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 assessment she has made of the need for food assistance in Myanmar for internally displaced people in (a) Kachin and (b) Northern Shan.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK remains one of the leading donors supporting the humanitarian response in Myanmar. Since the coup, we have provided £15.3 million in humanitarian funding for the Red Cross, UN, and local and International Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Where necessary, we have also reprioritised humanitarian funding towards urgent needs, including food and Covid assistance, in Kachin, Shan, Chin and the Southeast. Over the last year the UK has been building up the humanitarian response capacity of communities themselves through partners. This has enabled the UK to get support to very hard to reach communities. Through a network of local responders and communities, 25,000 newly displaced people have been reached with cash and emergency food support in Northern Shan. In Kachin, our partners have reached over 7,500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with food and cash assistance. UK support has been critical in covering major food gaps in several IDP camps between March and August 2021, when other partners could not reach or support these people. The UK remains strongly committed to helping those most in need in 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 assessment she has made of the political situation in Myanmar.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK Government condemns the military coup in Myanmar, the violence against the people of Myanmar and the detention of members of the civilian government and civil society, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The state of emergency, and all restrictions on rights and freedoms, should be lifted immediately and power should be returned to a democratically elected government. I [Minister Milling] am particularly concerned at reports this week of significant, indiscriminate violence by the military in Chin State, and elsewhere in the country. The UK is committed to supporting a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
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 discussions she has had with her international counterparts on an arms embargo on Myanmar.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK is a longstanding supporter of an arms embargo on Myanmar. We are clear that countries should not sell arms to the Myanmar military. The UK helped secure and strengthen a comprehensive EU arms embargo on Myanmar following the 2017 Rohingya crisis. Since we left the EU, we have transitioned this into domestic law. We are working closely with partners to coordinate pressure on those who sell arms to the military, and have used our leadership role at the G7 and UN to this end. On 5 May, the UK secured a G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' Meeting Communiqué that committed G7 members to continue to prevent the supply of arms and technical assistance to the military. The G7 Leaders' Communiqué of 13 June reaffirmed G7 unity on pursuing additional measures should they prove necessary. On 18 June, the UK worked with partners to deliver a UN General Assembly Resolution which urged member states to prevent the flow of arms 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, pursuant to his Answer of 9 September 2021 to Question 43474 on Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations, if he will publish any documents related to (a) impact assessments, (b) policy predictions, (c) humanitarian response planning and (d) emergency contingency planning when (i) the US Government under Donald Trump announced the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and (ii) President Joe Biden reaffirmed that commitment.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Our immediate focus is on ensuring safe passage for anyone remaining in Afghanistan who is eligible to come to the UK and wishes to leave, supporting the thousands of new arrivals in the UK, and continuing to provide assistance to the Afghan people. As the Foreign Secretary told the Foreign Affairs Committee, he understands the importance of learning the lessons from this response.
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 contingency plans his Department made in response to the US Government's announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Following President Biden's 14 April announcement, we worked intensively with the US, both on military and civilian channels, to ensure an orderly and co-ordinated withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan. We looked at many options, including the potential for staying longer or increasing our presence, but like our NATO allies, we had to be realistic in what was achievable without a US Forces presence.
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 conducted an impact assessment for the reduction in aid spending from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent with specific consideration to the impacts on Afghanistan including on (a) refugees, (b) democratic collapse, (c) gender equality and (d) NGO staff, workplaces, and programmes.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The temporary reduction in the aid budget has not affected programmes in Afghanistan. The UK will double its aid to Afghanistan, which will provide urgent life-saving assistance to millions of people suffering from the conflict, drought and COVID-19.
Total UK aid to Afghanistan this year will be £286 million. The UK's total aid contribution to the country since 2001 is now around £3.5 billion.
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 plans he has to extend further support to refugees in Afghanistan.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is doubling its aid to Afghanistan to rapidly respond to the crisis, increasing support to £286 million this financial year. This includes £30 million for responding to the needs of Afghan refugees in the region, of which, £10 million has been made available immediately to humanitarian partners, such as the UNHCR, to enable essential supplies such as shelters to be despatched to the Afghan borders as well as setting up sanitation and hygiene facilities.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, how many refugees from Afghanistan his Department has processed since the beginning of August 2021.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Between 15 and 29 August, the UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan. That includes: over 8,000 British Nationals, close to 5,000 Afghans who loyally served the UK, along with their dependents, and around 500 special cases of particularly vulnerable Afghans, including Chevening scholars, journalists, human rights defenders, campaigners for women's rights, judges and many others. All these figures include dependants.
This is in addition to the 2,000 people we brought to the UK between April and August under the ARAP scheme.
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 he or officials in his Department conducted (a) impact assessments, (b) policy predictions, (c) humanitarian response planning and (d) emergency contingency planning when (i) the US Government under Donald Trump announced the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and (ii) President Joe Biden reaffirmed that commitment.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Following President Biden's 14 April announcement, and NATO's 15 April decision to withdraw troops, we worked intensively with the US, both on military and civilian channels to ensure an orderly and co-ordinated withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan.
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 assessed the impact of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan on achieving (a) gender equality goals and (b) sustainable development goals and (c) democratic participation.
Answered by Nigel Adams
As the Prime Minister has said, we will judge this regime based on the choices it makes, and by its actions rather than by its words, especially the rights of girls to receive an education. Any relationship with a future Taliban Government would need to be calibrated according to their respect for fundamental rights for women and girls.
We likewise expect the new regime to stick by the country's commitments to the sustainable development goals, as well as to other international commitments under the UN framework, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.