Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her department is taking to support democratic elections overseas, including in relation to challenging practices by foreign governments of (a) cancelling and (b) delaying elections.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 17 December 2024 to Question 19695.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to help strengthen NATO unity.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Foreign Secretary regularly engages with NATO Allies, including most recently at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 3-4 April, where Finland acceded to NATO and Allies demonstrated our continued solidarity with Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary and I [Minister Docherty] will continue engaging extensively with Turkey, Hungary and Allies to ensure swift ratification of Sweden so we can meet at the Vilnius Summit at 32.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Joint Submission by Human Rights Watch and Lawyers for Justice to the Committee Against Torture on Palestine, published July 2022, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Palestinian Authority on arbitrary arrest and torture in detention.
Answered by David Rutley
Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to continue to improve the performance of the security sector. The UK remains committed to a two state-solution, as Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State for the Middle East, made clear on his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories from 11-13 January. And an essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.