Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 combat the persecution of Christians abroad.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to using our influence to defend Freedom of Religion or Belief as a universal human right which should be enjoyed by everyone. That is why the Prime Minister appointed Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon as the Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief. We regularly raise Christian persecution with our international counterparts, for example through the Human Rights Council. In recent years we have seen reports of a particular rise in the persecution of Christians. The Foreign Secretary launched the independent review of FCO support for persecuted Christians on 30 January. The Review is led by the Bishop of Truro. It will map levels of persecution and discrimination against Christians around the world, and provide robust recommendations on how the FCO can respond. The Bishop has now submitted his interim report and will submit his final report in Summer.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Sri Lanka.
Answered by Mark Field
We are continuing to assess the security situation in Sri Lanka. Security operations in Sri Lanka are ongoing following the 21 April attacks and a State of Emergency remains in place. The Sri Lankan authorities have made a number of arrests in relation to the attacks, and investigations are ongoing.
Until security operations have reduced the threat, we assess that it is very likely that terrorists will try to mount terrorist attacks. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. We have updated our travel advice to reflect this and are keeping our recommendation against all but essential travel under close review.
We have done much to improve our protective security and preparedness capability in the UK given the history of attacks in our country. The Minister of State for Security, Ben Wallace, visited Sri Lanka on 2-3 May to demonstrate UK solidarity and to take forward discussions on what UK support would be most helpful, drawing on the UK's experience and expertise in this field.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 his Myanmar counterpart on the Rohingya people.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign Secretary visited Myanmar on 19 and 20 September 2018 to visit northern Rakhine and to press Myanmar's leaders to take action. He also discussed the Fact-Finding Mission report with Aung San Suu Kyi. Minister Field spoke with the Myanmar Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin on 1 November 2018 to stress the UK's serious concern at Myanmar's announcement, with Bangladesh, that refugee repatriation would begin despite suitable conditions not yet being in place in northern Rakhine.
In November 2018, the Foreign Secretary wrote a joint letter with the French Foreign Minister making clear to the Myanmar authorities that its Commission of Inquiry needs to be an independent and credible mechanism that will lead to a judicial process in order to deliver accountability for the atrocities committed. The British Ambassador continues to have regular discussions with senior Myanmar officials about the Rohingya people.
On 18 March I met with U Thaung Tun, the Myanmar Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and National Security Advisor and again raised the issue of conditions in Rakhine and the importance of long term social and economic development in Rakhine to improve prospects for all, including the Rohingya.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote stronger gun control laws throughout the world.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Domestic gun laws elsewhere are a matter for those respective countries.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children born under Isis in Iraq are formally recognised.
Answered by Mark Field
Children born under Daesh in Iraq remain particularly vulnerable and present significant protection challenges. We continue to raise with the Iraqi authorities the importance of formal recognition of children born under Daesh. We welcome the steps recently taken by the Iraqi government to address the specific problem of the legal status of children born to Yezidi survivors as a result of sexual violence.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 Armenian counterpart on the rights of LGBT people in Armenia.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Her Majesty's Government continues to pay close attention to the issue of LGBT rights. I raised the importance of diversity and inclusion in a speech to the National Assembly of Armenia in September 2017, referring to the record number of LBGT and female MPs in the House of Commons.
The British Embassy Yerevan has been active in supporting the LGBT community in Armenia. The British Ambassador and her team are in close contact with Armenian LGBT community representatives, have regularly hosted events for LGBT civil society organisations and spoken at conferences on LGBT issues to reiterate UK support for the universality of human rights. The British Embassy in Yerevan, along with other Embassies, has expressed grave concern over the upward trend in cases in Armenia where hate speech, including death threats, have been made against minorities and human rights defenders, particularly those promoting LGBT rights.
The UK, alongside partners, has called for hate speech to be condemned and for law enforcement agencies to take urgent steps to guarantee the physical safety of Armenian citizens and to investigate allegations against those suspected of perpetrating hate crimes.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to support efforts to tackle the spread of false information on emergency contraception in Honduras.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK is aware of the ban on emergency contraception in Honduras and the lack of accurate information about it available to Hondurans. We are not currently running any programmes in this area. DFID do not have a bilateral aid programme in Honduras. In the past, to encourage responsible media reporting by Honduran media, the UK funded a project with Oxfam with a specific focus on violence against women in FY 2015/16.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 French counterpart on the living conditions of refugees and migrants rough sleeping in France.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Neither I nor the Foreign Secretary have discussed this aspect of French internal policy with our French colleagues.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 tackle the causes of modern slavery in Nigeria.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK and Nigeria have a shared security and economic interest in tackling the causes of modern slavery. The British Government funds a range of interventions to help Nigeria to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking, as well as to support victims. We continue to work with the Nigerian authorities and other donors and partners to address these issues, by helping to stabilise post-conflict areas and helping the Nigerian authorities to identify criminals involved in facilitating illegal migration and modern slavery.
Our efforts are focused in the locations from where the highest numbers of migrants come.