Tag Archives: HM Government

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and other Foreign Ministers have met with senior Burmese representatives to urge an end to the violence against the Rohingya people and allow humanitarian access.

In the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the Foreign Secretary brought together Burma’s National Security Advisor and Deputy Foreign Minister with ministers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Denmark and United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

Along with securing full and unhindered humanitarian access for international aid agencies, including the UN, and calling for an end to violence, those present at the meeting also urged Burma to implement the Annan Commission recommendations.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

“While Burma has undoubtedly made encouraging progress towards democracy in the last few years, the situation in Rakhine, the terrible human rights abuses and violence are a stain on the country’s reputation. For this reason Burma should not be surprised to find itself under international scrutiny and on the Security Council’s agenda.

“As I have repeatedly said no one wants to see a return to military rule, so it is vital that Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government make clear these abuses must stop. I was encouraged by our discussion and by the participation of the senior Burmese representatives, but we now need to see action to stop the violence and open up immediate humanitarian access.”

As well as hosting the meeting on Burma, the Foreign Secretary, along with International Development Secretary Priti Patel and Minister for the Caribbean and Overseas Territories Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, also convened a high level discussion on the effects of Hurricane Irma.

The meeting set how out the UK, Netherlands and France are working in close partnership to help those affected by this devastating hurricane. While the focus remains responding to the immediate aftermath, it was also agreed that recovery and reconstruction must include plans to help prevent and mitigate future crises.

Commenting on the meeting on Hurricane Irma the Foreign Secretary said:

“It’s vital that we get better at building automatic recovery systems in the Caribbean, ensuring that we work together with our French, Dutch and US partners, so that when something like this strikes we can all respond even faster.

“The UK is committed to helping those affected recover as quickly as possible and can assure people that once the cameras have left and the world moves on to the next crisis, well will still be there.” The Foreign Secretary is in New York for UNGA where he also represented the UK at President Trump’s event on UN reform.

Notes to editors Last week, the UK confirmed an extra £25 million to help people affected by the violence.

Other attendees at the Hurricane Irma event included: * Minister Bert Koenders, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands * Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of France * Commissioner Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management * Sir Rodney Errey Lawrence Williams, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda * Prime Minister Allen M. Chastanet, Saint Lucia * Mark Lowcock, USG for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Response Coordinator As well as representatives from the affected British Overseas Territories.

Latest information on the UK Government response to Hurricane Irma available here.

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We remain concerned that Hurricane Maria, which is strengthening as it approaches the Leeward Islands, could hit the UK’s Overseas Territories in the Caribbean already affected as well as Montserrat.

FCO, DFID and military teams are working closely with the Governors in the Overseas Territories to ensure we are doing all we can to support the Governments of the islands affected.

Ministers discussed the preparations that have been put in place:

• Over 1300 military troops are staying put in the region – either on the islands already affected or in locations from where they will be able to readily deploy once Maria has passed.
• An additional 42 strong military resilience team has been deployed forward to British Virgin Islands prior to Hurricane Maria ready to support additional needs there.
• A military reconnaissance team has been put on standby to go to Montserrat to assess need if it is hit by Hurricane Maria.
• DFID has established logistics hubs in the Dominican Republic, Barbados and Antigua & Barbuda to ensure swift supply of relief items if required and is procuring additional supplies from Miami and Panama.
• HMs Ocean, which is due to arrive in the region at the end of the week, with 60 tonnes of DFID supplies on board will be deployed according to need once Hurricane Maria has passed.
• On the basis of the latest weather forecast, we are advising against all but essential travel to Montserrat and Anguilla and against all travel to the British Virgin Islands.
• All those in the region are urged to follow the advice of the local authorities.

To date, the UK government has allocated £57 million to the immediate response effort and agreed to match up to £3 million of public donations to the Red Cross appeal.

75 tonnes of DFID relief items have either arrived or been procured in the region including much needed food, water, nearly 3,000 shelter kits, 5,000 hygiene kits and 10,000 buckets.

40 tonnes of humanitarian aid has been distributed including over 4 tonnes of food and water on the British Virgin Islands; 720 litres of water to the Turks and Caicos Islands; and over 2 tonnes of building materials to Anguilla.

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Merci, Justin, de m’avoir accueillie à Ottawa aujourd’hui.

Thank you, Justin, for welcoming me here to Ottawa today.

Canada and the United Kingdom of course have a long shared history.

And this nation, conceived and created 150 years ago, has flourished. Over that time British and Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen and women have fought and died alongside each other in the pursuit of freedom.

We have developed the institutions of Westminster-style democracy, personal rights, and the common law.

And we celebrate together our shared monarchy, and close ties of family and friendship.

My visit to Canada today is not only about recognising our past but also looking ahead to our bright future.

We are both countries with ambitions to lead on the world stage and progressive values that underpin those ambitions.

Domestic policy coordination

We are both committed to ensuring our economies work for everyone, not just the privileged few.

And that includes eliminating the gender pay gap once and for all. We have spoken today about the importance of closing that gap and championing the rights of women and girls around the world.

That means ending the tyranny of domestic violence, sexual violence in armed conflict and educational and economic exclusion.

Our cooperation on this agenda is emblematic of the UK and Canada joining forces to share approaches at home and champion our shared values out in the world.

We will also be discussing the ways in which our governments will work together to foster innovation, including measures that will allow business to harness the opportunities of clean growth.

And we have confirmed our joint commitment to supporting the global transition away from a reliance on coal as an energy source. Once again, the UK and Canada will lead the way, and I am pleased to announce that the UK will aim to phase out unabated coal by 2025.

Trade and investment

The UK and Canada have a strong and growing economic relationship, and we are natural partners in promoting the benefits of free trade.

The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the bulk of which, as the Prime Minister said, comes into effect this week, has significant potential to boost transatlantic prosperity and the UK economy, eliminating 98% of Canadian import duties and massively increasing the opportunities for British exporters.

And I am pleased that we have agreed today that CETA should be swiftly transitioned to form a new bilateral arrangement between the UK and Canada after Brexit.

As staunch champions of the power of free trade to grow our economies, Canada and the UK will also work together at the World Trade Organisation to promote and spread the benefits of free trade.

The rules-based international system established after the Second World War is under threat as never before.

We must make sure it can adapt and change to cope with new and emerging powers and the economic realities of globalisation in order to deliver growth and opportunities for all.

Defence and security cooperation

As we work to support the global economic rules-based order, so too do we stand firmly together in upholding the international norms that govern our security.

And I’m pleased to announce that we will deepen our defence and security cooperation in eastern Europe as we stand up to Russian aggression there.

We have agreed concrete steps to improve our defence cooperation and our interoperability through new joint training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the beginning of next year.

This will be the first joint training the UK has done with any other country inside Ukraine, and will involve joint reconnaissance training, joint counter-sniper training, and joint military police training.

And we will conduct a joint UK-Canada military exercise in Latvia next month, under the umbrella of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in eastern Europe.

To ensure NATO can respond to an ever-changing world, the UK and Canada will also be at the forefront of championing NATO reform and supporting its steps to modernise, including on cyber security.

And today we have discussed how we will continue to work closely together on counter terrorism and counter extremism, sharing intelligence and expertise to build community cohesion.

I want to thank the Canadian people for their support and solidarity in the wake of the terrible Manchester and London attacks, including of course the attack just last week.

You stood with us as we stood with you in the wake of the tragic Quebec attack. We will never be divided. The terrorists will not win; our values will prevail.

Conclusion

When we come together and work as one to project our shared values on the world stage, we form a powerful union.

From our cooperation as G7 members, in the Commonwealth, and in dealing with the awful aftermath of Hurricane Irma, providing life-saving aid to those in need, to the inspirational Invictus Games showcasing the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect of all those who serve their country – the UK and Canada stand side-by-side.

And I am very much looking forward to our visit later today to meet British and Canadian Invictus athletes.

The values and principles which make our countries special are needed more than ever in the world today.

So Britain and Canada can confidently face the future together.

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I’m back in the Crisis Centre because once again we’ve had another meeting of COBR, which is our emergency committee, because we’re looking at an unprecedented sequence of events where having had so many hurricanes there’s now a serious danger that we’re going to get yet another.

So we are tracking Hurricane Maria and as you can see behind me we’ve got all the details to see where it’s going, and we have to prepare for the worst but hope for the best. But one of the consequences of having these earlier hurricanes is we’ve got a lot of people and equipment in place.

So what we are very vigorously doing now is trying to anticipate where the damage might lie, and pre-positioning supplies and all of the equipment that can lead to the maximum resilience for these poor people who’ve been hit once and might be hit again.

So we are focusing of course on our Overseas Territories, which on this occasion might include Montserrat, which was lightly affected last time, but we are working around the clock to do our very best. And I’d urge everybody to follow the travel advice which we are regularly updating.

Be assured that we are doing our utmost to anticipate where help is needed and to make sure that if this hurricane hits people, and hits them again, we will be there to deliver the need that people will want.

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The Birmingham-based crime gang’s activities began to unravel on 12 March 2015, when a car was stopped by Border Force officers at the UK Control Zone in Coquelles, France. The driver was Lee Anderson, 46, and his passenger was Jason Cowley, 44. When the car was searched by Border Force officers, they found 2 adults and a child, all Albanian nationals, hidden in the boot. Anderson and Cowley were both arrested at the scene.

Later, on 2 August 2015, a car driven by Gillian Barker, 47, was stopped at the same controls. Officers found 2 Albanian men hidden in the boot and Barker was arrested. On both occasions, the Albanians found in the cars were handed to the French authorities.

The cases were passed to Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) team who, following investigations, linked both smuggling attempts to 3 further individuals. On 13 October 2015, officers searched the homes of Illir Hani, 44, Eduart Karaj, 39, and Vullnet Karaj, 41.

Travel and telephone records linked the three gang members to the 2 smuggling detections. Investigations also showed that Eduart Karaj and Vullnet Karaj were following Anderson and Cowley in a separate car at the first detection to make sure it got through safely. The car used by Barker had also previously been driven by Karaj and Karaj on 12 March 2015 when in convoy with Anderson and Cowley and was previously owned by Vullnet Karaj.

Hani, Karaj and Karaj, all Albanian nationals, were all arrested on suspicion of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration.

Eduart Karaj, Jason Cowley, Lee Anderson and Gillian Barker all entered guilty pleas at the beginning of their trial last month. Ilir Hani and Vullnet Karaj pleaded not guilty but were convicted.

They were all charged with conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of the UK immigration law by a non EU person and sentenced as follows:

Ilir Hani – 5 and a half years Vullnet Karaj – 5 years Eduart Karaj – 4 years Jason Cowley – 30 months Lee Anderson – 30 months Gillian Barker – 20 months

Assistant Director, David Fairclough, from CFI, said:

This was an organised crime group, motivated by money, that has been dismantled thanks to the dedication and expertise of Immigration Enforcement and Border Force officers.

The border detections were only the start of our investigations. As time passed Eduart Karaj, Vullnet Karaj and Hani may have believed that their offences had gone undetected, but my officers were digging deeper, gathering the evidence that would ultimately ensure that they too were held to account for their offences.

This case sends a clear message. We are patient people and never stop looking for those involved in immigration crime.

Paul Morgan, Director Border Force South East and Europe, said:

The Border Force detections were the crucial first step in bringing these offenders to justice. Border Force officers are on the frontline keeping our borders safe and secure. We will continue to work with law enforcement colleagues to ensure that people smugglers and traffickers face the consequences of their crimes.

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

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