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Written Question
Israel: Palestinians
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths of Palestinian civilians (a) without a ceasefire and (b) with weekly pauses between 14 November and 14 December 2023.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We have no means of independently verifying exact casualty numbers, and it is difficult for organisations like the UN to accurately verify estimates in Gaza. We recognise that there have been significant civilian casualties. We have been consistently clear that all sides must make all possible efforts to protect civilians and must abide by their international obligations and respect International Humanitarian Law. The UK is continuously assessing needs and advocating for access routes to be established into Gaza, sufficient levels of humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza and calling for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to be safely distributed within Gaza. The UK Government has already announced £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.


Written Question
Kashmir: Coronavirus
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) speed of the covid-19 vaccination roll out in Pakistan to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The UK continues to monitor the response to Covid-19 globally, including in Kashmir. The FCDO is working with global institutions, including the World Health Organisation, to ensure supplies are directed to those in greatest need. We are monitoring information on supplies in both India-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.


Written Question
Kashmir: Coronavirus
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) speed of the covid-19 vaccination roll out in India to Indian-administered Kashmir.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The UK continues to monitor the response to Covid-19 globally, including in Kashmir. The FCDO is working with global institutions, including the World Health Organisation, to ensure supplies are directed to those in greatest need. We are monitoring information on supplies in both India-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Coronavirus
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the TRIPS waiver proposal at the WTO that would suspend global patent rules during the covid-19 pandemic will enable the scale-up of manufacturing required to make enough doses to vaccinate the world.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The UK does not consider waiving intellectual property (IP) rights to be an appropriate action to boost the manufacturing of safe, effective, and quality vaccines. The existing intellectual property framework has mobilised research and development to deliver a host of new medicines and technologies to detect, treat, and defend against COVID-19. We have not yet seen evidence of how such a waiver of IP rights would improve the current situation. The UK continues to engage in constructive and evidence-based discussions at the TRIPS Council on the waiver proposal, and to address the multiple factors outside of IP on which access to medicines depends.

The UK is among the biggest global donors on COVID-19, and committed to supporting rapid, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. We have pledged over £1 billion of UK aid to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks. To support global vaccine access, we have funded a range of international organisations with the expertise to deliver an 'end to end' approach from research, development, and clinical trials, through to supporting manufacturing scale-up and delivery.


Written Question
Migration and Peace: Overseas Aid
Tuesday 1st December 2020

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the decision to reduce the Official Development Assistance budget at the 2020 Spending Review on (a) levels of international migration and (b) global peacebuilding.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

As announced on Thursday 26 November, in order to maximise our strategic focus in the use of Official Develolpment Assistance (ODA) next year, the Foreign Secretary will lead a short cross-government process to review, appraise and finalise all of the UK's ODA allocations. Decisions on support for international migration and global peacebuilding will be taken as part of this process and based on assessments of need, and evidence of where UK ODA can make a difference.


Written Question
Ukraine: Radicalism
Tuesday 21st July 2020

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the level of white-supremacist violent extremism in Ukraine.

Answered by Wendy Morton

There are several peripheral groups with neo-Nazi sympathies in Ukraine, some of which have made statements in support of white supremacism. We take seriously any reports of violent extremism and hate crime in Ukraine.

The UK is committed to pursuing a comprehensive human rights agenda in Ukraine, including taking action against racially-motivated hate crime. Since 2014, the UK has co-sponsored a UN resolution supporting quarterly debates of reports on Ukraine by the Monitoring Mission of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UK Government provides financial support to the Monitoring Mission, which works to report and reduce human rights violations and abuses in Ukraine.

Whilst Ukraine has cooperated fully with the Monitoring Mission, we remain extremely concerned by the restrictions of access for human rights bodies to the non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea, and the resulting limited reporting on those areas. It is essential that independent investigations take place to deliver accountability for serious allegations of hate crime in all of Ukraine. We will continue to work closely with the Ukrainian government, our international partners and local agencies to support efforts to report, investigate and reduce incidences of hate crime in Ukraine.


Written Question
Ukraine: Radicalism
Tuesday 21st July 2020

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine.

Answered by Wendy Morton

There are several peripheral groups with neo-Nazi sympathies in Ukraine, some of which have made statements in support of white supremacism. We take seriously any reports of violent extremism and hate crime in Ukraine.

The UK is committed to pursuing a comprehensive human rights agenda in Ukraine, including taking action against racially-motivated hate crime. Since 2014, the UK has co-sponsored a UN resolution supporting quarterly debates of reports on Ukraine by the Monitoring Mission of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UK Government provides financial support to the Monitoring Mission, which works to report and reduce human rights violations and abuses in Ukraine.

Whilst Ukraine has cooperated fully with the Monitoring Mission, we remain extremely concerned by the restrictions of access for human rights bodies to the non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea, and the resulting limited reporting on those areas. It is essential that independent investigations take place to deliver accountability for serious allegations of hate crime in all of Ukraine. We will continue to work closely with the Ukrainian government, our international partners and local agencies to support efforts to report, investigate and reduce incidences of hate crime in Ukraine.


Written Question
Kashmir: Human Rights
Monday 2nd July 2018

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights entitled Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir: Developments in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir from June 2016 to April 2018, and General Human Rights Concerns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, published on 14 June 2018, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts at the United Nations on human rights in Kashmir.

Answered by Mark Field

The British Government has taken note of the concerns across Kashmir raised in the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report and its recommendations for both the Governments of India and Pakistan to consider. We have not yet discussed its recommendations or human rights in Kashmir with counterparts at the United Nations.

The UK's longstanding policy is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political resolution to the situation in Kashmir, taking account of the wishes of the Kashmiri people. It is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or act as a mediator.


Written Question
Kashmir: Human Rights
Monday 2nd July 2018

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights entitled Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir: Developments in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir from June 2016 to April 2018, and General Human Rights Concerns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, published on 14 June 2018, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in India and Pakistan on implementing the recommendations of that report.

Answered by Mark Field

The British Government has taken note of the concerns across Kashmir raised in the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report and its recommendations for both the Governments of India and Pakistan to consider. We have noted the reactions of both India and Pakistan but have not discussed its recommendations with either Government.

We encourage all states to cooperate with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and ensure that their domestic laws are in line with international human rights standards. The UK's longstanding position is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political resolution to the situation in Kashmir, taking account of the wishes of the Kashmiri people. It is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or act as a mediator.


Written Question
Kashmir
Tuesday 12th January 2016

Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions were held during the recent visit to the UK by the Indian Prime Minister on Kashmir.

Answered by Lord Swire

I refer the hon. member to my answer of 23 November 2015 (PQ No 16855).