The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-09-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they will be putting forward to assist in the adoption of a new global framework on refugees at the forthcoming UN High Level Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK fully supported the UN General Assembly’s High Level Meeting on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on 19 September, and the New York Declaration on refugees and migrants which was adopted at the meeting.
We will work with others following the High Level Meeting to achieve specific outcomes that will be better for migrants, for refugees, and for all countries in the migration chain – source, transit and destination.
In New York, the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) argued that alongside stepping up our efforts on humanitarian assistance and development, the international community needs to build a more effective policy approach: addressing the root causes of forced displacement, providing proper protection for refugees, and reducing today’s unmanaged population movement.
At the High Level Meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the principle of providing asylum in the first safe country, thereby discouraging dangerous secondary movements; ensuring clarity in the different protections afforded to refugees and economic migrants; and maintaining the rights of all states to control their own borders.
