Extract from Lords debate
on NATO Summit 2018
(Con):...A still deeper question is whether NATO, which
has been our bedrock of defence for 70 years, adequately serves all
our national security needs when the threat now is clearly global,
not just regional. NATO, of course, operates out of the European
theatre—in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example—but it is very good
that the UK is also a strong part of the south-east Asia Five Power
Defence Agreement with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US,
the so-called Five Eyes agreement. I am also glad that we are
getting into much closer defence co-operation with Japan, and have
signed a new declaration to that effect. It was signed by the Prime
Minister when she visited Japan the other day. Closer defence and
security co-operation with India is also a priority—that is, if
our good relations with India and our excellent work during
UK-India Week are not undermined or
wrecked by the Home Office...
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Extracts from FCO
questions
(Strangford) (DUP):
Bearing in mind that the Commonwealth charter lists tolerance,
respect and understanding as a guiding principle, will the
Minister outline what diplomatic pressure her Department will use
to defend against persecution those who choose Christ in India,
Nigeria and Malaysia?
The Minister for Africa (Harriett Baldwin): I
pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman’s assiduous pursuit of this
agenda. He mentions three specific countries. I can assure him
that we regularly raise issues of freedom of religion and belief
not just in those countries but more widely, and not only in
Commonwealth countries but across the wider network.
-----------------------
(Walsall North)
(Con): What steps his Department is taking to promote
and support human rights internationally.
The Minister for Asia and the Pacific (Mark
Field): Mr Speaker, I assume that everyone is so happy
with the smooth operation of Asian and Pacific affairs in the
Foreign Office that I have had no questions until now.
Promoting human rights will remain an essential aim of the
foreign policy of Global Britain. Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Ministers and officials relentlessly defend and champion human
rights in bilateral engagements, multilateral bodies and
conferences and in funding projects, particularly through the
Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy.
: I thank the
Minister for his answer. What representations have he and the
British Government made to the Indian Government in recent months
in the case of Jagtar Singh Johal?
: I thank my hon. Friend
for raising this issue, which I know affects a number of
constituents not just in the west midlands but across the
country. I recognise that this has been an incredibly difficult
and distressing time for Mr Johal and his family, whom I most
recently met along with their very assiduous constituency MP, the
hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes), on
18 June.
We continue to raise Mr Johal’s case with the Indian Government
at the highest level. I raised it with the Minister for External
Affairs on 7 May in New Delhi, and Baroness Williams has also
done so. The Prime Minister, very unusually, brought up this
consular issue with Prime Minister Modi at the Commonwealth Heads
of Government meeting on 18 April.
Mr Speaker: I think the constituency MP should
have a chance to do so.
(West
Dunbartonshire) (SNP): I thank the hon. Member for
Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) for using his good offices to bring
this matter, on which the Minister has been assiduous, to the
Floor of the House.
The Foreign Secretary has met the hon. Member for Walsall North,
whom I have emailed, to discuss this case, and it has been put
online, for which I am very grateful because it keeps the case in
the public domain. When will the Foreign Secretary now bother to
meet Jagtar Singh Johal’s constituency Member of Parliament to
discuss this face to face?
: I thank the hon.
Gentleman, and I am glad he is in his place. He has worked
incredibly hard on this. [Interruption.] My right hon. Friend the
Foreign Secretary says from a sedentary position that he would be
happy to meet him at the earliest convenient opportunity.
--------------------------
(Harrow East) (Con):
What discussions has my right hon. Friend had with the Home
Secretary on providing India with the same visa controls as other
friendly countries?
: I have noticed the
discrepancy to which my hon. Friend alludes, and we are in
discussions about that now.
