The Foreign Secretary has not had any discussions with Cabinet colleagues regarding the revoking of the arrest warrant for former Defence Attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando.<\/p>
We were deeply concerned by the incident involving the Sri Lankan Defence Attaché last year and made immediate representations to the Sri Lankan Government. I called Foreign Minister Marapana on 8 February 2018 about the matter to raise his concerns. The Defence Attaché was recalled by his Government soon after.<\/p>
The FCO, which is not a party to the legal proceedings referred to, was contacted by Westminster Magistrate's Court seeking clarification of the Brigadier's diplomatic status in the UK at the time of the incident. The FCO has provided documentation to assist the court.<\/p>
The UK is committed to upholding the rule of law including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1405", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mark Field"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cities of London and Westminster"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mark Field"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-02-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-02-20T16:02:20.547Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-02-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Priyanka Fernando"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the revoking of the arrest warrant for Brigadier Priyanka Fernando.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4653", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Stephen Morgan"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Portsmouth South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Morgan"} ], "uin" : "222038"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1062112", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1062112/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
\u200bThe Government is reviewing its strategy on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict now, and we will have more information in due course. The review coincides with the twentieth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1265 (1999) and the adoption of the Protection of Civilians as an item on the Security Council's agenda.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1405", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mark Field"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cities of London and Westminster"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mark Field"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-02-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-02-20T15:53:40.63Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-02-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Armed Conflict"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department plans to update the Government Strategy on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in order to reduce the number of babies dying as a result of armed conflict.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4403", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Law"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dundee West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chris Law"} ], "uin" : "222035"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1061016", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1061016/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
\u200bThe UK government actively engages with civil society organisations, recognising that collaborative engagement can strengthen the protection of children in armed conflict. On 12 February 2019, the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon met four youth participants from World Vision UK's newly launched campaign entitled 'It takes a World...To End Violence Against Children'<\/em>, to discuss their views and recommendations for government action regarding the use of children in armed forces and groups. The UK government recognises the importance of amplifying young people's voices and the powerful impact this can have in raising the profile of the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Agenda. The UK government therefore continues to engage with World Vision on this agenda. An invitation has been extended to World Vision to present at the newly established cross-government Working Group on CAAC.<\/p> <\/p> The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on CAAC, which leads the international response to the issue of child soldiers and child protection. This includes pressing those parties to conflict listed in the UN Secretary-General's annual report on CAAC to enter into concrete action plans with the UN to verify and release any child soldiers associated with armed groups and forces and to prevent re-recruitment. The UK is the largest single financial contributor to the office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for CAAC, contributing £800,000 in the last five years. We have shown our support for the SRSG's recently launched Global Coalition for Reintegration (GCR) by joining the 'Friends of Reintegration' group, a forum to generate new ideas for supporting reintegration programmes and prevention of re-recruitment for children formerly associated with armed groups. The UK has confirmed it will be increasing its funding to the office of the SRSG for CAAC to £450,000 for the FY19/20 to continue assisting the SRSG with her current mandate and will be giving an additional £50,000 to fund extended activities pertaining to the GCR.<\/p>"}
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}
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, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-02-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Armed Conflict: Children"}
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, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will assess the merits of the conclusions and recommendations of the report entitled, No Choice: It takes a world to end the use of child soldiers, published by World Vision International in February 2019; and what steps his Department is taking to protect children at risk of recruitment by armed forces and his groups.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4608", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for John Lamont"}
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], "uin" : "221786"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1060658", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1060658/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " \u200bWe believe that media freedom is the lifeblood of democracy, and that it is vital to protect the ability of journalists and other media workers to hold the powerful to account. We are concerned by the increase in the number of journalists being targeted because of their work. For this reason we are placing the resources of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office behind a campaign to shine a spotlight on this issue and to galvanise a consensus behind the protection of journalists.<\/p> We regularly raise media and press freedom in visits to Central and Eastern European countries as well as in multilateral fora, including the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We work with media organisations and civil society across the region to deliver projects to protect and support journalists.<\/p> Additionally, the UK continues to be vocal in calling for an end to attacks on journalists, including in the case of the horrific murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée in Slovakia in February last year.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1405", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mark Field"}
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, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-02-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-02-20T16:12:07.893Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-02-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Europe: Press Freedom"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote press freedom in Central and Eastern Europe.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4469", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Angela Crawley"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lanark and Hamilton East"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Angela Crawley"}
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