argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Somalia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Like the Minister and the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (Sir Henry Bellingham), I offer my condolences to the people of Mogadishu following Saturday’s terrible incident. Al-Shabaab, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, has recruited fighters from this country in the shape of Thomas Evans and Samantha Lewthwaite, who were killed in 2015. What guarantee can the Minister give that people trained by terrorist groups such as al-Shabaab are not allowed back into the country, and that the authorities will come down on them if they do come back?
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): We remain very committed to working not only with the European Union but, critically, with the African Union, whose troops have taken a lot of pain and sacrificed their lives to keep Somalia together. The US, the EU and the African Union need to work together until the Somali security forces can build themselves up to ensure that the progress that we have made over the past 10 years is guaranteed for the future.
Cyprus — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): Following the collapse of the Cyprus talks at Crans-Montana in Switzerland in July, there has inevitably been a pause in any further negotiations. We are encouraging all parties to reflect on any steps that they might now take towards constructive future talks.
Cyprus — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): Like the hon. Gentleman, we all share the disappointment at the collapse of the talks. As he rightly says, they were as close as they have ever been, perhaps for decades, to reaching a settlement. Getting a unified Cyprus is the principal objective of the talks, in which human rights will of course play their proper part.
Cyprus — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Anne Villiers (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK Government have made it clear that they are not pressing to retain their status as a guarantor power in Cyprus. Will they advise the other guarantor powers that they should take the same approach?
Cyprus — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): Along with the UN, we remain flexible as a facilitator to try to bring about a unified Cyprus. However, our sovereign base areas will, of course, remain. They are not subject to negotiation, except in terms of some territory that we might cede, if that were to help.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): We are gravely concerned by demolitions, by the eviction of Palestinians and by the increased pace of settlement advancement, including the discussions this week of plans for 3,000 new settlement units to be constructed on the west bank. Such actions undermine both the physical viability of the two-state solution and Israel’s commitment to it.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): I visited Susiya in August to talk to members of the community about the pressures that they were under. We maintain a continued interest in legal arguments in relation to both Khan al-Ahmar and Susiya, and we regularly make it clear to the Israeli authorities that activities there and other settlement actions are deeply concerning, and undermine the intentions that we all have for a viable two-state solution and a movement towards peace.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Oliver James Dowden (Conservative, Centre-right): I join the Minister in agreeing that such settlements are not in any way conducive to peace, but does he agree that what is required in the end is a negotiated settlement involving the other countries in the region? That will inevitably involve an element of land swap, which the Palestinians have accepted in the past.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): It does and, as many of us are aware, the outline of the parameters of a peace agreement, including some degree of land swaps, is known. However, the encroachment in recent years of Israeli settlements on areas well beyond those anticipated to be part of a future land swap undermines the credibility of the so-called commitment to that answer.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: It is 100 years since the Balfour declaration promised not just a Jewish homeland but to protect the rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine. What I saw on the west bank during my recent visit amounts to conquest by concrete and totally undermines any possibility of a two-state solution. With Palestinian reconciliation providing new impetus, will the UK Government recognise their responsibility to re-establish a meaningful peace process?
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): We work extremely hard to play our part in fulfilling that second half of the Balfour declaration. I met one of the negotiators appointed by President Trump at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and I was recently in Israel to talk to people there. We believe it is absolutely essential to make progress on the middle east peace process, which is not something to be managed but something to be solved, and the United Kingdom is bending all its efforts to seek to do so, particularly in this sensitive year.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: It is 100 years since the Balfour declaration promised not just a Jewish homeland but to protect the rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine. What I saw on the west bank during my recent visit amounts to conquest by concrete and totally undermines any possibility of a two-state solution. With Palestinian reconciliation providing new impetus, will the UK Government recognise their responsibility to re-establish a meaningful peace process?; [R] Does the Minister agree that Hezbollah poses a serious threat to Israel’s security and presents a significant barrier to peace in the middle east? Does he share my concern about recent reports that Iran has been constructing rocket factories for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that the terrorists now have weapons capable of hitting any part of Israel?
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): The short answer is yes. Hezbollah appears to have been rearmed in recent years, and the conflict in Syria has provided the opportunity for Iran to supply more weapons—and more dangerous weapons—to Hezbollah. The possibility of a confrontation remains high. Those who have been committed to violence should renounce that commitment and make progress on reconciliation among the Palestinians on that basis, and all the parties involved should seek the peace we all want in the region.
Russia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We cannot have a normal relationship with Russia, given how it has behaved in Ukraine and Syria, and given its continuing behaviour in the cyber sphere, but we must engage with Russia, which is what we will do and are doing, to further mutual interests where they exist.
Russia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I remember reading George Kennan’s article many years ago and it contains much wisdom. The tragedy is that, in many ways, Russia is behaving as though there is a new cold war, and our objective is to prevent the situation from getting any worse by constraining Russia and ensuring that we penalise it for its malign and disruptive activities. However, it is also our objective to engage where we can, which is why I will be going to Russia later this year.
Russia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Hugo Swire (Conservative, Centre-right): A hundred years ago this month saw the start of the Russian revolution, which unleashed misery and purges against millions of Russian people. Although we are right to remind future generations and younger people about the evils of the past, for example through Holocaust Memorial Day, does my right hon. Friend agree that we owe it to the younger generation to educate them about the warped and failed Marxist-Leninist ideology that continues to unleash misery across the world? People should be very worried about that.
Russia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. It is also worth reminding people that it was the Labour party that sneered at working people who tried to rise up against such regimes, and it was the Labour party that supported and connived in the repressive activities of Moscow for decades.
Russia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I can tell my hon. Friend that only yesterday, at breakfast, I met Vladimir Kara-Murza, a distinguished leader of the Russian Opposition and a journalist, who paid tribute to this country for being one of the few European countries to implement what is, to all intents and purposes, a Magnitsky Act. People on this side of the House can be very proud of the role they have played—in fact, people on both sides of the House can.
Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Michael Bacon (Conservative, Centre-right): May I remind the Foreign Secretary that 20 million Russians died in the second world war, without which we might have lost the war? Does he agree with Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, that despite Russia’s being a leading nuclear power, a member of the UN Security Council, a fundamental source of hydrocarbons and other vital raw materials, and a leading player in the middle east, we are, through "pointless sanctions" and "demonisation", doing everything we can "to push Russia into China’s arms" Does the Foreign Secretary agree with Sir Tony Brenton that this may prove to be "the geopolitical blunder of a generation"?
Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing out Russian sacrifice in the war. He is quite right to allude to it, although I might also point out that probably 30 million people died in Stalin’s purges and famines and various other things associated with communism which, as I say, were indulged by the Labour party. [Interruption.] It is true. My hon. Friend’s point about engagement is valid, and that is what we are doing.
Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point. As he knows, they are guilty of a crime—what they have done in going to fight overseas is a crime—and they should be brought to justice. What we have done overall is to call for the evidence that we need to prosecute them to be gathered by the special investigative team that has just been set up by the UN, thanks to the UK’s agency.
Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Did my right hon. Friend notice Tony Blair’s remarks over the weekend in which he recognised that the international community was wrong not to enter into dialogue with Hamas when it was elected in 2006? In the light of the deal between Hamas and Fatah that has been brokered by Egypt, is there not now another opportunity to engage Hamas in a dialogue in order to draw it into a constructive position and at least have a chance of making it a more constructive player?
Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question; he brings great learning to this subject. In the end, there might be the prospect of Hamas being brought in—of course that must be right—but before that can happen it has to renounce terror, to recognise Israel’s right to exist, to cease and desist from vile and anti-Semitic propaganda and to abide by the Quartet principles. Nevertheless, what he says has a profound truth; if only Hamas would listen to it and act on what he says.
Hurricane Support — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The whole House can be proud of the way the country responded. We have committed £62 million to meet the immediate—[Interruption.] Excuse me, Mr Speaker; I am answering Questions 10 and 15 together with Question 8—
Hurricane Support — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am obliged and I stand corrected, Mr Speaker. I am answering Questions 8, 10 and 14 together, because they all relate to the impact of the hurricane The House can be proud of the way in which the country responded. We have provided £62 million to meet the immediate humanitarian needs. We deployed 2,000 military personnel and delivered 600 tonnes of aid. We fielded fantastic quantities of calls, not least from colleagues, some of whom I see are present behind me. I am chairing an inter-ministerial group to support a long-term recovery plan to get those overseas territories and British citizens back on their feet.
Hurricane Support — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the sentiment that my hon. Friend has expressed and his willingness to come to the defence and support of our military and our aid workers. I saw from my own direct experience that they did an absolutely fantastic job. I will not hide it from the House: I was surprised to see on the news—before the hurricane had even finished—that I had received a letter denouncing the UK’s performance and our response from the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat). I thought that was hasty, and I hope to be able to explain to him when I appear before his Committee, as I shall shortly, that I thought it was a premature judgment.
Hurricane Support — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: I should like to recognise the significant effort that our servicemen and women and others are putting into the momentous task of the relief effort. After the emergency response is over, it is crucial that there is sustained support. What will the Secretary of State’s Department be doing to ensure that crucial infrastructure such as health and education get fully back up to speed?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said, there is a long-term plan to restore those overseas territories to full economic health, and it will take a long-term commitment from this country. I want all those British nationals there to realise that this Government are absolutely determined to vindicate their rights and to give them the support that they need.
Hurricane Support — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: I should like to recognise the significant effort that our servicemen and women and others are putting into the momentous task of the relief effort. After the emergency response is over, it is crucial that there is sustained support. What will the Secretary of State’s Department be doing to ensure that crucial infrastructure such as health and education get fully back up to speed?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): If I may humbly correct the hon. Lady there has been no loss of EU funding so far. As she will understand, EU funding will continue for some years—let me put it like that. [Interruption.] In the meantime, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made it clear that, one way or the other, we will get through the very considerable sums that are needed—whether it is through the Caribbean Community or the Caribbean Development Bank. The assessments of the requirements are only now coming in. We must wait to see exactly what the bill and the requirements are before we start pushing out the money. When we have a full understanding of the requirements, we will ensure that the UK stands behind the plan.
Rohingya People — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): The Foreign Secretary spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi on 7 and 17 September. I met her in Naypyidaw in Burma on 27 September, and the Deputy Foreign Minister at the UN General Assembly on 20 September. We called for an end to the violence in Rakhine state, a safe return for refugees, full humanitarian access, and, most importantly, implementation in full of the Annan Commission’s recommendations.
Rohingya People — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his thoughtful question. What is going on in Rakhine is a human tragedy and a humanitarian catastrophe. When the UN lifted sanctions in 2011, it was trying to encourage a road towards democracy, which has obviously happened with the election that took place only 18 months ago. With hindsight, one might argue that these sanctions were lifted prematurely. However, a lot of Burma watchers would say that the sanctions did not have a huge effect. There was not a great deal of money from the Burmese military in western bank accounts in the way that applies, for example, to sanctions for Russia, China and elsewhere.
Rohingya People — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, it is a humanitarian catastrophe out there. Sadly, this increasingly appears to be an accurate description of the situation. It is now essential for the Burmese authorities to enact the positive measures that were announced by the State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Thursday evening. They include the establishment of a new civilian-led body to oversee refugee returns and the development of Rakhine into a state in which all communities can live together sustainably.
Rohingya People — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a matter for the UN. The issue of genocide is a legal one and it will be determined at UN level. I understand that there is some frustration and a perception that diplomatic advancement has been slow. We have taken a lead in this. There have been two closed meetings and an open meeting of the UN Security Council. The truth is that a headlong rush to get a Security Council resolution along these sorts of lines would most likely end up being vetoed by the Chinese or the Russians. We need to move together as an international community, recognising that these serious crimes must be properly dealt with.
Catalonia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I discussed Catalonia with the Spanish ambassador to the UK on 11 October. Our embassy in Madrid regularly discusses the issue with the Spanish Government. We also routinely engage with the Catalan regional Government on matters that fall properly within their competence.
Catalonia — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): It is the rule of law that needs to govern the decision affecting the future of Catalonia. We fully defend the rule of law and actively assert that this can take place only within the proper workings of the Spanish constitution.
Malaysia: General Election — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): We encourage all countries, including Malaysia, to conduct open and transparent election processes. Naturally that should include external observation missions, which I believe—and I am sure the hon. Gentleman believes—are important to achieving a legitimate democratic outcome.
Malaysia: General Election — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much hope so. As the hon. Gentleman points out, Malaysia is an important partner for the United Kingdom, with co-operation across a range of areas, including security, prosperity, education, foreign policy and Islamic finance. He will be glad to know that I have a routine meeting—tomorrow morning, no less—at the Foreign Office with the high commissioner to Malaysia, and I will ensure that his heartfelt views are put forward.
Daesh — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): I was proud, on 21 September this year, to speak at the United Nations Security Council when it unanimously adopted a UK-drafted resolution, which involved the deployment of an investigative team to Iraq to help bring Daesh perpetrators to justice. The United Kingdom is giving material and moral support to this work.
Daesh — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Ross Thomson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he confirm what discussions he has had with key partners in the region with regard to the reconstruction and stabilisation of the area for the long term in a post-Daesh world?
Daesh — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. I have been to the region twice in recent months to speak to Iraqi authorities about what is happening to make sure that areas formerly occupied by Daesh are given support. We strongly support the work being carried out on behalf of the UK Government through the Department for International Development to make sure there is stabilisation. We recognise not only that these areas need physical reconstruction but that the political reconciliation that brings different sides together to work in effective local governance is a key part of the solution for the future.
CHOGM — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): We are, of course, supporting the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s plans to hold a detailed forum for Commonwealth parliamentarians in February 2018, before CHOGM. As my hon. Friend will know, we intend to have a range of contemporary issues discussed, including security, prosperity, climate change and all aspects of human rights, ahead of the national debates that will take place at the Commonwealth summit in April 2018.
CHOGM — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
James Philip Duddridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for that reply, specifically because it advertises an event this afternoon offering colleagues the opportunity to find out more about the forum. What specific opportunities will there be for parliamentarians at CHOGM and in the two years after CHOGM, when the UK is in the chair?
CHOGM — House of Commons, 2017-10-17
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, a former Minister, makes a valid point. There is no point having large-scale meetings such as CHOGM if we see them as an end in themselves. We need to have plans for the future, and I think those plans are afoot. Let us be honest: there has never been a more important time for us to be networked in, whether with the Commonwealth or a range of other international institutions, on all the issues—particularly around security and prosperity—that should be close to the hearts of all British parliamentarians.