Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Wood Green)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 merits of President Biden's proposals for expanding the United Nations Security Council.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government has a long-held position of supporting reform of the Security Council, to make it more representative of the world today. We support the expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories. This includes permanent African representation on the Council as well as the creation of new permanent seats for India, Germany, Japan and Brazil. We also support an expansion of the non-permanent category of membership. The Foreign Secretary reiterated this position as one of his key priorities during his speech on multilateral reform at Chatham House in June 2023.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure Chevening scholarships remain accessible to people in Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The application window for Chevening Scholarships is open to Afghans resident outside Afghanistan in a country eligible for overseas development aid until 7 November. Due to risks that are outside our control, we are not in a position to offer scholarships to Afghans resident in Afghanistan for academic year 2024/25.