A statement by the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union:

1. We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union reiterate our profound condemnation of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war of choice against Ukraine, enabled by the Belarussian government.

2. Russia must immediately stop its ongoing assault against Ukraine, which has dramatically impacted the civilian population and destroyed civilian infrastructure, and immediately withdraw Russia’s military forces. With its further aggression, President Putin has isolated Russia in the world, as evidenced by the overwhelming vote at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s aggression and calling upon it to withdraw its forces immediately.

3. We express our heart-felt solidarity with the Ukrainian people and our sympathy with the victims of this war and their families. We underline our unwavering support for Ukraine, its freely-elected government and its brave people at this most difficult time, and express our readiness to assist them further.

4. We condemn the Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. We call on Russia to uphold its obligation to fully respect international humanitarian law and human rights law. Ukrainian and UN humanitarian agencies, medical personnel, and non-governmental assistance providers must be given safe, rapid and unimpeded access to people in need immediately throughout the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We acknowledge the announcement of an arrangement on humanitarian access as an important first step. This will need to be implemented reliably and swiftly. We commit to increasing humanitarian support, as the needs of the Ukrainian people grow due to Russia’s aggression. We urge Russia to stop its attacks especially in the direct vicinity of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. Any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of international law. We support the initiative of IAEA Director General Grossi announced today for an agreement between Ukraine and Russia to ensure the safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.

5. We are deeply concerned with the catastrophic humanitarian toll taken by Russia’s continuing strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine’s cities. We reemphasize that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited by international humanitarian law. We will hold accountable those responsible for war crimes, including indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians, and we welcome the ongoing work to investigate and gather evidence, including by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

6. Russia’s blatant violation of the fundamental principles of international peace and security and the breach of international law have not gone unanswered. We have imposed several rounds of far-reaching economic and financial sanctions. We will continue to impose further severe sanctions in response to Russian aggression, enabled by the Lukashenka regime in Belarus.

7. We wish to make clear to the Russian and Belarusian people that the severe sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus are a consequence of and clear reaction to President Putin’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war against Ukraine. President Putin, and his government and supporters, and the Lukashenka regime, bear full responsibility for the economic and social consequences of these sanctions.

8. We condemn the widespread use of disinformation by the Russian Government and its affiliated media and proxies to support its military aggression against Ukraine. Their steady stream of fabricated claims is putting additional lives at risk. We commit to countering Russia’s disinformation campaign.

9. We reaffirm our support and commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters. We underline that any purported change of status achieved by Russia’s renewed aggression will not be recognized.

Thank you, Mr President.

The United Kingdom thanks the Special Rapporteur for his update, and we take this opportunity to reaffirm our full support for his mandate.

We remain deeply concerned about the ongoing human rights situation in Eritrea. We urge Eritrea to release all those who have been arbitrarily detained, to progress with National Service reform, and guarantee freedom of religion or belief. We should also reflect on the sad death of Patriarch Abune Antonios, held incommunicado for 16 years.

The continued involvement of Eritrean forces in the Tigray conflict remains a serious barrier to peace. Eritrea should withdraw its troops, accept the report of the recent Joint Investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and fully investigate all alleged breaches of international law by Eritrean actors identified in the report.

Mr President, we note that UN agencies were allowed to visit Eritrea in January. We remain hopeful that this may signal a new willingness by Eritrea to engage with international institutions on human rights, and to make much needed progress on implementing its accepted UPR recommendations.

Special Rapporteur,

What are your views on prospects for Eritrean cooperation with your mandate, and with the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia once established, now that the Commissioners have been appointed, including in light of the UN’s recent visit?

Horse Hill Developments Ltd (HHDL) has applied for several permit variations as part of its operations at Horse Hill well site in Surrey.

These are to:

• Construct up to 4 new boreholes in addition to the 2 boreholes already constructed;
• Use 2 of the 6 boreholes as reinjection wells to support production;
• Carry out well treatments such as an acid wash and solvent treatments;
• Run 90-day well tests for each of the 4 additional wells before they are either added as production wells at the site, or abandoned;
• Undertake an injectivity test within one of the wells (HH-2z) and any other wells as dictated by HHDL;
• Incinerate natural gas at a rate not exceeding 10 tonnes per day during production operations. This to continue until it can be demonstrated that the incineration of natural gas is no longer considered Best Available Technique through a cost-benefit analysis.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

An environmental permit sets out stringent conditions that all oil and gas sites must adhere to. We will not issue an environmental permit for a site if we consider that activities taking place will cause significant pollution to the environment or harm to human health.

Public consultation lets people and organisations take part in our decision making. We welcome specifically, comments on environmental and health issues and where people have particular local knowledge. We take all relevant comments into account when making our decisions.

When making permit decisions, we use information on the potential environmental and human health impacts of the activity.

In deciding whether or not to issue the permit, the Environment Agency will take into account all relevant considerations and legal requirements.

Public consultation

A second round of consultation is now open for public comments, before the Environment Agency makes the final decision on whether to issue the permit variations.

The consultation is now open and will run until Thursday 31 March 2022.

See further information and details on how to take part in the consultation.

Previous public consultation on the permit variations took place between 22 March and 21 April 2021.

For further information, please email KSLE@environment-agency.gov.uk.

For further information on how we determine applications, the timescales involved and how we regulate onshore oil and gas, please see the following links: • Environmental permitting: public participation statement • Onshore oil and gas exploration and extraction: environmental permits • Onshore oil and gas regulation – information page

Public consultations

See further information on how when and how the Environment Agency consults on permit applications and standard rules for environmental permits