Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 humanitarian situation in Yemen.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Nearly 80% of the Yemeni population, or 24 million people, need some form of humanitarian assistance. The crisis is exacerbated by severe food insecurity, a collapsing economy, the C-19 pandemic and the escalation of fighting in Marib. The UK has played an important role in responding to this crisis, contributing over £1 billion since the conflict began. Our pledge of at least £87 million for this financial year 2021 - 2022 will feed an additional 240,000 of the most vulnerable Yemenis every month, support 400 healthcare clinics and provide clean water for 1.6 million people. We will also provide one-off cash support to 1.5m of Yemen's poorest households. We continue to call on all parties to facilitate unhindered access for humanitarian actors and agencies and ensure that humanitarian workers are able to conduct their work safely.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support the Government is providing to Nepal to help tackle the spread of covid-19 in that country; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government is one of the leading donors to Covax, committing £548m to the scheme, which will provide more than a billion vaccines to developing countries including doses for almost a fifth of Nepal's population. The UK has funded a new £180,000 duplex oxygen generation plant at the Nepal Police Hospital in Kathmandu to help address oxygen shortages to treat COVID19 patients. On 19 and 20 May Lord Ahmad held meetings with Foreign Minister Gyawali and the Nepalese Ambassador to discuss what further support the UK could offer.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of British citizens in Grenada awaiting repatriation as as result of the covid-19 pandemic; what steps are being taken to repatriate those people; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is working around the clock, through our Posts overseas and in London, to make sure all British travellers who need and want to return to the UK are receiving the support and information they need. The number of British travellers that may still require support to return home across the globe is now in the low tens of thousands. It is difficult to be more precise because there have been instances of multiple registrations by the same individual, people not reporting their return to the UK via other means, and long term residents registering for flights even though they were not eligible. We have brought home over 32,000 people on 155 flights organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 29 countries and territories. We have also supported over 11,000 people to return home from the Caribbean via commercial means.
We are aware of pockets of British travellers across the Eastern Caribbean area, including in Grenada, and our effort is focused on supporting their return as quickly and safely as possible. We are sharing information with British travellers affected through our Travel Advice page and will update them as we have news.
We have lobbied airlines and the local authorities to keep routes out of Grenada open for as long as possible, allowing nearly all short- term visitors to leave. We also promoted details of departure options from Grenada on our social media platforms.
Our consular network in the region continues to provide support to British nationals who require assistance.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to maintain restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Government's position remains that, until it retakes licensing decisions in line with the 20 June 2019 judgment of the Court of Appeal, it will not issue any new licences for exports to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners for possible use in the conflict in Yemen.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 counterparts throughout the world on the protection of religious freedoms in their countries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Defending and promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is a longstanding human rights priority for the British Government. Through our diplomatic network, we lobby governments for changes in laws and practices that discriminate against individuals on the basis of their religion or belief. Over recent months, ministers and diplomats have raised FoRB concerns in many countries both bilaterally and through multilateral institutions such as the UN, EU and OSCE. Our Minister of State responsible for Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has held Freedom of Religion or Belief roundtables, including in Lebanon. He met the Polish Foreign Minister on 19 January at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance ministerial meeting to reaffirm their commitments to defend FoRB for all. The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for FoRB has visited Bahrain and the Holy See and has held discussions with the Ambassadors of a number of countries in London and also with a number of other FoRB Special Envoys to see how they can work more closely together to advance FoRB. Ministers have also pressed for the rights of those unfairly detained, including calling for the immediate release of all Baha’is in Iran and Yemen imprisoned for their beliefs.
We have encouraged our diplomatic missions to consider what they can do to engage their host governments where human rights violations and abuses relating to freedom of religion or belief are of concern. We will also continue to work with faith leaders and civil society organisations to tackle discrimination and persecution and to promote the value and benefit - to individuals, communities and wider society - of Freedom of Religion or Belief and mutual respect.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to discuss with the Libyan Government compensation for people affected by Libyan-sponsored terrorism in the UK.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We continue to encourage the Libyan authorities to engage constructively with victims of Qadhafi-sponsored Irish Republican Army terrorism and their representatives. The Foreign Secretary raised this issue with Prime Minister Serraj and Foreign Minister Siala during both his visits to Tripoli in May and August of this year. I met with victims earlier this week to understand their concerns in more detail, and will continue to raise this issue with the Libyan authorities as a priority.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the government of Nigeria on the recent sentencing to death of nine people for blasphemy in that country; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
We are aware of this case. It is the longstanding policy of the UK to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle: We continue to regularly raise these concerns with the Government of Nigeria and will continue to press them to abolish the death penalty.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 the government of Israel about the displacement of trees in Palestine under the Olive Tree Project; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv express our serious concerns to the Israeli government about the destruction of olive trees, whether by the Israeli authorities or by extremist settlers, on a regular basis. They raised the issue of settler violence and destruction of olive trees most recently with an Israeli Police Spokesperson on 13 May.
We are well aware of the difficulties facing Palestinian olive growers and of the particular sensitivities around olive trees given their status as a national symbol and the sole source of income for many Palestinian farmers. The Israeli authorities are responsible for enforcing the rule of law and providing the appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 whether hon. Members and Peers will be allowed to visit (a) Gaza and (b) Hong Kong; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Entry and exit from Gaza is difficult and can, at times, be impossible. Entry is through either Israel, with permission from the Israeli authorities, or Egypt, with permission from the Egyptian authorities (although this border has been closed almost entirely since October 2014). Members and Peers should be aware that at this time the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against all travel to Gaza. We do not make representations on behalf of British Nationals, including parliamentarians, wishing to travel.
The Government has repeatedly made clear to the Chinese and Hong Kong Governments that the decision to refuse to allow the members of the previous Foreign Affairs Committee to enter Hong Kong in December 2014 was wholly unjustified and counter-productive. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) visited Hong Kong on 8 January and met the President of the Legislative Council and a wide range of legislators, which was particularly important given their key role in the constitutional reform process. In addition, FCO officials have regular contacts with the Hong Kong Government. It is the Government’s assessment that British Parliamentarians can visit Hong Kong.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 218909, whether he plans to negotiate restrictions to prevent uncontrolled immigration to the UK from Turkey in the event of that country's accession to the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
The UK has long been a strong supporter of enlargement of the EU as a driver of peace, prosperity and reform across our continent.
This Government remains a strong supporter of enlargement, including to Turkey, provided that candidate countries only join the EU when they have met in full all the conditions and standards for doing so. At the same time, we recognise that many across Europe have been concerned by the large-scale movement of people that has followed the accession of new countries to the EU and this issue needs to be addressed before any more members join. That is why HMG is pursuing the reform of transitional arrangements on freedom of movement from future new Member States and is determined to see these reforms put in place before any further members are admitted to the EU.