Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of recent reports of a weapons cache found by the Israel Defense Forces at the maternity ward at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Hamas is putting Palestinian civilians at grave risk by embedding themselves in the civilian population and civilian infrastructure. The UK is aware of reports of Hamas using healthcare facilities and other infrastructure, such as schools, as bases and command nodes.
All parties must act in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. All possible measures must be taken to ensure the safety of medical personnel and facilities.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of recent reports of a weapons cache found by the Israel Defense Forces at the MRI centre at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Hamas is putting Palestinian civilians at grave risk by embedding themselves in the civilian population and civilian infrastructure. The UK is aware of reports of Hamas using healthcare facilities and other infrastructure, such as schools, as bases and command nodes.
All parties must act in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. All possible measures must be taken to ensure the safety of medical personnel and facilities.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing with the US Administration an international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Answered by James Cleverly
The UK government shares the objective of increasing understanding and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. In support of this, we continue to fund peacebuilding projects focused on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. US planning for the International Fund is at a very early stage and they have not yet approached us to discuss it. Once more information is available, we will consider options for collaboration
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what factors he will assess to reach a decision on whether to remove travel advice relating specifically to cruises in order to bring cruises under global travel advice in line with other types of transport.
Answered by Nigel Adams
he Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against international cruising informed by public health risk assessments. This advice is kept under continuous review. The risk assessments to inform travel advice from Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care are not published separately.
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.
The FCDO remains fully committed to working closely with the Department for Transport and key industry leaders, informed by the changing public health situation during this pandemic to agree on the steps required to restart international cruises safely.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report of 24 December 2020 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide entitled Church leaders abducted amid renewed violence in Kaduna state, what recent assessment his Department has made of the security situation in Nigeria; and what assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports of increased communications and co-ordination between (a) terrorist factions from the north east and (b) rural banditry in the north west of that country.
Answered by James Duddridge
For over a decade, terrorist groups, including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, have caused immense suffering to local communities, predominantly in North East Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad Basin region. We are aware that Boko Haram and other terrorist groups have been attempting to develop a presence in North West Nigeria for many years and have claimed responsibility for a number of incidents in the region. We are also aware that Boko Haram have claimed responsibility for attacks they have not directly conducted. We continue to monitor developments closely and are committed to helping Nigeria tackle the threat posed by the terrorist groups in North East Nigeria. We are providing a comprehensive package of humanitarian and stabilisation assistance to Nigeria to help tackle the threat and support affected communities.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) the attack on 2 December 2020 on the Christ Apostolic Church near Abeokuta in Ogun state and (b) other recent attacks on Christian communities by Fulani assailants in southern Nigeria.
Answered by James Duddridge
The FCDO condemns all attacks on places of worship including these recent attacks in southern Nigeria. We continue to encourage the Government of Nigeria to take urgent action to protect all those at risk of inter-communal violence, to bring perpetrators to justice, and to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of such violence and meet the needs of all communities. The FCDO is supporting this through the development of a new conflict, security and justice programme, which aims to reduce levels of inter-communal violence by building more effective conflict-management systems.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to his counterpart in Nigeria on the continuing intimidation of (a) the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Matthew Kukah who is falsely accused of insulting Islam, (b) former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore who was assaulted, detained and faces excessive charges and (c) other civil society actors expressing legitimate dissent.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are concerned by reports of continuing intimidation of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, and the detention of journalist and opposition leader Omoyele Sowore. The Government makes clear to the Nigerian authorities at the highest levels the importance of recognising and respecting citizens' rights to peaceful protest. We continue to push the Nigerian police to uphold human rights and Nigeria's rule of law in all operations, investigate any incidents of brutality, and hold those responsible to account. The British High Commissioner raises our concerns about intimidation of civil society groups and peaceful activists when she meets with the Government of Nigeria.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
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 that (a) the UK's and (b) China's obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong are fulfilled; when he plans to publish the six month report on compliance with those obligations between July 2019 and December 2019; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK takes its commitments as a co-signatory of the Joint Declaration seriously and supports their implementation through the 'One Country, Two Systems' framework.
The Prime Minister wrote to President Xi Jinping on 30 September and underlined the importance of upholding the Joint Declaration.
The Foreign Secretary has set out his concerns about developments in Hong Kong directly to both the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, and to the Chinese Foreign Minister, State Councillor Wang Yi. Senior officials are in frequent contact with their counterparts in Hong Kong, Beijing and London. The Foreign Secretary summoned the Chinese Ambassador on 19 November.
The leadership in China and Hong Kong is in no doubt about the strength of UK concern over the current situation, and our commitment to seeing the rights and freedoms provided for in the Joint Declaration upheld.
The Six Monthly Report to Parliament on Hong Kong, covering the period of June-December, will be published in the Spring in line with usual practice.
In the Foreword to the previous report, the Foreign Secretary has stressed that Hong Kong now needs to look ahead to the path towards de-escalation and political resolution; protester violence must stop; the police response should be proportionate; and there should be a meaningful political dialogue between all parties.
We continue to believe that these are the best ways to protect the rights and freedoms set out in Hong Kong's Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports that Iran has quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
We are seriously concerned about Iranian statements about its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), including Iran crossing its low enriched uranium stockpile limit on 1 July, and are working with our JCPoA partners to keep the nuclear deal in place. We have been consistently clear that our commitment to the JCPoA depends on Iran complying in full with the terms of the deal. We believe maintaining the nuclear deal is in the best interests of Iran, the region and the UK.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,what assessment he has made of the implications for the Middle East Peace Process of the rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are unacceptable and unjustifiable, and make peace harder to achieve. The UK fully supports Israel's right to self-defence and to defend its citizens from such acts of terror. Ultimately, the ongoing decision by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to embrace violence and reject the Quartet principles lies at the heart of the Gaza situation. Hamas and other terrorist groups must cease all actions that are violent or provocative, or that put civilian lives at risk.