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China

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of China on (a) reports of the harvesting and sale of organs from executed prisoners and (b) human rights in China. [65741]

Ian Pearson: The Government regularly raise human rights with the Chinese Government, through the formal UK and EU-China human rights dialogues, ministerial meetings and contacts between officials.

The Government are concerned about the practice of prisoners subject to the death penalty in China donating their organs and the trade in these organs. I raised these concerns with the Chinese Government on 7 April. The Chinese Government have acknowledged this practice, but have denied recent media reports of widespread organ harvesting in China. We have received no evidence to substantiate these reports. We believe that the right approach is to seek to overcome the social taboo of organ transplants and encourage donation from the general population. The Government welcome the announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Health of a new regulation to come into effect on 1 July, to ban the sale of organs and introduce medical standards for organ transplants.

Colombia

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the freedom and fairness of the forthcoming presidential election in Colombia. [65654]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: The first round of the Colombian presidential elections will take place at the end of May. It is too early to make an assessment of the election. All of the presidential candidates continue to be given plenty of opportunity to voice their opinions through Colombia's media.

The Colombian parliamentary elections in March 2006, which were accepted by most observers as being free and fair, confirmed that Colombia is a democratic country. However, there are areas in which democratic institutions and processes could be strengthened.

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effects of decisions of the Colombian Government (a) to negotiate a demobilisation programme, with rights to immunity from prosecution for human rights abuses, with right-wing paramilitary groups and (b) not to negotiate with left-wing rebels. [65680]

 
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Mr. Douglas Alexander: As was made clear in the EU Council Conclusions on Colombia in October 2005, we and other EU member states consider that the effective and transparent implementation of the Law on Justice and Peace, under which more than 30,000 paramilitaries in Colombia have now demobilised, will have a positive impact on peace-building in Colombia. This implementation needs to ensure that those found guilty of human rights abuses are punished for their crimes.

The Colombian Government is actively involved in talks with the National Liberation Army, a left-wing illegal armed group and the next round of talks began on 25 April. Its recent efforts to begin preliminary talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the countries biggest illegal armed group, have been consistently rebutted by the guerrillas.

Cote D'Ivoire

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with members of the Government of Cote d'Ivoire regarding President Laurent Gbagbo's concerns of possible electoral fraud resulting from the concurrent running of disarmament and voter identification programmes; and if he will make a statement. [66640]

Ian Pearson: There have been no direct contacts between Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and the Government of Cote d'lvoire about these concerns.

The UK is represented at official level at the African Union-led International Working Group (IWG) which oversees the peace process. At its last meeting on 20 April, the IWG recalled that the main Ivorian leaders had agreed on simultaneous and immediate implementation of the voter identification and disarmament processes. The IWG called on the Government to accelerate simultaneous implementation and stressed that the identification of citizens will allow the establishment of reliable voter lists and contribute to the holding of free, fair, open and transparent elections.

Cyprus

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last visited Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [66921]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last visited Cyprus on 24–25 January. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) on 7 February 2006, Official Report, columns 733–35.

Darfur

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of al-Qaeda influence and activity in Darfur. [66346]

Ian Pearson: Osama Bin Laden was resident in Sudan until he was expelled in 1996. We have no details of any current al-Qaeda activity or influence in Darfur. On 23 April, Osama bin Laden made a statement including a call for Muslims to resist a Western 'crusade' in
 
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Darfur. The Government of Sudan subsequently made a public statement rejecting and criticising bin Laden's comments.

Darfur (UN Access)

Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the Sudanese Government's co-operation with the United Nations, with particular reference to the UN's access to the Darfur region. [65719]

Mr. Straw: The Sudanese Government's co-operation with the UN is wholly inadequate. On 4 April, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, wrote to the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Dr Lam Akol, expressing concern about the Government of Sudan's refusal to allow the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, access to Darfur. They made clear that the Government must facilitate access for and co-operate in full with UN and humanitarian agencies in Darfur.

We are also pressing the Government of Sudan to allow access to Darfur for the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations planning mission to look at options for a UN force in Darfur, authorised by UN Security Council Resolution 1663.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the merit of an HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness campaign which specifically refutes the belief that sorcery is a vehicle for transmission of the virus. [65656]

Ian Pearson: The UK has an on-going dialogue with the Congolese Government on HIV, the child witch" phenomenon and human rights. But we have not made representations specifically linking HIV awareness and sorcery. The UK fully supports the Congolese Government's planned HIV sensitisation programme. This will help dispel the myth about the link between sorcery" and HIV, and will contribute to longer-term improvement of children's rights. To address the issue of HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UK has funded behaviour change communications campaigns and the distribution of millions of condoms. We are assisting the Government to implement a national HIV/AIDS strategy, and we are supporting the provision of primary health care and education through UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Eritrea

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what assessment his Department has made of the level of religious freedom in Eritrea; and if he will make a statement; [66095]

(2) what discussions he has held with officials from the Eritrean Government on religious persecution; and if he will make a statement. [66096]

 
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Ian Pearson: We remain concerned by reports of State interference in religious affairs and lack of freedom of worship in Eritrea. We monitor closely action taken by the authorities against minority religious groups.

Together with EU partners, we raise these issues with the Eritrean Government whenever possible. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, wrote to President Isaiah on 6 October 2005 and has raised our concerns with the Eritrean ambassador several times.

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