. That includes in the Red sea, where Iran has provided intelligence and weapons that have enabled the Houthis to target vessels. The UK is committed to working with the international community to support regional security, addressing weapons proliferation to non-state actors, safeguarding maritime security and maintaining a permanent defence presence in the region.
Many contributions referred to the link between Iran, Russia and China, which were all reflected on in the integrated review. We know that Iran’s hostile activities stretch far beyond the middle east, and as the Minister responsible for Europe, a lot of my time is spent working on Russia and, of course, defending Ukraine. Iran is now one of Russia’s top military backers and this has prolonged armed conflict in Ukraine, adding to the suffering of the Ukrainian people. In response, we have made 24 sanctions designations in respect of Iran’s drone supply to Russia. That is in addition to our wider efforts on the Iranian missile and drone programme. At the UN Security Council, we have held both sides to account for their unacceptable collaboration, including sharing evidence with other members.
On the question of ballistic missile transfers, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green raised, let me be clear that this would be a significant escalation and a turning point in Iran’s relations with Europe. That is something we have told Iran directly. Should Iran proceed with providing ballistic missiles or related technology, the UK is prepared to respond swiftly and in co-ordination with G7 allies.
There has been discussion around Iran’s nuclear capability. Iran’s continued escalation of its nuclear activities is threatening international security—that was highlighted perfectly earlier—and undermining global systems of non-proliferation. There is no credible civilian justification for the current state of its nuclear programme. It goes far beyond the limits set out in the JCPOA nuclear deal and we have made it clear to Iran directly that it must de-escalate. In October 2023, the UK and EU maintained nuclear sanctions on Iran that were due to lift under the JCPOA. That was a direct and calibrated response to Iran’s non-compliance. We are committed to using all diplomatic options to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, including triggering the UN snapback if necessary.
There was a thoughtful and accurate reflection on Iran’s threats in the UK. Since January 2022, we have identified at least 15 threats backed by Iran towards the lives of individuals based in the UK. The FCDO is working closely with the Home Office and law enforcement partners to actively disrupt and respond to such threats. The Foreign Secretary has made it clear to his Iranian counterparts that the threats are unacceptable and must stop. He summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat to the UK in December in response to an ITV News report detailing plots to kill employees of Iran International.
In late 2023, we introduced a new Iran sanctions regime, which gives us more extensive powers to designate Iran-backed people and entities who threaten us and our allies. We have already used that to sanction members of organised crime networks and Iranian officials responsible for Iranian plots overseas. The National Security Act 2023 also gives us new powers to protect the British public, including new offences for espionage and foreign interference.
We have sanctioned more than 400 people and entities, including—as the right hon. Member for Barking will want to know—60 IRGC members. Sanctions have an immediate impact. They freeze and clamp down on economic activity, and they are very clear. The sanctions team within the FCDO spends a considerable amount of time looking at that particular country and its network.
On the point of proscription and the IRGC, I have been on record with where I stand on that issue, and that is already in Hansard for people to read. I recognise the strength of feeling displayed by hon. Members on the question of proscription, because they know where I stand on that issue. It is a long-standing position—as it should be, because these are very serious decisions—that we do not comment on any potential decisions. Yet as the Foreign Secretary outlined to the Lords Select Committee on International Relations and Defence last week, we recognise the malign threat posed by the IRGC and we are taking significant measures to counter it at home and around the world.
As I mentioned, we have already sanctioned the IRGC in its entirety and designated more than 60 IRGC officers and affiliated entities under our sanctions regime. That is not a point at which we stop; obviously, we gather evidence constantly to see how much further we can go. We are confident that we have the tools that we need to sanction, prosecute and mitigate the threats from Iran.
Chris Law
We have all laid out clearly the escalation that has been supported by Israel over the past seven or eight months, particularly around the middle eastern conflict. The Minister might not be able to tell us in detail, but what is the red line beyond which we will all understand that proscription will kick in? Each day that passes, the escalation gets greater. I understand her views on proscription, which we largely share, but what is the red line beyond which the UK Government will say, “Enough is enough, we’re now going to take action,” even if she cannot give us the date?
Ms Ghani
The power—the decision—to proscribe sits with the Home Office and the Home Secretary, so I do not want to speak without authority and without being absolutely accurate. I took care of the sanctions regime in the Department for Business and Trade, and I know that we had to meet an incredibly high evidence threshold within that framework. I assume that the same applies here. I accept that so many circumstances have taken place recently, but I cannot go any further in explaining where we are, because those decisions are taken internally. For us to speculate on who may or may not be proscribed does not help the discussion, but I fully appreciate the strength of feeling in the Chamber. I will see what more information I can provide in writing to the right hon. Member for Barking, who secured the debate.
Uyghur Tribunal Judgment
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Chris Law(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)
The verdict of the Uyghur Tribunal—that there is proof “beyond reasonable doubt” that the People’s Republic of China is committing crimes of torture, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide, as defined under international law, against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang—is further confirmation of what we in this Chamber already know. Indeed, in April last year the House passed a motion that stated that it
“believes that Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in…Xinjiang…are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide”.
As we heard earlier from the hon. Member for Wealden (Ms Ghani), who brought the debate to the House, there has so far been, in her words, “zero progress” from this Government.
We are not the only ones who are aware of what is going on; others are doing something about this situation. The US State Department has determined that China’s violations constitute genocide, as have the Parliaments of Canada, Lithuania and the Netherlands. Yet there is still no condemnation from the Government. There is shocking evidence of arbitrary detention, re-education camps, forced labour, the destruction of cultural sites, torture, rape and sexual violence and enforced sterilisation. Probably worst of all, and what I heard most harrowingly today, are the abortions of children who are alive at the late stage of pregnancy, who are then murdered by the Chinese state authorities. Those of us with an understanding of the Chinese Communist party’s motives, its actions in the past and its scant regard for human rights have been voicing our concerns loudly, despite attempts to keep us silent. I thank the hon. Member for Wealden for securing today’s debate and her relentless pursuing of this cause.
Although the Uyghur Tribunal has shone further light on the atrocities being committed in Xinjiang, the fact that we are relying on an unofficial body to do that, and the fact that these crimes are not prevented in the first place and continue to take place today, is shameful and an abject failure of the international community. As Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the tribunal, stated:
“Had any other body, domestic or international, determined or sought to determine these issues, the tribunal would have been unnecessary”.
For too long, as China has been emerging as a global superpower, a blind eye has been turned to the Chinese Communist party’s gross human rights abuses, but these cannot and must not be ignored any longer. Sadly, the International Criminal Court announced in December 2020 that it would not investigate allegations because China, as a non-member, was outside its jurisdiction. Furthermore, the possibility of further investigation by referral from the United Nations Security Council is hamstrung by the simple fact that China would simply use its veto to prevent that.
The UK Government therefore need to stop hiding and get away from the refrain of, “The policy of successive UK Governments is that any determination of genocide or crimes against humanity is a matter for a competent court.” It is not; it is a matter for a competent and active Government, and every voice and every party in this House is asking for urgent action—and now.
It is of grave concern that even despite the findings of report after report and investigation after investigation, the UK Government do not appear to accept the findings of genocide or their moral and, as has been said repeatedly today, legal obligation to prevent and punish these horrific crimes. It is nearly nine months since the House stated that what was happening in Xinjiang was genocide and more than one month since the Uyghur Tribunal published its judgment. We need to hear unequivocally from the Minister what assessment the UK Government have made of these verdicts, and what their next steps will be.
Have the UK Government explored the prospect of a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry using their Human Rights Council seat, as recommended by the Foreign Affairs Committee? If the Chinese Government continue to stall and prevent in-country investigations, the UK Government should propose a Human Rights Council motion that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should conduct an investigation into atrocities in Xinjiang from outside China. I hope the Minister is making some notes, because I would like to hear the answers to these questions today. Even if the Chinese Government continue to deny international observers access to Xinjiang, there is a great deal of evidence that can be used to verify the extent of crimes being committed there, as shown by the volume of evidence received at the hearings of the Uyghur Tribunal.
When it comes to access to Xinjiang and other regions in China, we can learn from others. The USA enacted the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act 2018, which denies Chinese Government officials access to the US if they are responsible for implementing restrictions on Americans who seek access to Tibet. I put it on the record today that I would like to join colleagues in the House who have been sanctioned and are fearful to travel to China in putting forward a visa application to see whether we will be denied. If we are, it will be a golden opportunity for the UK Government to step up and say, “That is fine. You are denying our own democratic representatives. This is what will happen to your officials.”
Chris Law
I am glad that the hon. Member has addressed that point. I did not directly mean those who had been sanctioned, but others beyond that who would like to say and do more. I fully appreciate that there are no sanctioned Members here who fear the Communist party state and its behaviour towards its inhabitants.
I was talking about reciprocal access to Tibet. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), who is no longer in his seat, and who I work with as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Tibet, has persevered with the Tibet and Xinjiang (Reciprocal Access) Bill. I once again urge the UK Government to give the Bill their full support and to enact its provisions immediately. I look forward to hearing a response on that this afternoon.
Indeed, many have commented that the illegal invasion and occupation of Tibet was the testing ground for the Chinese Communist party, and that the lessons learned from the oppression of Tibetans have been applied to Xinjiang, yet none of us across the decade since then has done enough to stand up for the people of Tibet, and this is the consequence of silence. It would be worthwhile, therefore, if the UK Government reversed the regrettable decision taken by the then Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, in 2008 to disregard the previous recognised autonomy of Tibet and accept Chinese authority over the region.
In 2011, Chen Quanguo was appointed the party secretary in the Tibetan autonomous region after the Chinese Communist party vowed never to let the protests that happened there in 2008 occur again. He was the key individual behind blanket surveillance, a heavy police presence, arrests and disappearances, and re-education camps in Tibet. From 2016, he has employed the same security measures in his repression of the Uyghurs, only this time on a far expanded scale. He was able to move seamlessly from repressing one group of people to another, because as far as the Chinese Communist party is concerned, he got results and he got away with it in the international community.
Chen is named in the Xinjiang papers released at the Uyghur Tribunal, and the UK Government must step up sanctions against him and his colleagues involved in perpetrating these gross human rights abuses. So I would like to hear from the Minister what further names have been added to the Magnitsky sanctions. The USA has sanctioned him, and it is again ahead of the UK, having just passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act banning all imports from Xinjiang unless a company can prove that they were not made with forced labour.
The UK could be doing exactly the same, but instead is choosing to sit on its hands, and the Government have in fact rejected the BEIS Committee’s recommendations to help tackle slave labour in Xinjiang. The Minister needs to explain why, and I urge the Government that this needs to change. Given that one in five garments globally are made from the cotton of Xinjiang—which means that just about every one of us in this Chamber will be wearing such a garment—and that other key products such as solar panels, which have been mentioned, are produced there, the UK needs to toughen up and enforce its own legislation. Furthermore, the UK should be pressing for the International Labour Organisation to conduct a full investigation on the Xinjiang region, to verify the extent of forced labour there as a matter of urgency.
The recent integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy called for more trade with China, but that potential trade liberalisation cannot come at the cost of forced labour in Xinjiang and weak words and inaction from the UK Government on these grave human rights abuses. As we have heard, the current Foreign Secretary, in her previous position as International Trade Secretary, facilitated a doubling of trade with China. The world cannot be picked off nation by nation, each turning a blind eye to genocide for the sake of trade deals.
I echo the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan), who is no longer in his place, in saying that we need to work with democracies across the world because democracy is fragile, and that is fundamentally what is being undermined as we do nothing here. Instead of focusing on trade, and whipping Members to vote against anti-genocide amendments to the Trade Bill, atrocity prevention should be the priority. It is deeply regrettable that the UK Government, like others, failed to recognise and prevent the atrocities in Xinjiang before they reached the levels that we are currently witnessing.
Finally, the UK Government cannot appease China, given these crimes against humanity. It is imperative that the UK Government go beyond words of condemnation and use every single possible avenue to end the persecution and to pursue the punishment of those who have instigated and participated in it. The Chinese Government must be held to account for their abhorrent crimes, and held to account now. Given the overwhelming evidence, and given that every single person in this Chamber is saying, time and again, “Please act, and please act now,” I expect nothing less than that from the UK Government Minister this afternoon, to show that we are not cowardly; and I also expect to hear her accept that to do nothing would be an utterly shameful abandonment of our legal and moral duty, as well as our own humanity.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Chris Law(5 years, 5 months ago)
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Chris Law
Can the Minister explain why the Secretary of State or his Department could not identify P&O Ferries, or indeed our wonderful ferry system in Scotland, CalMac, as candidates for additional cross-channel ferry services—both of them, unlike Seaborne, do have ships—and what is his Department’s estimate for the next legal settlement?
Ms Ghani
I was hoping that the hon. Gentleman was going to talk up his own ports and the extra business that will become available once we have left Europe, considering how excited ports are about the further opportunities coming our way. As I mentioned earlier, it was right and proper that we prepared for no deal, and we were working with a number of Government Departments to make sure capacity was available. The question of capacity was not for this Department; it was for a number of other Departments. It is curious that the hon. Gentleman does not also reflect on what the Scottish Government wanted in place just in case they needed extra capacity as well.