Your Excellency Prime Minister Hasina; distinguished guests.

Thank you for the opportunity to join you today to remember the tragic events of 5 years ago. And for the chance to press for a durable solution, and to mobilise adequate resources to support the Rohingya until they can return to Myanmar.

Prime Minister Hasina, your government and the people of Bangladesh have our upmost respect. You have generously hosted one million Rohingya refugees for 5 years. And I pay tribute to your leadership and humanitarian values.

Friends and colleagues. Nobody should be forced to flee their home or their country of birth. It is a tragedy that so many have been unable to return to their communities, that so many lives have been stalled, and that there has been no accountability for the atrocities endured.

Confronted by so much pain and hardship, the courage, resilience, and spirit that the Rohingya continue to display is all the more admirable.

I wanted to reiterate our deep concerns by the increasing violence in Myanmar. In Rakhine state, Rohingya communities are caught in the cross fire of recent fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and Arakan Army.

I am saddened to hear about the horrendous attack on a school in Sagaing. We condemn the killings. There can be no justification for the killing of children and innocent civilians.

Since 2017, the UK has provided £340 million of support to the Rohingya and neighbouring communities in Bangladesh. And £25 million for the Rohingya and other Muslim communities in Rakhine State. This has provided lifesaving food, water, shelter, healthcare and protection.

We continue to be a major contributor to the core funding of humanitarian agencies, providing £108 million this year, which underpins their ability to respond to the crisis. Our total portfolio of support makes us one of the largest global humanitarian donors.

International Financial Institutions have an important role to play in sustaining the Rohingya response, and we welcome their continuing dialogue with your government.

We will continue to support the Rohingya and, importantly, the local communities around the camps.

Preparing the Rohingya to return to Myanmar, when it is safe and sustainable to do so, is vital.

So we are pleased that the Government of Bangladesh has endorsed the rollout of the Myanmar Curriculum and a new Skills Framework. This will have a positive impact, and should be followed by expanded livelihood opportunities in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char, to better equip refugees for their sustainable return to Myanmar.

Prime Minister, we agree with you that the international community must play its part to create the conditions for safe, voluntary and dignified returns.

We will continue to work alongside the international community to improve conditions for the Rohingya in Myanmar, and mitigate the risk of further atrocities. This includes using targeted sanctions and building a global coalition of countries committed to tackling the flow arms to Myanmar.

This year we marked 5 years since the military led ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. We used the importance of this tragic anniversary to hold to account those responsible for atrocities in Rakhine state.

We have not forgotten what they did, and last month the UK announced a further round of sanctions to target businesses with close links to the Myanmar military, who funded the clearance operations in 2017.

Accountability for these atrocities is vital to end the cycle of violence, which is why we intend to intervene in the International Court of Justice case brought by The Gambia, of which we are a longstanding supporter.

To achieve true justice for the Rohingya, their citizenship in Myanmar must be restored. The systematic human rights violations they have suffered for decades must end. And Rohingya people must be meaningfully included in future visions of Myanmar society.

We will use all available opportunities, including at the G7 and with our ASEAN partners, to push for a long-term solution to the crisis and its root causes. We will also use our role as penholder to keep the situation in Myanmar on the UN Security Council’s agenda, and explore all available Council tools.

We will continue to do all we can to ensure the Rohingya can voluntarily, safely and sustainably return home, when conditions allow. And help the people of Myanmar enjoy the peace, justice and prosperity they deserve.

Thank you.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is hosting its third Operating in the Future Electromagnetic Environment (OFEME) symposium on 21 and 22 November 2022, inviting representatives from industry, academia and across government.

In today’s connected world, the electromagnetic environment is crucial for many sectors, such as mobility (moving people, goods and services), a connected society and healthcare. In defence, spectrum dependent systems are ubiquitous across land, sea, air and space, being used for communications, sensing, weapons systems and more.

However, the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum commonly used – primarily radio frequencies and microwaves – is facing increasing congestion, which limits our ability to efficiently and reliably exploit energy or information in a timely manner. Our reliance on parts of the spectrum that are in high demand and used by multiple occupants has been reported as a looming ‘spectrum crisis’.

Some solutions are starting to emerge, such as how we can use less-congested parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and these solutions may also offer additional advantages. The question remains: have we sufficiently explored options for improving electromagnetic spectrum access and operations within congested bands?

The challenge of congestion, deliberate or otherwise, is, a shared feature across all sectors. In the defence context, the electromagnetic environment can also be contested, such as through electronic warfare, where reliable spectrum access can be deliberately denied or degraded.

To help solve these challenges, academics, suppliers including small and medium-sized enterprises, and colleagues from MOD and other government departments are invited to join the OFEME symposium, to work alongside Dstl’s scientists and shape future thinking.

The event will cover:

• shared challenges for operating within the future electromagnetic environment, both inside and outside of defence
• how research and development investment can be harnessed in future approaches

Dstl is planning to hold the symposium as an in-person event at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in London. It will feature a range of keynote speakers, technical presentations, poster sessions and interactive workshops.

In addition to contextual presentations, advances and implications of the following topics will be included at this year’s event:

• control engineering and theory
• micro-engineering
• autonomy
• microwave and terahertz photonics
• information theory

• DASA has launched a new Themed Competition: CHERI within Defence and Security
• Funded by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Cyber Programme
• £1.5 million funding available to experiment and trial the effects of the CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) based architecture extensions within the Arm’s Morello prototype System on Chip (SoC)

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch a new Themed Competition, CHERI within Defence and Security. Run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Cyber Programme, this competition seeks proposals to experiment and trial the effects of the CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) based architecture extensions within Arm’s Morello prototype System on Chip (SoC) for defence and security.

Key dates and funding

£1.5 million funding is available for this Themed Competition, and we expect to fund several proposals up to £100k.

The deadline to submit a proposal is midday 14 November 2022

Do you have a useful idea for testing CHERI within Defence and Security? Read the full competition document and submit a proposal.

What is Arm Morello and CHERI?

Cyber security needs to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technologies, and currently, a lot of time, effort and money is spent on patching systems so they are more secure. However, in a world with uncertain technological and military challenges, systems that are built from the ground up to be more resilient to attacks is vital for a safer future.

The Arm Morello Program, funded by Digital Security by Design (DSbD), is a collaboration between academia, industry and government to research and create more secure hardware and software to improve built-in security. CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) is the key underpinning technology that addresses memory safety issues and enables fine grain protection of applications.

Using this technology, Arm has designed a prototype SoC and development board, called the Morello board, the world’s first industrial quality implementation of CHERI. The Morello board is being distributed to industry and academia to test the prototype architecture to investigate and experiment on its capabilities.

Evaluating CHERI within Defence and Security

The CHERI within Defence and Security Themed Competition is aimed at providing the Morello board to the Defence and Security sector for research, evaluation and experimentation. Successful proposals will be provided with the Morello board to trial and evaluate the effect of the new technologies within their defence systems.

Challenge areas

The competition has three challenge areas. Proposals may address more than one challenge.

Code Porting

This challenge area seeks to port an existing codebase or tool (e.g. compiler) into the Morello environment and strengthen its security by using the Morello enhanced security features.

Software Compartmentalisation

This challenge area seeks to refactor an existing application to employ fine grain software compartmentalisation.

Innovation

This challenge area seeks to conduct research in an area in line with competition scope, such as a security enhancing innovation, now enabled by the availability of the Morello features.

To learn more about the challenge areas of the competition, read the full competition document.

Submit a proposal

Do you have an innovative project to test the CHERI based architecture in a defence setting? Submit your idea and help create a safer and more cyber resilient defence.

Learn more and submit a proposal.

Environment Agency officers up and down the country were on high alert to manage the impacts of low water levels in rivers and fisheries, particularly low flowing rivers, and respond to reports of fish in distress as quickly as possible.

Action included deploying or loaning aeration equipment as well as using hydrogen peroxide to restore dissolved oxygen levels, providing expert advice to angling clubs and anglers and, as a last resort, relocating fish through fish rescues.

Teams working in the Kent, Surrey and London region responded to over 60 fish incidents and fish rescues, preventing large scale fish loss and damage to fragile river fish populations, while ensuring these incidents did not become larger, more serious events.

Heidi Stone, Environment Agency Fisheries Partnerships Manager said:

This summer’s unprecedented dry weather saw our officers carrying out hugely important work to protect our fish populations, environment and surrounding wildlife, while also continuing to clamp down on illegal fishing through our annual enforcement campaign.

Anglers are our valuable eyes and ears and I want to thank all those reporting incidents so we are able to respond as quickly as possible and ensure angling continues to be a safe and enjoyable hobby for everyone”.

The months of July and August also saw the Environment Agency continue its annual enforcement campaign, Operation Lungfish, which clamps down on illegal fishing by ensuring all anglers have a fishing licence.

Operation Lungfish plays a vital part of the Environment Agency’s year-round efforts to keep river banks safe from crime and antisocial behaviour, and tackle the problems illegal fishing can bring including risks to vulnerable fish stocks such as salmon and eel.

Targeting poachers and those fishing without a licence remains a high priority and anglers caught and prosecuted for not having a fishing licence can face a day in court and a significant fine. The six week long campaign saw Environment Agency enforcement officers supported by Voluntary Bailiffs from the Angling Trust and local police officers to conduct patrols on rivers, lakes and ponds, with 5,300 licences checked and over 200 people reported for fishing illegally.

Nino Brancato, the Angling Trust’s National Enforcement Support Manager, said:

Protecting fish and fisheries from poachers and fish thieves and increasing rod licence compliance is of great importance to all anglers. The Voluntary Bailiff Service is an important partnership between the Angling Trust and Environment Agency, empowering anglers to support the police and the Environment Agency in fighting back against fisheries crime and protecting fish and fisheries especially during Operation Lungfish. The VBS initiative continues to be enormously successful, driving forward positive change.

Operation Lungfish activity included Fisheries Enforcement Officers in the North East targeting illegal angling taking place overnight at vulnerable locations such as weir and bridge pools. They combined patrols with other enforcement activities, including fish dealer checks to ensure no fish caught as a result of illegal activity were being offered for sale, and the seizure of illegal traps.

Warm weather incident responses and Operation Lungfish are vital to support fisheries, angling clubs and anglers and are funded purely by fishing licence income. Get a fishing licence on GOV.UK or go digital and help us invest more into fishing and improving the environment.