Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions the global coalition against Daesh has (a) used military force and (b) threatened to use military force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The British Government does not hold information on the number of times in which Coalition forces have threatened or used force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. The aim of the Deconfliction Zone is to prevent the need to use or threaten the use of force. The UK has no permanent ground forces at Al Tanf. As part of their support to the Global Coalition, UK air assets provide support to the Coalition in counter-Daesh operations in the vicinity of Al Tanf.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions UK military personnel have supported or taken part in operations by the Global Coalition Against Daesh in order to prevent forces loyal to the Assad government from entering the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The British Government does not hold information on the number of times in which Coalition forces have threatened or used force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. The aim of the Deconfliction Zone is to prevent the need to use or threaten the use of force. The UK has no permanent ground forces at Al Tanf. As part of their support to the Global Coalition, UK air assets provide support to the Coalition in counter-Daesh operations in the vicinity of Al Tanf.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the global coalition against Daesh supplies arms and ammunition to the Maghaweir al-Thowra force patrolling in the Tanf de-confliction zone; and whether the coalition (a) pays salaries to and (b) commands that force.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The US leads on providing support to Maghaweir al-Thowra, which is not a formal part of the Global Coalition command structure. It is not for the UK to comment on the nature or detail of the US' support.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 ensure that the global coalition against Daesh fulfils its legal obligations towards civilians in the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
British armed forces fully adhere to international humanitarian law when conducting military operations. We expect all members of the Global Coalition to do likewise.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the validity of reports that civilians who left the Tanf de-confliction zone for humanitarian reasons have been executed by forces loyal to the Assad regime.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of, but not in a position to confirm, reports of executions of civilians returning to regime-held territory from Rukban IDP camp within the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. We have been clear that any such movement should be safe, voluntary, well-informed and dignified. We have strongly supported the UN's calls for Russia and the Syrian regime to allow in humanitarian assistance to Rukban, to guarantee protection of rights for those wishing to return and to allow UN access throughout the return process.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps the Government plans to take with its allies in Syria to minimise the risk of a large scale assault and mass civilian casualties in Idlib.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are gravely concerned by the offensive launched by the Syrian regime and Russia in Idlib. We made this clear at an emergency session of the UN Security Council and warned that a full-scale offensive would risk a humanitarian catastrophe. We with the US, France and eight other countries issued a joint statement on 10 May and we released a further statement with France and Germany on 13 May. We will continue to call out the regime and its backers for their actions and to press all sides to return to the ceasefire agreed last September at Sochi.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Treasury has allocated over £4.2 bn in additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:
This funding is to cover all exit scenarios, and is in addition to departmental efforts to reprioritise from business as usual toward preparations for the UK's departure from the EU. Work on no-deal exit preparations cannot be readily separated from other EU exit work. The Department is preparing for all eventualities and the resources available to support preparations are kept under constant review.
The FCO also received £5.6m additional funding in 2018/19 for no-deal civil contingency planning.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department made any representations to the Bahraini authorities calling for the reinstatement of citizenship for Bahraini citizens previously convicted of crimes related to political dissent, before the Kingdom of Bahrain reinstated the citizenship of 551 people on 21 April 2019.
Answered by Mark Field
We welcome this positive declaration of the reinstatement of citizenship for 551 Bahrain citizens on 21 April.
We regularly raise our concerns about the issue of revocation of nationalities where it leaves a person stateless at a senior level with the Government of Bahrain.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will request that the Egyptian Government release Ahmed Saddouma from prison.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Egyptian Government has (a) responded to any inquiries by his Department on Ahmed Saddouma, (b) indicated whether it considers Mr Saddouma a juvenile and (c) provided any guarantees that Ahmed Saddouma will not receive a death sentence.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.