To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Warsi on 23 July
(HL Deb, cols GC 460–4) on the Commission of Inquiry Report on human rights in North
Korea, whether any projects to improve the substantive human rights of North Koreans,
rather than cultural, economic or humanitarian initiatives, are to be implemented;
and whether such projects are being considered for North Korean refugees outside the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
<p>It is not possible for the UK to carry out projects in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) without the cooperation of the DPRK authorities. This has
an impact on the type of projects we are able to support, although we have successfully
taken forward projects in some areas of human rights, such as disability rights. In
the Financial Year 2014/15 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO’s) Human Rights
and Democracy Programme is funding a project delivered by the Thomson Foundation titled
‘Inside Out: Working in North Korea to connect its journalists to the Internet world’,
which aims to give North Korean journalists a greater understanding of freedom of
expression by teaching them Internet skills. Our other engagement projects are about
finding concrete ways to inform North Korean citizens about the UK and its values,
so that in the long term they recognise the benefits of working with the outside world
from which they are normally isolated.</p><p>Our Embassy in Seoul supports the North
Korean refugee community through its “English for the Future” programme, which is
funded with a mixture of FCO programme funds and corporate sponsorship. We also reserve
one of our Chevening scholarships for this community. These programmes help new settlers
tackle some of the barriers which can prevent their successful integration into South
Korean society and improve their future prospects. The FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy
Programme has also previously funded projects with North Korean refugee groups in
the Republic of Korea which are more directly related to human rights in the DPRK,
such as documenting the effects of torture or producing a report on the rights of
women. We remain open to funding similar projects in the future.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on
21 July (WA 156), how many times since 2008 the Council of the European Union has
disagreed with items on its agenda previously agreed within Coreper and to be decided
without discussion as A-items.
<p>The Government does not record information on how many times the Council has chosen
not to adopt an item as an “A” point following a preparatory meeting of The Committee
of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). Where an item is on the agenda for a meeting
of the Council of the European Union, COREPER will prepare that item but will not
itself take any decision: the decision is for the Council to take. If a matter is
planned for agreement as an A point at a Council meeting and it appears that agreement
is not possible, it would be either withdrawn from the agenda or made the subject
of discussion at that meeting.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on
21 January (WA 136), what progress has been made in resuming the European Union–Malaysia
Human Rights Dialogue; and whether they have asked the government of Malaysia how
it reconciles the endorsement of the 2004 Amman Message (recognising the validity
of all eight Islamic legal schools including Shia) with actions taken by the Malaysian
authorities.
<p>Discussions continue between the EU and Malaysia on the resumption of the EU-Malaysia
Human Rights Dialogue. We are keen to have a Dialogue of substance. Bilaterally, we
have regular conversations with the Malaysian government on human rights issues, including
freedom of religion.</p><p> </p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Iraqi President,
Speaker and acting Prime Minister about the early establishment of an inclusive government
there.
<p>Our Ambassador in Baghdad has made representations to the Speaker and President
to urge the early establishment of an inclusive government and we continue to raise
this with Iraqi leaders at the highest levels. The former Secretary of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr
Hague), also discussed the issue with Prime Minister Maliki during his visit in June.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government
of China about China's obligations under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, following the recent demolition of several churches and the removal
of crosses from others.
<p>We have concerns about all restrictions placed on freedom of religion and belief
in China. This includes the destruction of churches and the removal of crosses from
others. We believe that freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a fundamental
human right, and continue to raise our concerns with Chinese counterparts.</p><p>We
raised our particular concerns about religious buildings in China directly with Chinese
authorities during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue on 19-20 May. We also highlight
our broad range of concerns publicly in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual
Report on Human Rights and Democracy and in quarterly updates to it.</p><p> </p>