Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Ukrainian Government faces considerable challenges both in upholding and protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of continuing Russian destabilisation, and in taking forward a comprehensive programme of political and economic reform. The Prime Minister underlined in Parliament on 25th January the UK's "commitment to the independent sovereign state of Ukraine", and our continuing strong political and practical support.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the protection and promotion of human rights.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign Secretary met with the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Bonn on 16 February. During the meeting they reaffirmed our shared goals and agreed to work together on a range of global issues
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 government of Egypt on recent UN reports of human rights abuses in that country.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of recent statements by UN special rapporteurs expressing concern at restrictions placed on human rights defenders and civil society in Egypt. In December, the spokesperson for the then UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, expressed concern over the arrest of prominent Egyptian human rights defender Azza Soliman.
We are concerned about the decreasing space for civil society to operate in Egypt. Ministers and senior officials regularly raise our concerns with the Egyptian authorities in both London and Cairo. During my meeting with the Egyptian Ambassador on 8 December, I raised our concerns about the arrest of human rights defender Azza Soliman. In the same meeting I reiterated concerns, outlined in my statement from 1 December, about a proposed new law on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
We have also raised our concerns about human rights at the UN. During the most recent session of the UN's Human Rights Council in September we raised concerns about restrictions on civil society in both our national statement and through the EU statement.
We will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Egypt closely, and to urge the Egyptian government to ensure full implementation of the provisions for the free operation of civil society, contained in the constitution, including through a revised NGO law that conforms to international standards and protects freedom of expression.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much of his Department's spending falls under the definition of official development assistance in the current financial year.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO's Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation for FY 2016/17 is £466m.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to discuss with his international counterparts plans to expedite air drops in Syria.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Getting humanitarian aid to Syrians trapped in besieged areas is one of our top priorities. Over 570,000 people remain in areas besieged by the Syrian regime. We have regular discussions with our international partners, including on methods for delivering humanitarian assistance to besieged populations in Syria. There are huge obstacles to carrying out airdrops, not least the risk to aircraft from regime air defences or terrorist groups. However, we rule nothing out and maintain every effort to help those in besieged areas. Most recently on 19 December we helped secure UN Security Council Resolution 2328 which demanded full access for the UN across Syria.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Saudi Arabia on future arms deals with the UK.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) has discussed issues relating to the continued export of arms from the UK to Saudi Arabia regularly with his counterpart, including most recently during his visit to Riyadh on 11 December 2016 and again on 15 December 2016.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Government holds on whether any UK nationals sit as judges in Israeli military courts.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold any information on this issue.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of Palestinian child detainees from the West Bank who have been transferred and detained inside Israel in each month since April 2016.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Whilst we do not hold monthly figures, the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention remains a human rights priority for the UK and I raised this with the Israeli Ambassador to London on 10 November. We remain concerned by the continued transfer of Palestinian child and adult detainees to prisons inside Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on reports of recent massacres in Beni and the North Kivu region in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Government is deeply concerned by the reports of mass killings in Beni. During my visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August, I raised the ongoing violence in eastern DRC with Maman Sidikou, Head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in eastern DRC (MONUSCO). In addition, our Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, regularly discusses the Beni situation with the MONUSCO leadership and the DRC Government. The EU Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions of 17 October reiterated the EU’s profound concern at the situation in Beni and reminded all involved of the UN sanctions regime for those responsible for serious human rights violations. Most recently, our representative on the UNSC visited eastern DRC last week to explore what more MONUSCO can do to prevent future killings.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on improving diplomatic co-ordination against Daesh.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Global Coalition continues to coordinate closely as we reach a key phase of the campaign against Daesh. All five of the Coalition's Working Groups have met in the last two months, including Communications which I co-chaired. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, My Right Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) and the Secretary of State for Defence, my Right Hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Sir Michael Fallon), attended meetings in Paris in October shortly after the operation to take Mosul began. Most recently, the Small Group of Coalition senior officials met in Berlin on 17 November.