The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)

I am grateful to both noble Lords for their comments. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, for reminding us of Sudan, which, as he said, was not part of the Statement, which was specifically about the Middle East and North Africa. He was absolutely right to say that the events in Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen are connected in many different ways, and he is right to draw that to our attention. At the risk of spending the entire time I have on Sudan, which I could quite easily do, El Fasher is a crime scene and the sheer hell of what happened there and the darkness of that is yet to be fully appreciated by the international community. But that will happen, and access will improve. I am regularly in contact with Tom Fletcher. He sent me a note just this week about what he discovered on his recent visit to Sudan, including to RSF-controlled areas, and it is bleak. But we continue to maintain our focus on Sudan, as does the Foreign Secretary. What the noble Lord said about how vital it is to have a civilian-led future is absolutely right. I agree with him and will of course be happy to meet him and those civilian leaders from Sudan whenever that is possible. I am very happy to agree to do that. I turn now to the substance of the Statement made by my honourable friend Mr Falconer in the other place. On Iran, it is right, as the noble Earl said, that those who wish to protest, make their points and air their views about the regime under which they live, should be free to do so. They should be free to gather, protest, speak and make their case as they see fit, and it is wrong that they are being treated in the way they are. We are sometimes cautious about what we say about this because it is part of the regime’s position that these are events being facilitated and encouraged by foreign powers. That is absolutely not the case. We know that, but we do not want to say things that could enable the regime to make that incorrect assertion and cause harm to those protesters who are doing what they have an absolute right to do. It is wrong that the Foremans are being held and have been charged with espionage. My honourable friend the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, has met the family, and I believe the Foreign Secretary has been in contact as well. We will continue to work for their release, as both noble Lords have encouraged us to do. As the noble Earl said, the remaining body of the hostage in Gaza needs to be returned to the family so that they can mourn and grieve, as they should be able to do, with dignity. It is outrageous that this has been going on for 820 days now. It is wrong and should be brought to an end as soon as possible. On the issue of the embassy, I do not have anything further to add to what Minister Falconer said in the Statement. But it is a logical next step following our decision to recognise the State of Palestine. The noble Earl asked about the infiltration of aid agencies. We are of course concerned about that, but our biggest concern when it comes to aid is that—this is in response to the question by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis—although we have been able to work to increase the amount of aid reaching Gaza, they are still around 100 or so trucks short of what is estimated to be needed. The restrictions on access still persist to too great an extent. Not all the crossings are open. Some commercial goods are allowed in, such as cigarettes and luxury goods, whereas some shelter kits and medical supplies are not being permitted. This needs to stop. We need to get the appropriate goods in to where they are desperately needed, and that needs to happen urgently. Both noble Lords asked for an update on Yemen. We are pleased to see that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are talking about de-escalation and that that is what they both wish to see. The Saudis have offered to host a conference. This is welcome and we will encourage it, because de-escalation and an end to the violence there are urgently needed. The situation is really quite desperate. Access for aid workers is difficult in some parts of Yemen, and the only way forward is for the fighting to stop. It is good that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are saying the same things at the moment. On Syria, clearly, as we have discussed many times, Syria is in a very precarious situation. This is an early stage of a new regime. It is not straightforward by any means. We are co-ordinating with other donors and providing technical assistance. We were one of the first countries to lift sanctions. The reason we did that was in recognition that if this opportunity that Syria now has is to come to anything at all, it needs the ability to strengthen its economy and build the security it needs. The noble Lord asked about the return of refugees. Of the Syrian refugees I have spoken to—those here in the UK, some who have returned, and others who have been in Jordan—not everybody wants to return. Some feel that their children saw things they never want them to be retraumatised by. But many do want to return, and are desperate to, but not until they are sure that they and their families can be safe, their children can be educated and they can have access to healthcare. That is a completely understandable position to take. It matters to the UK because we want to enable the return of refugees who have been welcomed here. Refugees want that, and it is vital for the future of Syria that people who want to go home, and are able to, can do so and can contribute and take part in the rebuilding of their country. They tell us that that is what they want too. I was asked to comment on the remarks of my honourable friend regarding the return of refugees in Syria who are in camps. There are a small number of UK nationals in those camps. The noble Lord will appreciate that there are serious security considerations around their status. Those are considerations that I am not privy to. He asked me to write to him and I am very happy to do that and to provide any further detail, particularly around the kind of access to assistance that might be possible. I agree with him that is incredibly difficult to imagine how that is at all straightforward in the circumstances, but I am happy to write to him with more detail on that.