Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the papers Zionism and its influence in USA and Western Europe (FCO 17/1763) and Influence of the Zionist lobby in the United States and Western Europe (FCO 51/297); who their authors were; whether any UK diplomats provided evidence or any members of the Government were involved in commissioning them; whether they will place copies of them in the Library of the House; and what assessment they have made of whether these papers are anti-Semitic.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The full unredacted papers dating from 1972 and 1973 are held at The National Archives under file references FCO 17/1763 and FCO 51/297. They were transferred to The National Archives under the terms of the Public Records Act and are publicly available to be viewed.
Antisemitism is evil and has absolutely no place in our - or any - society. In March 2024 the UK took on the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for one year, which comes ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the 25th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration on Holocaust remembrance in January 2025.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that deliberately set fires destroyed over 500 structures in Gijet, Tigray; whether they have received any reports about the alleged use of white phosphorus in those attacks; and what steps they intend to take in response to any such reports.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are concerned by repeated reports from Tigray of attacks and damage to civilian infrastructure. We are aware of unconfirmed reports of the use of white phosphorus. We continue to urge all parties to allow unfettered humanitarian access, and independent investigations into human rights abuses to ensure that the perpetrators can be held to account. We assess that hundreds of structures near Gujet in Tigray have been destroyed by fire (22 - 23 February) and it looks likely that this was as a result of a deliberate act. An ongoing lack of access means that it remains difficult to confirm the cause.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate (1) they, and (2) the International Labour Organisation, have made of the number of (a) deaths, and (b) serious injuries, which have occurred on stadium and hotel building sites in Qatar in the last two calendar years.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government is aware of the death of five construction workers over the past two years – of which two were workplace accidents on world cup building sites, and the other three were health-related. We do not have any figures for serious injuries and do not estimate them.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the support provided by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) to events celebrating the Commonwealth, and its wider role in addressing challenging social issues, including early and forced child marriage, how much financial support has been provided to the RCS in each of the last five financial years, and how much will be provided in this and the next financial year.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has contributed a total of £191,452 from 2011- 2015 to activities run by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and the Council of Commonwealth Societies (CCS) for whom the RCS organises events. A breakdown of this sum is listed below:
2011 | £60,720.00 |
2012 | £48,619.60 |
2013 | £21,706.40 |
2014 | £22,000.00 |
2015 | £38,407.00 |
This year the FCO has again provided £20,000 towards the cost of the CCS Commonwealth Service event in Westminster Abbey.
Future funding requests for all Commonwealth organisations will be assessed on a case by case basis.