Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

155468

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he takes to emphasise the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran during discussions with his Iranian counterpart.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214358
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text We remain deeply concerned by the ongoing discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran. We have called for the Iranian government to protect the rights of all minority groups and end the persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith. We last raised these issues with the Iranian government during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:26:03 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155469

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Middle East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on tackling the persecution of Christians in the Middle East; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214359
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>Conflict and instability in the Middle East has made the plight of Christians and other religious minorities a significant concern. In many cases religious minorities are facing extremely difficult circumstances. Many communities are suffering, and indeed some countries risk seeing the disappearance of communities that have existed there peacefully for centuries.</p><p>We deplore all discrimination against religious minorities and constraints on their freedom to practise their faith. We regularly urge all governments in the Middle East to ensure the protection of all religious minorities. We encourage them to develop inclusive political systems that represent all of their citizens.</p><p>We work proactively in countries where we can to tackle these issues. For example, in Yemen the Middle East and North Africa Conflict Pool is delivering a grassroots community reconciliation initiative to ease tensions between different communities. In Syria a number of British Government funded projects have brought together religious leaders from all denominations (including Alawi, Christians, Kurds, Druze and Sunnis) to foster greater understanding between faiths and support reconciliation. In Tunisia, our Arab Partnership Initiative funds a project run by the Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy which considers, amongst other things, the protection of religious minorities under the new constitution.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:29:25 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155472

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Behnam Irani.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214356
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised this individual case with the Iranian government.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:13:38 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155473

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad and Silas Rabbani, sentenced to prison because of their religious beliefs.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214357
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:24:58 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155474

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Farshid Fathi, Homayoun Shokouhi, Alireza Seyyedian and other Christians imprisoned in Iran.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214387
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:31:19 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155475

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on (a) Vahid Hakkani, (b) Mojtaba Seyyed Alaedin Hossein and (c) other Christians imprisoned for their faith in Iran.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Mr Joe Benton
uin	214355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:11:54 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	479 label Biography information for Mr Joe Benton

155476

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 6 November 2014, Official Report, column 1034, on re-opening the British embassy in Tehran, what recent progress he has made on consular and embassy arrangements in Iran.
tabling member constituency	Hackney North and Stoke Newington
tabling member printed	Ms Diane Abbott
uin	214394
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>As I set out in the House on 6 November 2014, the Government remains committed to reopening the British Embassy in Tehran once we have resolved the outstanding steps required to bring the Embassy back to a functional level and concluded arrangements for re-establishing a visa service in Tehran. We are in ongoing discussion with the Iranian government to identify solutions on both issues.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:33:20 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	172 label Biography information for Ms Diane Abbott

155480

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iran
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the issues of human rights and religious liberty in Iran were raised by Ministers and officials of his Department in their recent discussions with their counterparts in that country.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	214233
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>The UK most recently raised our concerns about the human rights situation in Iran, including the rights of religious minorities, with the Iranian Government during Iran’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council on 31 October.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:11:09 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

155483

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Hamas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department provides to ensure Hamas does not acquire construction materials for terror purposes.
tabling member constituency	Enfield, Southgate
tabling member printed	Mr David Burrowes
uin	214302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>The UK, as a donor, follows very carefully the course of internationally provided construction materials into Gaza, and we are confident in the effectiveness of the new UN agreed monitoring mechanism.</p><p>Imports of construction materials, including concrete, are currently only permitted for UN-led humanitarian projects with strict controls mitigating the risk of transfer of materials for use other than that intended. There remains a clear need for further legitimate construction work in Gaza.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:36:23 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	1518 label Biography information for Mr David Burrowes

147520

registered interest
date	10/11/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Qatar
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Qatar on human rights abuses in that country.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	214145
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text I recently raised human rights issues with the Qatari Government during my visit to Doha on 15 October, and the issue of migrant workers was raised with the Emir of Qatar during his visit to the UK on 28-30 October. The Government welcomes in particular the serious manner in which the Qatari Government is responding to concerns about the treatment of migrant workers, and supports Qatar’s intention to reform the current labour law. We continue to encourage the Qatari Government to address human rights concerns and we stand ready to support those efforts where we can. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 18/11/2014 14:46:20 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon