Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government plans to donate 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccine doses to the world within the next year.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister committed the UK to donate 100 million doses by June 2022. To date, we have donated 10.5m doses. At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021 the Prime Minister announced that we will be donating a further 20 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine before the end of the year in order to meet our 30 million target. 80% of all our donations will go through COVAX.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to brief (a) NATO, (b) G7 nations and (c) European allies on developments relating to AUKUS.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The UK will continue to engage NATO, G7, European, and other partners on defence and security matters, including the recent Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) agreement, through our regular bilateral and multilateral channels.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what provisions will form part of the AUKUS agreement to ensure that that agreement does not lead to potential future breaches of obligations in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
We take our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) extremely seriously and remain strongly committed to full implementation of the NPT in all its aspects.
It is too soon to talk about specifics, but Australia has impeccable non-proliferation credentials and does not - and will not - seek nuclear weapons. All three AUKUS parties (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are committed to ensuring progress on this agreement will be consistent with our international obligations, including our respective safeguards obligations, which we will investigate in the 18 month programme of work.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will raise the matter of allegations of human rights abuses by members of the Chilean security forces since October 2019 with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course. We continue to monitor the situation in Chile since the unrest two years ago. The UK has expressed its concerns about allegations of human rights abuses by members of the security forces in talks with representatives of the Chilean Government. We welcome the acknowledgement by President Piñera and other Ministers that there have been human rights abuses, as well as their commitments that these allegations will be fully investigated, and if appropriate, perpetrators will be prosecuted.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she plans to have with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 7 September 2021, Official Report, column 31, which states that are not ordinarily classified as friends of the UK the Government plans to engage with on Afghanistan.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government will engage with all countries, either bilaterally or through the multilateral system, where there is a shared interest in Afghanistan.Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIPER), published on 9 April 2021 alleging that the Chilean army has monitored journalists covering corruption and human rights abuses, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of media and press freedom in that country.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Chile's legal and constitutional framework provides for freedom of expression, including for the press. The Chilean media provides a high level of scrutiny of the government and politics, and continues to play an important role in national political life as the country continues its constitutional reform process.
In February, Chile became the 44th member of the Media Freedom Coalition, which the UK helped establish in order to defend and advocate for media freedom, and the safety of journalists where under threat. Members of the Coalition have all signed a written commitment to improving media freedom domestically, and working together internationally.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has raised with (a) his Chilean counterpart and (b) the Chilean Ambassador in the UK the matter of media and press freedom in Chile following findings in the 9 report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism, published on 9 April 2021 alleging that the Chilean army has monitored journalists covering corruption and human rights abuses.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We understand that this issue is under investigation by Chile's judiciary.
On the wider issue of media and press interest in Chile, I refer the Honourable Member to my answer of 27 April to question 187278.