Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the comments made by UNRWA's former general counsel James Lindsay to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs on 17 May.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the threats made by Brigadier General Esmail Qaani of the Iranian Quds Force to the UK on 16 May.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the operational capability of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UN’s revision of its casualty statistics relating to the Israel-Hamas war on 8 May.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likelihood of Iran firing nuclear missiles at Israel; and what are the implications for UK policy of such action.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are determined to use all diplomatic options available to ensure that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. We condemned in the strongest terms Iran's direct attack against Israel on 13 April, which was a dangerous escalation.
The UK will continue to stand up for Israel's security as well as the security of all our regional partners and we are working with our allies to deescalate the situation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of reported allegations of the widespread abuse of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
After more than 200 days in captivity, 132 hostages remain in Gaza, including British nationals and others with strong UK links. We are extremely concerned about reports regarding the conditions they are being held in.
The implications for the health and psychological well-being of hostages can be catastrophic, as is the impact and lasting trauma on their families and on their communities. We reiterate our call for the ICRC to be granted urgent access to all hostages and for their immediate release. Nothing can justify their continued detention. Their families are showing great courage in horrific circumstances.
Hamas must act on this now. It was wrong to kidnap them on 7 October, it has been wrong to hold them in captivity for so long and it is wrong to hold them any longer. We strongly support the intensive diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to secure their release.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that the car park of UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza sank in 2014 as a result of subterranean terror infrastructure, and (2) that UNRWA did not investigate this sinking.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK takes allegations of neutrality violations seriously including any incidents related to UN installations. This is something we monitor closely in our annual assessment of UNRWA. When violations have been identified in the past, UNRWA has taken action including raising the issue with relevant parties.
We are aware that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and Catherine Colonna have now provided their interim reports to the UN Secretary-General. Their independent investigations include assessment of the policies and systems UNRWA has in place to ensure neutrality.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that UNRWA did not remove the terror infrastructure beneath Zaitun Preparatory A Boys School in Gaza it discovered in 2021.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK takes allegations of neutrality violations seriously including any incidents related to UN installations. This is something we monitor closely in our annual assessment of UNRWA. When violations have been identified in the past, UNRWA has taken action including raising the issue with relevant parties.
We are aware that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and Catherine Colonna have now provided their interim reports to the UN Secretary-General. Their independent investigations include assessment of the policies and systems UNRWA has in place to ensure neutrality.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent decision by Norway to allow deep seabed mining, what position they will take on the issue at the 29th Session of the International Seabed Authority.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK government notes the Norwegian government's decision of 10 January 2024 to consider awarding licences for deep sea mining exploration and potentially in future extraction on its continental shelf. This area is within Norway's jurisdiction and is not regulated by the International Seabed Authority.
At the 29th Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) the UK will be maintaining its support for a moratorium (announced on 30th October 2023) on the granting of exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects by the ISA. We recognise the growing pressure to extract deep-sea resources and are concerned about the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment. The UK will not sponsor or support the issuing of any such exploitation licences for deep sea mining by the ISA unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems.