Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (a) not to proceed with the imminent execution of Nawaf al-Osaimi for a crime allegedly committed as a teenager and (b) to halt all executions pending a review of the death row population to identify those convicted of crimes allegedly committed as children and resentence them in line with the 2020 Royal Decree.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. This is especially the case for juveniles. This is in line with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights. We reiterated our opposition to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 15 September.
We regularly raise our concerns about the use of the death penalty, including individual cases with the Saudi Arabian authorities and we will continue to do so. In August, our Chargé d'affaires in Riyadh raised the issue of the death penalty with Minister of State Al Jubeir. I raised the death penalty with Dr Awwad al Awwad, President of Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission during his virtual visit in July.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many projects his Department applied for under the Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) in each financial year since 2016-17; and what the (a) allocated budget and (b) actual spending was for each project.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We do not disclose information related to Integrated Activity Fund projects to maintain the confidence and confidentiality of our Gulf partners.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many projects were delivered under the Integrated Activity Fund in the financial years (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18; and what the (a) budget and (b) spend was for each of those projects.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
I refer the Honourable Member to my response of 10 November 2020 to question 112065. 30 projects were delivered in 2017/18. The budget for each financial year was £20 million. Total spend was £10.5 million in 2016/17 and £13.9 million in 2017/18.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of the projects delivered through the Integrated Activity Fund in (a) 2016-7 and (b) 2017-18 were delivered solely within one country; and what those countries were in each of those financial years.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
I refer the Honourable Member to my responses to questions 112065 on 10 November and 113155 on 12 November.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on the increase in the proportion of children strip searched in Israeli military detention.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK remains concerned about the treatment of Palestinian children detained in Israeli military detention. We are committed to working with Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding children in detention. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation, including on this issue. We also continue to fund projects providing legal aid to minors and capacity building to local lawyers.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to the Government of Israel on the findings of Save the Children's report entitled, Defenceless: The impact of the Israeli military detention system on Palestinian children, published on 29 October 2020.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are concerned by the findings of the Save the Children's report entitled, 'Defenceless: The impact of the Israeli military detention system on Palestinian children'. We remain concerned about the treatment of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons. Reports of the heavy use of painful restraints and the high number of Palestinian children who are not informed of their legal rights, in contravention of Israel's own regulations, are particularly concerning, as is the continued transfer of Palestinian child and adult detainees to prisons inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. We remain committed to working with Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding children in detention. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv have a regular dialogue with Israel on this issue. We also fund projects providing legal aid to minors and capacity building to local lawyers. We continue to call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the hon Member for Glasgow East in the debate on the Transparency of the Integrated Fund on 22 October 2020, Official Report, col 475 WH that no Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessment was carried out for the visits of officials from the Bahrain Ministry of Interior and judges from the Court of First Instance to the UK in March 2018 and August 2019, which were delivered under the Integrated Activity Fund, what assessment the Government has made of compliance of those matters with its (a) human rights safeguarding policies and (b) human rights obligations.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
In helping Bahrain in the area of justice and security, we always consider when an OSJA assessment might be appropriate. The visits to the UK in 2018 and 2019 were arranged for Bahraini officials to meet, observe and ask questions of UK judges and officials about the approach to alternative sentencing by the UK's courts and National Probation Service. I am satisfied that both visits were consistent with our domestic and international rights and obligations and that OSJA assessments were not required.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Mohammad Damer Hamdan Matar near the occupied West Bank village of Deir Abu Meshal on 19 August, what steps he is taking to ensure accountability for Israeli soldiers’ use of live ammunition against Palestinian children in situations where lethal force was not necessary to protect life.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Whilst we have not made representations on this specific incident, we remain deeply concerned by the ongoing cycle of violence. We continue to stress the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, in particular the need to protect children, and urge restraint in the use of live fire. In instances where there have been accusations of excessive use of force, we have advocated swift, transparent investigations.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Palestinian counterpart on reports of night time family home arrests of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We remain concerned about Israel's extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice and as a preventive rather than a punitive measure. We continue to call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, he will make representations to the Government of Israel to release the 151 Palestinian children being held in Israeli military detention as called for by UN officials during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We remain concerned by the impact that COVID-19 could have on Palestinian detainees, including children. The British Embassy in Tel Aviv have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation, including the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. We remain committed to working with Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding children in detention in Israel and continue to make representations to the Israeli authorities on this issue. This includes the increased risk due to lack of hygiene, proper ventilation, population density and issues of due process. We continue to call for steps to be taken that will reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in prisons whilst simultaneously respecting fundamental human rights.