Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con) [V]
My Lords, we take the recommendations seriously and will ensure that, as has been suggested, they are fully evaluated to see how we can further our own domestic regime to ensure that the issue of money laundering can be tackled head on.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on the Statement being open in acknowledging the attraction of the City of London to
“corrupt actors who seek to launder their dirty money through British banks or through businesses.”
As welcome as the individual sanctions announced on Monday are, they are very much one-sided. They target those who take the money, robbing poor communities and global south nations. But of course the ultimate robber barons in the sadly common case of bribery, and those who profit most from the transactions, are those who pay over the money for the favours purchased —they would not pay unless it paid them, often handsomely. So will the Government be actively seeking to identify and sanction those on both sides of these transactions?
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, asked about parliamentary nominations of possible sanctions. Beyond that, will the Government implement a system whereby non-governmental actors, be they from civil society, the private sector or beyond, can submit information about potentially listing targets for consideration, including by creating a secure portal and adequate safeguards to mitigate any risk for those submitting that information?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con) [V]
The noble Baroness makes some practical suggestions, which I will of consider. On her second point, we are already working with civil society organisations, as well as other actors beyond Parliament. If people put forward the names of certain individuals who should be designated under either the global anti-corruption sanctions regime, which we have just introduced, or the global human rights sanctions regime, we will give them due consideration.
I note what the noble Baroness says about creating portals. The challenge will remain, with increasing cyberthreats and cyberattacks, to ensure not just the robustness of the system provided but that, for anyone being looked at to be designated, an early warning does not result in them being able to abscond or avoid being subject to the sanctions that are intended to be applied to them. Therefore, we keep quite a tight rein on individuals or organisations that will be sanctioned in the future. But I note the noble Baroness’s practical suggestions and will take those back.
I add that we are going through an evolutionary process on the whole concept of sanctions. Two years ago, we did not have anything in this space on the specifics of the framework of sanctions. We now have two distinct sanctions regimes, and I am sure we will see the strengthening of both over the coming months and years.
Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, in many ways the integrated review acknowledges with greater force than we have seen before from a UK Government the arguments that the Green Party has made for decades—that security can be achieved only in a stable environment and that the climate emergency and nature crisis are a threat to all our futures. That is driven home today with the HadCRUT5 global temperature series showing that the average global temperature for 2020 was 1.3 degrees—plus or minus 0.1 degrees—above preindustrial levels.
Much of the overarching rhetoric of the integrated review could have been written by the intellectual thought leaders in this area: the Rethinking Security network. But, as many noble Lords have pointed out, the text fails to acknowledge or make difficult choices. It fails to meet its ambition to set a path for the next 10 years.
I will briefly pick up three elements the Minister highlighted in his introduction. First, on science and technology, the review talks about Britain being a world leader and innovator—something that the Government frequently major on—but in such a narrow range of fields. The Minister referred to artificial intelligence and renewables, and I cannot disagree with the last one. But ask a farmer, crucial to food security, or an ecologist, crucial to the nature-based solutions to the climate emergency that the Government like to talk about, what science they need, and it is not those. Protecting our soils, using agroecological systems for food production, managing our freshwaters and seas and understanding the complexity of life on earth are absolutely fundamental to security. There are an estimated 1.7 million undiscovered types of viruses in vertebrates. We have brilliant experts in this and many other fields; let us celebrate and fund them—not just to treat the diseases after they have arisen but to understand the underlying systems.
Secondly, the Minister spoke in an unqualified way about trade delivering jobs and prosperity. I fundamentally question that assertion. We have come to the end of a period of a massive explosion in global trade and are in an insecure, poverty-stricken and environmentally trashed world. The harm done by some trade is obvious. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute tells us that sales of arms and military services by the largest 25 companies totalled $361 billion in 2019. Of course, included in that are our sales to Saudi Arabia, a regime with one of the worst human rights records on this planet and, of course, a key proponent in the dreadful war destroying Yemen.
Thirdly, I come to aid. I am really quite astonished that the Minister chose to highlight the Government’s prioritising of girls’ education on the day that Save The Children concludes that spending on education for girls will be reduced by 25% in 2021 compared to 2019-20. Perhaps the Minister can confirm whether that is correct. It is a long-time Green Party policy to lift that aid figure to 1%—clearly the direction of greater security.
Finally, I come to the astonishing and deeply disturbing changes in nuclear doctrine and practice. I associate myself particularly with the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, and with others who questioned this. Some observers have pointed out that lifting a cap is not lifting numbers. If this is just an empty gesture, a rhetorical firebrand playing tough to a domestic audience in the culture war, then it is a truly dangerous and immoral one. If it is a real plan to increase the number of these hideous weapons of mass destruction, it is also deeply dangerous and immoral, as is the widening of the doctrine for their use.
This review is glancing in a new direction for security, and yet it firmly continues to wade forward through the swamp of inequality, militarism and environmental destruction.
Chinese Government Sanctions on UK Citizens
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I can speak from my experience as a government Minister, and we have been very clear in calling out the human rights abuses in China. We have called out the issues within Hong Kong. However, equally, I recognise, as we do in multilateral fora, that there are issues such as the environment and conflicts such as the situation in Myanmar which require direct dialogue with the Chinese authorities, because they are part of the solution. There are many things we disagree on but, equally, we recognise the important role China continues to play in the international community.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I declare my position as the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong. The sanctions on UK citizens make it very clear that the Chinese Government are seeking to silence democratic dissent and free speech around the world. They are also doing that more and more in Hong Kong. I am sure the Minister is aware of reports of plans to criminalise any collective call to leave ballot papers blank or otherwise spoiled in internal elections. Are the Government taking any steps to make representations on this, to highlight it or take any action regarding it?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness is right to raise the recent decisions taken by the Chinese authorities about the future operation of the legislative bodies within Hong Kong. She also rightly raises a number of other concerns, and I can assure her that we are raising them directly. The implications are such that the democratic right and will of the people of Hong Kong is being totally and utterly diluted and denied, and we will continue to defend that right. Let us not forget that China is also party to an agreement to protect the democratic will of the people of Hong Kong. It should stand by that international agreement. It is lodged with the UN. I assure the noble Baroness that, whether it is in international fora or directly with the Chinese, we will continue to raise that, because the rights of the people of Hong Kong matter to us all.
Bahrain: Human Rights Abuses
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con) [V]
I agree with my noble friend’s approach and, as the UK Human Rights Minister, that is exactly the approach I adopt.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, following on from the last question, it appears that the Minister took a different approach in 2012, when he signed a letter to the Times that backed calls for Formula 1 not to race in Bahrain due to human rights violations connected to the races there. Now, almost 60 Members of both Houses of Parliament and more than 20 NGOs are calling on Formula 1 to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate human rights abuses linked to its races. Will the Minister now agree to support that call?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con) [V]
My Lords, the noble Baroness referred to a letter from several years ago. It is right that where we have concerns, we should raise them, and I align myself with that. However, we have seen real progress in Bahrain and we should recognise that, while remaining firm and resolute that we will continue to raise human rights concerns as and when they arise, as we do directly with Bahrain both in private and publicly.
Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for this Motion, but I begin my two minutes by regretting that it is only a Motion to Regret. This House should be acting like an old-fashioned movie schoolmaster—that is, theatrically tearing up the Government’s homework, throwing it back in their face and saying, “Do it again, and do a proper job this time”.
This statutory instrument is a tiny nod to the public desire to end the disastrous management of land for driven grouse shooting. It is clear that, behind closed doors, the Government are still sitting around in comfortable armchairs, whisky glasses in hand, guffawing loudly and toasting their shooting mates—which, of course, means toasting themselves.
A few benefit from this land management; the rest of us, in the UK and around the world, pay. Whichever way you turn, as on any moor in the Peak District National Park, there is destruction. Look north, and this statutory instrument shows just how little this Government actually gets that this is a climate emergency: they are prepared to allow the driven grouse shooting industry to set fire to the planet—literally. Some say, “Oh, it’s protecting 40% of upland peatlands”. Yes, but it is leaving 60%, or 213,000 hectares, for the shooting industry’s convenience.
Look south, and the regulation means that, in one of the worst countries for nature on this planet, many millions more mammals, reptiles and insects will die a fiery death so that—the industry hopes—there will be a few more grouse to lumber before the guns on the Inglorious Twelfth.
Look east, and this regulation shows utter contempt for the people who have to live nearby and suffer the air pollution in a country where tens of thousands of people die prematurely every year as a result of it. Look west, and the employment in ecotourism and biodiversity management that could come from flourishing uplands, soaring eagles and dancing hen harriers is denied to communities that desperately need it by a criminal industry linked to the illegal slaughter of raptors.
Our Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee describes this regulation as confusing and “difficult to assess”. That is obviously deliberate. This is a disgraceful abdication of government responsibility and the obfuscation demonstrates that the Government know it.
Global Population Growth
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]
My Lords, population growth is clearly an issue, but the bigger factor by far is consumption levels. The average UK citizen, for instance, has significantly higher levels of consumption and CO2 production than the average beneficiary of any UK aid. For example, it takes the average UK citizen just five days to emit the same amount of carbon as the average Rwandan does in a full year. The challenge is to move towards an economic system that recognises the value of nature and understands the cost of waste, pollution and the use of scarce resources.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I have to agree with and commend the Minister’s comments just now. However, given the announcement from the Biden Administration that their intention is to protect and empower women around the world, will the Government follow suit and, as chair of COP, acknowledge that climate justice demands that women have free reproductive choices, including access to contraception, abortion and treatments to addressing fertility?
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]
Voluntary family planning programmes undoubtedly empower women and girls to choose whether and when to have children and this in turn supports the health, prosperity and resilience of their communities and countries. Where population projections show continued rapid growth, effective family planning programmes can change that trajectory. Voluntary family planning is one of the most powerful drivers of sustainable development and prosperity. Between 2015 and 2020, the UK reached an average of 25.3 million women and girls per year with modern methods of family planning and we continue to ramp up our efforts in that area.
Hong Kong: Democracy Movement
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I note the suggestion of the noble Lord, but from what we have seen of the National People’s Congress about future legislative control within Hong Kong, and indeed the actions that have been taken recently, I wonder how much leverage we would gain from such an interaction. However, I have noted carefully what the noble Lord has said and I will certainly consider it with colleagues in the FCDO.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I declare my position as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong. The noble Lord, Lord Carrington, just referred to business leaders. My question notes the behaviour of a number of financial institutions that are either based in the UK or with very close links here that are essentially backing unconditionally the illegal behaviour of the Chinese Government, notably HSBC. What steps are the Government taking to consider the impact on our own financial stake in Hong Kong and the damage to their reputation?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, let me assure the noble Baroness that we are in close contact with a wide range of businesses in Hong Kong, but as I have said before, it is for businesses to make their own judgment calls. However, we are concerned that a number of recent decisions taken by the authorities in Hong Kong are further evidence of their determined campaign to stifle opposition and silence dissent. We will certainly continue to pursue an approach in Hong Kong that is rooted in our values and defends our rights, and we will continue to advise on and discuss with business the current serious situation in Hong Kong that we have been seeing in recent days.
Anti-slavery Projects: Commonwealth
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(4 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I go to the typically excellent House of Lords Library briefing for the estimate that 40% of the total number of victims of modern slavery live in the Commonwealth. Not being “political”, it did not make the obvious comparison: only 33% of the world’s population live in the Commonwealth. We have an outsized, disgraceful modern slavery problem in an institution for which we as a nation have a particular responsibility.
Where did the Commonwealth come from? It grew essentially out of the Empire, whose disastrous, genocidal, ecocidal impacts have been buried, hidden and all too often forgotten about. The thesis I put to the Minister is that colonialism and modern slavery are inextricably linked, and tackling the current scourge requires exposing the dark history to the light. Last year, I asked the Minister whether the Government would consider an inquiry into particularly the legacies of African enslavement. I got a one-sentence “no” answer. Will the Minister now reconsider?
Beijing Winter Olympic Games 2022
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(5 years ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, on my noble friend’s second point, that is, of course, not a matter for the British Government, but I know what he is saying. On his first point about G7 action, he will have seen increasing co-ordination between G7 members around a values-based system for international human rights and we will continue to co-ordinate with our G7 partners during our presidency.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I declare my position as the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong. Given the grave concerns about human rights abuses in China and its position as a source of much sporting equipment and specialist clothing, can the Minister tell me what support the Government are giving to UK sporting bodies to avoid products linked to slave labour and abusive labour practices, such as those widely reported in Xinjiang?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I understand that it is the noble Baroness’s birthday, so I will add my best wishes to her. Picking up on the seriousness and appropriateness of her question, we made announcements on 12 January specifically for companies in the public and private sectors to look at their supply chains. We will announce further details in this respect and we will talk through the usual channels on any further announcements that need to be made.
Alexei Navalny
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(5 years ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
While I note what the noble Lord has said, the steps we have taken within the context of the OPCW and with the G7 partners does, I believe, demonstrate to the Russians a strong international response. It is important we continue to strengthen our alliances in this respect so Russia does take notice and, more importantly, does so with regard to courageous individuals such as Alexei Navalny, who is being held without detention. Just to update your Lordships’ House: as I was coming in, I was informed that in his hearing, his appeal was not upheld, so he remains in detention. I will, of course, update the House as we get more details. We hope Russia will take note of these international actions, and I believe in certain quarters it is doing just that.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
My Lords, I thank the Minister for updating the House with that news, disappointing though it is. In preparation for this Question, I checked the 2019 Conservative election manifesto, which speaks of the UK being a champion of the rule of law, human rights and anti-corruption efforts. Does the Minister agree that we need to work consistently to have clear, consistent rules dealing with Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and, indeed, the UK Overseas Territories, with Magnitsky-style sanctions and other actions, setting up plans for reaction, if and when standards are breached? I should probably declare my position on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness poses a wide-ranging question about different countries and jurisdictions—she also mentioned the British Overseas Territories. Without generalising, it is important that we look at the specifics of each case, but I understand what she puts forward. We need to have measures to hand, and the human rights sanctions regime is one with which we can act specifically and, importantly, with key partners and allies to ensure individuals or groups who abuse human rights are held to account for their actions. I hope that, in time, as we have discussed today, the broadening of any scope of those sanctions, on the issue of illicit finance, in particular, will also be to the satisfaction of Members of your Lordships’ House.