Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support the Ukrainian government on matters of (a) governance and (b) rule of law.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Rule of law and governance reform are UK priorities, alongside anti-corruption, security sector reform and economic and business environment reform. The Good Governance Fund Ukraine, a £38 million three-year technical assistance programme, is supporting Ukraine's good governance, economic resilience and growth. UK-funded expertise is helping to relaunch the High Council of Justice and High Qualification Commission of Judges, institutions critical to a judiciary free from unlawful interference. Such reforms increase private sector confidence, which will be critical to Ukraine's post-war reconstruction. The UK has driven progress on this agenda internationally, including at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart on the principle of the rule of law in Ukraine in the context of postwar reconstruction.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK regularly discusses rule of law with the Government of Ukraine in the context of postwar reconstruction. Ukraine recognises that robust governance and respect for the rule of law is critical to attracting private sector investment and supporting Ukraine's postwar reconstruction. Further, the UK's Good Governance Fund Ukraine, a £38 million three-year technical assistance programme, has been supporting Ukraine's good governance, economic resilience and growth. UK-funded expertise is also helping to relaunch the High Council of Justice and High Qualification Commission of Judges to support a judiciary free from unlawful interference.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the rule of law in Ukraine and the potential impact of this on the appetite of private investors to fund any post-war reconstruction.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
At the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 in London, the UK and international partners reiterated the need for Ukraine to continue with reform, including on rule of law, to underpin recovery and reconstruction and attract private investment into Ukraine. The UK's Good Governance Fund Ukraine, a £38 million three-year technical assistance programme, has been supporting anti-corruption and judicial reforms in Ukraine, including the relaunch of the High Council of Justice and High Qualification Commission of Judges. Both these institutions are critical to a judiciary that is free from unlawful interference.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans his Department has to revise the covid-19 travel advice on cruises.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The FCDO remains fully committed to working closely with the Department for Transport and key industry leaders following the publication of the second Global Travel Taskforce report. International cruises will restart alongside the wider restart of international travel, in line with the "traffic light" system. This will be subject to continued satisfactory evidence from the domestic restart and cruising in other countries. Travel advice will continue to be informed by the latest public health risk assessments.
For now, national restrictions on international travel remain in place, including only permitting travel abroad for a limited number of reasons set out in law. Holiday travel is not included.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
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 ensure those responsible in Afghanistan for the (a) attack on a maternity hospital and (b) other targeted attacks on the Hazara community are brought to justice.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government was appalled by the attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul last month. The Foreign Secretary and the Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, publicly condemned the attack. The UN Security Council made clear the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, in its statement of 13 May. We commend this. We continue to support the Afghan National Defence and Security Force (ANDSF), helping them combat the threat from insurgent groups. All ethnic and religious groups, including the Hazaras, have equal rights and an important role to play in Afghanistan's political decision-making. At the Human Rights Council (HRC), the Afghan Government accepted our recommendation that they establish an independent mechanism to assess how security protection can be improved for religious and ethnic minorities.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government is providing humanitarian aid to assist Australia in tackling its bushfire crisis.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As I set out in my Oral Statement of 9 January in the House of Commons, we have deployed a team of UK experts to Australia.
The team includes a senior member of UK Fire and Rescue Service, a medical specialist in trauma and mental health, and a military liaison officer specialising in crisis response.
They have been working with Australian counterparts to establish what further UK support will be of most use to Australian emergency responders, and ensure that such contributions are fully integrated with Australian efforts.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help de-escalate tensions between Iran and the US.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Following the death of Qasem Soleimani, we urged all parties to de-escalate tensions and find a diplomatic way through the crisis. We are clear that calls for retaliation or reprisals will lead to more violence in the region, which is in no one’s interest. The Prime Minister has spoken to President Trump, President Rouhani, President Macron, Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi in recent days, and will have calls with other leaders in the coming days to encourage de-escalation.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the (a) timing, (b) UK representation and (c) UK objectives for the UN-led national conference on Libya.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We fully support the next steps in the UN Action Plan for Libya, as set out by the Special Representative of the Secretary General, including plans to convene a wide range of Libyan stakeholders at a National Conference in early 2019. We continue to engage with UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on preparatory work for the National Conference and support the objective of ensuring that a broad spectrum of Libyan society is represented. It is not yet clear whether international participation will be appropriate.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken in response to the finding of the House of Lords European Union Committee’s report entitled Operation Sophia: a failed mission, published on 12 July 2017, that Operation Sophia has failed to achieve its objective of contributing to the disruption of the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Southern Central Mediterranean.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As my reply on 13 September 2017 to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union stated, the Government accepts that Operation SOPHIA has not delivered all we had hoped. However, there have been successes since Op SOPHIA was established. The smuggling networks can no longer operate with impunity in International Waters. The Operation has put over 551 smuggling vessels beyond use and rescued over 44,000 migrants. The Libyan Coastguard Training Task has also improved Libya's ability to manage its own maritime border.
However, HMG has always been clear that Operation SOPHIA is one part of the European approach to this issue. Ultimately, we need to prioritise interventions upstream in countries of origin and transit. Doing so should reduce the need of individuals and families to leave their home country or move on from a safe third country in their region. It is also worth noting that Operation SOPHIA is additionally tasked with the important work of implementing the UN arms embargo on Libya in the High Seas. Military vessels are vital for this task, which prevents deliveries of arms that would further destabilise the fragile situation in Libya. Non-military vessels would not be able to deter smuggling gangs from operating in International Waters in the same way. Military assets are also better able to confiscate and destroy unsafe boats and outboard engines used by smugglers.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of Operation Sophia in deterring illegal migrants seeking entry to the EU.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Since Operation Sophia launched in July 2015, it has trained over 200 members of the Libyan Coastguard and Navy (LCG&N) on human rights, gender, and search and rescue, to improve their conduct and effectiveness in these areas. The LCG&N is now better able to rescue migrants at sea, which has been a contributory factor in reducing the volume of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean into Italy. The smuggling networks can no longer operate with impunity in International Waters. The Operation has put over 551 smuggling vessels beyond use and rescued over 44,000 migrants.
Operation Sophia is just one part of the EU’s overall approach to tackling the migration crisis. Ultimately, the UK Government aims to prioritise interventions upstream in countries of origin and transit to reduce the need of migrants to leave their home country or move on from a safe third country in their region. At the same time UK and EU efforts aim to alleviate the suffering of migrants in Libya through measures such as providing critical humanitarian assistance, supporting assisted voluntary returns, and working with the UN towards a political solution in Libya. The UK is clear that significant improvement in the human rights situation in Libya requires the stability of a united and representative government.