In 2021 the Government implemented temporary tariff suspensions on over 100 products to support the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These suspensions are currently due to expire on 31 December 2022, after which the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) rate will apply.

As with all policy, we welcome stakeholder feedback and monitor these suspensions closely. Businesses can submit feedback on specific tariff lines via the UKGT feedback form available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tariffs-on-goods-imported-into-the-uk.

In 2021 the Government implemented temporary tariff suspensions on over 100 products to support the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These suspensions are currently due to expire on 31 December 2022, after which the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) rate will apply.

As with all policy, we welcome stakeholder feedback and monitor these suspensions closely. Businesses can submit feedback on specific tariff lines via the UKGT feedback form available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tariffs-on-goods-imported-into-the-uk.

We are appalled at the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Tigray. We have raised this issue in a variety of multilateral fora, including the UNSC and G7. We welcome the joint Inquiry of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into human rights violations and abuses in Tigray, and continue to press for unfettered access to the region and victims. The UK is supporting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure that their joint investigation into atrocities in Tigray with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission is independent, transparent and impartial and holds the parties to this conflict directly responsible for these unspeakable crimes.

The UK has recently allocated a further £16.7 million towards the crisis in Tigray. Part of this funding will be used to support survivors of sexual violence, through mobile health teams and by helping to re-start service delivery at health centres that were impacted by violence and looting. The UK has also deployed an individual from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative to Tigray to complete a scoping mission to identify gaps and provide recommendations for the UK's response.

Political negotiation is the only way to resolve the situation in Tigray, and we are urging all parties to the conflict to stop fighting and begin an inclusive political process.

The UK government works through diplomacy, partnerships and programmes to drive international efforts to stop deforestation. Through diplomacy, we work to encourage forest nations to take action to strengthen protections for forests. This is complemented by long-term partnerships and programmes, funded through the UK's International Climate Finance, which provide the technical support and resources required to take action.

For example, a long-standing partnership with the Government of Indonesia has had a significant impact on illegal logging, an important factor in the depletion of rainforests. With UK support, Indonesia has taken action to curb illegal logging. As a result, Indonesian timber exports have gone from a point where an estimated 80% were from illegal sources, to one where all exports are now from audited legal sources.

The UK Government is concerned about the volatile security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) following elections in December 2020. Since then, incursions by armed groups and clashes with state forces has led to significant population displacement and civilian casualties. Human rights violations by state forces, and abuses by armed groups, have risen significantly.

The UK has repeatedly called on all parties in CAR to cease violence, including through UN Security Council statements. At the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council on 22 March, the UK's International Human Rights Ambassador, Rita French, urged all sides to cease all attacks on civilians, humanitarian actors and peacekeeping personnel immediately, to respect human rights and to engage in political dialogue in good faith. We stand ready to agree appropriate measures to enforce this, including UN sanctions in line with Article 35 of the Peace Agreement. The UK also contributes approximately £40 million annually to the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) which continues to provide security across the country. In March, the UK joined other Security Council members in approving a plan to reinforce MINUSCA with increased numbers of troops and police.

We are deeply concerned at human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia's Tigray region. There are shocking reports of extra judicial killings committed by parties to the conflict, including the ENDF at Mabhere Diego on or around 15 January. The Government of Ethiopia has committed to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account, but we have yet to see any meaningful action to do so and are troubled that the reports of atrocities continue at pace. The UK will support the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure that their joint investigations into atrocities in Tigray with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission are independent, transparent and impartial and that those responsible for these human rights violations and abuses are held to account.

As announced last year, the impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce how much we spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA). The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities for the UK's aid budget, including resolving conflict. We are now working through the implications of these changes for individual country programmes. No decisions have yet been made on specific individual budget allocations.

The Foreign Secretary has not discussed with his Australian counterpart the impact of the EU export control on the COVID-19 situation in Papua New Guinea. We will continue to work closely with Australia to ensure that COVAX remains as effective as possible in the Indo-Pacific region, including for Papua New Guinea. The first shipment of 132,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses arrived in the country on 13 April.

We are deeply concerned by the kidnapping and continued captivity of schoolchildren by Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) in North East Nigeria. Schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, who was abducted by ISWA in 2018, and a number of the Chibok schoolgirls, abducted by BH in 2014, are among those still missing. The British High Commission continues to raise these cases with the Nigerian Government, most recently in March 2021.

We are also concerned by the recent attacks on schools in Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna and Katsina States, conducted by criminal groups. I publicly condemned these attacks and stressed the importance of all children being able to access an education without fear. The UK Deputy National Security Advisor discussed the abduction of Nigerian schoolboys in Kankara in Katsina State with the President's Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, on 15 December 2020. Our High Commissioner in Abuja spoke to the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police on improving school safety and addressing kidnapping in March 2021. We have provided mentoring and capacity building for units of the Nigerian Police Force to improve their anti-kidnap capacity and response to organised crime groups in Nigeria.

As set out in the Integrated Review the UK is deepening its engagement in the Indo-Pacific, establishing a more integrated and more persistent cross-Government presence than any other European country. We are already helping Papua New Guinea to develop capacity to build a better future for all, especially in the areas of health, climate change and trade. The UK Fleming Fund (£8m), for example, is assisting Papua New Guinea to tackle drug resistant diseases (anti-microbial resistance) and we have provided support worth approximately £900,000 to help the country to tackle COVID-19.

UK assistance for Papua New Guinea and other resource-constrained nations is primarily delivered through multilateral organisations. For example, according to OECD data we provided an estimated £33.1m in support to Papua New Guinea in 2018 through core contributions to multilaterals, including the World Bank's International Development Association, the EU, UN agencies and the Global Fund.

We will continue to use the full range of development, diplomatic and other tools available to support Papua New Guinea. This includes working with the EU delegation and other international partners in Port Moresby including Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and the USA.

We are deeply concerned by reports of civilians being killed by a private military company in Mozambique, as documented in Amnesty International's report of 2 March. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon spoke to Foreign Minister Macamo on 11 March when he stressed that human rights must be respected during counterterrorism efforts. I [Minister Duddridge] also spoke to Foreign Minister Macamo on 4 February. I raised the need for Mozambique to follow through on investigations of human rights abuses by all sides to the conflict in northeast Mozambique.

The Foreign Secretary spoke with Prime Minister Abiy on 10 November and called for the immediate de-escalation of violence, for the protection of civilians and for unfettered humanitarian access. He reiterated these messages when he met Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Demeke on 25 November and made clear that all parties to the conflict need to want to find a political solution. I also stressed these points when I spoke with the Ethiopian Minister of Finance on 16 November and the Ethiopian Ambassador in London on 18 November, as well as in my tweets of 9 December and 24 November. Our Ambassador in Addis Ababa continues to engage the Government of Ethiopia in support of these objectives.

The UK is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We remain deeply concerned about violations and abuses of FoRB in many parts of the world and promoting the right to FoRB is one of the UK's human rights policy priorities.

At a country level, we lobby governments for changes in laws and practices that discriminate against individuals on the basis of their religion or belief, and we continue to raise cases of concern. We also support a number of development programmes that promote FoRB for all. The strategies employed may vary from country to country, and lobbying is often one of several activities which can be very sensitive. We have no plans to publish written strategies as we assess that doing so could undermine the effectiveness of our work on this sensitive area.

The UK most recently raised Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) with the UN in our Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea on 26 October at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. We welcomed the recent release from detention of Muslim and Pentecostal worshippers and called for the release of all those still subject to detention. We also encouraged Eritrea to make progress on their commitment to the Universal Periodic Review process including the promotion of FoRB.

The UK is committed to defending FoRB for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We remain deeply concerned about violations and abuses of FoRB in many parts of the world. Where we have concerns, we raise them directly with governments, including at Ministerial level. We also regularly discuss FoRB with our international partners and through multilateral fora, including the UN, where we call out human rights violations. Defending FoRB was a core pledge in our successful campaign to be re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council, and we will continue to use our position to stand up for individuals who are persecuted for their faith, belief, or because they have no religious belief.

In North East Nigeria, terrorist groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) seek to undermine the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief by indiscriminately attacking those of all faiths who do not subscribe to their extremist views. The UK has led international condemnation of these groups at the UN, including drafting a UN Security Council press statement that was released on 16 June following terrorist attacks in Felo, Monguno and Nganzai, Borno State. We are also concerned by intercommunal violence across multiple states in Nigeria, which is having a devastating impact on communities of all faiths, although we do not assess religion to be a principal driver of the violence. We have engaged closely with the UN, federal government, state governments, the National Economic Council and other international partners to help address the drivers of violence in Nigeria and push for solutions.

The UK is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We remain deeply concerned about violations and abuses of Freedom of Religion or Belief in many parts of the world. Where we have concerns, we raise them directly with governments, including at Ministerial level. We also regularly discuss Freedom of Religion or Belief with our international partners and through multilateral fora, including the UN, where we call out human rights violations. Defending Freedom of Religion or Belief was a core pledge in our successful campaign to be re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council, and we will continue to use our position to stand up for individuals who are persecuted for their faith, belief, or because they have no religious belief.

I regularly engage with the Government of Zimbabwe. I last spoke with the Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Moyo on 8 June and raised my serious concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe.

The UK Government is clear that the responsibility for compensating those that lost their farms during Robert Mugabe's fast track land reform programme lies wholly with the Government of Zimbabwe. I am concerned that the recent compensation deal signed between the Government of Zimbabwe and representatives of farmers seeking compensation is unlikely to be deliverable given the chronic economic situation in Zimbabwe. The British Ambassador to Harare most recently raised these concerns with Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli on 28 September.

The UK is working with partners across southern Africa to mitigate the health, humanitarian and economic impacts of COVID-19. We have committed up to £774 million of UK aid to tackle the global impacts of COVID-19 and the Foreign Secretary has announced a further £119 million package to tackle the combined threat of coronavirus and famines, this includes efforts to reduce malnutrition and child mortality in countries such as Malawi.

Through the UK Emergency Medical Team, we have directly deployed UK medical experts to South Africa and Zambia. We have contributed £75 million to the World Health Organization, enabling their leadership of the global response, whilst our £20 million contribution towards the African Union's COVID-19 response is enabling the deployment of African health experts where they are needed most.

We are in regular contact with the governments of Eswatini and South Africa and the South African power generator, Eskom, on ways to promote renewable energy generation both to improve energy security and reduce costs. We are also working directly with the Southern African Power Pool to support regional policy planning and decision making that accelerates large-scale renewable energy deployment in southern Africa.

We are concerned by allegations of human rights abuses in Amnesty International's recent report, We Dried Our Tears. The British High Commissioner has raised the report's findings with the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for a full investigation into the allegations and prosecution of any individuals found to have committed abuses in military detention facilities. The UK Government does not provide any support to the military detention facilities mentioned. The UK Government does not provide funding directly to the Government of Nigeria.

We are also concerned by criticisms in the report of Operation Safe Corridor. The programme is run by the Federal Government of Nigeria and is intended to provide defectors from Boko Haram with a voluntary way to disarm and reintegrate with society through de-radicalisation, psychosocial support and livelihood training. By providing a way to disengage from conflict, these programmes are an essential part of peacebuilding, but they must be fit for purpose and conducted in a way that fully respects human rights.

The UK, alongside the US and EU, provides funding to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to assist in the reintegration element of the Operation Safe Corridor. All UK Government programme spend is subject to regular monitoring and review. We are urgently following up points raised in the report with IOM, in particular in relation to the process for screening participants, the conditions in which they are detained and the timeline for rehabilitation. IOM have assured us that no children are currently enrolled. The UK's position on human rights is clear: they are universal and must apply equally to all people. The UK will continue to call on all parties to the conflict in North East Nigeria to respect human rights and abide by international humanitarian and human rights law.