Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: When I was in Ukraine last week, the senior Government officials and military commanders wanted me to express the sincere gratitude that that country has for the support the United Kingdom is providing. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the involvement of the regime in Belarus in supporting Russian threats to Ukraine?; Just 5.5% of people in low-income families are still vaccinated against covid-19. That means disaster for so many nations. Why are the Government blocking the patent when the in-country manufacture of the vaccine could save millions of lives? The Government’s donation is simply a drop in the ocean.; [R] People in Dudley South and across Britain with vivid memories of the famines that followed civil war in Ethiopia in the 1980s will look with horror at recent reports from that country. What update can my hon. Friend the Minister give on the situation in Ethiopia and the prospects for a lasting peace?; The country will be astonished by the Minister’s answer on the TRIPS waiver. If it is right that nobody is safe until the whole world is vaccinated, how is it that the United States, for example, thinks that the waiver would allow vaccines to be produced in the right places for the right people but we are one of the very few countries sticking out to prevent it?; How does the Foreign Secretary believe the role of the Commonwealth could and should be developed in future, now that the UK has left the EU?; Members of the all-party parliamentary group on Fairtrade recently met Bismark, a Fairtrade producer from Ghana who attended COP26 to explain how climate change was affecting his crops. As we approach Fairtrade fortnight, will international development Ministers outline how a farmer like Bismark will be able to access the climate-adaptation finance that the UK pledged at COP26 and that will support producers, tackle climate change and improve food security?; With the NATO leadership set to change this September, does my right hon. Friend think it apposite that the leadership should go to a representative from a country that actually meets its defence spending commitments, which are vital to repel aggression from states such as Russia?; Last week saw the first eviction of a Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem in five years. Demolitions of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories have increased by 21% in 2021, and currently, 200 more Palestinian families have eviction orders and are at risk of being displaced. The forced evictions of Palestinians must stop, so will the Minister condemn these demolitions, and what action will he take to stop further evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah?
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will be aware that I have raised repeatedly the case of Maira Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian girl forcibly abducted, raped and forced into a marriage. Will the Minister assure me, given that we give hundreds of millions of pounds in aid to Pakistan, that we are insisting that aid is contingent on reform of the blasphemy laws and making sure that there are no forced conversions in that country?