Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2016 to Question 52554, who his Department's regional partners are in the facilitation of humanitarian access for aid agencies in South Sudan.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We work with a wide range of partners including other countries in the region and regional institutions to try to improve humanitarian access for all aid agencies in South Sudan.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to ensure the safety of refugees in shelters in South Sudan and neighbouring countries.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are currently more than 200,000 Internally Displaced People being protected at UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians sites across South Sudan. Through our deployment to UNMISS UK troops will provide expertise, particularly in engineering, that will help make those Protection of Civilian sites more secure. Through DFID, we are also providing more than £20 million this financial year to the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya to help support the more than one million South Sudanese refugees who are seeking refuge there.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with which non-governmental organisations (NGO) and NGO forums in South Sudan his Department has links.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We recognise the critical role civil society organisations play in South Sudan, both in providing basic support to the population and in developing local level peace-building initiatives which are essential to addressing the longer term impact of the conflict. We work closely with many of these NGOs, sharing information and analysis, and providing support where appropriate.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
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 counterpart in South Sudan on that country's restriction of employment of non-South Sudanese nationals by non-governmental organisations and other organisations.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are playing a vital part in providing lifesaving humanitarian support in South Sudan. The Department for International Development Director for East Africa met with the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs on 22 October to discuss the South Sudanese NGO Bill and to ensure that its implementation was not hindering NGOs in providing vital services. We are watching this situation closely, and are in dialogue with NGO forums and the partners that we fund directly.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
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 South Sudan on stopping armed forces destroying food reserves and restricting access to food for civilians in that country.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We continually make clear to both the government of South Sudan and the Opposition that disrupting the efforts of humanitarian agencies to provide food for civilians in desperate need of assistance is absolutely unacceptable. In particular, the government must fulfil its commitment to improve access for humanitarian personnel to those who need our support. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Africa Director raised this issue with the First Vice President on 23 November. We also raise humanitarian issues alongside other donors with representatives of the Government in the context of discussions about the peace process, organised by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Committee in Juba, most recently on 22 November.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he or the UK representative to the UN have made to other UN Security Council member states on the extension of the UN mission in South Sudan.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The mandate for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was extended for four months on 12 August, following extensive discussions in the UN Security Council. The effectiveness of the mission is reviewed monthly by Security Council members during consultations, which involve extensive discussions with all other members of the Council, and the mandate is due for renewal on 15 December. The UK Permanent Representative to the UN represents the UK Government during these discussions.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had on the situation in South Sudan with member states of the African Union and representatives from the African Union.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We regularly discuss South Sudan with senior African Union Commission (AUC) officials in Addis Ababa and Juba and raise it regularly with individual African Union Member States on a bilateral basis, including at the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission Partners meeting in Kampala on 10 November. Most recently, our Ambassador to South Sudan met with the AU Special Representative for South Sudan in Juba on 20 November, while our Ambassador to Ethiopia and UK Permanent Representative to the African Union met the AUC Commissioner for Peace and Security on 21 October and raised South Sudan with him then.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had on the withdrawal of Kenyan forces from the UN Mission in South Sudan with his counterparts in all the member states participating in that Mission.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are concerned that a number of Kenyan troops have already been withdrawn from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The UK High Commissioner in Nairobi raised these concerns directly with the Kenyan Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 8 November and emphasised the important role Kenya has to play in resolving the crisis in South Sudan and in providing security to ordinary South Sudanese through their participation in the peacekeeping force. The UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan discussed this issue with regional partners on 10 November in Kampala and our Mission to the UN in New York has discussed this with other Security Council Members and troop contributing counties. We understand that UNMISS are now looking at contingency plans.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the British High Commissions in India and Pakistan are providing to British citizens affected by the violence in Kashmir.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office encourages all British nationals to check the FCO's Travel Advice web pages before travelling. This highlights the current unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir. It explains that due to the accessibility and current unrest in the area, the level of consular assistance that the FCO can provide is extremely limited.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he and his Department have had with the Indian government on recent violence in Kashmir.
Answered by Lord Sharma
I remain very concerned by reports of violence and offer my condolences to the victims and their families. The United Kingdom abides by its commitments under international law and expects all countries to comply with their international legal obligations. Our High Commission in Delhi is monitoring the situation closely and we have changed our travel advice. The long standing position of the UK is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people. It is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or to act as a mediator.