Wednesday 14 May was the last Parliamentary sitting day until the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday 4 June 2014. All the current Early Day Motions have now fallen (MPs will no longer be able to sign them) and questions will not be tabled until the House is sitting again.
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2014
1. Baroness Tonge: What action do HMG intend to take, other than increasing the aid budget, to reduce food insecurity and unemployment in the Gaza Strip?
Read more>
2. Baroness Tonge: What action do HMG intend to take to secure compensation for the EU-funded humanitarian housing shelters close to Ma’ale Adumim demolished by Israel on 9 April?
TUESDAY 13 MAY 2014
1. Andy Slaughter: Asks Foreign Secretary for further details relating to the six requests for special mission status [further to this question>], including country of origin and whether any of the six were refused “(a) by reference to duties to prosecute or extradite persons alleged to have committed or to have ordered to be committed grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention or other international crimes and (b) on other human rights grounds”.
Read more>
2. Ian Austin: What recent discussions has DfID Secretary had with the PA on its use of UK funding?
Read more>
Nos 1-2 Commons Written Answers
3. Hugh Bayley asks the Attorney-General what is the CPS doing to equip developing countries with investigative mechanisms to ensure that more of the transnational financial crimes committed by British companies or British citizens in a foreign country are tried in the countries in which the offences are committed. Dominic Grieve replies, i.a., that CPS has limited capacity, but HMG uses the assistance of NGOs such as the Slynn Foundation and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in a number of overseas projects, including to provide capacity building. “Simply to give an example, I have seen projects in the West Bank being brought forward with the help of those organisations, so not just the Crown Prosecution Service can help in this area.”
Read more>
Commons Oral Answers
4. Hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee on FCO’s human rights work in 2013: Witnesses David Mepham, UK Director, Human Rights Watch, and Tim Hancock, Campaigns Director, Amnesty International UK. Mark Hendrick seeks their views on UK’s opposition to UNHRC Resolution A/HRC/25/L.32 on the use of drones, and whether this will have done any reputational damage to the UK. Tim Hancock replies, i.a.: “It’s a weapon that is used for targeted killings and it’s being used in a way that has caused indiscriminate deaths. And I think the valid questions need to be asked about the way in which drones are being used by not just the UK and the US but Israel as well.” David Mepham adds: “We talk about drones, but it’s extra-judicial execution.” He says it’s worrying that the UK doesn’t raise objections with the US about it and concludes: “We should be very worried about these kinds of precedents that are being set that others will use in different contexts around the world.”
Watch> @ 14:50:11
Commons Select Committees
5. Baroness Tonge: What assessment have HMG made of US Secretary of State’s prediction that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state?
6. Baroness Tonge: What representations have HMG made to Israel concerning reports of Christian pilgrims being fired on with tear gas by the Israeli military at the Tomb of Lazarus in East Jerusalem?
7. Lord Judd: How many of the 38 recommendations made by UNICEF in its March 2013 report on children in Israeli military detention have been implemented by Israel; and what discussions have HMG had with Israel on the number that are yet to be implemented?
Read more>
Nos 5-7
8. Lord Luce: What is HMG policy regarding the breakdown of Israeli–Palestinian talks? [Baroness Warsi refers to 6 May 2014 Commons Written Answer>]
9. Baroness Tonge: What action do HMG intend to take to support access to Israeli courts for Palestinian civilian victims of military or settler violence? Read more>
Nos 8-9
10. Baroness Tonge: What steps do HMG intend to take to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank? Read more>
MONDAY 12 MAY 2014
1. Robert Halfon asks what is Defence Secretary’s estimate of Iran’s support for terrorism in light of Israel’s intercepting “the Gaza-bound Klos-C ship with a deadly cargo of advanced long-range rockets” Commons Oral Answers
2. Lord Pannick, in Immigration Bill (Motion B1) debate says, on the question of whether or not the “reasonable link” test could be applied, “For example, surely the Secretary of State could not rely on the entitlement of a Jewish man or woman to citizenship of the state of Israel under the law of return if the individual has no other link with the state of Israel.” Lords Debates