Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 December 2023 to Question 5833 on Palestinians: Children, what steps his Department is taking to identify people responsible for settler violence.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We continue to be clear that extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability when Israelis and Palestinians are desperate for both. We have urged Israel to take stronger action to stop settler violence against Palestinian civilians and to hold the perpetrators accountable. As the Foreign Secretary said on 14 December, we are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK, to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these acts. This involves making use of existing disruptive immigration measures at our disposal.
We are not in a position to comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answers of 24 November 2023 and 11 December 2023 to Questions 2123 and 4902 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, for what reasons the daily average of 500 truckloads of humanitarian supplies is not being reached; and what progress he has made in finding other routes for aid to get into Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Getting significantly more aid into Gaza is a priority. Constraints to the number of trucks entering on a daily basis, include enhanced screening requirements, limited points of entry and insufficient functioning trucks and fuel within Gaza to handle the volume of assistance needed. The Foreign Secretary has recently appointed a Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and who will actively engage with international partners and those operating on the ground to help unblock bottlenecks to delivery.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 17 October 2023 on International Climate Finance, HCWS1071, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reclassification of climate finance on the proportion of international climate finance provided by the UK in the form of (a) loans and (b) other non-grant instruments.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
All UK International Climate Finance (ICF) continues to be Official Development Assistance. In line with the historical average of 85% set out in the Written Statement, the vast majority of UK ICF continues to be provided through grants.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the reported shooting of two Palestinian children in Jenin on 29 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon has publicly expressed that he was appalled by news of this particular incident in the West Bank and called for a full investigation; we are clear that the targeting, and on occasions killing, of Palestinian civilians, especially children, is completely unacceptable. As both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have emphasised to Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is critical that Israel abides by its obligations under international law and acts to reduce tensions in the West Bank to stop the conflict spreading. As the Foreign Secretary announced on 14 December, the UK is now banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he had discussions with his UAE counterpart during COP 28 on reports that UAE has (a) brought new charges against (i) internationally recognised human rights defenders and (ii) other political prisoners and b) held a mass trial.
Answered by David Rutley
The UK Government believes that freedom of expression is a universal human right and citizens must be allowed to freely discuss and debate issues, challenge their governments and make informed decisions in accordance with international human rights law. We encourage all states, including the United Arab Emirates' (UAE), to uphold international human rights obligations. We recommended in our response to the UAE Universal Periodic Review that the UAE authorities guarantee the rights of people in the UAE to express their views and assemble peacefully, in line with international human rights law now and in future. We expressed disappointment during the UN Human Rights Council in October 2023 that the UAE did not adopt our recommendation. We are aware of the reports referenced, which emerged on 12 December as COP28 was concluding. FCDO Ministers have not met with their counterparts since the reports emerged.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an estimate of the number of Palestinian children (a) arrested by the Israeli authorities and (b) held under administrative detention since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK has made plain its concern about the continued reports of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli military detention, particularly relating children, however we cannot give an accurate estimate of the number of the number of children arrested or detained. The UK is committed to working with Israel to secure improvements in its detention practices and repeatedly calls on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law. This has been raised by both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Answer of 23 November 2023 to Question HL568 in the House of Lords on Sudan: Humanitarian Aid, what progress he has made with international partners on (a) unfettered humanitarian access to Sudan and (b) the provision of continued support for the Sudanese people.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK continues to press the warring parties to enable humanitarian access into and across Sudan, including by challenging bureaucratic and administrative impediments; and coordinates on this vital issue with our international partners and in international fora such as at the UN. The UK, alongside Norway, jointly funded the Sudan Humanitarian Conference which took place in Cairo from 18-20 November; an event that brought together Sudanese grassroots organisations, NGOs and the international humanitarian system to develop coordination mechanisms to give a greater voice to Sudanese organisations in the humanitarian response. The UK continues to fully support the UN-led humanitarian forum established during the latest round of Jeddah talks in October and launched on 13 November. Alongside international partners, we are supporting such mediation efforts, and urge both warring parties to engage constructively to secure short-term ceasefires and improvements in humanitarian access. The UK continues to provide assistance to the many people in need in Sudan through our humanitarian aid package of £36 million for 2023-2024.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help deliver the Government's commitment in the Glasgow Climate Pact to double adaptation finance by 2025.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is delivering on its commitment to spend £11.6 billion on International Climate Finance (ICF). At COP27, the Prime Minister announced that we will triple funding for climate adaptation from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025. We are working with developed countries and multilateral donors to raise ambition on adaptation finance in order to meet the collective goal to double adaptation finance by 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2023 to Question 2123 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the ability of agencies to distribute the aid to be provided with the £30 million in humanitarian funding committed by his Department for Gaza.
Answered by David Rutley
We welcome the recent pause in fighting as an opportunity to get hostages out and will continue to get aid into Gaza on a sustained basis now that the truce has ended. We continue to press both at the UN and directly with Israel for unhindered humanitarian access and substantive, repeated humanitarian pauses that allow aid to enter and British nationals to leave. UK humanitarian funding will continue to support trusted partners provide humanitarian assistance and negotiate humanitarian access in Gaza. The UK will continue, in conjunction with our international partners, to advocate internationally on humanitarian priorities.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the discussions ahead of COP28 on the World Bank potentially hosting the Loss and Damage fund for an interim period, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the World Bank (a) meets the needs of communities most affected by loss and damage and (b) is accessible for local organisations and actors during this interim period.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Government recognises that it is the most vulnerable who face the harshest realities of climate change, and too little climate finance reaches the local level. We will deploy our position and funding to work with the World Bank and others to ensure effective targeting of funding, including in line with our White Paper commitments to localisation. The UK will continue to champion a significant minimum allocation floor for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States within the Fund, as agreed in the text adopted by COP28 on Day 1.