Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Mitchell and Ann Clwyd

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

The Minister does not have to visit the region to know what the problem is. Every night on television we are seeing children dying, the elderly dying and livestock dying—it is obvious what is happening. The aid agencies are short of money and surely we can do more right now.

[Mr Mitchell]

I can reassure the right hon. Lady. We were the first people to make it clear that we would give strong support, helping 1.3 million people in Ethiopia and ensuring that mothers with babies and children—330,000 of them—would receive rapid support. The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal has kicked into play and we are considering additional support to that which we are already giving to take account of the situation that she described in southern Somalia and particularly in Dadaab, which is now the biggest refugee camp in the world.

Humanitarian Emergency Response Review

Debate between Andrew Mitchell and Ann Clwyd

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. Of course, people who live in conflict areas lose out twice over, first because they are very poor and secondly because they are permanently frightened by the conflict that is going on around them. That is why the coalition Government have made an absolute priority of doing much more in conflicted areas to bring help to people who are doubly cursed in that way. He is also right to point out that although humanitarian relief should always be circumstance-blind and help those who are in great need, proper co-ordination among all those who can help is essential.

[Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State knows, there is a continuing argument in the development community about whether it is appropriate for the military to deliver humanitarian aid. I should like to pay my own tribute to the British armed forces, whom I have seen in many parts of the world delivering humanitarian aid to people who would have died if they had not been there at the appropriate time.

[Mr Mitchell]

The right hon. Lady makes a truly excellent point. Like her, I have seen how the military have delivered to desperate people at times of great need. We saw it, indeed, in Pakistan last year. We have not needed military support to deliver aid in Libya so far, although the military have been willing to provide it. I have discussed the matter frequently with Valerie Amos, who takes a sensible and pragmatic view in the interests, which we all serve, of trying to get aid and support through to people who are in great need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Mitchell and Ann Clwyd

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

10. What humanitarian aid his Department is providing to the people of Libya.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

We have provided funding for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has sent in three medical teams, medical supplies to treat 3,000 people affected by fighting, and essential relief items for up to 100,000 of the most vulnerable.

[Ann Clwyd]

As the Minister knows, a team from Amnesty International has been in Libya for the past month, and it has found evidence of hundreds of missing and detained people. Given Gaddafi’s track record of extreme cruelty and torture, will he try to ensure that, at the very least, the ICRC has access to those detained people, so that news can be given to their families and they can have some contact with them?

[Mr Mitchell]

The right hon. Lady, who rightly always champions these issues, is entirely correct, which is why we and the United Nations have called strongly for unfettered access for humanitarian agencies. We continue to call for that access to be given throughout Libya.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Mitchell and Ann Clwyd

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the effectiveness of emergency relief. There are undoubtedly lessons for us all to learn from what happened in Haiti. That is why I have set up an emergency review of the way in which Britain does emergency relief, which is being chaired by Lord Ashdown. That review will focus on all aspects of how Britain does relief and how we co-ordinated with the UN cluster system, and it will focus particularly on the importance of the immediacy of that relief, getting shelter, food and medicine through to people in such desperate circumstances.

[Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

How much money is spent on external consultants to monitor the effectiveness of British aid?