Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)
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 reduce the maternal mortality rate in Bangladesh.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The FCDO's 'Better Health in Bangladesh Programme' provides financial and technical assistance to the Government of Bangladesh's national health sector programme. The programme helps to ensure that women have access to safe maternal care in Bangladesh through interventions including post abortion care, midwifery training, and technical assistance to strengthen Bangladesh's health system. It also aims to combat issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and ending preventable deaths of mothers and new-borns. In targeted districts of Bangladesh, the FCDO tests new methods of basic emergency obstetric care. The programme also provides technical health assistance to improve quality midwifery education in Bangladesh. The programme has helped deliver over 85,000 babies, provided 818,000 people family planning services, and screened over 630,000 women for cervical cancer.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will request a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the non-implementation by Myanmar of the provisional measures set out in the International Court of Justice judgement of 22 July 2022 on the case of Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar).
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
On 25 August 2022, the UK announced its intention to intervene in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case regarding Myanmar's compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in relation to acts committed against the Rohingya. We are also clear that Myanmar should comply with all aspects of the ICJ's Provisional Measures Order, which requires Myanmar to take steps to prevent the commission of genocide against the Rohingya.
We convened the UN Security Council in February 2020 following the ICJ's announcement of the Provisional Measures Order and publicly urged Myanmar's compliance with these legally binding obligations. We understand the ICJ is monitoring Myanmar's compliance with the Provisional Measures Order, which we support.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the US Government declaring its principal support for a referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, whether the UK government supports in principle a referral of Myanmar to that court.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The UK is clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. We condemn the continuing grave human rights violations by the Myanmar Armed Forces, as well as historic atrocities against the Rohingya. The UK is supportive, in principle, of any attempts to bring these issues before the International Criminal Court (ICC) where they can be scrutinised.
However, with regards to a referral by the UN Security Council, our assessment remains that there is insufficient support amongst Security Council members for a referral at this time. It will not advance the cause of accountability for an ICC referral to fail to win Security Council support or to be vetoed; such a result would only give comfort to the Myanmar Armed Forces and reduce the pressure they currently face.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has taken steps to verify the reported 16-year hard labour sentence handed to the former Chief Minister of Shan State, Linn Htut, in Myanmar, and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK has repeatedly condemned the arbitrary detention and politically motivated sentencing of those who oppose the coup. We are deeply concerned by reports that former National League for Democracy leader, Linn Htut, was arrested on 28 January 2022 on trumped up corruption charges and has received a prison sentence. Some 12,000 people have been detained since the coup, with credible reports of torture and sexual violence. Immediately following the coup, the former Minister for Asia made a statement to the house, which called on the military to release those arbitrarily detained. On 17 February 2021, our former Ambassador raised our strong objections to the arrest and detention of protestors and political figures with the military, in his role as Chair of the Joint Peace Fund. On 8 December 2021, following the sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint, we secured a UN Security Council Resolution which called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained. In February 2022, to mark a year since the coup, the UK coordinated a joint statement, agreed by 36 countries, which called for the release of all those in arbitrary detention and a return to the democratic process, and we secured a strong UN Security Council Press Statement which called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the reported increase in the number of political prisoners in Myanmar since the military coup on February 1, 2021, what steps her Department is taking to increase the pressure on the Myanmar military junta to release all political prisoners.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK has repeatedly condemned the arbitrary detention and politically motivated sentencing of those who oppose the coup. We are deeply concerned by reports that former National League for Democracy leader, Linn Htut, was arrested on 28 January 2022 on trumped up corruption charges and has received a prison sentence. Some 12,000 people have been detained since the coup, with credible reports of torture and sexual violence. Immediately following the coup, the former Minister for Asia made a statement to the house, which called on the military to release those arbitrarily detained. On 17 February 2021, our former Ambassador raised our strong objections to the arrest and detention of protestors and political figures with the military, in his role as Chair of the Joint Peace Fund. On 8 December 2021, following the sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint, we secured a UN Security Council Resolution which called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained. In February 2022, to mark a year since the coup, the UK coordinated a joint statement, agreed by 36 countries, which called for the release of all those in arbitrary detention and a return to the democratic process, and we secured a strong UN Security Council Press Statement which called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained.