Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the diplomatic and trade opportunities presented for the UK by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Qatar has an ambitious infrastructure programme for the 2022 World Cup worth over £140billion, offering significant opportunities for UK companies. UK Government officials are in regular contact with the Qatari World Cup's organising body, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. As part of their discussions they highlight British companies' expertise in fields such as security, hospitality, stadium management in staging global sports events.
The UK wants Qatar's 2022 World Cup to be a success and to be Qatar's key delivery partner. As the UK showed during London 2012, international sporting events help to build stronger friendships between people of different countries. This is the first time that the Gulf has hosted this tournament and the UK has lots of experience it can share. This means opportunities for even stronger cooperation and engagement across all aspects of our bilateral relationship.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle religious persecution internationally.
Answered by David Lidington
The promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief is one of the UK’s human rights priorities. We actively raise individual cases and work to combat discriminatory legislation and practices through multilateral systems and targeted project work. In the last month alone, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers have expressed grave concern about persecution of individuals on the grounds of their religion or belief in Syria, Pakistan and Iraq.
Most recently, at the Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Iraq on 1 September we and international partners sponsored a resolution which commits the Council to working with the government of Iraq “to foster religious freedom and pluralism by promoting the ability of members of all religious communities to manifest their religion and to contribute openly and on an equal footing to society, and to take appropriate measures to prevent attacks against persons on the basis of their religion or belief and to prosecute the perpetrators of such attacks.” We will work actively with the newly formed government of Iraq to support them in this aim.
As a recent example of our project work, last week we also sponsored a conference to share best practice between human rights defenders and journalists working on freedom of religion or belief issues in South Asia.
We will continue to be active bilaterally, multilaterally, through project work and in providing training to our staff to tackle religious persecution internationally.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 situation in North Korea.
Answered by Lord Swire
We remain extremely concerned by the ongoing situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) especially regarding the nuclear threat and human rights.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's 2013 annual human rights report listed the DPRK as a country of concern. Compelling reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations, including the curtailment of fundamental freedoms and the continued use of political prison camps, are especially worrying. I met the US Special Envoy for DPRK Human Rights, Robert King, on 6 May to discuss how we can maintain international pressure on this.
The security situation remains deeply troubling. Recent statements implying that the DPRK is considering a further nuclear test, coupled with the DPRK's March decision to launch ballistic missiles in clear breach of UN Security Council Resolutions and to conduct live-fire artillery exercises, have only served to heighten tensions in the region. The UK continues to closely monitor the situation with our allies.