Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding from the public purse provided to the International Finance Corporation is not used to support companies benefiting from forced labour.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s Performance Standard 2 defines IFC clients' responsibilities for managing labour and working conditions, and precludes the IFC from supporting clients which employ forced labour. People affected by IFC projects can register complaints through the independent Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsmen. The UK has been working with the IFC and other development finance institutions to develop stronger safeguards to reduce the risk of forced labour in supply chains.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the condition of 18-year-old Amal Nakhleh, who has contracted covid-19 while held in administrative detention without charge by Israeli authorities since January 2021; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Officials from the British Embassy Tel Aviv raised Amal Nakhleh's case with the Israeli Ministry of Justice on 27 January. We remain committed to encouraging the Government of Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding the treatment of detainees, including access to essential healthcare, and regularly raise this with the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the reported deteriorating health condition of 18-year-old Amal Nakhleh who has been held in administrative detention by Israel since January 2021, if she will make representations to her Israeli counterpart to call for (a) the urgent provision of necessary healthcare for Amal’s autoimmune disease and for the treatment of covid-19 and (b) his immediate release.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Officials from the British Embassy Tel Aviv raised Amal Nakhleh's case with the Israeli Ministry of Justice on 27 January. We remain committed to encouraging the Government of Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding the treatment of detainees, including access to essential healthcare, and regularly raise this with the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has provided guidance to sporting representatives of Great Britain participating in the Beijing 2022 Winter Games on the exercise of fundamental human rights in that country.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We have provided specific advice to the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations, including in respect of security, Chinese law and society, to ensure Team GB and Paralympics GB are as well prepared as possible for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. We wish our athletes every success and they will continue to have our full support throughout the games. Officials in Beijing stand ready to provide consular assistance if needed.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which team within her Department has responsibility for identifying early warning signs of atrocity crimes; and if she will publish the criteria that team uses to make such an assessment.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The team leading on atrocity prevention in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's United Nations and Multilateral Department shares the following with their geographic departments to help them formulate policy in response to atrocity risks:
Reporting from the United Nations (UN). Non-sensitive reports are available on the internet;
Countries at Risk of Instability (CRI);
US Holocaust Memorial Museum Early Warning Project and other reports available in the public domain from Non-Governmental Organisations;
Analysis and assessments shared between Member States, at the UN and international fora.
The CRI process involves a quantitative and qualitative process to calculate a country's risk of instability by assessing the pressure on a country's government and the resilience of its institutions to withstand further pressures. It uses over 80 indicators including respect for human rights, respect for the law, displacement and political stability. It is an internal document for HMG use and there are no plans to publish the criteria.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to reports of HSBC allegedly facilitating investment in Xinjiang Tianye Ltd, what plans she has to create a modern slavery risk register to prevent UK financial services investing in companies overseas which are complicit in atrocity crimes.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 24 March 2021, the Government announced a review of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy.
In the meantime, to further enhance transparency, the Government launched an online GOV.UK registry for modern slavery statements. This service enables investors, consumers, Non-Governmental Organisations and others to scrutinise the effectiveness of the actions being taken and monitor progress across sectors over time.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she made representations on ending Ukrainian supply of arms to the Myanmar military in her meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart on 8 December 2021.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is a longstanding supporter of an arms embargo on Myanmar. Since the coup, we have intensified efforts to stem the flow of weapons and duel-use goods reaching the military, through the G7, UN and with other close partners. We noted, with concern, the reports of arms sales from Ukraine to Myanmar but are pleased that Ukraine signed up to the UN General Assembly Resolution in July, which commits to preventing the flow of arms to Myanmar. The British Embassy in Kyiv has also engaged directly with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the issue, and coordinated with partners on lobbying efforts. We continue to urge them to ensure they are delivering on their commitments. The UK is coordinating with partners to further investigate any allegations of arms sales, and engage and apply pressure on those countries who continue to enable the flow of weapons to Myanmar.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) girls and (b) girl-led groups are partners in initiatives on girls’ education supported by the UK.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We used our Presidency of the G7 in May to agree a leader-level Girls' Education Declaration prioritising girls' education in the recovery from the pandemic. The Girls' Education Declaration commits the G7 to work with developing country partners, multilateral institutions, civil society, girl-led groups and youth leaders, to remove the obstacles to education that stand in girls' way and empower girls to lead change, including in peacebuilding and efforts to tackle the climate crisis. The Prime Minister also launched the Girls' Education Action Plan in May which commits the UK, through our Special Envoy, to engaging with youth activists and encouraging their leadership as a powerful catalyst for change.
Our flagship 'Girls' Education Challenge' supports girls to gain the critical skills needed to make the most of their potential. For example, in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe we are working with CAMFED to support over 269,000 girls to get a high quality education and thousands of learner guides, graduates from the programme, to lead initiatives to support girls' education within their communities and join forces with district and national authorities to drive change at a wider scale, ultimately re-setting the context for future generations of girls.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will restore funding for (a) women and girls to access family planning and contraceptive supplies and (b) efforts to end female genital mutilation.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK continues to support and strengthen partner countries' own ability to deliver life-saving maternal, reproductive and child health services, promote and support family planning and address efforts to end female genital mutilation. We continue to fund partnerships such as the Global Financing Facility and FP2030 - the family planning initiative- to work on these issues. Funding levels will be confirmed after departmental planning processes taking place over the coming months.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to allocate increased funding to local women and girl-led organisations that play a leadership role in responding to humanitarian crises.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK knows that Women's Rights Organisations and women-led civil society are critical to achieving lasting transformation in women's and girls' rights. This is recognised in the Integrated Review which specifically commits the UK to promote gender equality by "working with women's rights organisations". The UK continues to promote the rights of women and girls including in humanitarian crises and emergencies, through our commitments made under our G7 Presidency, where we galvanised international action through the G7's first ever Compact on famine prevention and humanitarian crises, committing G7 nations to supporting women and girls in such contexts.
Last week I announced more than £20 million of new funding to help stop violence against women and girls around the world, including a £3 million boost to fund women's rights organisations on the frontline, to tackle this issue through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, bringing our total contribution to £25 million since 2014. In addition our latest Spending Review showed, we will increase aid funding for our highest priorities, including support for women and girls.