Sanctions

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My right hon. Friend is right. The reality is that Putin has made these threats to distract from his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We are being targeted because the UK has been leading on measures both to support Ukraine and to degrade the Russian economy, and the Russians do not like it.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Earlier, we unfortunately had an opaque response to my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Cat Smith) on oligarchs’ financing of the Conservative party, and the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) has also raised the question of the £2.3 million of donations. Would the Foreign Secretary like to take this opportunity to commit today to giving that money from Russian oligarchs directly to charities that will be supporting Ukrainian refugees—not, I hope, in picking vegetables, but being in this country in safety?

[Elizabeth Truss]

As I have said, we cannot tar every single person of Russian origin with the same brush. We are targeting oligarchs close to Putin without fear or favour and freezing bank assets without fear or favour, and we will continue to do so.

Afghanistan: FCDO Responses to Members

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

I thank my right hon. Friend for congratulating the officials who have been working so hard on this. I note that it is surprisingly common to be thanked by Opposition Members in private, and less so in public, but I will take the thanks wherever it comes. With regards to engagement, I can assure him that we are engaging multilaterally and with countries in the region. We will explore all routes for helping Afghans evacuate, whether that be land crossings or the re-establishment of air corridors.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Like many Members, I have an awful lot of cases. I have 150 cases that I am dealing with. I will not rehearse all the details, but they include prominent women’s rights activists who have death warrants already issued on their heads by the Taliban. I have veterans of the Afghan national army, and I even have the wife of a British national who has a two-month-old baby and is stuck in Kabul. I have another chap whose family have already been butchered by the theocratic fascists of the Taliban, and he is now in hiding, awaiting instructions from me or the Government on how we will get him out. I genuinely want to know what conversations the Minister is having, and whether they are being accelerated, with people such as our friends in the Pakistani Government to ensure that they have the money and support to be able to get as many people as possible safely over the border. It is clear we will not be extracting anyone directly out of Afghanistan any time soon, but we have friends there. If we can support them, we can get people out of Afghanistan and process them there to get to safe haven in our country.

Israel and Palestine

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2021 Westminster Hall

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab) [V]]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) for securing this important debate at a crucial fork in the road for Israel’s Government, following Naftali Bennett’s replacing Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister yesterday. I hope that the new Administration will listen to the voices of Governments around the world on the issue of justice in Palestine and urgently change direction, because for too long peace and the hope of peace has been crushed by military might. I know that a large number of my Labour colleagues wish to speak in the debate, including my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum), whose constituency had the highest number of signatories, alongside mine, to the petition that urges the UK Government to recognise the state of Palestine.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed millions of people marching in almost every major city in the world. Israel’s illegal occupations, annexations and bombardment of the Palestinian people and those trying simply to exist in Gaza can no longer be ignored. Indeed, there is an enormous sense of anger and injustice in my constituency of Ilford South, which has the highest number of signatories to the petition, at around 6,000. Individually, 5,000 people in my constituency have written to me. This has happened during the covid pandemic, which shows that people care deeply about what is happening around the world. My constituents rightly feel that human rights abuses should be challenged, be they in Kashmir, Myanmar, Yemen or, indeed, in Gaza.

Although people are rightly concerned about events in the middle east, I want to be clear that it is never acceptable for members of the Jewish community, both in my Ilford South constituency and across the UK, to be subject to criticism, abuse and attacks because of the actions of the Israeli Government. It is clear that there is a huge groundswell of support for justice as the escalation of this conflict has continued, with the needless deaths of civilians on both sides, the recent illegal seizure of land and the incendiary storming of the al-Aqsa mosque. The proliferation of evictions, demolitions and new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories not only runs counter to international humanitarian law, including the fourth Geneva convention; it also serves to make a viable two-state solution ever more distant.

The Labour party has long urged both sides to come together to ensure a just two-state solution that enables Palestinians and Israelis to peacefully co-exist. I have travelled to Israel and Palestine extensively, on more than half a dozen occasions, and I have seen at first hand the conditions in which Palestinians are forced to live. However, I have also met many progressive activists and politicians in Israel, and I encourage Members from both sides of the House to forge links with those groups and with partners for peace on both sides of the divide. As we have seen in recent weeks, they were highly effective in helping to bring the latest conflict to an end. The many powerful protests in the likes of Lod, Ramla and Umm al-Fahm show that hundreds of thousands of Israelis are united with the Palestinian people in their condemnation of the events in Palestine and Gaza.

The UK Government should therefore consider every possible avenue to put pressure on the Israeli Government. That includes reviewing the £360 million-worth of arms that they sell to Israel, and challenging—

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

Order. Can you wind up, please?

[Sam Tarry]

Indeed, Mr Dowd. The UK Government have an historical obligation, as do all of us on both sides of the House, to support the state of Palestine in coming into being, and to ensure a future of hope, in which two peoples can co-exist on the same land.

Sri Lanka

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) for securing this debate, which is so important to so many people in Ilford—both north and south.

It is now 12 years since the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, and the latest UN report on the country’s human rights situation paints an extremely worrying picture. Since 2019, the situation in Sri Lanka has rapidly deteriorated to widespread reports of torture and oppression, the reintroduction of the death penalty for certain drug offences, antagonistic behaviour such as the demolition of the Mullivaikkal memorial at the University of Jaffna, and the appointment of military officials such as General Silva to positions of authority. This is all deeply troubling to people across Ilford.

In 2015, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights completed a thorough investigation into the abuses by all parties in the Sri Lankan armed conflict, mandated by UN Human Rights Council resolution. It found strong and corroborated evidence that the 58th Division, led by Shavendra Silva, had extrajudicially executed surrendering soldiers and shelled marked civilian hospitals. The Sri Lankan Government recently passed the 20th amendment to the constitution, which is seen by many as a significant challenge to democratic governance. The amendment, which has been opposed by civil society and religious leaders, removes all checks on the power of the executive President. Campaign groups say that this also further undermines the judiciary’s independence by allowing the President complete control of senior judicial appointments. In the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s latest report, she said that she is

“deeply concerned about the increased use of ethno-nationalistic and majoritarian rhetoric and symbols by the President and other senior Government figures”,

and warned of a return to violence. She also called for a referral to the International Criminal Court and targeted sanctions against Sri Lankan officials found in contravention of human rights.

Despite these troubling reports, the UK Government have recently provided several million pounds in security assistance to Sri Lanka, to aid training and capacity building of the Sri Lankan police and security forces. In 2019, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced another three-year programme under its conflict, stability and security fund, totalling £3 million; this would include supporting police development and strengthening the defence relationship. I urge the Government, as I previously have in this House, to publish the overseas security and justice assistance assessment of the financial support for activities under this programme, because I and the people of Ilford South want to be confident that we are not supporting human rights violations.

Let us be clear: the Labour party is committed to defending the rule of law and human rights across the world. It is troubling that the Foreign Secretary was recently recorded saying that the UK could pursue trade deals with Governments who commit human rights abuses. Does that include the Sri Lankan Government? It is deeply concerning that the Government are yet to implement Magnitsky sanctions against members of the Sri Lankan Government who are found to be complicit in serious human rights abuses, and makes the UK an outlier among its allies.

In February 2020, the US State Department designated General Silva under the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020, banning him and his immediate family from entry into the United States. Various civil rights groups and NGOs have expressed their concerns that £6.3 million of UK taxpayers’ money has recently been spent on supporting security reform in Sri Lanka. This has only enabled Sri Lankan security forces to advance antagonistic activities, including accelerated destruction of places of worship and cultural heritage, and, as I have already mentioned, the terrible events at the memorial at the University of Jaffna. Indeed, there are further reports, widely, of torture and oppression by state actors.

Thousands of members of the Sri Lankan Tamil community in my constituency are deeply concerned about this. They want to see this Government put human rights at the centre of our foreign policy and any future dealings with the Sri Lankan Government, working towards a political solution that includes the self-determination of the Tamil people on the island of Sri Lanka.

Press Freedom and Safety of Protesters: India

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Monday 8th March 2021 Westminster Hall

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. As my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) has pointed out on many occasions, it is not anti-Indian to voice concerns about the policies of the Government of the day in India, whoever that may be. I want to make it clear that I stand in complete solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers, as do tens of thousands of my constituents in Ilford South who understand that the freedom to protest, wherever it takes place, and the ability to provide food and welfare for one’s family is clearly an international human right. The issue has so galvanised the Indian diaspora community, especially those from a Punjabi or Sikh background and others who have land links or familial links to farming in India, that tens of thousands have engaged in global protests, including hundreds and hundreds in streets, towns and cities across the UK.

Many of my constituents in Ilford South have been horrified to see how Sikh farmers, many of whom are their family members, have been treated by the Indian Government. They have had water cannons hitting them, and tear gas and brute force used against them repeatedly while peacefully protesting against the so-called farmers Bill. Everyone has a fundamental human right to protest peacefully, and the actions of the Indian Government cannot go unchecked. In Ilford, we have a hugely diverse community, and they are fully in support of the Indian farmers, with support extending way beyond our large and vocal Sikh community. There are posters up in mosques and churches across Ilford about how outraged people are about what is going on in India.

I speak regularly to the members of the Singh Sabha London East Gurdwara in my constituency, and, thankfully, they have been leading the campaign and globally co-ordinating the effort to shine a light on what is going on. Like many hon. Members, led by my hon. Friend the Member for Slough, I have signed a letter to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, urging them to engage properly over this issue. It is important that the torch of truth is shone on what is happening.

India is one of the greatest democracies in the world, but using water cannons and police to crush dissent strikes me as highly undemocratic. There are reports of elderly protesters being beaten and police even vandalising tractors owned by poor farmers who are protesting. India’s leaders are not behaving in the traditions that have made India such a great democracy, and that is of great concern to thousands of people in my community in Ilford and to millions globally. Given the urgency of this matter, I call on the Minister to ask our Prime Minister to speak to Mr Modi and seek assurances that there can be a better way forward.

The situation is bringing such damage to the reputation of India globally. It is simply not acceptable that our Prime Minister is not prepared to raise this with Prime Minister Modi. Now is not the time for the British Government to look the other way. Trade deals and crucial business with India or any other nation should not come before standing up for human rights globally. The world is watching. “Bole so nihal, sat sri akal”, as my constituents would say at our local kabaddi club.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Duddridge]

I certainly will visit Cameroon at the earliest possible opportunity. I can reassure my right hon. Friend that we have worked very closely with our French and American partners, alongside other partners. We also do an awful lot of work through this House and through the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson) on bringing peace to that region and sharing experiences. I thank him for his interest and certainly will commit to further activity and a visit in due course.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

What (a) diplomatic and (b) development work his Department is undertaking in Sri Lanka.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to propose a new UN resolution to hold the Sri Lankan Government to account on their responsibilities for justice and reconciliation processes following that country’s civil war.

[The Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams)]

The Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad, set out our serious concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka in a statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 25 February. On 22 February, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that the UK would lead a new resolution on post-conflict reconciliation, accountability and human rights. We continue to engage with Sri Lanka on these issues and on climate change, trade and the covid-19 response. UK-funded programmes in Sri Lanka support peacebuilding, resettlement, police reform and demining.

[Sam Tarry]

For decades, the UK has provided extensive military and police support to the Sri Lankan police and military, and this support has continued despite deeply troubling reports of the widespread use of torture by the Sri Lankan police, including the use of the death penalty for drugs charges. Will the Minister please explain why the UK has spent more than £7 million through its conflict, stability and security fund to assist the Sri Lankan police and military? More importantly, will he commit to publishing the full overseas security and justice assistance assessments for activities under this programme to reassure the House that the UK is not contributing to serious human rights violations?

[Nigel Adams]

I know the hon. Member takes a very keen interest in Sri Lanka. Our engagement with the military in Sri Lanka is designed to support the development of a modern, effective and human rights-compliant military. Engagement with the police is focused on community policing, increasing women’s representation, and improving responses to sexual and gender-based violence. Our engagement is subject to ongoing overseas security and justice assessments, as he says, to ensure that it supports UK values and is consistent with human rights obligations.

Myanmar

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend is right. I would, though, take him to task a tiny bit. I am not entirely sure that our third of a billion pounds that we are spending to support the Rohingya could be deemed as wasted; this is vital humanitarian assistance. As I said, we are spending £88 million this year in Myanmar. He is absolutely right to condemn the coup in Myanmar. We need to see the peaceful reconvening of the National Assembly. We want the results of the election respected and, importantly, we need to see the expressed wishes of the people of Myanmar respected, which I know my hon. Friend is very passionate about.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab) [V]]

As the Minister knows, over 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar following an escalation of violence over the past few years. Many residents in Ilford South have written to me concerned that the recent coup is yet another in a long line of worrying developments for Rohingya people. Will the Minister explain what measures the Government have taken to protect Rohingya people, who may now face even greater levels of persecution and oppression?

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the plight of the Rohingya. We are working very closely with our partners to ensure that lifesaving humanitarian assistance is delivered for the Rohingya. We are alert to the possibility of further violence being committed. As I mentioned to my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), we are one of the largest donors in Rakhine state, which is one of the poorest states in Myanmar. We will continue to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the most vulnerable areas.

Uyghur Slave Labour: Xinjiang

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. A whole range of options is available to us that involve working with the UN. As I mentioned in a previous answer, whatever steps we take have to have a realistic chance of being successful in that particular forum. We will continue to work with our international partners, as she suggests; working alongside our international partners is the best approach in this regard.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

We have rightly heard from both sides of the House condemnation of the atrocious, barbaric and, quite frankly, harrowing treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. Members from all parties who have been working on the National Security and Investment Bill over the past month heard evidence from none another than Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, who sketched out a very complex picture that clearly showed that for far too long successive Governments have placed economic interests, including with China, far ahead of our human rights obligations. Will the Minister consider that and say whether he will look again at our relationship with China and not prioritise economic interests ahead of either national security or human rights?

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise this issue. Obviously trade with China is important to us. As I said earlier, it is the fourth largest trading partner. It is important to help UK firms to overcome the economic challenges of covid and ensure our long-term prosperity, but I can guarantee the hon. Gentleman that we will not sacrifice either our values or our security in that regard.

Occupied Palestinian Territories

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point. I am constrained by time, and that is an important and complicated issue, which I cannot address in this speech.

The UK’s position on settlements is also clear. Again, they are illegal under international law and present an obstacle to a sustainable two-state solution. We want to see a contiguous west bank, including East Jerusalem, as part of a viable sovereign Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders.

In 2016, the UK supported UN Security Council resolution 2334, which states that Israeli settlement activity “constitutes a flagrant violation” of international law and “has no legal validity”. This is the long-standing position of the UK Government, and we are able to have these very direct conversations with the Israeli Government because we are friends—long-standing and close friends of the Israeli people and the Israeli Government. That gives us the opportunity to have these frank and sometimes difficult discussions.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[James Cleverly]

I am going to make progress; otherwise, I will deny the hon. Member for Aberavon the opportunity to come back in. We maintain strong and close relations with the Israeli people and the state of Israel, which enables us to have these direct conversations.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) raised Iran’s intentionally insulting and provocative language, and we must understand that Israel, from its inception, has felt an existential threat. That very much informs its view to its own protection, and we must understand that. We must also work to remove that existential fear because that ultimately will unlock the viable, peaceful two-state solution.

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), who injected a very moving, personal contribution. We must always remember that this is not just about lines on maps and international power politics—this is actually about people. That is why the UK Government maintain our support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, to help those people who are suffering because of this unresolved situation.

The hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) and some of my right hon. and hon. Friends raised the issue of insulting language and incitement in textbooks. The former Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Trevelyan), raised this issue with the Palestinian Authority’s Education Minister on her very first phone call in post. The Foreign Secretary also raised it with the Palestinian Prime Minister and the Education Minister on his recent visit to the OPTs. We have pressed the EU to publish its interim report on Palestinian textbooks. We want it to be addressed at pace and transparently.

The hon. Member for Stirling (Alyn Smith), in what was once again a thoughtful and balanced contribution, asked about businesses and their activities in the occupied territories. We give guidance to businesses and ultimately it is a decision for individual companies whether to operate in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, but the British Government absolutely do not encourage or support such activities. [Official Report, 28 September 2020, Vol. 681, c. 2MC.]As I have said, the British Government firmly oppose boycotts of Israel, but we understand the concerns of people who do not wish to purchase goods exported from Israeli settlements near the OPTs. It was in order to allow consumers to have that choice that in December 2009 the UK Government introduced voluntary guidance to enable products from Israeli settlements near the OPTs to be specifically labelled as such.

Time precludes me from going much further with the details, but I will close with a reminder that this debate is about protecting the viability of a peaceful, secure state of Israel, and a peaceful and secure state for the Palestinian people. There is an opportunity, and we have encouraged the Palestinian Authority to engage with Israel, the United States of America, its Arab neighbours and friends, and the UK, to put a counter-offer on the table. We know that President Trump is someone who likes to do a deal, and we strongly urge our friends in the region to take him up on the offer.

Yemen

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

It is the view of many constituents in Ilford South that this Government should hang their head in shame at their central role in helping to create the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by training, equipping and enabling the Saudi regime to bomb innocent Yemeni civilians. In the past five years alone, Britain has licensed more than £5 billion-worth of arms—mainly in the form of bombs and planes—to Saudi Arabia. In that same period, 60% of all civilian deaths in Yemen have been caused by the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing. Even moderate estimates put the number of deaths from Saudi air strikes at more than 12,000. Perhaps that is why the Ministry of Defence refuses to reveal whether these are UK-made weapons that the Saudi regime has dropped on civilians, despite holding that information on its tracker database.

After suspending new arms sales to the Saudi regime last year, the Government resumed their deadly support in July, once again turning a blind eye to the war crimes that it is enabling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to commit. Saudi Arabia is being allowed to bomb Yemen without any form of accountability or investigation, which is completely unacceptable. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a penholder on Yemen, the UK is obligated to provide leadership in helping to bring about an effective political settlement and end to the ongoing conflict in Yemen.

While this Government are complicit in arming, training and deploying special forces—and all but dropping bombs ourselves—under international law Britain will be party to this conflict. At the very least, British arms sales to Saudi Arabia should be immediately suspended to restrict Saudi Arabia’s ability to carry out air strikes on Yemenis and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Anything less would be a continuation of the death and destruction there. Let us be clear: the Saudi air force is believed to have carried out at least 90 unlawful air strikes on civilians in the past year alone, with more than 20,000 air strikes since the war began. That is almost 12 attacks on Houthi areas every day. The fact that we are still using our RAF bases to service BAE Systems’ logistical support flights for the Saudi air force is a slap in the face to the UN-led peace process.

The Government need to move beyond gestures and apply pressure on Governments violating international law through tangible action. In addition to halting arms sales, tying humanitarian rights to trade deals could be crucial in stopping cycles of oppression and violence that, if unaddressed, will continue to worsen the deepening crisis in Yemen. Just yesterday, a declassified UK investigation revealed that the RAF is training Saudi pilots on UK soil, equipping them with the destructive skills they need to bomb, maim and murder innocent civilians. This is a dark day indeed for the RAF. I am proud of our military forces and the RAF and we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the battle of Britain, but it is a shameful use of our military to support such a repressive regime.

Our involvement in both this conflict and our relationship with the Saudi dictatorship have had a direct impact on the lives of British citizens, too. Just last month, 21-year-old Lance Corporal Ahmed al-Batati, a British soldier who protested against arms sales to Saudi Arabia, was arrested by the Royal Military Police. His whereabouts are currently unknown and it remains unclear whether he has been charged with any offence. Perhaps the Minister will enlighten the House on that at some point in the near future.

There can be no military solution to this conflict. Labour supports the United Nations in its attempts to bring an end to the conflict through a nationwide ceasefire and peace talks. Britain does not merely supply the bombs that fall on Yemen, it provides personnel and expertise. That is the crucial point. That is where we need to apply pressure. Saudi Arabia is estimated to have spent about £55 billion every year on this failing war. To put that into context, that is almost four times the current GDP of Yemen and enough money to have secured the livelihoods of generations of Yemenis. It is time for the UK Government to step up and use this country’s position and influence in the world to persuade all parties in Yemen to end the fighting and usher in a more sensible, peaceful accord. It is only when there is peace in Yemen that there can be an effective response to the humanitarian and health crisis unfolding there.