Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions his Department has had in the last three years with his counterparts in the Governments of other nations party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol on (a) global compliance with the convention and protocol and (b) the status of refugees internationally.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The UK is committed to supporting refugees, the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. We played a key role with our international partners to develop the Global Compact on Refugees, which was agreed in December last year.
This Compact provides a framework for more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing and more effective international cooperation in refugee responses. The UK actively engaged in its development, including through five Thematic Meetings and six Formal Consultations between Member States in Geneva over 2017 and 2018.
The UK remains steadfastly supportive of the aims of the Compact. We continue to urge all states to back it and consistently emphasise the shared responsibility in addressing forced displacement and the importance of other donors stepping up.
The Global Refugee Forum at the end of this year will be an important opportunity to further broaden the support base and we will play our part in this process in full.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the number of Palestinian health workers in Gaza allegedly killed by Israeli Defence Force actions in the last two years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK is aware of the danger healthcare workers face while working in Gaza and continues to remain deeply concerned. The World Health Organisation reported that, in the context of protests, from March 2018 to March 2019, 3 healthcare personnel have been killed and 731 injured, with a total of 446 total incidents against health staff and facilities. We have raised our concerns about the excessive volume of live fire that Israel has used to respond to protests, including against medics, and we have stressed to Israel the importance of protecting those delivering medical services.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Israeli blockade of Gaza on (a) infant mortality rates, (b) levels of malnutrition, (c) instances of communicable diseases per 100,000 people and (d) prevalence of diseases related to poor sanitation in that territory.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and continually monitor the impact on both children and adults living there. We are particularly concerned about the health sector: UN OCHA’s 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview estimates 900,000 people are in need of humanitarian health interventions in Gaza. DFID regularly reviews key warning indicators on health, food security, protection, shelter, water and sanitation, and energy and fuel reserves in Gaza, to ensure that we can flexibly respond to urgent needs on the ground. Last month we provided an additional £2 million to the ICRC to support the health sector in Gaza.
We continue to stress to the Israeli authorities the damage that their restrictions on movement and access are doing to the living standards of ordinary Palestinians and the impact they have on the humanitarian situation, in particular the health of the population in Gaza and the development of health services there.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help protect Palestinian health workers in Gaza.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We are clear that no health workers or aid workers anywhere should be at risk of violence. The UK continually monitors the humanitarian situation in Gaza and we are aware of the significant strain on the health sector and health workers. We regularly raise with the Government of Israel the urgent need to ease all access and movement restrictions on Gaza, including for health workers. In particular we have stressed the importance of protecting civilians, especially children and medical personnel. We have recently announced that we will be providing £2 million to the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Appeal to contribute to the delivery of urgently needed surgical equipment, medicines, wound dressing kits, prosthetic limbs and post-surgery physiotherapy. We continue to closely monitor the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and are considering providing further humanitarian support in 2019.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure Official Development Assistance allocated to Gaza supports the sustainable development of Gaza's health system.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID is aware of the continual strain Gaza’s health system faces. The UK is committed to alleviating the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Last month, DFID announced new funding to the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver urgently needed surgical equipment, medicines, wound dressing kits, prosthetic limbs and post-surgery physiotherapy. It will also help to provide physical rehabilitation services for up to 3,000 disabled people. The UK continues to urge the parties to prioritise progress towards reaching a durable solution for Gaza and to take the necessary steps to ensure Gaza’s reconstruction and economic recovery. Restrictions in Gaza were most recently raised with the PA in January 2019 by a UK Government official.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of increased restrictions on (a) personnel and (b) material entering the Gaza strip on the work of NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We continually monitor and remain deeply concerned about restrictions on movement and access in Gaza, and the impact that this is having on the humanitarian situation. Recognising the challenges, the UK has committed to an extension of support for the UN Access Coordination Unit (ACU) until 2021 which works to facilitate humanitarian access for UN and NGO workers. DFID has also allocated £1.8 million for the Materials Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) since it was established in October 2014. The GRM/MMU was set up to facilitate timely access of large amounts of construction materials into Gaza and enable Gazan citizens, families and businesses to get access to reconstruction materials following widespread destruction in the 2014 conflict. We continue to call on the Israeli Government to ease movement and access restrictions for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent on supporting birth control programmes in developing countries in (a) total and (b) each year for the last five years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK leads the world in our long-term support for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) including for family planning.
In 2012 the UK committed to spend an average of £180m a year on family planning (FP) to 2020. Using internationally-agreed methodology (FP2020, Family Planning global partnership), since then DFID has spent a total of at least £910 million on Family Planning programmes between 2012/13 – 2016/17, which is an average of approximately £184 million each year. This includes both bilateral and core multilateral contributions to organisations such as UNFPA, WHO, World Bank & Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis Malaria. DFID are currently the second largest global bilateral donor for family planning in developing countries and have met the 2012 commitment.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential humanitarian effect of expanding the capacity of the Kerem Shalom goods crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Humanitarian agencies currently have to devote considerable time, resource, and effort to coordinating the passage of humanitarian goods and personnel through crossings between Israel and Gaza. Kerem Shalom is the only crossing for goods to enter and exit Gaza via Israel. In 2017 an average of 218 trucks a month were leaving Gaza into Israel, compared to a monthly average of 961 trucks between January and July in 2007. This severely constrains the economic development of Gaza, which contributes to the dire humanitarian situation. By operating Kerem Shalom at capacity, humanitarian and essential goods would be able to reach the intended beneficiaries in a more timely and cost-effective manner. This would expedite the delivery of humanitarian relief to those in need, helping to save lives and reduce suffering. The UK regularly raises the need to ease trade, movement and access restrictions with the Government of Israel, in line with their legitimate security concerns, and urges Egypt reopen the Rafah crossing.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential humanitarian effect of ending restrictions on trade between Gaza and the West Bank by building a secure route through Israel.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is clear that if restrictions on trade, movement and access between the West Bank and Gaza were eased via creation of a secure route between the two through Israel, humanitarian goods and personnel would be able to reach the intended beneficiaries in a more timely and cost-effective manner. Easing trade restrictions would help to ensure that humanitarian relief reaches those in need, helping to save lives and reduce suffering. More broadly, the benefits of increased trade flow would enhance Gaza’s economy, and relieve the humanitarian situation by lifting the overall standard of living. An analysis by the World Bank shows that lifting restrictions on Gaza could lead to additional cumulative growth of approximately 32% by 2025. We continue to press Israel to ease restrictions on trade, movement and access in line with their legitimate security concerns, and urge Hamas to renounce violence and move towards the quartet principles; the UK is committed to the unimpeded movement of humanitarian goods and personnel.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the humanitarian effects of recent trends in the number of demolitions and evictions in the West Bank.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Demolitions of Palestinian homes and buildings, and evictions of the residents, cause unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians, are harmful to the peace process and, in most circumstances, are contrary to international humanitarian law. According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, 97 structures were demolished or seized in the West Bank in the first quarter of 2018 (January-March), including homes and livelihood structures. The humanitarian effects include impact to children’s education, displacement, psychological distress and damage of livelihoods. The UK continues to make clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concerns over the demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from their homes.