Day: June 29, 2018

Following World Refugee Day on 20 June, and with the monsoon season just beginning, the UK is calling on the international community to step up support for the refugees and their host communities. The UK is leading the way with £129 million of aid already given.

With the gender aspects of the humanitarian crisis often overlooked, Joanna Roper will visit women’s safe spaces in the refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar and meet refugees, humanitarian workers, and civil society leaders to understand the needs of women and girls caught up in the crisis.

Minister Field and Joanna Roper will also meet senior ministers to discuss the crisis as well as girls’ and womens’ education in Bangladesh more widely.

Ahead of the visit, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, the Rt Hon Mark Field MP said:

Bangladesh is dealing with a major humanitarian crisis not of its making and it is vital the international community works with Bangladesh to step up support for the refugees and their host communities, especially during this monsoon season.

We are incredibly grateful to Bangladesh and to Prime Minister Hasina for welcoming over one million Rohingya refugees and I am looking forward to seeing how UK aid is helping improve their lives.

UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality, Joanna Roper, said:

The UK is determined to be a world leader in advocating for gender equality internationally and it is all too often women and girls who are the greatest victims in a humanitarian crisis like this – whether as a result of sexual violence, or loss of access to education, and they must not be ignored.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field @MarkFieldUK
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

The detection was made on 26 June when officers stopped a man who had arrived on a flight from South Africa. When the man was questioned and searched, 19 bird eggs were found concealed within a body belt, as well as two newly-hatched vultures.

Border Force specialist officers identified that the eggs were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Although the exact species are yet to be identified, the eggs are known to be from South African birds of prey including vultures, eagles, hawks and kites.

Officers ensured that both the eggs and the live chicks were kept warm and quickly transported to the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, managed by the City of London Corporation. City Corporation staff ensured that the chicks were cared for and the unhatched eggs were incubated. The live chicks and the eggs have since been moved to a specialist facility.

Following the incident, a 56-year-old Irish national was arrested and the investigation passed to the National Crime Agency (NCA). He has since been bailed pending further enquiries.

Grant Miller, head of the national Border Force CITES team at Heathrow, said:

My officers are experts in their field and will seize anything that contravenes CITES regulations. In this case, by preventing the smuggling attempt they have also ensured that the birds and eggs received the immediate care and attention that they needed.

The frontline work of my team, alongside close working with enforcement partners such as the NCA and National Wildlife Crime Unit, is key to tackling the international illegal wildlife trade which does so much environmental damage and threatens the survival of endangered animals and plants.

The importation of endangered species into the UK is strictly controlled by CITES, which is an international agreement covering more than 35,000 species of animals and plants. The Heathrow-based Border Force CITES team are specialist officers who work across the UK and who are recognised as world leaders in their field.

Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling and trafficking of any kind should call the UK hotline on: (0)800 59 5000.

Following World Refugee Day on 20 June, and with the monsoon season just beginning, the UK is calling on the international community to step up support for the refugees and their host communities. The UK is leading the way with £129 million of aid already given.

With the gender aspects of the humanitarian crisis often overlooked, Joanna Roper will visit a women’s safe spaces in the refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar and meet refugees, humanitarian workers, and civil society leaders to understand the needs of women and girls caught up in the crisis.

Minister Field and Joanna Roper will also meet senior ministers to discuss the crisis as well as girls’ and women’s education in Bangladesh more widely.

Ahead of the visit, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, the Rt Hon Mark Field MP, said:

Bangladesh is dealing with a major humanitarian crisis not of its making and it is vital the international community works with Bangladesh to step up support for the refugees and their host communities, especially during this monsoon season.

We are incredibly grateful to Bangladesh and to Prime Minister Hasina for welcoming over one million Rohingya refugees and I am looking forward to seeing how UK aid is helping improve their lives.

UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality, Joanna Roper, said:

The UK is determined to be a world leader in advocating for gender equality internationally and it is all too often women and girls who are the greatest victims in a humanitarian crisis like this – whether as a result of sexual violence, or loss of access to education, and they must not be ignored.

Further Information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field on Twitter @MarkFieldUK
• Follow UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality Joanna Roper on Twitter @JoannaRoperFCO
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram,
  YouTube
  and LinkedIn