Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Bangladeshi government on the case of Mr Ahmad Bin Quasem.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We continue to stress the importance of respect for human rights and the rule of law to the Government of Bangladesh, both in public and in private. I urged the Bangladeshi High Commissioner to ensure that his government adhered to its human rights obligations when we met on 29 November 2016. As I said in my closing speech to the House of Commons adjournment debate on 8 September 2016, mass arrests, suspicious 'crossfire' deaths, and enforced disappearances at the hands of the police undermine confidence in the judicial system. Investigations must be conducted transparently and impartially, irrespective of either victim of alleged perpetrator.
Mr Ahmad Bin Quasem is not a British citizen; we are therefore unable to request consular access.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of Palestinian children imprisoned in (a) Palestine and (b) Israel in 2015.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on this issue. However, according to the Israeli Non-Government Office (NGO) Military Court Watch, 422 Palestinian children were held in Israeli military detention as of 31 December, 2015. According to figures provided by the Israeli Prison Service, 148 children are being held inside detention facilities inside of Israel and 274 children are being held in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to the Palestinian human rights NGO, Addameer, there are no children being detained as Palestinian prisoners.
We are concerned about the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons. We funded an independent report on Children in Military Custody.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has had discussions with the Indian authorities on the use of section 7 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Swire
The Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) Special Power Act, 1990, has not been raised in bilateral discussions within the past 12 months. We are aware of concerns on the use of section 7 of the Act regarding immunity from prosecution. Any allegations of human rights abuses must be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects the report on progress on recommendations regarding child detention in Palestine by the delegation of lawyers visiting Palestine in February 2016 to be published.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The visit is currently scheduled for February 2016 and the report will be published in due course. The original report that produced these recommendations was released in June 2012, following a visit in September 2011.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to Israel of the implications of its obligations under the Geneva Convention for the practice of forcible transportation of child prisoners from Palestine to Israeli jails.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
As I made clear on 6 January during a Westminster Hall debate, the UK remains concerned about the detention of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons.
On 23 November 2015, officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised our concerns about the treatment of Palestinian minors in Israeli military detention with the Israeli Chief Military Prosecutor. We welcome recent improvements made by the Israeli authorities, including increasing the age of majority from 16 to 18 years old. However, we remain concerned at the number of Palestinian minors held in Israeli detention. We will also fund another visit of the delegation who authored the independent report on Children in Military Custody in February to report on further progress.
We continue to push for further measures to ensure that international standards are upheld in regards to the treatment of Palestinian children detained.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of (a) the extent of differential treatment of Palestinian and Israeli child detainees by Israel and (b) whether that differential is consistent with Israelis international human rights obligations.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We remain concerned about the use of a dual court system whereby Palestinians, except East Jerusalem residents, are subject to the Israeli military court system, irrespective of the charge, whereas Israeli citizens are dealt with by the Israeli civil justice system. We are clear that Israel has legal obligations as an Occupying Power with respect to the Occupied Palestinian Territories under applicable international law. We regularly discuss with the Government of Israel implementation of those obligations and raise our serious concerns regarding such issues as the treatment of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons.