Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the criteria are for the allocation of voluntary funding to Interpol.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The criteria for the allocation of statutory funding to Interpol are set out in the Financial Regulations of Interpol and Resolution of the General Assembly GA-2018-87-RES-14. The criteria is based on a scale that is set by the United Nations.
Additional financial contributions are covered by Articles 38-40 of the Interpol Constitution as well as Article 51 of the General Regulations.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of convening a meeting of nations to consider the abuse of Red Notices and diffusions issued by (a) Interpol and (b) member States.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Matters in relation to Interpol are the responsibility of the Home Office.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and works closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
All Red Notices are subject to review by a multidisciplinary Notices and Diffusions Task Force in Interpol prior to publication to ensure legal compliance and prevent abuse of Interpol systems. The Home Office supports Interpol’s commitment to ensuring the legitimacy of the Red Notice system and in November 2019 seconded a senior lawyer to Interpol to support the work of the Taskforce.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with his counterparts in the (a) the US Administration (b) Canada Government, (c) New Zealand Government, (d) Australia Government, (e) EU member states, (f) Japan Government and (g) South Korea Government on a successor to the President of Interpol.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Interpol Strategic Framework 2021-24 is currently under development by Interpol, and following its completion it will be shared with Interpol’s 194 members. Therefore, as yet no discussions have been had with the members identified within the question but engagement with members will be undertaken in the future.
Due diligence is undertaken by the UK Government into individuals seeking election to the Interpol Presidency and Home Office officials have discussed with officials in other countries prospective candidates for the role.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a Minister in her Department has responsibility for matters in relation to Interpol.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Matters in relation to Interpol are the responsibility of the Home Office.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and works closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
All Red Notices are subject to review by a multidisciplinary Notices and Diffusions Task Force in Interpol prior to publication to ensure legal compliance and prevent abuse of Interpol systems. The Home Office supports Interpol’s commitment to ensuring the legitimacy of the Red Notice system and in November 2019 seconded a senior lawyer to Interpol to support the work of the Taskforce.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the UK Government's policy is on the (a) appointment of officials and (b) election of officials to Interpol from countries that do not comply with the Red Notice and diffusion system.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Matters in relation to Interpol are the responsibility of the Home Office.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and works closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
All Red Notices are subject to review by a multidisciplinary Notices and Diffusions Task Force in Interpol prior to publication to ensure legal compliance and prevent abuse of Interpol systems. The Home Office supports Interpol’s commitment to ensuring the legitimacy of the Red Notice system and in November 2019 seconded a senior lawyer to Interpol to support the work of the Taskforce.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary General of Interpol on the abuse of Red Notices and diffusions.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Minister in her Department has responsibility for issues relating to Interpol.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recommending to Interpol that they include in their strategic framework for 2021-24 further reform of Red Notices and diffusions.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations of the report entitled Beyond Belief, published by Freedom from Torture on 16 June 2020, that caseworkers receive appropriate and relevant training when conducting interviews with victims of torture to encourage full disclosure and identify important aspects of claims, avoiding costly appeals; and what plans she has to report to the recommendations in that report.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office remains committed to delivering a fair and humane asylum system that is sensitive to the needs of the claimants, so that sufficient information can be obtained to facilitate fair and sustainable decisions on asylum claims. We ensure that asylum seekers are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken, even where that information may be sensitive or difficult to disclose.
The report published by Freedom from Torture acknowledges that there have been signs of progress within the Home Office. Improvements have been made to policy instructions to emphasise the importance of caseworker conduct during asylum interviews, in line with an earlier recommendation made by Freedom from Torture. The report also acknowledges the increase in asylum grant rates at initial decision stage, which is indicative of our efforts to improve asylum decision making and get decisions first time.
Following the publication of the Freedom from Torture report entitled ‘Proving Torture’, a collaborative response to improving training for asylum caseworkers was initiated to develop a training package which directly addressed concerns raised in the report. This resulted in the training course ‘Assessing Evidence: Medical Legal Reports’, which has been rolled out to asylum caseworkers, senior caseworkers and technical specialists since December 2018. The training is now mandatory for any caseworker dealing with asylum claims where Medico-legal reports have been submitted.
We will continue to look at the themes raised in the report as part of our on-going commitment to improve decision quality and the customer experience.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of UK Visas and Immigration’s country policy and information notes on Zimbabwe.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our country policy and information notes are published on the gov.uk website. They are kept under constant review and updated periodically. They are based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The Zimbabwe country policy and information notes on “sexual orientation and gender identity and expression” and “opposition to the government” were updated in January and February 2019 respectively, incorporating recommendations from a review commissioned by the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information in December 2018.
Asylum and human rights applications from Zimbabwean nationals are subject to review in every appeal and cases are decided on their individual facts and merits.