Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with the Government of Bahrain the UN statement calling for to end military trials against civilians and a retrial for the prisoners, Mohamed AbdulHasan AlMutaghawi, Fadhel Sayed Radhi, Sayed Alawi Husain and Mubarak Adel Mubarak Mahanna, who received the death sentence.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has a continuing dialogue with the Government of Bahrain on a range of issues. The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. It is the Government's longstanding position to oppose capital sentences in all circumstances and countries. We continue to make this clear to the Government of Bahrain. The UK welcomes the decision of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa on 26 April to commute these death sentences.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to raise with the Government of Bahrain the conditions and lack of access to medical care of the female political prisoners, Hajer Mansoor Hassan and Medina Ali, in that country.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Embassy in Bahrain are aware of these cases and continue to monitor events. We encourage those with concerns about treatment in detention to report these to the appropriate oversight body. We urge these oversight bodies to carry out swift and thorough investigations into any such claims. We understand that the National Institution for Human Rights is aware of these cases and is monitoring the situation, and that the Ombudsman of the Ministry of Interior is also investigating the claims.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, plans to send a representative to attend the next legal hearing involving Najah Ahmed Yousif.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Officials from the British Embassy in Bahrain were present at the court hearing for Najah Ahmed Yousif. We will continue to monitor this case closely.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle modern slavery in Libya.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is committed to safe, legal and well-managed migration. We need a comprehensive approach, addressing the root causes of migration, as well as their consequences. The Prime Minister has made eradicating modern slavery one of her top foreign policy priorities. Our new £75 million migration programme will specifically target migrants travelling from West Africa via the Sahel to Libya and will provide protection and critical humanitarian support to reduce suffering and exploitation. The UK also supports the Declaration from the EU-Africa Summit to address the situation in Libya, including efforts to sanction people smugglers, and the establishment of a UN-EU-AU Taskforce to facilitate the Assisted Voluntary Return for migrants in Libya. We support further efforts in this area, including by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
I recently discussed this issue with representatives from the Libyan government of National Accord in Tripoli.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2401.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have repeatedly pressed the Syrian regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, to abide by their obligations under Resolution 2401. At the UN Human Rights Council we secured a UK-proposed resolution calling for the Resolution’s full and immediate implementation. The Foreign Secretary and International Development Secretary issued joint statements on 15 March and 22 March, condemning the appalling situation in Eastern Ghouta and calling for the implementation of UNSCR 2401.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps the UK Government is taking to (a) support UN Resolution 2401 on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and (b) collect evidence of (i) violations of international humanitarian law and (ii) crimes against humanity.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have repeatedly pressed the Syrian regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, to abide by their obligations under Resolution 2401. The UN Human Rights Council we secured the adoption of a UK-proposed resolution calling for full and immediate implementation of Resolution 2401. The Foreign Secretary and International Development Secretary issued joint statements on 15 March and 22 March, condemning the appalling situation in Eastern Ghouta and calling for the implementation of UNSCR 2401. The UK is committed to ensuring that those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses in Syria are held to account and we have been at the forefront of international action.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps the UK Government is taking to (a) support UN Resolution 2401 on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and (b) collect evidence of (i) violations of international humanitarian law and (ii) crimes against humanity.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have repeatedly pressed the Syrian regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, to abide by their obligations under Resolution 2401. The UN Human Rights Council we secured the adoption of a UK-proposed resolution calling for full and immediate implementation of Resolution 2401. The Foreign Secretary and International Development Secretary issued joint statements on 15 March and 22 March, condemning the appalling situation in Eastern Ghouta and calling for the implementation of UNSCR 2401. The UK is committed to ensuring that those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses in Syria are held to account and we have been at the forefront of international action.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 129926, what response the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas received from the Russian Ambassador to the UK on 27 February 2018 regarding the UK’s concerns about the ongoing targeting of civilians in eastern Ghouta; and whether the Government has made any further representations since that date.
Answered by Alan Duncan
On 27 February, I met with the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, stressing UK concern at the current situation in Syria, particularly the crisis in Eastern Ghouta. I urged Russia to use its influence to ensure the Syrian regime adhered to the ceasefire demanded by UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2401 to allow rapid, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and non-conditional medical evacuations which are urgently needed. The Ambassador said that Russia would implement Resolution 2401. The Foreign Secretary also wrote to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on 27 February regarding the crisis in Eastern Ghouta and urging Russia to uphold its commitments to ensure that UNSCR 2401 is implemented in full.
The UK has repeatedly urged Russia bilaterally and in other multilateral fora to use its influence to ensure that the Assad regime allows rapid, unimpeded and sustained UN-led humanitarian access to deliver urgently needed food and medical supplies to Eastern Ghouta, and adheres to the ceasefire demanded by UN Security Council Resolution 2401. The UK called for an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council on 2 March and proposed a resolution which the UN Human Rights Council adopted on 5 March calling for the full and immediate implementation of UNSCR 2401. In the UN Security Council, the UK most recently raised its concerns with Russia at the UN Secretary General's briefing to the Security Council on Resolution 2401 on 12 March.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government (a) holds (b) is aware of and (c) has sought to obtain information on Russian air force responsibility for hospital bombings in Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have obtained information about attacks against medical facilities in Syria from various sources, including non-government organistions, humanitarian organistions supporting hospitals on the ground in Syria,and the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry. A large number of attacks on hospitals have been documented in the Syrian conflict - the vast majority by the regine and its backers. In its reports of 6 March 2018, the UN Commission of Inquiry stated that pro-regime forces deliberately target medical infrastructure as part of their war strategy. Between March 2011 and December 2017, Physicians for Human Rights documented 16 attacks on medical facilties by Russian forces and a further 118 attacks committed by either Russian or Syrian government forces. These attacks on hospitals, as well as on the heroic White Helmets rescue workers, are utterly unacceptable. On 5 March the UN Human Rights Council, at the UK's initiative, adopted a resolution which included condemnation of attacks on medical facilites.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing tracking data on Russian violations of the Syrian ceasefire in a form that is compatible with security requirements.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information available to the British Government on Syria originates from a variety of sources, some of which it would not be appropriate to publish. The UK will, however, continue to seek means of highlighting action by Russia, the Syrian regime and its other backers which is contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 2401 (which demanded a thirty-day ceasefire in Syria). The Foreign Secretary issued a statement on 5 March underlining his concerns about action by both the Syrian regime and Russia contrary to this Resolution. We are using regular meetings of the UN Security Council, some of which have been public, to highlight these violations further. We called an Urgent Debate at the UN Human Rights Council, which took place on 2 March, to highlight the situation in eastern Ghouta. Finally, we strongly support the work of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry which has published reports identifying parties responsible for atrocities in Syria. The most recent report by the Commission of Inquiry was published on 6 March. It identified attacks perpetrated by Russia, as well as other parties.