Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the UK Government was not present at a meeting between Russia, France, Germany and Turkey in Istanbul on 28 October 2018 to discuss a ceasefire in Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We support all efforts to end the Syria conflict. The Istanbul meeting was a one-off summit at Turkey's initiative with the aim of bridging differences between members of the Syria Small Group and the Astana guarantors (Russia, Iran, Turkey). We worked with France, Germany and Turkey in advance of the summit and hosted a meeting of the Syria Small Group on 29 October to agree next steps.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on LGBT rights in (a) Botswana, (b) Namibia and (c) Swaziland.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Our High Commissions regularly raise LGBT rights with Eswatini, Namibia and Botswana as part of our human rights agenda. The Prime Minister championed LGBT rights at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in April 2018, which was attended by Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Chinese Government on reports of political re-education camps housing up to one million Uighur Muslims in that country.
Answered by Mark Field
We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang. We are aware of credible reports of thousands of Uighurs being held in political re-education camps. UK officials recently visited Xinjiang to see the latest situation at first-hand, and found a heavy security presence on the ground.
The Foriegn Secretary raised our concerns about Xinjiang, and specifically so called ‘re-education camps’, with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China in July 2018. I also raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during my visit to China on 22 July 2018. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials will continue to monitor the situation in Xinjiang closely.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Myanmar government regarding the imprisonment of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
Answered by Mark Field
Government Ministers have repeatedly called for the immediate release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo since their arrest in December 2017. The Foreign Secretary called their conviction and sentencing on 3 September "an unconscionable blow to press freedom" and committed to raising their case with Burmese representatives. I called for their release in my conversation with Burma's Minister for International Cooperation on 17 August.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterparts in (a) Swaziland, (b) Namibia and (c) Botswana on LGBT+ rights in those countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Our High Commissions regularly raise LGBT rights with Eswatini, Namibia and Botswana as part of our human rights agenda. The Prime Minister championed LGBT rights at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in April 2018, which was attended by Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent update he has received on a potential release date for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on 3 April 2016 as she was returning to the UK from a family holiday in Iran. She was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2017, two appeals against her conviction were rejected. We will continue to take action on all our dual national cases in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to meet his Iranian counterpart to discuss the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Foreign Secretary will be arranging introductory calls with all his key interlocutors in the coming weeks, including his Iranian counterpart. We are unable to confirm the timing of this at present.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to secure the immediate release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We remain very concerned about all our dual nationals detained in Iran. We continue to raise their cases with the Iranian Government at every opportunity, and make decisions in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases. However, we will not be providing a running commentary. We judge this will not be helpful, or in the best interest of each case.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that members of the Assad regime who have been involved military action against civilians in Syria are held to account.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has a long-standing commitment to accountability for human rights violations and abuses in Syria. The Assad regime has committed terrible atrocities. The independent UN Commission of Inquiry has stated that the regime has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition to the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry, we are supporting the international, impartial and independent mechanism, which was set up in 2016 to collect evidence of war crimes in Syria for future prosecutions. We have also funded non-government organisations to collect evidence on the ground in Syria for future prosecutions.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
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 counterpart in Turkey on the recent airstrikes on Afrin.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign Secretary has been in contact with Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu about the Turkish operation in Afrin. We recognise Turkey's legitimate interest in the security of its borders. We have urged them to avoid any escalation in violence and to seek to protect civilians.