Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
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 the Sri Lankan Government abides by the Oslo Declaration of 2002.
Answered by Mark Field
The Oslo Declaration followed the conclusion of the third session of peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE leadership in 2002. Regrettably the ceasefire failed and several more years of civil war followed the declaration, finally ending in 2009.
The UK supports the full implementation of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 34/1 as the best way to secure lasting peace and reconciliation, including devolution of political authority and respect for the human rights of all Sri Lankans.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
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 the Sri Lankan Government observes United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1.
Answered by Mark Field
During my visit to Colombo and Jaffna in October 2017, I raised with Foreign Minister Marapana the importance of the Sri Lankan government implementing in full its commitments under UN Human Rights Council Resolution 34/1, which rolled over the commitments made under 30/1. I encouraged accelerated progress towards fulfilling these commitments, including the return of all military-held private land, the operationalisation of the Office of Missing Persons, and the development of new counter-terrorism legislation in line with international human rights standards.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
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 uphold the human rights of the Tamil people and to support the establishment of democratically accountable institutions in Sri Lanka.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK is committed to the full implementation of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 34/1, under which Sri Lanka committed to implement a range of measures to provide for human rights, truth-seeking, reconciliation, and devolution of political powers following the end of its civil war. I encouraged Foreign Minister Marapana to continue to make progress on these commitments when I met him last October in Colombo. Our High Commissioner in Sri Lanka regularly travel to the North and East and I joined him in Jaffna during my most recent visit to meet with Tamil groups, and where we have specific human rights concerns we raise these with the Sri Lankan government.
The UK is also providing Sri Lanka with £6.6 million of Conflict, Stability and Security Fund funding over three years, to include support for police reform and training, reconciliation and peace building, and demining in the north of the country.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the co-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council held in October 2015, if he will make representations to the government of Sri Lanka to respect its commitments and allow international prosecutors to investigate allegations of violations of international humanitarian law in that country; and if he will encourage his international counterparts to make similar such representations.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We welcomed the historic co-sponsorship by Sri Lanka of Resolution 30/1 at the UN Human Rights Council on 1 October 2015 committing it to reconciliation, accountability and the protection of human rights. While Sri Lanka has made progress against the commitments made in the resolution, much remains to be done. The High Commissioner for Human Rights will present his final progress report at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March 2017. Our long standing position is that Sri Lanka should implement the commitments in Resolution 30/01, including its commitment to accountability. Ministers and senior officials have underlined the importance of Sri Lanka delivering in full on its UNHRC commitments in recent discussions with representatives of the Sri Lankan government and with our international partners. We have done so while recognising the scale of the challenge this represents and the importance of allowing time for credible, well thought out transitional justice mechanisms to be developed and implemented.Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterparts on what estimate the government of Turkey has made of when it expects Turkey to join the EU.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As and when Turkey meets the requirements for accession in full, it will be for Turkey and EU members at the time to decide on membership. The UK will continue to support countries committed to the accession process in meeting the necessary requirements.
Asked by: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department plans to continue sending aid to Turkey after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK will remain engaged internationally beyond our EU exit, building on our regional relationships to deliver stability and security. We will determine what our departure from the EU means for wider budgets at the appropriate time.