Hugo Swire: ...atoll in the entire Maldives that is dry. My point is that many atolls are many miles away from Malé and would be difficult to get to in a crisis. Further, the fighters who have gone to Syria and Iraq do come from the remote areas because, as I said, they have been radicalised through the mosques, the internet and social media. Just because tourists are not in Malé, which is the centre...
Hugo Swire: ...islands. I understand that this is also the current travel advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Allegedly, between 200 and 250 Maldivians are either fighting or have fought in Syria and Iraq. US Assistant Secretary of State, Alice Wells, claimed that the Maldives was the highest foreign fighter contributor per capita to the so-called Islamic State. Much of the recruiting and...
Hugo Swire: ...Council in Geneva are: the renewal of UN mandates on Syria, Burma and Iran; increasing international attention on Libya, Ukraine and DPRK; responding to UN reports on Gaza and ISIL activity in Iraq; and thematic resolutions on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Combating Religious Intolerance and Privacy.
Hugo Swire: ...events, it should be able to handle these things itself, but it cannot, and that is why we are providing assistance to enable it to do so. Drawing any parallel between what is going on in Syria and Iraq is not useful, if I may say so. This is something localised to Nigeria, and we want to prevent it from spreading across other parts of Africa.
Hugo Swire: ...of religion or belief. Regrettably, this is not confined to a single region nor to a single faith, but we counteract it wherever we can. This has included recent work from Sudan to Nigeria, from Iraq to Burma, and from Pakistan to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Hugo Swire: The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight these terrible things. Some hon. Members will have seen the reports in The Times this morning about ISIS in Iraq, and they are truly troubling. We continue to work through the United Nations to ensure that states implement Human Rights Council resolution 16/18, which focuses on combating religious intolerance, protecting the human rights of minorities...
Hugo Swire: ...sharing some of our best practice with other countries and funding practical projects in a range of countries to reduce intra-community tensions, improve dialogue and promote minority rights. In Iraq, for example, we are funding a series of grass-roots meetings led by Canon Andrew White—the so-called vicar of Baghdad—to bring together people from different faiths to combat violence. In...
Hugo Swire: .... It is none the less my pleasure to respond on the Government’s behalf. The knowledge and insight with which hon. Members have spoken today says much about the strength of our relations with Iraqi Kurdistan, the reasons for which and the significant advantages it brings I will come on to discuss. I pay tribute to hon. and right hon. Members from all parties—and in both Houses—for...
Hugo Swire: ...controls. Applications for export licences are considered on a case-by-case basis against the criteria, taking into account the circumstances at the time. Following on from what the hon. Lady says, Iraqi Kurds have a vital role in the stability of Iraq, where terrorist violence claimed nearly 9,000 lives in 2013. We are extremely concerned about the current violence in Anbar province in...
Hugo Swire: ...that have been supplying them illegally. That is what we do as a Government, and we will certainly continue to do so. Reflecting on those past tragedies only emphasises the progress made by Iraqi Kurdistan. We urge Iraqi Kurds to use the example of their history and progress to become a voice of moderation in Iraq and to show what they have done to address discrimination, to protect...
Hugo Swire: ...run by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy to increase participation by female parliamentarians in the Kurdistan Parliament. We continue to support efforts to improve the position of women in Iraqi society, and we are working closely with the UN, the EU and other international partners, but he is right. I find the practice of FGM absolutely abhorrent wherever it is perpetrated. It...
Hugo Swire: ...promote those principles. In February 2012, we published our updated national action plan on UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which highlighted work in Afghanistan, Iraq and the middle east, as well as in the UK’s own security operations. We became the first country to publish human rights guidance for our overseas security and justice sector work, and we...
Hugo Swire: ...returning migrants, which may include victims of trafficking, but these programmes have a broader remit: Country Organisation Afghanistan International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Iraq European Technology and Training Centre (ETTC); World Economic Outlook (WEO) Pakistan Women Empowerment Literacy and Development Organisation (WELDO)
Hugo Swire: ...in Mauritania, covered by Rabat; (b) 80 in Morocco; (c) 45 in Algeria; (d) 55 in Tunisia; (e) 25 in Libya; (f) 130 in Egypt; (g) 55 in Israel; (h) 70 in Lebanon; (i) 90 in Jordan; (j) 75 in Iraq; (k) 140 in Saudi Arabia; (1) 155 in the United Arab Emirates; (m) 45 in Bahrain; (n) 30 in Qatar; (o) 55 in Oman. These numbers include both UK-based staff and those employed locally. They include...
Hugo Swire: .... Many of them find it extremely difficult to adjust. Additional to that is the whole issue of mental health. Between January 2003 and December 2006, 2,333 regulars and reservists who served in Iraq during Operation Telic were managed by the Defence Medical Services for mental illness attributed to their deployment. In 2007, 1,898 new referrals to the MOD's departments of community mental...
Hugo Swire: ...travelling in two vehicles marked with Red Cross emblems. Also in 2001, a Red Cross plane was shot down in Sudan and the co-pilot was killed. In 2003, five ICRC staff were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq following the bombing of the ICRC's headquarters in Baghdad in a suicide attack. In 2007, a Red Crescent driver was seriously injured in an attack on a Somali Red Crescent pick-up truck...
Hugo Swire: ...in saying that UNRWA will lead on the emergency services needed in Gaza, it will not necessarily lead on reconstruction, so given the British Government's recent experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq, will he state today that Britain will take the lead and convene a conference in London to plan the long-term reconstruction of Gaza?
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funds were allocated to the protection of Iraq's heritage in each of the last four years.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the British Academy on the work of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has received on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq; and what assessment she has made of its role.