Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Bahraini ambassador on that country's laws on gay rights.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Government of Bahrain is aware that we consider that the criminalisation of same-sex relations and the persecution of gay people is wrong.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Bahraini ambassador on that country's laws on human rights.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain, including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting that most recently took place in February 2019. We welcome the progress made by Bahrain on their reform programme, including the introduction of the new legislation on alternatives to punishment and new proposed legislation on juvenile justice. Bahrain remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights priority country and the British Government continues to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet its human rights obligations, in both public and private conversations.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the validity of reports of (a) human rights violations, (b) increased restraints on media and trade unions and (c) imprisonment of human rights campaigners by the state of Cambodia.
Answered by Mark Field
We are deeply concerned about steps taken by the Cambodian authorities and Supreme Court which undermine freedom of expression, assembly and prospects for free and fair elections. We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the dissolution of Cambodia’ s main opposition party, the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), the arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha and the use of the Cambodian judiciary to impede human rights campaigners. On 18 May, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office underlined our concerns to the Cambodian Foreign Minister during a visit to Cambodia. He also met with leading human rights campaigners and civil society stakeholders. At the UN Human Rights Council in June, the UK expressed dismay at the continued democratic deterioration in Cambodia.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance has been allocated to (a) trade and economic development, (b) governance and (c) human rights programmes in Cambodia.
Answered by Mark Field
For the current financial year (18/19) there is no Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation specifically for trade and economic development or governance in Cambodia. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently has £332,500 allocated to human rights programmes in Cambodia for this year.
In previous years, the UK has allocated ODA to a number of projects in Cambodia including the Global Action Mine Programme which since 2014 has provided £3.9 million in funds. The UK also supports a series of programmes on access to education, volunteer schemes and continues to support the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) which addresses the prosecutions of crimes committed during the period of the Khmer Rouge.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of reported (a) human rights abuses and (b) attacks on political opposition and trade unions on the fairness of the forthcoming general election in Cambodia.
Answered by Mark Field
We are deeply concerned about steps taken by the Cambodian authorities and Supreme Court which undermine freedom of expression and prospects for free and fair elections.
We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the dissolution of the CNRP and arrest of the opposition leader Kem Sokha with the Cambodian government. Most recently, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office recently underlined our concerns to his counterparts during a visit to Cambodia on 18 May. At the UN Human Rights Council in June, the UK expressed dismay at the continued democratic deterioration in Cambodia.
A EU statement made on 30 May at the Committee on the Application of Standards urged the Cambodian Government to cease using the judiciary as a political tool to harass and intimidate trade unions. Despite an uptake of small political parties registering ahead of the Election, we assess that these do not constitute a credible opposition.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of incidents of (a) discrimination and (b) harassment within his Department.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination is a priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Senior Management Board. Senior management are agreed that none has any place in the FCO.
The steps we have taken include but are not limited to: focused support for 30 overseas posts and UK- based departments according to which figured most in the FCO's staff survey; consideration of Senior Management Staff's records at promotion and performance moderation panels; a new learning and development programme for our network of staff with responsibility for addressing complaints; and an internal communications plan, 'Taking Action Together', to raise awareness of the issue, and so encourage staff to report their concerns and help staff to take action to tackle the issue. We also continue to promote the Civil Service's unconscious bias course to help raise awareness and reduce incidents of discrimination; the course is now a requirement for all staff.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many employees of his Department make use of the childcare voucher scheme.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As at 31 January 2018, 179 UK-Based employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office make use of the childcare voucher scheme.