Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which community-based women's organisations in Burma receive funding from her Department to assist victims of sexual violence by the Burmese army.
Answered by Alan Duncan
DFID is providing £500,000 through the United Nation's Population Fund (UNFPA) to strengthen the network and capacity of agencies working on gender-based violence in Rakhine and Kachin those areas.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy towards Burma of the recently published brief by the Chin Human Rights Organisation entitled The state of freedom of religion or belief for Chin in Burma, 2013.
Answered by Lord Swire
We are aware of the Chin Human Rights Organisation and their report on freedom of religion and belief in Chin State. We are currently implementing some of the recommendations that the report makes to the international community, including regularly raising the importance of Freedom of Religion and Belief in discussions with the Burmese government.
During my visit to Burma in January, I raised the full range of our human rights concerns with senior members of the Burmese government and called for religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue in a speech in Rangoon. Freedom of Religion and Belief was also discussed during the first EU/Burma Human Rights Dialogue in May 2014.
Our Ambassador and Embassy officials meet regularly with representatives of all faith communities, both in Rangoon and in the wider country, including in Chin State. The UK has provided funding for interfaith dialogue to help build trust between communities – for example a project promoting peace building among youths from different faith groups.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will commission an independent assessment of the effect of changes to funding levels of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and its compliance with the Paris Principles.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to her question of 26 June 2014, Official Report, Column 260W. My officials will study the Commission's impact statement closely and work with it to ensure it is able to continue to meet its statutory and international obligations.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's priorities are in the negotiations with China concerning the export of meat products other than pork.
Answered by George Eustice
Securing access to Chinese markets for a range of UK products is a key priority in the Government and industry's Export Action Plan. In addition to our interests on pork, we are working closely with industry and the Chinese authorities to advance negotiations on the export conditions for poultry meat. This trade could be worth up to £70 million a year.
Over the longer term, we are working to secure market access for beef and lamb exports to China estimated to be worth up to £120 million a year. We have recently agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese authorities and this formally initiates the detailed technical negotiations. This development has been widely welcomed by industry, and whilst the negotiations are likely to take some time we will seek to conclude them as quickly as we can.
We are also pressing for early agreement on exports of UK poultry meat and have invited the Chinese authorities to conduct an inward inspection visit as soon as possible. I would encourage any plant interested in exporting to China to ensure it complies fully with Chinese requirements before any inspection visit.
The Secretary of State intends to visit China again this year to advance these and other UK market access interests.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made in its negotiations with China on the export of meat products other than pork.
Answered by George Eustice
Securing access to Chinese markets for a range of UK products is a key priority in the Government and industry's Export Action Plan. In addition to our interests on pork, we are working closely with industry and the Chinese authorities to advance negotiations on the export conditions for poultry meat. This trade could be worth up to £70 million a year.
Over the longer term, we are working to secure market access for beef and lamb exports to China estimated to be worth up to £120 million a year. We have recently agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese authorities and this formally initiates the detailed technical negotiations. This development has been widely welcomed by industry, and whilst the negotiations are likely to take some time we will seek to conclude them as quickly as we can.
We are also pressing for early agreement on exports of UK poultry meat and have invited the Chinese authorities to conduct an inward inspection visit as soon as possible. I would encourage any plant interested in exporting to China to ensure it complies fully with Chinese requirements before any inspection visit.
The Secretary of State intends to visit China again this year to advance these and other UK market access interests.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in what ways her Department's work to give people in developing countries better access to financial services takes account of (a) lack of braille facilities, (b) laws and practices discriminating against people with disabilities and (c) other barriers experienced by people with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Our financial sector development programmes work to strengthen regulation, build infrastructure and improve financial capability to increase the access of poor people, including disadvantaged groups, to financial services that meet their needs.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department's country offices are encouraged to seek the views and input of people with disabilities in the design and delivery of their programmes.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID recognises the importance of people with disabilities having influence in the programmes and decisions which affect them. In DFID country offices, stakeholder engagement and participation, including with people with disabilities, is a fundamental part of strategic decision making and programme management.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many people with disabilities her Department aims to reach with its development programmes.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID does not disaggregate programme data across our portfolio. Our objective is to integrate disability into wider programming and to influence partners to do more, and so the overall results largely depend on the nature of the social and economic reform programmes of partner governments.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to address the problem of horse abandonment.
Answered by George Eustice
There are many underlying issues which result in horses being abandoned and neglected. In some cases it seems owners are struggling to cope with the costs involved in keeping a horse. In other cases, irresponsible breeders and horse traders are deliberately placing horses on land to secure grazing for their animals at no cost to themselves. In the Government's view the way to address these problems is to tackle the perpetrators directly. Anti-social behaviour orders have been successfully used in Wales and in Bristol to address fly grazing, and there is likely to be an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 where a horse is abandoned. The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 brings forward new streamlined measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, of which the practice of fly-grazing of horses is a prime example. Where fly grazing is a particular problem, we encourage the local authorities and police to work together with landowners, farmers and welfare charities to identify the culprits and address their behaviour directly using these powers. In a number of cases and to encourage joined up working, protocols have been drawn up by some local authorities to summarise the action that can be taken under existing legislation. Defra is supplementing that guidance with advice on the new measures in the 2014 Act which come into force later this year.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the current census in Burma and the extent to which this has been affected by recent violence and rising ethnic tensions.
Answered by Lord Swire
Reports from independent international observers of the census suggest that, with the exception of Rakhine State and parts of Kachin State, the enumeration process appears to have been largely carried out effectively. We continue to monitor the process closely. There has not been a census in Burma for 30 years, and this census will provide a vital source of data to inform better government service delivery.
We are concerned by reports of the census being used as a pretext for one incident of localised violence in Kachin State. However, we do not believe that there is a link between the census and recent violence elsewhere in Kachin. Conflict in Kachin State has been ongoing for almost three years, and the challenges of census data collection in the area reflected the continued lack of trust on the ground. We continue to support strongly government and ethnic group efforts to reach a sustainable peace, through a ceasefire and political dialogue that can help bring an end to human rights abuses in ceasefire areas.
Similarly our assessment is that recent violence in Rakhine has been caused by underlying intercommunal tensions that have previously led to violence there. We were deeply disappointed that, in the case of the Rohingya, the Burmese government contravened its long-standing assurance that all individuals would have the right to self-identify their ethnic origin in the census. We have been clear that this decision is contrary to international norms and standards on census conduct. I summoned the Burmese Ambassador to make these points.