Persecution and Detention of LGBT Citizens: Chechnya Debate
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Patrick Grady
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Persecution and Detention of LGBT Citizens: Chechnya
Patrick Grady Excerpts(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Sir Alan Duncan
I have to tell the hon. Lady that that is primarily a Home Office matter, and a matter for the proper workings of asylum legislation.
Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)
In February, the Foreign Secretary announced the £700 million empowerment fund to come from the aid budget to project soft power and human rights. How is that fund being used to promote LGB rights and equal rights campaigners and to support civil society in Chechnya and elsewhere? May I echo the points of my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes) because the Minister has not yet confirmed the Government’s commitment to the 0.7% aid target? This is precisely a demonstration of why that target is so important.
Sir Alan Duncan
The hon. Gentleman makes proper reference to the empowerment fund, for which, I understand, bids are currently in play. Given the election, I imagine that that process will be forestalled slightly, but I am confident that within many of those bids there will be programmes designed for the promotion of human rights in many of the countries at which the fund is directing its efforts.