Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help facilitate the return of non-British nationals in Gaza who are resident in the UK.
Answered by David Rutley
We are focused on the safe evacuation of British Nationals from Gaza as quickly as possible, and over 150 British Nationals have left via the Rafah Border Crossing. Whilst we remain in close contact with the Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian authorities, who hold responsibility for the Rafah border crossing operation, we are not able to control the responsible authorities at the border. In conversations with their counterparts, the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have reinforced the importance of ensuring that all foreign nationals are able to evacuate Gaza safely, as well as ensuring that humanitarian aid urgently reaches those who need it most in Gaza. We are continuing to raise this at the highest levels.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the sale of arms to the authorities in Myanmar that were previously purchased by and for authorities in other countries.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government takes its strategic export control responsibilities very seriously. We examine each application for controlled items on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. The Strategic Export Licensing Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework and require us to consider carefully the impact of the export of items and their capabilities. When assessing an export licence, the Government considers the risk of the end user diverting the equipment to another end user, such as the authorities in Myanmar.
The trade of military goods and technology to Myanmar directly, or through third countries, is prohibited by the Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations 2021. The Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. This includes Criterion 1, respect for the UK's international obligations and commitments, in particular sanctions and the risk of diversion, Criterion 7. All licences are kept under careful and continual review as standard. We are able to suspend, refuse or revoke licences as circumstances require.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release of 31 October 2023 entitled UK and international partners target Myanmar arms dealers and military financiers with new sanctions, whether his Department has made an assessment of potential further steps it can take to hold the authorities in Myanmar to account.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK is considering a range of further sanctions targets, and other measures, to hold the Myanmar regime and its associates to account. Since the start of the coup, the UK has imposed sanctions on 25 individuals and 29 entities, most recently in October 2023 in coordination with the US and Canada. It is vital that any sanctions imposed have the desired effect of denying the regime credibility and reducing their access to finance, arms and equipment, without harming the wider population of Myanmar.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Pakistan following the announcement of the return of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The UK is monitoring the Government of Pakistan's policy on the deportation of undocumented migrants, recognising that every country has the sovereign right to manage their borders. The former Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, discussed this with Caretaker Prime Minister Kakar and Caretaker Foreign Minister Jilani and received assurances towards the safety of Afghans who are eligible for UK resettlement under the ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) and ACRS (Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme) schemes. We encourage Pakistan to adhere to its international human rights obligations and provide opportunities for refugees to register for asylum. The UK has committed £16 million to the International Organization for Migration in Afghanistan to support undocumented returnees.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential human rights impact of the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The UK Government continues to monitor Pakistan's deportation of undocumented migrants. Pakistan has a long history of welcoming vulnerable refugees. We urge them to respect the human rights of all Afghans in Pakistan. We are working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to ensure Pakistan adheres to its international human rights obligations. Since September, we have committed £16 million to the International Organisation for Migration in Afghanistan to support vulnerable undocumented people returning from Pakistan and Iran.
We are also committed to ensuring human rights are respected in Afghanistan. We regularly press the Taliban on human rights and work with international partners to lobby against violations and abuses.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of reports on the forced return of North Korean defectors from China.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
We are aware of reports that China has forcibly repatriated North Korean escapees to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The UK remains committed to raising this issue with international partners and at the UN. At the Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights Situation in North Korea on 24 October, the UK urged the international community to ensure that the rights of North Korean escapees are protected. At the 17 August UN Security Council meeting on the human rights situation in the DPRK, the UK called on all states to abide by the principle of non-refoulement.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Academic Technology Approval Scheme applications made by Chinese nationals were rejected in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023 to date.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) is a country-agnostic counter-proliferation tool which seeks to ensure that universities do not facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technology relating to advanced conventional military technology, weapon of mass destruction (WMD) or their means of delivery. Because of the country-agnostic nature of the scheme, HMG does not publish data on ATAS decisions by country. However, we publish data for the scheme as a whole in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with regional partners on Chinese naval exercises in the Pacific.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK maintains open channels of communication with partners in the region to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. We are committed to international law, the primacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and to freedom of navigation and overflight; and we are deepening our cooperation with our friends and partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his international counterparts on the (a) detention of political prisoners and (b) human rights situation in Myanmar.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Although the UK has no political engagement with the military regime, the UK regularly raises the human rights situation in Myanmar with international partners and in multilateral fora. We continue to condemn the ongoing human rights violations by the military regime and call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including in the landmark United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution, which the UK coordinated in December 2022. The UK reiterated this demand in the G7 Leader's statement in May. The UK has co-sponsored a number of UN Human Rights Council resolutions, including one in April, which condemned the military regime's human rights violations. On 17 October, I (Minister Trevelyan) plan to join and co-convene a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) High Level Meeting on Rohingya Refugees, where I will reiterate UK support for the Rohingya community and the need for sustainable solutions to improve the conditions in Rakhine State.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2022 to Question 102932 on Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Pacific, how many (a) UK-based and (b) locally recruited staff work in the Pacific Development Unit.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Pacific Development Unit is led from the British High Commission in Canberra, with staff also located in the British High Commission Wellington and the British High Commission Suva.
Across these locations, 0-9 UK based staff and 0-9 country-based staff work within the Pacific Development Unit.
FCDO headcount data is provided in bands in line with FCDO headcount data release policies.