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European Public Bodies

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the activity of the European Maritime Safety Agency in the UK in the last 12 months; and if he will list its publications and newsletters published over that period. [215228]

Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.

European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) provides technical advice to the Commission and the member states on maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships. It assists with updating and developing new EU legislation, monitoring its implementation and evaluating the effectiveness of measures in place. Key areas of the Agency's work and study programme in the last 12 months have included technical work on improving the Port State Control inspection regime; scrutiny of the performance of classification societies (ship inspection bodies); a study of the investigation of maritime accidents; development of a vessel traffic monitoring and information system; and workshops on counter-pollution response and goal based safety standards.
 
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The Administrative Board of EMSA, comprising representatives of each member state, the Commission and the shipping industry, met three times during 2004. Minutes of these meetings are available on the EMSA website www.emsa.eu.net together with details of the Agency's 2004 and 2005 work plans. EMSA's technical publications will also be available on its website.

Gibraltar

Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that the legal system in Gibraltar prevents discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. [217340]

Mr. MacShane: Under the constitutional reform proposals, an assessment of the powers required by the UK Government will take full account of the fact that the UK is responsible for Gibraltar's compliance with EU law, including ultimately before the European Court of Justice. We wish to ensure that Gibraltar's constitution is in line with its international obligations, including the European Convention of Human Rights.

We have previously told the Gibraltar Government that we believe the age of consent should be equalised for homosexual and heterosexual couples to avoid a potential breach of Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Gibraltar

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of (a) the length of queues at the border crossing between Spain and Gibraltar and (b) the average time taken to cross the border. [216061]

Mr. MacShane: The average delay during the day is between 15 to 30 minutes. However traffic delays occur at peak times of the day and particularly in the summer months, sometimes for up to two hours. This is unacceptable.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress in discussions with the Spanish authorities on repairs to the Royal Navy submarine docked in Gibraltar. [216062]

Mr. MacShane: HMS Sceptre left Gibraltar on 9 February as scheduled. Officials from Spain, the UK and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar discussed the issue of submarine visits to Gibraltar at the tripartite talks in Malaga on 10 February.

International Criminal Tribunal

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with other EU governments about the transfer of Ante Gotovina to the International Criminal Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. [214717]

Mr. MacShane: The UK Government shares the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Chief Prosecutor's concerns about the lack of full Croatian co-operation with the ICTY, as
 
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reported to the UN Security Council in November 2004. I have had several conversations with EU member governments about the need to encourage Croatia to accept its international responsibility to deliver Ante Gotovina to The Hague as soon as possible, in order that negotiations can begin as planned on 17 March. Statements by successive meetings of the General Affairs and External Relations Council have upheld this obligation, which I welcome.

I also refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Western Isles (Mr.MacDonald) on 3 February 2005, Official Report, column 1105W.

Iraq

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of people killed in Iraq between 20 March 2003 and 4 April 2004, including Iraqis, coalition forces and other nationalities; and what sources he has used in calculating this figure. [210527]

Mr. Rammell: We have no way of reliably estimating the total number of Iraqi civilians killed between 20 March 2003 and 4 April 2004. I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on this subject of 17 November 2004, Official Report, columns 92–95WS and the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Armed Forces (Mr. Caplin) on 27 January 2005, Official Report, column 541W to the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (Mr. Simpson).

We understand from the Ministry of Defence that thenumber of UK service personnel killed between20 March 2003 and 4 April 2004 is 59. The Ministry of Defence state that they do not keep records of Multi-National or coalition forces killed in Iraq. However, they say that open sources show that 721Multi-National or coalition forces, including UK service personnel, were killed during that period.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the net migration into the Kurdish area of northern Iraq since 2003; and if he will make a statement. [213241]

Mr. Rammell: We have no information on migration into the Kurdish area of northern Iraq since 2003. To research this question further would involve our posts making extensive inquiries and commissioning specific research which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Kurds

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the number of Kurdish people who (a) migrated from the northern part of Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime to (i) Iran, (ii)Turkey, (iii) Syria and (iv) other countries and (b) have migrated to the northern part of Iraq since the end of the Saddam Hussein regime from (A) Iran, (B)Turkey, (C) Syria and (D) other countries; and if he will make a statement. [213236]

 
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Mr. Rammell: We have asked our posts in the relevant countries, and UKDel Geneva, to obtain the information requested from the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). It has become clear from the information received that the available figures are incomplete. Furthermore, the categories used to collect data vary from country to country, making it extremely difficult to collate comparable statistics. In many cases, the figures for the ethnic background of refugees are unreliable and the Kurdish element in the overall total for refugees from Iraq is not identified. To obtain further information would involve our posts making extensive inquiries and commissioning specific research which could be compiled only at disproportionate cost. The information that we have obtained is set out as follows.

In Iran, in early 2003, before the mainly" spontaneous repatriation movement, the UNHCR estimates that there were 63,000 camp based and identified non-camp based Iraqi Kurdish refugees. The UNHCR estimates that there are currently 20,000 Iraqi Kurds still in Iran. The UNHCR estimates that there are also some 8,000 Faili Iraqi Kurds in Iran. Some of these are included in the overall number of Iraqi Kurds.

In Syria, the largest single influx of Iraqi refugees occurred in 1991, when about 8,000 persons, mainly Kurds, arrived. There are currently 234 Kurds registered with the UNHCR office in Damascus.

In Turkey, the UNHCRs active caseload of Iraqi refugees and asylum-seekers totals 1,576 persons, of whom 227 (14.4 per cent.) are ethnic Kurds. The UNHCR in Turkey has also registered 1,146 Iranian refugees who previously resided in Iraq for varying periods. These refugees are ethnic Kurds who entered Turkey between 2001 and 2003, prior to the onset of hostilities.

Middle East

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what progress has been made in ensuring that women are represented at the Palestine/Israel peace negotiations; [216907]

(2) whether he supports UN Resolution 1325, calling for women to be represented at the Palestine/Israel peace talks; [216908]

(3) what representations he has received concerning UN Resolution 1325, on representation of women at the Palestine/Israel peace talks. [216909]

Mr. Rammell: We supported UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. We are not aware of any representations to British Ministers concerning the application of UNSCR 1325 to the Middle East Peace Process. However, we support efforts to integrate women into the peace process.

We welcome the participation of Palestinian women in the municipal elections which took place in the West Bank on 23 December 2004. 46 of the 306 newly elected councillors are women. Around half of them won their seats owing to a provision in the electoral law reserving
 
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at least two seats per council to women. We wish to see women continuing to play an active role in the Middle East peace process.

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