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26 Feb 2003 : Column 586W—continued

Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a substantive reply to his letter of 10 December 2002 regarding a constituent, ref: GV100/79888/NS. [98396]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 24 February 2003]: We have learnt that passports were issued to the subjects of the inquiry on 13 December 2002. A substantive reply will be sent to my noble Friend the Baroness Amos shortly.

Ethnic Monitoring

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what ethnic monitoring is undertaken by his Department of the recipients of the delivery of its services to UK citizens abroad. [98453]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I am told we do not monitor the delivery of our services on the basis of ethnicity.

EU Enlargement

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answers of 15 January 2003, Official Report, column 630W, on EU accession states, and 7 January 2003, Official Report, column 136W, on the EU, whether the Government plan to give non-financial support to campaigning groups or individuals within the 10 EU accession states; and if he will make a statement. [93586]

Mr. MacShane: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 7 January 2003, Official Report, column 136W.

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Gibraltar

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to commemorate 300 years of British sovereignty in Gibraltar. [94866]

Mr. MacShane: The Government of Gibraltar has established a 2004 Tercentenary Committee. We will carefully consider any suggestion for UK Government participation in commemorative events.

International Criminal Court

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will resume negotiations with the United States on the proposed Article 98 bilateral agreement concerning the International Criminal Court; and if he will make a statement. [98213]

Mr. Rammell [holding answer 24 February 2003]: Officials met at US request on 17 October 2002 for preliminary discussions. We await a further approach from the US side. The statute of the ICC provides for Article 98.2 agreements in specific circumstances. We will not enter into any agreement with the US unless it is in strict conformity with the statute and the guiding principles agreed with EU partners.

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what mechanism is available for determining the legality of a bilateral treaty concerning the Charter on the International Criminal Court. [98385]

Mr. Rammell: Article 98.2 of the ICC statute provides that the court may not ask a state for surrender of a suspected person if the request would require that state to act inconsistently with its obligations under a relevant international agreement. If the prosecutor nevertheless made such a request, Article 97 would require the state concerned to consult with the court in order to resolve the matter. The statute also makes provision for a case where a state fails to comply with a request from the court, contrary to its obligations under the statute: in such a case the court may refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties or, where the Security Council has referred the case, to the Council.

Iran

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Iran's announcement that it intends to produce and reprocess nuclear fuel. [98546]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: There are long-standing international concerns about Iran's ambitions to pursue a nuclear weapons programme.

The Director-General of the IAEA has just returned from a visit to Iran to evaluate the concerns that have been raised by a number of reports. We look forward to his report to the IAEA Board of Governors.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the United Kingdom has passed all evidence it has on Iraq's

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possession of weapons of mass destruction to the (a) UNMOVIC and (b) IAEA inspectorates in Iraq. [98510]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We have regularly briefed the UN inspection teams on such matters. Such briefings have covered all relevant information.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the trilateral French-German-Russian proposals on Iraq. [98517]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The proposal made by France and Germany, and subsequently endorsed by Russia, has been carefully considered. Its central principal is that inspections should be allowed to continue without a specific time-limit. The UK believes that the key issue with regard to the UN inspections programme is that Iraq must demonstrate a willingness to co-operate fully and actively with the inspectors.

Without that full and unconditional Iraqi co-operation, the mandate of the inspectors, established under UNSCR 1284 and reiterated in UNSCR 1441, would be seriously undermined.

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the provision of peacekeeping forces within Iraq in the event of military action being taken against that country. [98953]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: No decision has been taken to launch military action against Iraq. We have been in recent contact (including at the 17–18 February European Council) with all our EU and other major international partners on the role of the international community in the event of military action against Iraq.

IT Contracts

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list IT contracts in his Department above £50 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [99000]

Mr. Rammell: The contract for the FCO's telecommunications network (FTN) (signed in 2000) is worth £165 million over 10 years. The main contract for Prism, which provides an integrated world-wide financial and management accounting and human resources system is worth £53 million (and was signed in 2002).

The FTN rollout will be completed in summer 2003. The Prism system is scheduled to go live in the UK in mid-2003. Spend to date on both has been within budget.

Lobsang Dhondup

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what discussions his Department has had with the government of China following the execution of Lobsang Dhondup; and what the outcome was; [98821]

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(2) what representations his Department has made to the government of China following the execution of Lobsang Dhondup. [99359]

Mr. Rammell: I issued a statement on 28 January 2003 expressing strong concern at the execution of Lobsang Dhondup. We also supported strongly worded EU demarches and an EU declaration on the case.

We have raised Lobsang Dhondup's case three times with the Chinese MFA. They explained that Lobsang Dhondup was a Chinese citizen who had committed very serious crimes which merited severe punishment. China had the right to put him to trial and to pass verdict on him. The legal proceedings were, according to the MFA, in line with the regulations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

We shall continue to raise our concerns about this case and the treatment of Tibetans more generally with the Chinese.

Middle East

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions are taking place with the United States Government about problems of the Palestinian people. [98415]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, FCO officials and I are in constant touch with US colleagues on Israel/Palestine. The UK Government believe that a secure and stable two-state solution, as called for in President Bush's speech of 24 June 2002 and reached through early implementation of the Quartet roadmap, is the only credible way to deliver to both Israelis and Palestinians the peaceful future they both need.

North Korea

Mrs. Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of human rights abuses in North Korea. [98268]

Mr. Rammell [holding answer 24 February 2003]: Our diplomatic relations with North Korea and a British Embassy in Pyongyang allow us to express our concerns about reports of widespread and serious violations of human rights in DPRK directly to the North Korean authorities on a regular basis. But a lack of hard evidence and access for independent monitors makes it difficult to substantiate allegations, most of which come from defectors' reports. Freedom of expression is curtailed and criticism severely punished (there are reports of up to 200,000 political prisoners). Freedom of movement is restricted within the country and foreign travel is only permitted for a select few. There are reports of widespread use of the death penalty and detention without trial. The DPRK does not participate in international refugee fora, nor is it in contact with the UNHCR. It is at least six years since a UN rapporteur was allowed into the country. The UK has financed human rights training courses for North Korean government officials, and we will continue to request access for international observers, including UK diplomats, to verify negative reports circulating

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internationally about the situation in DPRK. We are also pressing North Korea to co-operate fully with UN mechanisms and to fulfil its UN reporting obligations.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the South Korean Government on the heightened security situation facing the Korean Peninsula. [98830]

Mr. Rammell: During the last week I have discussed these issues with a delegation of visiting South Korean MPs. I will also discuss them when I meet the new South Korean President in Seoul on 26 February 2003. We have made clear in all our contacts with the South Korean Government, that we support a peaceful resolution of the security problem on the Korean Peninsula through multilateral dialogue.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made on behalf of the Christian community in North Korea. [98829]

Mr. Rammell: Reports of human rights abuses, including religious persecution, in North Korea are of grave concern to the Government. Diplomatic relations with North Korea and an Embassy in Pyongyang enable us to express our concerns about reports of widespread and serious violations of human rights in DPRK directly to the North Korean authorities on a regular basis. Our Ambassador expressed concern about the situation during his high-level introductory calls in December 2002. The FCO has financed a human rights training course for North Korean Government officials in the UK, and hopes to build on this through further contacts with the DPRK authorities this year.

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