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Human Rights

Questions

Asked by Lord Harries of Pentregarth

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We have made no representations on the specific cases of Buchtar Tabuni and Sebby Sambom. We are aware that they are currently being detained by police in Jayapura, Papua. We are

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not aware of any allegations that their human rights have been abused. Our embassy in Jakarta also understands that they are receiving legal advice as well as visitors. We will continue to monitor the situation.

We regularly raise human rights concerns with the Indonesian authorities and staff from our embassy in Jakarta visit Papua on a regular basis and raise issues of concern with a wide cross-section of interlocutors. The most recent visit was 13 to 16 January 2009.

Asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): As with previous legal challenges in other jurisdictions on the issue of prisoners' voting rights, Her Majesty's Government are studying (a) the reasoning behind this judgment and (b) the response by the Government of Hong Kong carefully. The Government must arrive at a solution that is best for the UK, and, to that end, remains committed to carrying out a second public consultation.

Asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill

Lord Bach: The Government have no plans at this time to seek to ratify the Fourth Protocol with reservations. The Government's concerns with Article 2 relate to the particular nature of British nationality and immigration arrangements which permit a person to be lawfully within United Kingdom territory without necessarily permitting them to be lawfully within all parts of United Kingdom territory. This may particularly

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conflict with the provision under Article 2(1) that “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence”. This assessment has been made by the Government on the basis of the advice of officials and lawyers; there would obviously be no substantive assessment of the compatibility of British law and policy with these obligations by the European Court of Human Rights or our domestic courts unless and until the obligations were accepted by the United Kingdom.

Independent Safeguarding Authority

Question

Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) was established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. It is referred to in the Act as the “Independent Barring Board”. The ISA will work with the Criminal Records Bureau to deliver the new vetting and barring scheme. Specifically, the ISA will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the children's barred list and the vulnerable adults’ barred list.

Interception of Communications

Question

Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The number of occasions on which the Secretary of State has refused to sign a warrant is not recorded centrally. Moreover, RIPA places an obligation to keep secret all matters relating an interception warrant, the warrant application, issue and execution of it. Accordingly, it has been the policy of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny in response to specific questions about whether a warrant has been sought or issued.

The only figures that are made public are those published in the Interception of Communications Commissioner's annual report. This makes it clear that “outright and final refusal of a warrant by the Secretary of State is comparatively rare, because the requesting agencies and the senior officials within the Secretary of State's department scrutinise the applications with care before they are submitted for approval”.



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International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Questions

Asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): Given that only two applications, both found inadmissible, have been made during the period of nearly four years since the United Kingdom accepted the right of individual petition under the Optional Protocol to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Government wish to see which further applications are made under this Optional Protocol, how they are handled by the relevant committee at the United Nations, and whether their outcome demonstrates substantive benefit to people in the United Kingdom from individual petition. This will assist the Government in assessing the advantages and disadvantages of other individual petition mechanisms.

As the noble Lord is aware, the structure of discrimination law in the United Kingdom developed separately from the broad principle of equality founded on human rights. However, our discrimination law specifically prohibits unjustified discrimination in the performance of public functions and the provision of goods, facilities and services, and the principle that like cases should be treated alike is also recognised by our courts in the context of judicial review of administrative action. Combined with the prohibition on discrimination in the protection of the convention rights, most of which are civil and political rights, under the Human Rights Act, there are a broad range of means by which individuals may challenge discriminatory treatment in this country.



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International Whaling Commission

Question

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The paper referred to is confidential. It is subject to revision and a sub-group (on which the UK is not represented) will meet later this month in Hawaii to finalise it. It will then be distributed to commissioners and contracting Governments in early February. It will be discussed at an intersessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in March, and then revised and reissued as the basis for discussion of the future of the IWC at the IWC's annual meeting in June. If the paper enters into the public domain, I will place it in the Library of the House.

Internet: Service Providers

Question

Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting (Lord Carter of Barnes): This department would expect internet service providers and any other company to ensure that their operations conform to the relevant laws on data and access to data. Disciplinary measures are a matter for the organisations concerned. We do not monitor the terms of employment in the internet service sector.

Iran: Discrimination

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton



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The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We remain deeply concerned by the treatment of Bahai, Christian and other religious minorities in Iran, and we are fully committed to raising the issue both bilaterally and through the EU and UN.

Regrettably, the Iranian Government are increasingly reluctant even to hear our representations, and deny that there is any basis for concerns about the treatment of religious minorities.

Iraq

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The UK continues to press the Government of Iraq at official and ministerial level to protect minority communities, and to take tough action against those responsible for violence and intimidation.

We have received no specific reports of land and goods having been illegally seized this year around Mosul, though we utterly condemn the violence and intimidation that minority communities in Mosul have been subjected to. We are aware of long-standing disputes over land and properties, dating primarily back to the early 1990s. My honourable friend the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Bill Rammell) hopes to discuss these issues with ministerial interlocutors from the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government at the next appropriate opportunity.

We welcome reports from UN High Commissioner for Refugees that due to the efforts of the Iraqi Security Forces many families—up to one-third of those displaced in some districts—have returned to their homes in Mosul, though we are unable to provide any independent assessment of the numbers involved. The Iraqi Government have pledged grants of $851 per family to support those families as they return.

Israel and Palestine

Question

Asked by Lord Steinberg

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): Achieving a peace settlement in the Middle East is one of our top priorities. We are in constant contact with all the key players to secure an immediate and durable ceasefire in the current conflict. We also continue to pursue our efforts to

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achieve a wider comprehensive peace in the region through diplomacy and practical support to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel and Palestine: Quartet

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We have made it clear to Israel, with very few exceptions, that house demolitions in occupied territory are in direct contravention of article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. We will continue lobbying the Israeli Government for an immediate halt to demolitions.

Israel and Palestine: Tax

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): According to the International Monetary Fund all previously withheld clearance revenue has been released to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel and Palestine: Weapons

Question

Asked by Lord Dykes

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We already routinely refuse export licenses where we believe there is a clear risk that they will be used for external aggression or internal repression. As with all conflicts, we will take into account the recent conflict and the conduct and methods of the Israeli Defence Force in that conflict in the assessment of future export licences.

Middle East Peace Process

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton



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The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We welcome the work of Robert Serry and the whole UN system in seeking both to alleviate human suffering and bring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1850 on 16 December 2008 restated the UN's commitment to progress on all tracks of the peace process in 2009. This was repeated in UNSCR 1860 on 8 January 2009, which also called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

We are confident that the UN will continue to pursue these goals, and it will have the UK's support in doing so.

National Security Forum

Questions

Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones

Lord Patel of Bradford: The Prime Minister is considering who to appoint to the membership of the Interim National Security Forum. Invitations have been issued to a number of candidates but the final membership of the forum is yet to be determined. The forum has not yet met and so no advice has been received from it. Costs relating to the forum will be met from within Cabinet Office departmental spending. The Prime Minister will announce the membership of the forum and the date of its first meeting in due course.

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