Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to hold discussions with his Polish counterpart on alleged human rights abuses against LGBTIQ+ communities since the recent election of President Duda in that country.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination and committed to promoting and protecting the rights and freedoms of LGBT people in all circumstances. Our Embassy in Warsaw is working actively on this agenda: it is engaged in dialogue with both civil society and the Polish Government, as well as with our diplomatic partners. It will continue to work with the LGBT community in Poland to identify opportunities to tackle discrimination and promote inclusion.
The Embassy has established itself as one of the diplomatic missions in Warsaw that is most active on the LGBT agenda. During last year's Pride season, it brought the diplomatic community in Warsaw together to endorse a joint letter to the Polish Prime Minister expressing support for LGBT equality and respect for human rights, which over 50 diplomatic missions signed. In January, it hosted a roundtable on the role of business and NGOs in promoting LGBT rights, bringing the Polish business and LGBT communities together to discuss how to jointly build a more inclusive society. This year, the Embassy flew the rainbow flag over the weekend of 20/21 June as part of its activity to promote Pride month.?The Embassy continues to work closely with NGOs such as the Campaign Against Homophobia and Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law on projects to improve the situation of LGBT people in Poland. We will continue to work through our Embassy in Warsaw and through international organisations, including the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth, to promote tolerance and to fight discrimination against LGBT people.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his Polish counterpart on what steps the Polish Government plans to take to help protect members of the LGBTIQ+ community in that country from attacks and harassment.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination and committed to promoting and protecting the rights and freedoms of LGBT people in all circumstances. Our Embassy in Warsaw is working actively on this agenda: it is engaged in dialogue with both civil society and the Polish Government, as well as with our diplomatic partners. It will continue to work with the LGBT community in Poland to identify opportunities to tackle discrimination and promote inclusion.
The Embassy has established itself as one of the diplomatic missions in Warsaw that is most active on the LGBT agenda. During last year's Pride season, it brought the diplomatic community in Warsaw together to endorse a joint letter to the Polish Prime Minister expressing support for LGBT equality and respect for human rights, which over 50 diplomatic missions signed. In January,?it?hosted?a roundtable on the role of business and NGOs in promoting LGBT rights, bringing the Polish business and LGBT communities together to discuss how to jointly build a more inclusive society. This year, the Embassy flew the rainbow flag over the weekend of 20/21 June as part of its activity to promote Pride month.?Our Embassy continues to work closely with NGOs such as the Campaign?Against?Homophobia and Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law on projects to improve the situation of LGBT people in Poland.?We will continue to work through our Embassy in Warsaw and through international organisations, including the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth, to promote tolerance and to fight discrimination against LGBT people.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to encourage the Polish Government to remain a signatory to the Istanbul Convention.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK accords a high priority to promoting gender equality and women's rights across the world. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials regularly raise gender issues, including domestic violence, in multilateral fora such as the UN and the Council of Europe. The UK signed the Istanbul Convention in 2012, signalling its strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls; this Government remains committed to ratifying it. We encourage the Polish Government, too, to maintain its commitment to the Convention. The British Embassy in Warsaw is active on this agenda and supports NGOs working on women's rights. Later this month, the Embassy will be hosting a public webinar with British and Polish experts on lessons learned in dealing with domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic and will follow this with smaller group workshops with NGOs from the UK and Poland at which they will share experiences.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support less economically developed countries with tackling COVID-19.
Answered by Nigel Adams
To prioritise international support, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has assessed which countries are most at risk of the importation of cases and how prepared they are for a potential outbreak. The UK assessment is that Covid-19 poses an immediate health risk to less economically developed countries as well as secondary health and socio-economic impacts. Diseases are global threats and to save lives around the world we need a strong international response. The UK has announced up to £241 million of UK aid funding to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of Covid-19 and to support multilateral actors, including the WHO and the IMF, to mitigate the impacts for low- and middle-income countries.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on the arrests and detentions of (a) Pastor Wang Yi and (b) Mrs Jiang Rong.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
British diplomats met with Chinese officials in January 2019, to express concern about the pressures facing Christians in China, and directly raised Pastor Wang's case. Reports suggest Jiang Rong was released in June 2019, after six months imprisonment. We have not raised her case directly with the Chinese authorities. On 2 January, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad issued a statement expressing serious concerns about the recent sentencing of Pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison following a secret trial and called on China to uphold the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by China's constitution and international law. The freedom to practice, change or share ones faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
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 government in Myanmar on the authorities treatment of (a) Kachin Christians and (b) Rohingya Muslims in that country.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The UK continues to make representations to the Government of Myanmar about the need to protect the Kachin, Rohingya and other minority groups in Myanmar. We agree with the UN Fact Finding Mission's report that the Myanmar Military is responsible for serious human rights violations in Rakhine and Kachin State.
In September 2019, Baroness Sugg raised the Rakhine Advisory Commission (RAC) recommendations with the Rakhine State Government. If properly implemented, the RAC recommendations would improve the lives of the Rohingya currently in Myanmar and create the conditions for the Rohingya in Bangladesh to return to Myanmar in a safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable way. On 23 January, I encouraged the Government of Myanmar to abide by the International Court of Justice's provisional measures and implement the recommendations of the Independent Commission of Enquiry in order to protect the Rohingya and to bring the perpetrators of atrocities to justice. The British Ambassador to Myanmar reinforced these points with the Myanmar Minister for International Co-operation, Kyaw Tin.
We remain concerned by restrictions on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Myanmar. We have raised our concerns about destruction of places of worship and discriminatory provisions within citizenship laws. In July 2019, The British Ambassador to Myanmar raised the issue of religious persecution and expressed concern at reports of forced conversions (to Buddhism) with the Myanmar Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs.