§ Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of the removal of the Lan Chile flight on the people of the Falklands. [75642]
§ Mr. Tony LloydThe Lan Chile link has commercial and social benefits to communities in both the Falklands and southern Chile. We would regret any action which penalised these communities. We have expressed our regret to the Chilean Government over their decision to ask Lan Chile to suspend flights to the Falklands and said we do not believe this to be justified. We hope that Lan Chile will continue to fly to the Falklands after 31 March.
§ Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the extent of human rights violations on vessels operating in waters around the Falklands. [75639]
§ Mr. Tony LloydBoth HMG and the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) take seriously any violation of human rights on vessels fishing in Falkland Islands waters while there are clearly considerable difficulties in assessing the conditions on board such fishing vessels, every effort is made to monitor the situation. The FIG investigate all cases where complaints are made. A successful prosecution was brought against the Captain of a fishing vessel in April last year. We continue to work closely with FIG on this issue.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he plans to take if Lan Chile does not continue its flights to the Falklands after 31 March. [75888]
§ Mr. Tony LloydWhile we hope that Lan Chile will continue to fly to the Falklands, we are considering other options with the Falkland Islands Government, including flights to other countries, improve surface travel, and the possibility of the Falkland Islands Government leasing their own aircraft.
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