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To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 15 March (WA 113), whether they intend to make representations about religious freedoms to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

29 March 2010

Reference

2982; 718 c359WA

House

House of Lords

Cuba: Prisons

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the circumstances surrounding the death on 23 February of Mr Orlando Zapata, a political prisoner in Cuba; and whether they have raised, or intend to raise, his death with the Government of Cuba.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

22 March 2010

Reference

2419; 718 c239WA

House

House of Lords

Cuba: Prisons

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last made representations to the Government of Cuba about conditions in Cuban prisons (a) directly, and (b) via European Union representatives.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Answered on

22 March 2010

Human rights remain central to UK and EU policy on Cuba and are a key element of the EU-Cuba political dialogue. We are particularly concerned about the high levels of political prisoners (including those in poor health) and prison conditions in Cuba. We routinely raise this issue together with a range of human rights concerns in bilateral and EU discussions with Cuba. I myself recently raised human rights in general, and specifically called for the release of all political prisoners in a letter to the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. Our embassy in Havana also recently raised these issues formally with the Cuban Government on 12 December 2009, and regularly raises them in the margins of other meetings. Further, at Cuba's Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in February 2009 we raised specific concerns about political prisoners and the lack of independent access to Cuban prisons. We recommended that Cuba establish a recurrent system of review of its prisons by UN or other relevant international observers. At every session of the EU-Cuba political dialogue (in October 2008, May 2009 and November 2009) the EU has called for the release of all political prisoners, and encouraged Cuba to allow international humanitarian organisations to visit Cuban prisons. The EU has also handed over a list of prisoners in poor health who remain a particular concern. Most recently on 25 February 2010 (following the death of a Cuban hunger striker) a spokesperson for the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs issued a statement which highlighted the Cuban Government's responsibility to protect all prisoners under their jurisdiction. We will continue to raise these issues with the Cuban Government, both bilaterally and through the EU, and encourage them to arrange dates for a proposed visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, who has said he want so visit all categories of detention facilities and types of detainee in Cuba.

Date

22 March 2010

Reference

2525; 718 c239-40WA

House

House of Lords

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have directly or via the European Union made representations about religious freedoms to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

15 March 2010

Reference

2618; 718 c113WA

House

House of Lords

Religion: Anti-conversion

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made, or intend to make, a comparative assessment of the effects of religious anti-conversion laws in Indian states and the proposed anti-conversion legislation in Sri Lanka, and in particular their effects on freedoms protected by international human rights agreements to which the...

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

11 March 2010

Reference

2617; 718 c106WA

House

House of Lords

Sri Lanka

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 22 February (WA 256), whether they have raised the issue of anti-conversion legislation with the Government of Sri Lanka.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

10 March 2010

Reference

2486; 718 c84WA

House

House of Lords

Cuba: Prisons

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received any information that suggests that (a) torture, or (b) inhuman and degrading treatment, is practised in Cuban prisons.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

9 March 2010

Reference

2485; 718 c40-1WA

House

House of Lords

Pakistan

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made, or intend to make, representations to the Government of Pakistan about the use of child labour under 14 years of age.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

1 March 2010

Reference

2149; 717 c329WA

House

House of Lords

Pakistan

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make representations to the Government of Pakistan about the family of the housemaid Shazia Masih being able to obtain access to legal representation.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

1 March 2010

Reference

2150; 717 c329WA

House

House of Lords

Sri Lanka

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made or intend to make representations to the government of Sri Lanka concerning their proposed religious anti-conversion legislation.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

22 February 2010

Reference

1864; 717 c255-6WA

House

House of Lords

Sri Lanka

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Sri Lanka about social, ethnic and religious harmony.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

22 February 2010

Reference

1862; 717 c255WA

House

House of Lords

Indonesia

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made or intend to make representations to the Government of Indonesia over freedom of speech in that country, and in particular the Law Number 4 of 1963 that permits censorship of books, films, pamphlets and posters.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

9 February 2010

Reference

1676; 717 c116WA

House

House of Lords

India: Religion

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Brett on 13 January (WA 160), what assessment they have made of the statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief in the report ofher mission to India, published on 26 January 2009,...

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

9 February 2010

Reference

1557; 717 c115-6WA

House

House of Lords

Indonesia

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made or intend to make representations to the Government of Indonesia concerning freedom of Christian worship.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

2 February 2010

Reference

1677; 717 c27-8WA

House

House of Lords

Kazakhstan

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consider any part or all of Kazakhstan to be in Europe.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

26 January 2010

Reference

1261; 716 c317WA

House

House of Lords

Europe

To ask Her Majesty's Government which countries are included in their use of the word "Europe".

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

26 January 2010

Reference

1260; 716 c313WA

House

House of Lords

Religion: Defamation

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their stance on the resolution promoted by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference before the United Nations General Assembly on the defamation of religion.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Answered on

11 January 2010

The Government share the concern of the Organisation of Islamic Conference that individuals around the world are victimised because of their religion or belief. We all need to do more to eliminate religious intolerance and to ensure that those who incite hatred or violence against individuals because of their religious beliefs are dealt with by the law. But the Government cannot agree with an approach that promotes the concept of "defamation of religions" as a response. This approach severely risks diminishing the right to freedom of expression. We believe that international human rights law already strikes the right balance between the individual's right to express themselves freely and the need for the state to limit this right in certain circumstances. International human rights law provides that only where advocacy of religious hatred constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence should it be prohibited by law. We believe that the concept of "defamation of religions" puts in danger the very openness and tolerance that allows people of different faiths to co-exist and to practise their faith without fear. It risks changing the focus of international human rights law from examining how countries promote and protect the right to freedom of expression to censoring what individuals say. If this happened, people might feel unable to speak out against human rights abuses or hold their government to account. It is also inconsistent with the international human rights legal framework which exists to protect individuals and not concepts or specific belief systems. For this reason the UK, along with our EU Partners and other like-minded countries, voted against the resolution put forward by the Organisation of Islamic Conference at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Combating Defamation of Religions.

Date

11 January 2010

Reference

716 c137-8WA; 1038

House

House of Lords

Cuba

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, or intend to make, to the Government of Cuba about the use of provisions in Cuban criminal law that permit the indefinite detention of individuals for dangerousness.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Answered on

2 December 2009

We are greatly concerned about the high numbers of political prisoners in Cuba and the conditions in which they are held. We are also troubled by the existence and use of pre-criminal social dangerousness charges to target behaviour that contradicts Cuba's socialist norms. These pre-emptive charges, often used against political dissidents and critics, allow the authorities to imprison individuals before they have committed any crime, on the suspicion that they are likely to commit an offence in the future. This has included prostitutes, unemployed people and alcoholics. It is difficult to get accurate figures on the number of political prisoners in Cuba, as the Government of Cuba tightly control information about their prisons. Furthermore, there is inconsistency in reporting cases and many go unreported. We therefore have to rely on a range of sources to get estimates. A report published in August by the unofficial Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation documented 208 cases of political prisoners. Fifty-three of the 75 political prisoners arrested during the 2003 clampdown remain detained. Amnesty International recognises 57 prisoners of conscience in Cuba. Based on a fact-finding mission to Cuba this year, Human Rights Watch documented more than 40 cases in which the Government have imprisoned individuals under the dangerousness provision. In April 2009 our embassy in Havana wrote to the Ministry of Justice in Cuba, asking how many people had been charged with social dangerousness in the past five years. We are still waiting for a response. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation believe that there may be between 3,000 and 5,000 prisoners in Cuba convicted of pre-criminal dangerousness. We continue to raise our concerns about political prisoners regularly with the Cuban authorities in London and Havana. Human rights also form an important part of the EU's political dialogue with Cuba, including monitoring a list of political prisoners in poor health. Although we have not specifically pressed for Red Cross access to Cuban prisons, during Cuba's universal periodic review at the UN Human Rights Council in February, the UK recommended that Cuba allow independent international observers including UN special rapporteurs to review the prisons. In addition to highlighting concerns about political prisoners, the UK also recommended that Cuba refrain from using such laws as those against dangerousness, enemy propaganda and contempt for authority to restrict the rights of freedom of expression and association.

Date

2 December 2009

Reference

152; 715 c42-3WA

House

House of Lords

Cuba

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of political prisoners in Cuba.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Answered on

2 December 2009

Date

2 December 2009

Reference

155; 715 c42-3WA

House

House of Lords

Cuba

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of political prisoners detained in Cuba under provisions in Cuban law that prohibit conduct in manifest contradiction to the norms of socialist morality.

Asked by

Lord Patten (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Answered on

2 December 2009

Date

2 December 2009

Reference

153; 715 c42-3WA

House

House of Lords

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