Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence that Hamas is diverting aid meant for Gazan civilians for its own use.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
All UK aid undergoes rigorous oversight. Our programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories operate with enhanced sensitivity with additional safeguards to protect against any possibility of aid diversion. They include measures to verify and map downstream partners, non-payment of local taxes and enhanced due-diligence processes. We constantly review the due-diligence assessments in place with all partners involved in delivering aid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. No funding goes to Hamas and we have no information to indicate that UK aid sent to Gaza over the last five years has been used for unintended purposes.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase collaboration with Israel with regard to (1) medical devices, (2) remote care, and (3) cutting-edge medical technology, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The British Embassy in Israel has brought together numerous UK/Israel expertise exchanges covering vaccine development, testing and surveillance. Both sides continue to look to one another as new science developments are made. We have distributed widely to UK colleagues a brochure outlining many Israeli technologies and R&D projects related to COVID-19, of which several have already been followed up by both NHS England and NHSx.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage the United Nations to renew the sanctions on Iran when they are due for review in October.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK remains committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), a reciprocal deal that lifts sanctions in exchange for tough nuclear limits. Iran has broken the nuclear limits in the JCPoA and we are working to bring Iran back into compliance through the deal's Dispute Resolution Mechanism.
UNSCR 2231, which underpins the JCPoA, includes a number of clauses designed to allow sanctions to expire on fixed dates: the UN travel ban and the UN conventional arms embargo are due to expire in October 2020. E3 Foreign Ministers made clear on 19 June that the planned expiry of the UN conventional arms embargo would have major implications for regional security and stability. We share concerns about Iranian proliferation, and have repeatedly set out concerns about Iranian destabilising behaviour. We are working closely with remaining JCPoA parties to address these issues, as well as with other members of the UN Security Council.
There are also other sanctions regimes which restrict Iranian ability to proliferate weapons in the region that will remain in place after the arms embargo expire. These include UNSCRs 1540, 1701 and 2216, which prohibit the proliferation of weapons to Lebanese Hizballah and the Houthis. The EU arms embargo and UN ballistic missile restrictions on Iran will also remain in place until 2023. There is an independent EU Iran human rights sanctions regime, which places trade restrictions on specified goods and technology which may be used to repress the civilian population of Iran and on specified goods and technology which may be used for interception and monitoring services in Iran. These EU trade restrictions do not have an expiry date.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the government of Turkey about providing personal protective equipment to refugee camps on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We are speaking regularly to Turkey about our shared concerns relating to the significant risks posed by COVID-19 in Syria, including in camps for internally displaced persons. We are supporting our UN and NGO partners to lead the response in camps and across Syria. This support includes personal protective equipment for health workers, as well as provision of IPC (infection prevention and control) supplies, cleaning supplies and hand sanitiser. This is part of the UK's global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable. This includes a global contribution of £65 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on 22 April, condemning the execution of two prisoners under the age of 18 by the Iranian authorities.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are deeply concerned by the reports of the executions of these two juvenile offenders. In her statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated these executions are prohibited under international human rights law and has violated the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran had signed up to. It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. The UK regularly raises human rights with the Iranian authorities at all levels and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record on all human rights issues.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran about the reported detention without trial of (1) Nabi Tardust, (2) Ramtin Movaseghi, (3) Ashkan Valizadeh, and (4) Milad Ghorban Nezhad.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are aware of reports that a number of university students were arrested by Iranian security forces and detained without trial during the protests in January over the Iranian military's shooting down of a Ukrainian plane. We unreservedly support the right to peaceful protest and call on Iran to uphold its commitments under international law to protect freedom of assembly and speech, and treat all detainees in line with international standards. The UK regularly raises human rights with the Iranian authorities at all levels and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record on all human rights issues and to guarantee procedural fairness in legal cases, including most recently at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of journalists currently held without trial by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We do not hold this information. The British Government is committed to the promotion of media freedom and the protection of journalists, as an essential element of democracy and an important attribute of human rights. The UK supports calls for greater media freedoms in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We continue to reiterate the importance of a free and open press, and freedom of expression to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Officials from our Consulate-General in Jerusalem regularly raise the issue of freedom of expression, including the revision of relevant legislation, with the Palestinian Authority. We welcome Palestinian Prime Minister Shtayyeh's comments committing to freedom of press and expression, and policies and legislation that will protect journalists. We continue to urge the PA to respect human rights, ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to continue to improve the performance of the security sector.