Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Brazilian counterpart on the release from detention of former Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a result of the publication of documents revealing a plot to jail Mr da Silva to prevent him from standing in the 2018 presidential election.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Brazil has a robust, transparent and independent justice system that is rightly tackling corruption and wider issues.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he was informed that there was dissent among Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team members on 14 March 2019 when the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council voted down a proposal to allow all FFM team members to brief the OPCW Executive Council on the FFM investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma in 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Ministers receive regular and frequent advice on Syria, including the use of chemical weapons by the Asad regime. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) published on 1 March 2019 the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) report into the chemical weapons attacks in Douma. The FFM conducted a full briefing of States Parties on 5 March. The Director General of the OPCW offered all States Parties the opportunity to submit further questions in writing; and to have technical discussions with the FFM. At the Executive Council on 14 March, the Russian delegation proposed without prior notice a vote on an FFM briefing to State Parties. The UK voted against holding a vote on this issue, as did a clear majority of Executive Council members. The Director General OPCW has confirmed that all evidence and views were taken into consideration in preparing the FFM report; and that the Technical Secretariat stands by the findings. These are: that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a toxic chemical, likely molecular chlorine, was used as a weapon in Douma on 7 April 2018. This is a clear breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The UK has confidence in the FFM's investigation and the conclusions of its report.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he instructed the UK's permanent representative on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council to vote against a proposal to allow all Fact Finding Mission (FFM) team members to brief the OPCW Executive Council on the FFM investigation into the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma in 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
On 14 March 2019 the UK and a clear majority of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council members voted against holding a vote on a Russian proposal on the handling of a briefing by the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM). The vote was called without prior notice. Instructions to the UK Delegation to the OPCW issued in line with normal procedures. The FFM briefed States Parties on 5 March on the findings of the Douma report and regular briefings are held, most recently on 28 May, on the OPCW's work in Syria. We continue to have confidence in both our own and the FFM conclusions into the chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April 2018.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether an assessment has been made of the implications for the 12 March 2019 statement by the UK delegation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that the UK welcomes FFM’s extremely thorough & well-evidenced report on the incident in Douma of the exclusion from that report of an engineering assessment by members of the Fact Finding Mission team.
Answered by Alan Duncan
UK stands by its assessment Syrian regime was responsible for the chemical weapon attack in Douma and by 12 March statement welcoming the Fact Finding Mission's report which drew a clear conclusion of reasonable grounds to believe that a toxic chemical, likely molecular chlorine, was used as a weapon on 7 April 2018. On 28 May the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director General confirmed all evidence and views were considered in preparing the Fact Finding Mission (FFM) report. Technical Secretariat stands by the findings and we continue to have confidence in both our own and the FFM's conclusions.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of a further investigation by the Investigations and Identification Team to identify those responsible for the incident in Douma without an explanation why the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons excluded an engineering assessment from the report by the Fact Finding Mission team.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We have full confidence in expertise and methodologies of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Fact Finding Mission (FFM). The OPCW Director General has confirmed that all evidence and views were considered by FFM in reaching its conclusion. The final FFM report of 1 March made a clear conclusion of reasonable grounds to believe a chemical weapons attack took place. Important now the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) are allowed to move forward with their vital work of identifying those responsible for such attacks in Syria. We are confident the IIT will consider all relevant information when attributing responsibility for such attacks.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to investigations suggesting that reports of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government in Douma in April 2018 were staged and with reference to reports that OPCW expert advice was redacted from its final report, whether he has made a reassessment of the decision to bomb targets in Syria in 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK has full confidence in the expertise and methodologies of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Fact Finding Mission (FFM). We welcome the clearly-evidenced FFM report on Douma that found "reasonable grounds that the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon has taken place on 7 April 2018. This toxic chemical contained reactive chlorine. The toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine." We have confidence in this conclusion. The OPCW Technical Secretariat has confirmed that all evidence and views were considered in preparing the FFM report.
A significant amount of information indicates that the Syrian Regime was responsible for this attack, a regime with a history of using such weapons against its people. No other group could have carried out this attack. The UK considers that the military action in April last year was legal. The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering. The action taken was to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people which has been exacerbated by the use of chemical weapons.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Turkish counterpart on ending the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan in line with International and Turkish domestic law and bring an end to hunger strikes in that country.
Answered by Alan Duncan
British Embassy officials discussed the imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan with Turkish officials in mid-January. They also covered the hunger strikes in support of Abdullah Öcalan by Kurdish prisoners, including Leyla Guven MP. We are pleased to note that she was recently released from prison. We expect the Turkish authorities to ensure that prisoners' human rights are observed, including access to medical treatment.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion 28/2016 adopted in August 2016 calling for the immediate release by Iran of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is legally binding.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is not a judicial body, and its opinions are not legally binding. However, I would encourage the Iranian authorities to co-operate and engage fully with the UN regarding the conclusions and recommedations of this report.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with Ecuadorian officials on the matter of Julian Assange since November 2018; and on what dates those discussions were held.
Answered by Alan Duncan
I met the new Ecuadorean Ambassador, Jaime Marchan on 18 December following the presentation of his diplomatic papers. We discussed a range of bilateral topics.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made any payments to The Bulldog Trust in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not made any payments to The Bulldog Trust in any financial year since 2015-16.