Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Brazilian Government on the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Our posts in Brazil frequently engage with the Brazilian Government on a number of environmental issues including deforestation. We are working with Brazil to help ensure it continues to protect the Amazon and have invested nearly £120 million through the International Climate Fund on projects to limit deforestation, prevent forest fires and implement the Forestry Code in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government consulted (a) the Saharawi people and (b) the local population in drawing up its amendment to the EU-Morocco Trade Agreement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The EU-Morocco Association Agreement comes under EU competence. The EU has sought to ensure that the amendment is fully consistent with the requirements of the European Court of Justice ruling of December 2016 on the applicability of the EU/Morocco Association Agreement to Western Sahara. The EU consulted a wide spectrum of Western Saharan representatives, stake-holders, civil society, and other organisations. The EU Commission's report of its consultations is available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=SWD:2018:346:FIN&from=FR.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications of the judgment of the European Court of Justice in cases C-104/16 P Council V Front Polisario and C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK for the recent trade proposals to the European Council of Ministers.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK accepts the judgement of the European Court of Justice in these cases, and has always been clear that any new proposals to the Council which address the substance of the judgement should conform with international law.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications of the judgment of the European Court of Justice in cases C-104/16 P Council V Front Polisario and C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK for his policies on the territory of, and products originating from, Western Sahara.
Answered by Alistair Burt
I refer the Hon. Member to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury’s recent answer to a similar question regarding imports from Western Sahara (158256).
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the representatives of the US administration on that country's zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As the Prime Minister said on 20 June, the reports and pictures we have seen in the past couple of days are deeply disturbing and wrong. We do not apply similar measures here and will never do so. Later on 20 June, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at ending the separation policy.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department's implementation plan is for banning the box on job applications.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) recruitment policies already comply with the Ban the Box initiative - none of the application forms used to recruit UK-based staff to the FCO require applicants to declare any criminal convictions.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of job roles advertised within his Department in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 excluded the box under the Ban the Box initiative.
Answered by Alan Duncan
All job roles advertised for UK-based staff in 2016 and 2017 excluded the box under the Ban the Box initiative.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the decision of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation Central Council to suspend the Oslo agreement on progress towards a peace settlement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK notes that the recommendations made by the Palestinian Central Council on 15 of January were non-binding. The Palestinian Authority continues to recognise the State of Israel and support a two-state solution. We continue to encourage the Palestinian leadership not to implement this recommendation. We urge all parties to promote non-violence, and engage constructively towards a two-state solution as the only basis for a sustainable settlement to the conflict.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on when to apply sanctions to pressure countries to comply with international law with regards to human rights abuses.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Government's response to reports of human rights violations is determined on a case by case basis.
The Government is implementing United Nations or European Union sanctions regimes focussing on human rights violations in relation to the following countries: Belarus, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, the 2017 Criminal Finances Act allows UK law enforcement agencies to use civil recovery powers to freeze the assets of those who violate human rights wherever those violations take place, where that property is held in the UK. The Home Secretary can also exclude from the UK individuals whose presence is not conducive to the public good.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to which countries the Government applies sanctions on account of their record of human rights abuses.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Government's response to reports of human rights violations is determined on a case by case basis.
The Government is implementing United Nations or European Union sanctions regimes focussing on human rights violations in relation to the following countries: Belarus, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, the 2017 Criminal Finances Act allows UK law enforcement agencies to use civil recovery powers to freeze the assets of those who violate human rights wherever those violations take place, where that property is held in the UK. The Home Secretary can also exclude from the UK individuals whose presence is not conducive to the public good.