China: Human Rights: Baroness Cox Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

China: Human Rights

UIN HL9023, tabled on 12 October 2020

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 23 September (HL7966), what plans they have to support calls for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate reported human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Answered on 26 October 2020
By Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative, Life peer)

HART USA Report 2019

The new annual report from HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust) Baroness Cox's charity has been published and I wanted to share with you some of the highlights of the report in a series of posts. 

I thought it would be good to first share the report from HART USA as the largest readership of this website (www.baronesscox.com) is USA. (Andrew Haigh)

Here is the report of  HART USA -

HART USA was officially launched in February 2019 as a project of Leaders in Transformation (LIT), a registered 501(c)3 charity organisation in the US. HART USA seeks to help as a fundraising vehicle to support the work of Baroness Caroline Cox and the incredible HART partners around the world. 

Thank you for your support of Baroness Cox.com this month

 

On behalf of Baroness Cox I wanted to say Thank You for all your supportive comments and tweets on social media this (October) month. This month was a record month for visitors and a selection of them is below.

We also launched @BaronessCoxNews on Twitter which now also promotes Caroline's parliamentary press releases and my work here and as many charities that Caroline is a patron of or has a connection with. Thank you to all those who have recently followed. 

Baroness Cox Question for Department for International Trade Uighurs: China

Baroness Cox Question for Department for International Trade

Uighurs: China

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel on 23 September (HL7967), what plans they have to introduce legislation to ban the import of all goods mined, produced, or manufactured in Xinjiang, unless there is evidence that the goods were not produced using forced labour.
Asked 12 October 2020 

Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) URGENT STATMENT

URGENT STATEMENT FROM HART: 

Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh)
October 21st, 2020

HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust) remains deeply concerned by the escalation of military offensives by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the historically-Armenian land of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh). Civilian areas continue to be targeted with tanks, helicopters, drones, heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, including Smerch, and cluster bombs – in contravention of international law.

Reports of renewed offensives:

• The shelling of Shushi cathedral, a civilian and cultural heritage site, which constitutes a war crime under international law.

Does Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Fall Within the UN Remit for the Right to Self-Determination?

Does Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Fall Within the UN Remit for the Right to Self-Determination?

This is the third in the series of three written by Dr Andrew Ashdown, Manager of Good Governance and Advocacy Development at HART.

The monastery at Gandzasar pictured here was commissioned by the House of Khachen and completed in 1238. Public Domain, Link

Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) may not under international law have yet become a, ‘sovereign and independent state’. However, it is a functioning autonomous democratic State system with instruments of State and a viable economy.

Armenia/Azerbaijan Conflict and the historical Background and the Current status of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh)

Armenia/Azerbaijan Conflict and the historical Background and the Current status of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh)

This is the second in a series of three posts By Dr Andrew Ashdown, Manager of Good Governance and Advocacy Development at HART.

Artsakh pictured here by Author: Meyer, Joseph, 1796-1856 Public Domain, Link was one of the three ancient provinces of Armenia, established 189 BC and located in the eastern end of the Armenian Plateau. The Historical roots of Artsakh trace back to the 5th century BC.

Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and the Right to Self-Determination

Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and the Right to Self-Determination

October 17th, 2020: (1) This is the first post in a series of three written by Dr Andrew Ashdown, who has joined HART as the Manager of Good Governance and Advocacy Development (HART). 

October 17th, 2020

“By virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, all peoples have the right freely to determine, without external interference, their political status and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development, and every State has the duty to respect this right in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.”

BREAKING: Azeri Attacks Threaten Nagorno Karabakh’s Only Disability Rehab Centre

Within a three-day period, all staff and patients of the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre were forced to evacuate.

In the midst of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) lies a profound symbol of hope – The Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre – an internationally recognised ‘Centre of Excellence.’ Founded in 1998, following the end of the Nagorno Karabakh war, the Centre has 73 staff and annually treats approximately 160 inpatients and 384 outpatients. Staff make approximately 155 home visits per year to patients in the region. In 2018, the Centre provided 12,889 physical therapy sessions, 4,284 psychologist sessions, 3,166 speech therapy sessions and 2,302 hydrotherapy sessions. Its inspirational staff, led by the Centre’s Founder and Director Vardan Tadevosyan, have helped to break the stigma of disability which was widespread throughout the former Soviet Union.

Please read more about this here....

Nagorno-Karabakh House of Lords Questions 7th October

Baroness Cox speaks in the House of Lords on Nagorno-Karabakh 

Baroness Cox (CB) [V]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that legal experts, such as Geoffrey Robertson QC, argue that Azerbaijan’s repeated claims to sovereignty over Karabakh can be refuted? It has always been predominantly occupied by ethnic Armenians. A referendum was held in 1992 with an overwhelming vote for independence, and Azerbaijan’s previous attempt at ethnic cleansing justifies Nagorno-Karabakh’s claim for self-determination under the UN charter. Azerbaijan’s continuing attempt now at ethnic cleansing involves violations of international law, including targeting civilians with tanks, helicopters, heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, including Smerch, and cluster bombs. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to more actively promote an urgent ceasefire?

Baroness Cox latest: Azerbaijani-Turkish large scale aggression against Nagorno Karabakh URGENT CALL TO CEASE HOSTILITIES.

Baroness Cox has today released a latest urgent call to cease hostilities ..

Azerbaijani-Turkish large scale aggression against Nagorno Karabakh raising genocidal fears and risking regional escalation. URGENT CALL TO CEASE HOSTILITIES.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of the large scale aggression against Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan and the extreme danger presented to the whole region by this escalation. Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh has been an autonomous region since 1991, is 94% Armenian Christian, and has been seeking self-determination for decades. There has been a history of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh against the Armenian population, and widespread teaching of Armenophobia and hate-speech in Azerbaijani educational and political discourse.

Baroness Cox Personal Update and commentary on the Azeri-Armenian war

A personal message from Baroness Cox on the escalation of the conflict by Azerbaijan against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).

To whom it may concern,

It is with profound concern that we are following the deeply disturbing escalation of the conflict by Azerbaijan against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).

It is impossible to overstate the significance of these events and the extreme danger presented to the whole region if they escalate further. We are in hourly contact with friends and partners on the ground in Armenia and in Nagorno Karabakh, as well as with the Armenian Embassy in London. In Stepanakert, residents have been sheltering in bomb shelters from shells that have targeted civilian areas. There is a palpable, and given past and recent history, a justifiable fear of a potential genocide if Azerbaijan were to succeed in reclaiming the Nagorno Karabakh territory. 

Baroness spoke in the House of Lords about the Trade Bill on 29th September

Baroness spoke in the House of Lords about the Trade Bill on 29th September

My Lords, I will speak very briefly, just to put on record the issues I would have highlighted in my speech if I had not ineptly failed to identify the amendments to which I intended to speak, for which I apologise. I will have much more to say when we reach Amendment 68, on genocide, at later sittings.