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 the implementation of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 31/36 entitled Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan; and if he plans to take steps to support initiatives at the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council on the implementation of the mandate in that resolution.

The UK abstained on UN Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 in 2016 as part of a common EU position. However, we have long opposed the creation of a public database of companies which we consider unhelpful, and which only risks further hardening positions on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is why we voted against the resolution at HRC53 requesting the implementation and funding for resolution 31/36. The UK's longstanding position on the Middle East peace process is clear: we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state based on 1967 lines.