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Written Question
Military Attachés
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2023 to Question 1027 on Military Attachés, if he will publish an updated list of countries without a resident UK Defence Attache.

Answered by James Heappey

The Global Defence Network (GDN) utilises Resident and Non-Resident Defence Attachés (DA), who engage in Defence diplomacy in over three-quarters of the world’s nations. The table below has a list of countries covered on a Non-Residential Accreditations (NRA) basis, where a UK DA is not resident in country, but a DA elsewhere has the responsibility.

Country (NRA)

Location of DA

Angola

Mozambique - Maputo

Anguilla (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Antigua & Barbuda

Jamaica - Kingston

Armenia

Georgia – Tbilisi

Azerbaijan

Georgia – Tbilisi

Bahamas

Jamaica - Kingston

Barbados

Jamaica - Kingston

Belarus

Ukraine – Kyiv

Belize

Jamaica - Kingston

Benin

Accra - Ghana

Bermuda (British overseas territory)

USA – Washington DC

Botswana

Harare - Zimbabwe

British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Burkina Faso

Ghana - Accra

Burundi

Uganda – Kampala

Cambodia

(In process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica – Kingston

Chad

Cameroon - Yaoundé

Cuba

Mexico – Mexico City

Djibouti

Ethiopia – Addis Ababa

Dominica

Jamaica - Kingston

Dominican Republic

Jamaica - Kingston

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kampala - Uganda

Eritrea

Sana’a - Yemen (temporarily relocated to Riyadh)

Ecuador

Bogota - Colombia

Grenada

Jamaica - Kingston

Guinea

Sierra Leone – Freetown

Guyana

Jamaica - Kingston

Guatemala

Mexico – Mexico City

Guinea-Bissau

Senegal - Dakar

Haiti

Jamaica - Kingston

Hungary

Croatia - Zagreb

Iceland

Norway - Oslo

Ivory Coast

Ghana – Accra

Khartoum

Egypt - Cairo

Kosovo

Macedonia - Skopje

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Laos

(in process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Lesotho

South Africa - Pretoria

Liberia

Sierra Leone - Freetown

Luxembourg

Belgium - Brussels

Malawi

Zimbabwe – Harare

Mali

Senegal - Dakar

Malta

Rome - Italy

Mauritania

Morocco – Rabat

Monaco

France – Paris

Mongolia

Japan – Tokyo

Myanmar

Thailand - Bangkok

Montserrat (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Namibia

South Africa – Pretoria

Niger

Cameroon – Yaoundé

Papua New Guinea

Australia – Canberra

Paraguay

Argentina – Buenos Aires

Peru

Colombia - Bogota

Rwanda

Uganda – Kampala

Seychelles

Kenya - Nairobi

St Kitts & Nevis

Jamaica - Kingston

St Lucia

Jamaica - Kingston

St Vincent

Jamaica - Kingston

Slovakia

Czech Rep - Prague

Slovenia

Austria – Vienna

South Sudan

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia

Switzerland

Vienna - Austria

Syria

Lebanon - Beirut

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Tanzania

Kenya – Nairobi

The Gambia

Senegal - Dakar

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Indonesia - Jakarta

Togo

Ghana – Accra

Tonga

Fiji – Suva

Trinidad & Tobago

Jamaica - Kingston

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan - Tashkent

Turks & Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Uruguay

Argentina - Buenos Aires

Vanuatu

Fiji – Suva

Venezuela

Bogota - Colombia

Zambia

Zimbabwe - Harare

Supported by MOD from in the UK

Cape Verdi Islands

Congo

Gabon

Panama

Puerto Rica


Written Question
Tigray: Human Rights
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Tigray.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) in November 2022, reduced the scale of violations and abuses in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, though reports of sexual and gender-based violence continued throughout last year, particularly in areas occupied by Eritrea and militias. The space for civil society and media continues to be constrained and whilst progress has been made in the process to develop a national Transitional Justice policy, implementation and genuine accountability for human rights violations and abuses remains lacking.


Written Question
Eritrea: Detainees
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his Eritrean counterpart for the release of religious detainees.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We consistently raise the need to improve the human rights situation with the Eritrean Government. We advocate for national service reform and the end of arbitrary detentions, including detentions based on religion or belief. Eritrea is a priority country in the FCDO Annual Human Rights Report and we support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea, voting in favour of his mandate renewal in July 2023. As we have stated at the Human Rights Council, all those who have been unjustly incarcerated must be released.


Written Question
Eritrea: Human Rights
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Eritrea.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We consistently raise the need to improve the human rights situation with the Eritrean Government. We advocate for national service reform and the end of arbitrary detentions, including detentions based on religion or belief. Eritrea is a priority country in the FCDO Annual Human Rights Report and we support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea, voting in favour of his mandate renewal in July 2023. As we have stated at the Human Rights Council, all those who have been unjustly incarcerated must be released.


Written Question
Asylum: Children
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugee children were wrongly assessed to be adults by the Home Office between January 2022 and June 2023; and if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the report by the Refugee Council together with Helen Bamber Foundation and Humans for Rights Network entitled Forced Adulthood, published on 23 January 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office does not publish the data requested, as this cannot currently be collected via national reporting systems. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here which includes the number of age disputes raised and resolved. and whether the decision found the individual to be under or over 18.

Our age assessment policies for immigration purposes seek to protect genuine minors and identify those who are adults. Determining the age of a young person is an inherently difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains a number of safeguards.

Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or child from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim.

The Home Office will only treat an individual claiming to be a child as an adult, without conducting further enquiries, if two Home Office members of staff independently determine that the individual's physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age. The lawfulness of this process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.

Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a child for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.

The Home Office is currently considering the contents and recommendations of the report by the Refugee Council together with Helen Bamber Foundation and Humans for Rights Network entitled Forced Adulthood, published on 23 January 2024.


Written Question
Visas: Eritrea
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the process for issuing exit visas to Eritrean nationals with UK visas.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Border Force do not issue exit visas.


Written Question
Asylum: Applications
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to require that all asylum seekers must have a personal interview as part of the application process.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The criteria for when a substantive asylum interview can be omitted are contained in Paragraph 339NA of the Immigration Rules and include cases where we are able to take a positive decision on the basis of evidence available, or if the claimant is unfit or unable to be interviewed owing to enduring circumstances beyond their control. All asylum claimants are subject to a screening interview and mandatory security checks to confirm their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks.  These checks are critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system.  

The Home Office currently assesses it appropriate to generally omit personal interviews from nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen, as well as from Sudan, specifically in relation to claims made on or after 28th June 2022, where sufficient evidence is available to confirm nationality and there are no other factors that would mean a personal interview was required, for example security or criminality concerns.   Instead, an asylum questionnaire is provided to claimants to allow them to explain why they require protection status in the UK. Where further information is required after the questionnaire is returned, we will, where possible, conduct a targeted or shorter interview to obtain the necessary information from the claimant as quickly as possible.

Omitting personal interviews is not limited to the nationalities noted and can be done in-line with paragraph 339NA of the Immigration Rules on a case-by-case basis.


Written Question
Military Attachés
Friday 17th November 2023

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which countries do not have a resident UK Defence Attache.

Answered by James Heappey

The table below has a list of countries covered on a Non-Residential Accreditations (NRA) basis, where a UK Defence Attaché (DA) is not resident in country, but a DA elsewhere has the responsibility. This ensures that we have coverage across the world’s regions.

Country (NRA)

Location of DA

Angola

Pretoria – South Africa

Anguilla

Jamaica - Kingston

Antigua & Barbua

Jamaica - Kingston

Armenia

Georgia – Tbilisi

Azerbaijan

Georgia – Tbilisi

Bahamas

Jamaica - Kingston

Barbados

Jamaica - Kingston

Belarus

Ukraine – Kyiv

Belize

Jamaica - Kingston

Benin

Accra - Ghana

Bermuda

USA – Washington DC

Bolivia

UK – London

Botswana

Harare - Zimbabwe

British Virgin Islands

Jamaica - Kingston

Burkina Faso

Ghana - Accra

Burundi

Uganda – Kampala

Cambodia

Singapore

Cape Verde Islands

UK-London

Cayman Islands

Jamaica – Kingston

Congo

UK - London

Cuba

Mexico – Mexico City

Djibouti

Ethiopia – Addis Ababa

Dominica Dominican Republic

Jamaica - Kingston

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kampala - Uganda

Eritrea

Sana’a - Yemen

Ecuador

Bogota - Colombia

Gabon

London

Grenada

Jamaica - Kingston

Guinea

Sierra Leone – Freetown

Guyana

Jamaica - Kingston

Guatemala

Mexico – Mexico City

Guinea-Bissau

Senegal - Dakar

Haiti

Jamaica - Kingston

Hungary

Croatia - Zagreb

Iceland

Norway - Oslo

Ivory Coast

Ghana – Accra

Khartoum

Egypt - Cairo

Kosovo

Macedonia - Skopje

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Lesotho

South Africa - Pretoria

Liberia

Sierra Leone - Freetown

Libya

Libya - Tripoli

Malawi

Zimbabwe – Harare

Malta

Rome

Mauritania

Morocco – Rabat

Monaco

France – Paris

Mongolia

Japan – Tokyo

Montenegro

Tirana – Albania

Myanmar

Singapore (BDS SEA)

Montserrat

Jamaica - Kingston

Mozambique

South Africa – Pretoria

Panama City

Puerto Rico

Namibia

South Africa – Pretoria

Niger

Mali - Bamako

Papua New Guinea

Australia – Canberra

Paraguay

Argentina – Buenos Aires

Peru

Colombia - Bogota

Rwanda

Uganda – Kampala

Seychelles

Kenya - Nairobi

St Kitts & Nevis

Jamaica - Kingston

St Lucia

Jamaica - Kingston

St Vincent

Jamaica - Kingston

Slovakia

Czech Rep - Prague

Slovenia

Austria – Vienna

South Sudan

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia

Switzerland

Vienna - Austria

Syria

Lebanon

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Tanzania

Kenya – Nairobi

The Gambia

Senegal - Dakar

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Indonesia - Jakarta

Togo

Ghana – Accra

Tonga

Fiji – Suva

Trinidad & Tobago

Jamaica - Kingston

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan - Tashkent

Turks & Caicos Islands

Jamaica - Kingston

Uruguay

Argentina - Buenos Aires

Vanuatu

Fiji – Suva

Venezuela

Bogota - Colombia

Zambia

Zimbabwe - Harare


Written Question
Eritrea and Ethiopia: Armed Conflict
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) make an assessment of the likelihood of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, (b) tackle the risks of material support for armed groups within Ethiopia from neighbouring states and c) support the African Union on these issues.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We continue to engage the Ethiopian government on peace within the country and in the region. On 27 October, the British Ambassador to Ethiopia told Ethiopia's national security advisor that Red Sea port access should not be pursued by aggression. To mark the one year anniversary of the Pretoria peace deal, the British Embassy Addis Ababa coordinated a joint statement with Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden, which called for further progress on implementation, including the full withdrawal of Eritrean and non-government forces from Ethiopia. The UK is also contributing funding to the African Union's Monitoring, Compliance and Verification Mechanism to support implementation, and we continue to press the government of Ethiopia, and all armed actors, to resolve their disputes through inclusive dialogue.


Written Question
Eritrea: Refugees
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of how many (a) adult and (b) unaccompanied child Eritrean nationals eligible to come to the UK are unable to exit Ethiopia; and how many such people are receiving consular support from the UK.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Home Office are working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to process 16 Eritrean Nationals who hold UK visas and are trying to exit Ethiopia, 10 of whom are unaccompanied minors, to enable them to travel to the UK as soon as their exit visas are granted. The FCDO and our embassies, high commissions and consulates worldwide provide consular assistance to British nationals abroad. We cannot provide consular support to other countries' nationals, even if they have been living legally in the UK or have close connections to the UK.