Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department plans to take to work with global social media companies on ensuring that those companies are taking effective steps to mitigate the harmful spread of disinformation in countries where religious or belief minorities suffer persecution and discrimination.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. We are working closely with social media platforms to help them identify and take action to mitigate the harmful spread of disinformation and misinformation online. In addition, we actively support NGOs and other organisations in research to inform technology companies, partner governments and others about the misuse of online platforms for disinformation purposes, and to disrupt advertising revenues from websites.
We do not target our counter-disinformation work specifically related to countries where freedom of religion or belief is threatened.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which Minister has responsibility for her Department’s atrocity prevention work; how many officials in her Department are working on that work; and at what pay grades each of those officials is employed.
Answered by Amanda Milling
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon has oversight of Government policy on atrocity prevention. He is the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Minister with responsibility for human rights policy and matters relating to the United Nations, and the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.
We are unable to provide a total number of staff working on atrocity prevention, though staff at all grades in the UK and our missions overseas working on human rights issues, conflict prevention and sanctions contribute to the Department's work on atrocity prevention. Staff are able to call on the thematic lead on atrocity prevention and the Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation and other thematic leads for advice. Thematic teams include: Women, Peace and Security, Girls' Education, Children & Armed Conflict, the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), tackling Modern Slavery, promoting the Freedom of Religion or Belief, safeguarding the Freedom of the Media, and supporting the protection of Christians from persecution.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what protections his Department plans to place in the Online Safety Bill to ensure that nothing within the Bill shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, or insult of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practising their religion or belief system.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The draft Online Safety Bill delivers the government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online while defending free expression.
Regulation will not prevent adults from accessing or posting legal content, nor require companies to remove specific pieces of legal content. We recognise that adults have the right to upload and access content that some may find offensive or upsetting.
The largest and riskiest services will be required to set out their policies regarding content that is legal but harmful to adults and enforce these consistently. They will no longer be able to arbitrarily remove controversial viewpoints.
Users will have access to effective mechanisms to appeal content that is removed without good reason.
Our approach will empower adult users to keep themselves safe online, while ensuring children are protected and maintaining robust protections for freedom of expression.
Asked by: Marie Rimmer (Labour - St Helens South and Whiston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2021 to Question 7204 on Nepal: Christianity, what steps the British Embassy takes to engage with members of faith and belief groups and civil society in Nepal; and what trends the British Embassy has identified on religious and belief tolerance in Nepal.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The British Embassy in Kathmandu regularly engages with civil society to discuss a wide range of policy priorities, including human rights, climate change, girls' education, and media freedom. The embassy also meets with representatives of faith and belief groups to hear their priorities and any concerns, and is the Chair of the Human Rights Core Group, a network of like-minded diplomatic missions, which discusses concerns related to freedom of religion or belief to drive collective action.
The UK's assessment of the trends on religious and belief tolerance is that there have not been significant recent shifts in intra-community persecution or closure of civil society space. This is due to Nepal's Constitution and legal framework forming part of the peace settlement to bring marginalised communities into Nepal's institutions, related laws being largely upheld by the courts and relevant human rights commissions, and COVID-19 related lockdowns not discriminating between different faiths or beliefs.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief is being adequately resourced and supported in relation (1) to her role in implementing the recommendations of the Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians, published on 8 July 2019, and (2) to enabling the planning and delivery of the international ministerial conference on freedom of religion or belief in 2022.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government has committed to implementing in full the recommendations in the Bishop of Truro's review, and work continues to implement them in a way that will bring real improvement to the lives of those persecuted due to their faith or belief. Of the 22 recommendations we have fully delivered ten, made good progress on a further eight, and are confident that all 22 will be delivered by the time of the independent review in 2022.
I [Lord Ahmad] meet monthly with the Envoy to discuss freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) activity. The Envoy also works closely with FCDO Ministers in promoting FoRB in their respective geographic areas, and through her Private Secretary in the FCDO, with support from the FCDO FoRB team and other officials on specific aspects of her role, as well as the FCDO media office and Special Advisers. Geographic and thematic policy desks have the opportunity to feed in to policy recommendations and offer advice on activities. We have committed to holding a Ministerial conference on FoRB, which will bring countries together to make global progress on this important issue.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he has made on implementing recommendation 6 of the Truro Review in accordance with the Government’s Manifesto commitment to (a) establish suitable instruments and roles to monitor and implement his Department's approach to freedom of religion and belief, taking into consideration other international approaches, (b) establish permanently the role of Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, (c) provide that Special Envoy with appropriate resources and authority to work across his Department and (d) appoint a Director General level champion for freedom of religion and belief; and what work on that recommendation remains outstanding.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government has committed to implementing in full the recommendations in the Bishop of Truro's review, and work continues to implement them in a way that will bring real improvement to the lives of those persecuted due to their faith or belief. Of the 22 recommendations we have fully delivered ten, made good progress on a further eight, and are confident that all 22 will be delivered by the time of the independent review in 2022.
On Recommendation 6, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State responsible for Human Rights, and Rehman Chishti MP previously served as the Special Envoy. In December 2020 the Prime Minister appointed Fiona Bruce MP as his Special Envoy for freedom of religion and belief. The Special Envoy works with Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, and through the Foreign Secretary to the Prime Minister. The Envoy also works closely with FCDO Ministers in promoting FoRB in their respective geographic areas, and through her Private Secretary in the FCDO, with support from the FCDO FoRB team and other officials on specific aspects of her role, as well as the FCDO media office and Special Advisers. In addition and furthering the establishment of instruments and roles, a DG-level Board Sponsor for FoRB was appointed, replacing the FCO FoRB Board Champion.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which online advertisements promote discrimination against Traveller communities; what plans they have to ensure that digital media platforms do not carry adverts that include such discrimination; and what steps they intend to take against individuals or organisations that place adverts that discriminate against Traveller communities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The regulation of online advertising in the UK is led by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA is responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of the UK Code for Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code).
Within the CAP code, section 4.1, covers rules around discrimination, stating that “particular care must be taken to avoid offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age.” Marketers should be particularly aware of their depictions of these characteristics, and ensure that their ads do not contain anything which may be likely to cause serious or widespread offence on any grounds.” More information can be found here: https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/offence-use-of-stereotypes.html
In investigating a possible breach of advertising rules, the ASA will use the CAP code to determine the course of action. If the advertisement is deemed to be offensive or discriminatory, the advertiser will be asked to take down the ad.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the UK Government's priorities are at the UN Human Rights Council over the next six months.
Answered by Nigel Adams
As set out in the Integrated Review, the UK will continue to play a leading international role in multilateral governance and use our diplomacy at the UN to defend universal human rights and promote women's economic empowerment. As such our priorities at the Human Rights Council are to continue to hold states that violate human rights to account, to promote girls' education and work to end violence against women and girls, defend freedom of religion or belief, support democratic values, and protect media freedom.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support independent journalism in the Xinjiang province of China.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Alongside severe restrictions on religion and culture in Xinjiang, freedom of expression and of the media is severely curtailed. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to allow journalists to practice their profession without fear or arrest, harassment or reprisal, and to end extensive censorship and control over the media and wider freedom of expression. The UK has repeatedly taken a leading international role in holding China to account, including by leading statements at the UN Human Rights Council in June and the UN Third Committee in October. At the time, the UK was the only country to have led a joint statement at the UN.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the adoption of the resolution by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace (A/75/L.36/Rev.1), published 1 December, and (2) the reference by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in his address relating to that resolution to the 75th Session of the UNGA on 25 September, to Islamophobic incidents in Europe of Muslims being targeted; and what assessment they have made of (a) that reference in view of Article 7 of the former version of that resolution (A/75/L.25), published on 4 December 2019, which “condemns any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the use of print, audiovisual or electronic media, social media or any other means", and (a) whether that reference may be used to create an offence of blasphemy against Islam.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities is a longstanding priority for the UK Government. We believe that one of the most effective ways to tackle injustices and advocate for respect amongst different religious groups is to encourage countries to uphold their human rights obligations, particularly through international institutions such as the UN. While the UK supported the underlying theme of A/75/L.36/Rev.1 at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, Her Majesty's Government abstained in the voting on the resolution because there were elements of the text which the UK, along with others, were unable to support.
The UK's views on the Resolution are clear. While the UK and Pakistan do have differences in approach to FoRB and Freedom of Expression, the large bulk of operative paragraph 7 of the previous version of the Resolution is a verbatim copy of Article 20.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the UK ratified in 1976. In the ongoing academic and legal debate about whether this reference can be used domestically to justify blasphemy legislation, the longstanding UK position is that this provision does not require that. We remain deeply concerned by the misuse of blasphemy laws. These laws generally limit Freedom of Expression and are only compatible with international human rights law in narrow circumstances. We regularly raise at a senior level the issue of blasphemy laws with the authorities in Pakistan and elsewhere. We believe that people must be allowed to discuss and debate issues freely, including exercising their right to Freedom of Expression, to invoke, peacefully, discussions about thought, conscience and religion.