• UK takes fresh action against the Myanmar Armed Forces on 5th anniversary of the military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.
• New sanctions against military-linked companies to target the military’s access to arms and revenue.
• UK confirms its intention to intervene in The Gambia v. Myanmar International Court of Justice Case to support international justice efforts.

The UK has announced a further round of sanctions to target military-linked businesses in Myanmar. Those being sanctioned include Star Sapphire Group of Companies, International Gateways Group of Companies Limited (IGG) and Sky One Construction Company Ltd. They are being sanctioned in an effort to limit the military’s access to arms and revenue.

Minister for Asia Amanda Milling has also confirmed the UK’s intention to intervene in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar before the International Court of Justice. The case will determine whether Myanmar has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to the military’s acts against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017.

The Myanmar Armed Forces launched a devastating attack on the Rohingya communities living in Rakhine State, Myanmar on 25 August 2017. A UN Fact Finding Mission report stated that over 10,000 Rohingya were killed and 740,000 displaced into neighbouring Bangladesh.

The report also claimed Myanmar Armed Forces engaged in a campaign of sexual violence, grave violations against children, torture and village burnings. These are the hallmarks of a military acting with impunity, and the UK notes its grave concern that they are employing these tactics in their current operations against pro-democracy groups in Myanmar.

The UK has been clear that what happened to the Rohingya was ethnic cleansing and remains committed to taking action to stop the brutality of the Myanmar Armed Forces and hold them to account.

Minister for Asia Amanda Milling said:

The UK will always face down those who seek to undermine and destroy our values of freedom and democracy. Five years on, we continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar Armed Forces’ horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Our decision to intervene in The Gambia v. Myanmar case and a further round of sanctions sends a strong signal of our continued support to seek accountability for the atrocities in 2017 and also restrict the military junta’s access to finance and the supply of arms.

The violence in 2017 was the result of an attempt, over generations, to destroy the Rohingya identity. The 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State have been stripped of their citizenship and face systemic discrimination restricting the freedom of movement and access to healthcare. The UK now reiterates the call for the abolition of the 1982 Citizenship Law and the restoration of Rohingya citizenship.

Since 2017 the UK has provided £330m in aid to the camps, supporting food needs, shelter, sanitation, education, medical and protection services.

• The case of The Gambia v. Myanmar is being heard before the International Court of Justice, in The Hague. The case will determine whether Myanmar has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to the Military’s acts against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017.

• Proceedings to date have focused on important procedural issues. On 22 July 2022, in response to preliminary objections raised by Myanmar, the Court found it has jurisdiction to hear the case and that Gambia’s application was admissible. The case will now proceed to the merits phase, during which substantive arguments on the interpretation, application and/or fulfilment of the Genocide Convention will be made.

Mr President, I thank the Prosecutor for the thirty-fifth report on the Situation in Darfur, pursuant to Resolution 1593.

I also thank the Prosecutor for his briefing to this Council, and welcome this being delivered during the Prosecutor’s second visit to Sudan, as a sign of the Court’s unwavering commitment to help deliver justice for the people of Darfur.

In this light, the UK welcomes the progress made in the trial of Mr Abd-Al-Rahman, in which 28 witnesses have provided evidence since April. It is testament to the victims’ courage and patience for them to tell their stories after two decades, and represents a vital step towards seeking accountability for all survivors and affected communities in Darfur.

This historic moment demonstrates how enhanced cooperation can translate into meaningful action in the pursuit of justice. It is our sincere hope that this initial step begins to deliver justice for the people of Darfur, and helps to break the cycle of impunity that exists across Sudan.

However, Mr President, it is regrettable that sufficient cooperation has been lacking from the Sudanese authorities since last October’s military coup. This puts at risk the progress that the previous Government of Sudan had been able to make with the Court.

The UK therefore urges the Sudanese authorities to immediately enhance their cooperation with the Court.

Firstly, we call for the Sudanese authorities to engage in helping to facilitate the establishment of a field office in Khartoum. A permanent presence is vital for the Office of the Prosecutor to continuously deepen its engagement with affected communities and to facilitate stronger cooperation with the Sudanese authorities.

Secondly, the UK urges the Sudanese authorities to respond swiftly to the Court’s outstanding requests for assistance, noting the Court have only had a response to two of the seventeen requests they have made in the last six months. We also urge the Sudanese authorities to provide unimpeded access to the documentation and witnesses that the Court have identified.

Finally, Mr President, the UK would like to commend the ICC’s tireless efforts in delivering justice for the people of Darfur, and reiterate our support to the Court in this endeavour. In this respect we call for action to deliver on the four ICC warrants which remain outstanding in the Darfur situation, and we continue to call for the surrender of Mr Banda, who remains a fugitive from the Court.

Thank you.

Thank you, President.

On behalf of the United Kingdom, I thank the Secretary-General and Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo for their briefings. We warmly welcome President Zelenskyy’s participation in today’s meeting.

Six months ago, even as this Council met late into the night to try and avert catastrophe, Russia launched an unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter.

In the months that have followed, Ukraine has been subjected to the full horrors of war.

As we have heard today, thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded.

Over 17 million are now in need of humanitarian assistance.

Schools, hospitals and other medical facilities have been attacked. We have seen a pattern of Russian violations of international humanitarian law. And of Russian human rights abuses and violations including reports of torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary detention.

Ukrainian citizens, including children, have been forcibly deported to Russia. 6 million people are displaced within Ukraine and over 6 million are refugees abroad.

The people of Ukraine are not the only victims of this war.

Beyond Ukraine’s borders, Putin’s decisions have had a devastating impact on the world’s most vulnerable, with many millions across the world affected by rising food and fuel prices.

We again pay tribute to the work of the Secretary-General with Türkiye to negotiate the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Today, in what would be another violation of the UN Charter, there are reports that Russia is planning fake referenda to illegally annex more territory from Ukraine.

Any such attempt would fool no one.

Russia has, after all, lied throughout their illegal invasion, using disinformation to create false pretexts, undermine Ukrainian sovereignty, obscure the truth and hide war crimes.

And it would further demonstrate Russia’s contempt for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Principles which, as Member States of this organisation, we have all committed to upholding.

President, 31 years ago today, Ukraine declared its independence with over 90% of Ukrainians voting in favour.

Today, that pride in Ukrainian identity and sovereignty remains as strong as ever.

We have all seen the courage and ingenuity of the Ukrainian people as they have fought to defend their nation against Russia’s attack on their national sovereignty and right to self-determination. Ukraine’s fight is a fight for the principles of the UN Charter. All all of us in this Chamber have a responsibility to recognise that. It is a fight that has inspired the world with its courage and defiance against brutality.

So today, on Ukrainian Independence Day, we stand together with the nation of Ukraine and its heroic people who continue to resist Russia’s attempts to rewrite international borders by force.

We once again call for Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine immediately. And we call for full accountability for Russia’s crimes.

The transfer of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) from temporary hotels to long-term care will be sped up to help reduce the multi-million pound cost of accommodation to the UK taxpayer and ensure children get the care they need, the government has announced.

The changes, part of the New Plan for Immigration, will mean that UASC will spend less time in hotels and more time in long-term accommodation designed for their needs.

Currently the government spends more than £5million a day accommodating asylum seekers and Afghan refugees in hotels, including UASC.

The government is working at pace to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers and fix the broken asylum system. While there is no one single solution, the government’s New Plan for Immigration is delivering a broad range of measures to tackle illegal migration and the pressures it has put on our asylum system, including through the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, our new Borders Act, plans for asylum reception centres and a fairer asylum dispersal system.

Minister Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration said:

The government cannot deal with the impact of the rise in dangerous and illegal small boat crossings alone which is why I welcome the support from councils to help us reduce the cost of hotels and quickly move unaccompanied asylum-seeking children so they receive the care they need.

Any council which moves a child from a hotel to their care under the new scheme will receive support funding of £6,000 per child for the first three months to give them the best possible start.

Today’s announcement means once a referral is made under the National Transfer Scheme, councils will have five working days rather than 10, to transfer an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child from hotel accommodation to their care.

On top of the extra £20 million of government funding announced last year, councils will receive new funding to help them deliver the changes to the scheme.

Councils will receive an additional £2,000 per child per month for the first three months if they move a UASC from a hotel to a placement within five working days. Following this councils will continue to receive up to £143 a day to support any UASC and £270 per week for all former UASC care leavers in their area.

The Home Office has made further changes which means councils have to work to create placements based on a minimum of 0.1% UASC as a percentage of their overall child population. The change will mean children are fairly distributed between councils.

The NTS, which was made mandatory in February 2022, has seen more than 1,730 children transferred to councils with children’s services between January 2021 to March 2022.

• Routine asymptomatic testing will be paused across remaining settings, including hospitals and care homes, from 31 August as Covid cases continue to fall
• Testing for individuals with symptoms in these settings, including health and social care staff, will continue
• Immunocompromised patients in hospitals and people being admitted into care homes and hospices will also continue to be tested

Regular asymptomatic testing for Covid in all remaining settings in England will be paused from 31 August, as Covid cases continue to fall.

Free testing for the public ended on 1 April as part of the government’s Living with Covid plan, but asymptomatic testing continued to be used in some settings during periods of high case rates.

The vaccination programme means Covid cases have now fallen to 40,027 and the risk of transmission has reduced. Deaths have fallen to 744 and hospitalisations to 6,005 in the last seven days, meaning wider asymptomatic testing can soon end as planned in most instances. Symptomatic testing in high risk settings will continue.

Settings where asymptomatic testing of staff and patients or residents will be paused include:

• The NHS (including independent health care providers treating NHS patients);
• Adult social care and hospice services (apart from new admissions);
• Parts of the prison estate and some places of detention; and
• Certain domestic abuse refuges and homelessness settings.

Testing will remain in place for admissions into care homes and hospices from both hospitals and the community, and for transfers for immunocompromised patients into and within hospital to protect those who are most vulnerable.

Testing will also be available for outbreaks in certain high-risk settings such as care homes.

Year-round symptomatic testing will continue to be provided in some settings, including:

• NHS patients who require testing as part of established clinical pathways or those eligible for Covid treatments;
• NHS staff and staff in NHS-funded independent healthcare provision;
• Staff in adult social care services and hospices and residents of care homes, extra care and supported living settings and hospices;
• Staff and detainees in prisons; and
• Staff and service users of certain domestic abuse refuges and homelessness services.

Individuals will continue to be protected through vaccination and access to antivirals where eligible.

The government continues to encourage all who are eligible to take up boosters. Autumn boosters will be available to book through the National Booking Service ahead of the wider rollout, due to start on the 12 September. The NHS will contact people when it is their turn.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

Thanks to the success of our world-leading vaccination roll-out, we are able to continue living with Covid and, from 31 August, we will pause routine asymptomatic testing in most high-risk settings.

This reflects the fact case rates have fallen and the risk of transmission has reduced, though we will continue to closely monitor the situation and work with sectors to resume testing should it be needed. Those being admitted into care homes will continue to be tested.

Our upcoming autumn booster programme will offer jabs to protect those at greatest risk from severe Covid, and I urge everyone who is eligible to take up the offer.

Dr Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, said:

Covid case rates and hospitalisations are on the decline, demonstrating the positive impact of the vaccines, which remain our best form of defence. The data from our surveillance shows prevalence is low and decreasing, and we will continue to monitor this data closely.

If you are invited to receive a booster jab in the autumn, or if you have not yet had a Covid vaccine, please do take up the offer to protect yourself and those around you.

The government expects the prevalence of Covid to remain low following the most recent wave but will keep the situation under review. In line with the Living with Covid plan, the government will continue to work closely with sectors and services and will be ready to resume testing if required.

Guidance on testing in adult social care settings will be updated today (24 August) and guidance on other high-risk settings will follow shortly.

On 15 August, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published its advice on which vaccines should be used in this year’s Autumn booster programme. This includes the approval of new dual-strain (or “bivalent”) vaccines as part of the programme, targeting both the original strain of the virus and the new, more prevalent Omicron strain.

All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from Covid and the Committee has emphasised that getting a booster in good time before the winter season is more important for those eligible than the type of vaccine that is received.

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