Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department is taking steps through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative to help support Ukrainian officials to investigate alleged acts of sexual violence by Russian forces since 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK is working with Ukrainian authorities to hold those responsible for gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, in Ukraine to account. The UK has committed up to £6.2 million to enhance Ukraine's domestic capacity for war crimes investigations and to help embed international guidelines and best practice into the work of Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators, including on survivor-centred approaches. This assistance has been largely delivered through projects via the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine, established with the US and EU, and deployments of UK experts, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Team of Experts.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate he has made of the number of companies importing oil from the Rosneft owned Vadinar refinery in India.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK regularly raises Russia's actions with India including at Foreign Secretary level, most recently on 16th February, and is working with the Government of India to accelerate India's transition to green renewable energy to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels. Tackling sanctions circumvention remains a key priority for the UK and G7, and we are committed to working with international partners to address circumvention risks. We must incentivise all countries to shift away from dependency on Russian goods and services by demonstrating that Russia is not a reliable partner. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes National level data on the origin of oil cargoes to the UK, but does not break this down by originating refinery. In 2023 imports of petroleum products from India to the UK totalled 2.0 million tonnes.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of sanctioning individual vessels involved in the transportation by sea of Russian oil since 2022.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has sanctioned over 2000 individuals and entities under the Russia sanctions regime, including those who support Russia's efforts to circumvent UK and G7 oil sanctions. We will build on this action by enhancing our power to sanction individual vessels under the Russia sanctions regime. The enhanced power will allow us to be even more targeted and will increase Russia's costs further, including where Russia uses the shadow fleet to export its oil by sea.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education entitled UNRWA Education: Textbooks and Terror, published in November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are aware of the findings of this report. We take any allegation of the promotion of racism and discrimination extremely seriously and have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and should have no place in education. Any allegations of breaches of UN staff regulations and rules, including neutrality breaches, are reported to FCDO and investigated. We continue to urge all parties to condemn incitement wherever and whenever it occurs.
The UK-supported 2021 review of the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum found improvements in content, with previously flagged materials removed. What we really need to see is further curriculum reform from the PA and we continue to raise this with them regularly.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what his policy is on the use of the term genocide in reference to Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is the UK Government's longstanding policy that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for the government. We are taking robust action in response to China's human rights violations in Xinjiang regardless. In October 2023, the UK led a joint statement with a record 50 signatories on Xinjiang at the UN, demonstrating a significant number of countries are prepared to call China out for its human rights violations. We have also imposed sanctions, enhanced export controls, provided guidance to businesses, and taken action to tackle forced labour in supply chains. The UK Government also consistently raises human rights violations with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels - the Foreign Secretary last did so during a call with China's Foreign Minister in December 2023.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make it his policy to impose Magnitsky sanctions against Tucker Carlson.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO uses the Magnitsky sanctions regimes to designate those responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses and serious corruption. It is a longstanding policy that we do not comment on future sanctions designations.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the International Red Cross's processes in ensuring that funding is not distributed to projects that support proscribed organisations.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO has controls in place to ensure that UK aid goes direct to intended beneficiaries, and for its intended purposes. The FCDO carries out due diligence assessments of UK aid partners to ensure they have procedures in place to manage the risk of aid diversion, including the risk of support to proscribed terrorist groups. We assess that our aid partners, including the Red Cross Movement which plays a vital role in ensuring that people in need can be reached and protected in times of armed conflict, have adequate processes in place to ensure that aid reaches those that need it most.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether Ministers have met their Sierra Leone counterparts (a) virtually and (b) in person since the elections in that country on 24 June 2023; and whether any Ministerial visits to that country are planned.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has engaged stakeholders including the government, opposition, election bodies and the international community, before and after the 24 June elections. We have given consistent messaging on good governance, the rule of law and the importance of an inclusive democracy that works for all. The UK remains committed to supporting a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Sierra Leone.
The UK commends the signing of the Agreement for National Cohesion on 18 October as part of the peace dialogue between the Government of Sierra Leone and opposition following the elections. We are coordinating closely with international partners to support implementation of the Agreement, including a national election review committee, a review of political prisoners and inter-party dialogue. These reforms are essential to strengthen the democratic process before elections in 2028.
The former Foreign Secretary spoke to President Bio on 8 August and, most recently, I [Minister Mitchell] met the Minister for the Environment, who represented Sierra Leone at COP28. There will be further opportunities for Ministers to meet, including at the UK-African Investment Summit. Officials in London engage with the Sierra Leone High Commissioner and his team to discuss current issues in Sierra Leone.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has summoned the ambassador of Sierra Leone to explain political developments in that country.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has engaged stakeholders including the government, opposition, election bodies and the international community, before and after the 24 June elections. We have given consistent messaging on good governance, the rule of law and the importance of an inclusive democracy that works for all. The UK remains committed to supporting a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Sierra Leone.
The UK commends the signing of the Agreement for National Cohesion on 18 October as part of the peace dialogue between the Government of Sierra Leone and opposition following the elections. We are coordinating closely with international partners to support implementation of the Agreement, including a national election review committee, a review of political prisoners and inter-party dialogue. These reforms are essential to strengthen the democratic process before elections in 2028.
The former Foreign Secretary spoke to President Bio on 8 August and, most recently, I [Minister Mitchell] met the Minister for the Environment, who represented Sierra Leone at COP28. There will be further opportunities for Ministers to meet, including at the UK-African Investment Summit. Officials in London engage with the Sierra Leone High Commissioner and his team to discuss current issues in Sierra Leone.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the strength of the (a) rule of law and (b) electoral process in Sierra Leone.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has engaged stakeholders including the government, opposition, election bodies and the international community, before and after the 24 June elections. We have given consistent messaging on good governance, the rule of law and the importance of an inclusive democracy that works for all. The UK remains committed to supporting a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Sierra Leone.
The UK commends the signing of the Agreement for National Cohesion on 18 October as part of the peace dialogue between the Government of Sierra Leone and opposition following the elections. We are coordinating closely with international partners to support implementation of the Agreement, including a national election review committee, a review of political prisoners and inter-party dialogue. These reforms are essential to strengthen the democratic process before elections in 2028.
The former Foreign Secretary spoke to President Bio on 8 August and, most recently, I [Minister Mitchell] met the Minister for the Environment, who represented Sierra Leone at COP28. There will be further opportunities for Ministers to meet, including at the UK-African Investment Summit. Officials in London engage with the Sierra Leone High Commissioner and his team to discuss current issues in Sierra Leone.