Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representation they have made, since September 2023, to (1) UNESCO, and (2) the government of Azerbaijan regarding the preservation of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is clear that the preservation of religious and cultural sites in the region is an important issue and we take seriously reports of the destruction of churches or other sites of religious significance. We are aware of allegations from both Armenia and Azerbaijan that cultural and religious sites have been deliberately damaged over the course of the conflict. The British Embassy in Baku has raised this with the Azerbaijani government.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided, since September 2023, to humanitarian support for the estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians who have fled their homeland of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has provided £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide life-saving medication, healthcare and other essential support to those affected by September's conflict. We are liaising with the UN, ICRC and others to further assess humanitarian need in the region.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking with international partners to address the incidence of abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage of young girls and women from religious minorities in Pakistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to urge the government of Pakistan to guarantee the rights of all people in Pakistan, particularly marginalised groups including women, minorities and children, as laid down in the Constitution of Pakistan and in accordance with international standards. Protecting the rights of women and girls is central to the UK Government's human rights engagement in Pakistan. UK programme funds are helping to address gender-based violence by raising awareness of early and forced marriages, tackling online hate speech, and making digital spaces safer for women. The British High Commission in Islamabad will continue to support civil society and NGOs in lobbying the Government of Pakistan to honour its international commitments.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the state of freedom of religion or belief in Sudan after the church bombing in Omdurman on 4 November, which left 6 children dead and 23 people wounded.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has consistently denounced all human rights violations that have taken place in Sudan since the military coup in October 2021, including the escalation in abuses since conflict broke out in April. The continued widespread violence and significant civilian death toll must end. We are not aware of any significant increase in the discrimination or persecution of religious minorities in the country since April. We engage regularly with, and support the work of, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who continue to monitor this.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make representations to the government of Thailand regarding its policy of refouling of refugees from Karenni state, Myanmar, as reported by Human Rights Watch.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has called on Thailand to respect its obligations under the non-Refoulement principle under customary international law. The UK actively promotes the implementation of Thailand's Act on Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance 2022, which prevents government agencies and public officials from deporting a refugee to a country where they would be in danger of torture or other ill-treatment. UK Ministers and diplomats - in coordination with likeminded partners - have previously intervened privately at senior levels with the Royal Thai Government regarding cases of alleged forced return of persons believed to be in danger of being subjected to torture or other ill treatment.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will impose further targeted sanctions against (1) individuals in the Myanmar military, and (2) military-owned enterprises.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has imposed sanctions on 25 individuals and 29 entities under the Myanmar Sanctions Regime. The UK is considering a range of further sanctions targets and other measures to hold the military regime to account. It is vital that any sanctions imposed have the desired effect of denying the regime credibility and reducing their access to finance, arms and equipment without harming the wider Myanmar population. It would not be appropriate to speculate about specific future sanctions designations.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will seek to expand partnerships with ethnic community-based organisations in Myanmar to ensure the provision of cross-border aid.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since the February 2021 coup, the UK has provided over £120 million in humanitarian and development assistance in Myanmar, focussed on life-saving assistance, emergency healthcare, water, hygiene and sanitation services, and education. We provided a further £2 million in response to Cyclone Mocha in May. We are increasingly supporting local civil society networks with access to vulnerable communities, including in ethnic community areas, as the first responders to the crisis. This has ensured UK aid continues to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in the most remote and hard to reach places.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s report on National Level Anti-Conversion Laws Around the World, published on 28 November.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Promoting the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is a top priority for the UK.
The UK welcomes the recent report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. We note its findings documenting anti-conversion laws, as we monitor the situation for religious and non-religious communities globally.
We have made our position clear: no one should be forced to denounce their beliefs or be discriminated against because of their religion or belief. In 2022, we sanctioned Mian Abdul Haq, a cleric responsible for the forced conversions of girls and women in Pakistan. The UK continue to work multilaterally and bilaterally to promote FoRB, and hold those accountable for human rights violations and abuses.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since October to bring the Myanmar military junta before the International Criminal Court.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. To support the preservation of evidence for future prosecution, we have provided over £600,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and established the Myanmar Witness project. We condemn the ongoing serious human rights violations by the Myanmar Armed Forces, as well as previous atrocities against the Rohingya. These actions require further scrutiny and the UK is supportive, in principle, of any attempts to bring these issues before the International Criminal Court. We support the ICC Prosecutor's initiative to investigate acts committed against the Rohingya.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to encourage (1) UK corporations, (2) and corporations which contract with the Government, to adopt Faith-and-Belief Friendly workplaces as part of Diversity and Inclusion standards.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
To support employers to create faith and belief friendly workplaces, Acas has produced Guide on Religion or belief discrimination: key points for the workplace. This guide offers employers, managers, HR professionals, employees, employee/trade union representatives and job applicants a grounding in how to reduce the chance of religion or belief discrimination happening in the workplace, how it might still occur and how it should be dealt with if it does happen.