Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to enhance UK soft power overseas.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Integrated Review highlighted the UK's status as a soft power superpower and the importance of soft power in building positive perceptions of the UK, creating strong people-to-people links and familiarity with our values.
The FCDO is continuing to fund projects and programmes that support UK soft power, including the British Council, BBC World Service and our Chevening, Marshall and Commonwealth scholarships.
Our international leadership and determination to work as a force for good in the world is an important part of our soft power, as we are seeing through our hosting of the G7 and COP26, and our support for a globally accessible Covid-19 vaccine.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in Myanmar.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is clear in its condemnation of the coup and the appalling violence by the military, which has left over 900 people dead. We are deeply concerned at the worsening political, Covid and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. The military continues to imprison opposition figures, journalists and foreign nationals and they have maintained their brutal crackdown on dissent. The UK is calling for a peaceful and inclusive resolution to the crisis. We continue to call publicly for a return to democracy and the release of all those in arbitrary detention, including democratically elected politicians, journalists, civil society and foreign nationals. We are using all levers available to us to achieve this end, this includes sanctions and working to prevent the flow of arms to Myanmar.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the distribution of covid-19 vaccines throughout the world.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has championed since the beginning of the pandemic the importance of rapid, equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. We are among the largest donors to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million which leveraged through match funding $1 billion from other donors in 2020. This support to COVAX has been critical to it distributing COVID-19 vaccines to over 135 countries and economies, with its aim to provide up to 1.8 billion doses to low- and middle-income countries by early 2022. The UK has also committed to share 100 million vaccine doses by June 2022, 80% of which will go to COVAX to provide further support for countries in need.
The UK's investment in the research and development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been a key contribution to the global vaccination effort. So far over 500 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed worldwide at non-profit prices, with two-thirds of these going to low- and middle- income countries.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure tackling poverty and inequality is a focus of his Department.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Poverty reduction is the central purpose of the UK's development assistance, which is set out in law through the International Development Act 2002. The UK is committed to the global fight against poverty and to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Integrated Review renews our commitment to the UK as a force for good in the world. We outline that we will maintain a liberal approach to economic development, creating greater opportunities for all.
To achieve the FCDO's goal of reaching the poorest our development assistance is prioritising getting more girls into school, providing urgent humanitarian support to those who need it most, supporting sustainable and inclusive social protection and tackling global threats like climate change, COVID recovery and other international health priorities. In alignment with the UK Equality Act (2010) and the Gender Equality Act (2014), the FCDO will continue to champion equality to create a fairer, safer and more prosperous world.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of Hong Kong's National Security Law on the freedoms and rights of people in that country.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government is deeply concerned about the situation in Hong Kong and the erosion of rights and freedoms and the high degree of autonomy enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. It is crystal clear that the powers under the National Security Law are being used as a tool to curtail freedoms and punish dissent, rather than keep public order.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in Ethiopia.
Answered by James Duddridge
We remain concerned by the political situation in Ethiopia due to the impact of the continued fighting in the Tigray region and ethnic and political tensions and violence elsewhere in Ethiopia. I have a long-standing concern about the deterioration of political freedoms in Ethiopia, and I raised the delay to elections with President Sahle-Work during the 17 May Sudan Conference in Paris. On 14 April, the British Ambassador met, alongside Ambassadors and representatives from other Embassies in Addis Ababa, the Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General and pressed concerns about the narrow political and civic space and arrests of candidates. This builds on discussions the Foreign Secretary had with Prime Minister Abiy during his visit to Ethiopia on 22 January this year, which also included the situation in Tigray.
I joined a meeting of development ministers from key donor nations, including USAid Administrator Samantha Power, on 9 June to further discuss the situation in Tigray. We agreed that the humanitarian situation is of grave concern, and that enhanced support is needed. The UK will allocate a further £16.7 million to respond to the crisis, bringing our total spend on Tigray to £47.7 million since November 2020. Whilst we scale-up our response, it is clear that the humanitarian crisis will not end whilst the conflict continues. We must see an end to fighting and the withdrawal of Eritrean forces.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of China's National Security Law on the people of Hong Kong.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have seen three clear breaches of the Joint Declaration in the last year, and therefore now consider China to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Joint Declaration. As the Foreign Secretary wrote in the foreword of the most recent Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong covering the period of July - December 2020, the National Security Law has been used to drastically curtail the space for the expression of alternative political views and deter freedom of expression and legitimate political debate.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support political opposition in Belarus.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has increased financial support to civil society organisations and independent media to support the environment for inclusive political dialogue in Belarus.
The UK's support for opposition groups in Belarus is focused on supporting the democratic rights of the people of Belarus, including through an inclusive national dialogue to end the current crisis. The Foreign Secretary discussed the political situation in Belarus with the opposition leader in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, on 2 June. Mrs Tikhanovskaya has praised the UK's actions on Belarus to date and discussed what further measures the UK might take. The Foreign Secretary looked forward to meeting Mrs Tikhanovskaya in the UK as soon as it was possible for her to visit.