Burma: Ethnic Nationalities

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, the Government have been neither silent nor inactive on this matter. In fact, I personally raised it with the Foreign Minister, Dipu Moni, only a few weeks ago. We continue to press this matter. The former Secretary of State for the Department for International Development raised it earlier this year in a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. We have specifically raised the issue of being allowed to deliver aid to the refugee camps where the Rohingya community live.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, can my noble friend tell the House what resources from the stabilisation unit and the Conflict Pool are being used to provide humanitarian assistance to the three countries —Thailand, Burma and, indeed, Bangladesh—to alleviate the suffering of these people and to plan in the longer term for their rehabilitation and settlement within the three countries?

Syria

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Thursday 8th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

Thankfully, at this moment there is no evidence to suggest that the armed opposition are in any way trying to get their hands on chemical weapons.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, my noble friend may be aware that the Syrian Government have given assurances to Mr. Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, that they have no intention of using chemical or biological weapons. Have the Government been in contact with the United Nations Secretary-General to ask if the Security Council could also be given those wider assurances?

[Baroness Warsi]

The noble Baroness raises an important matter. We have heard some suggestions that the Syrians have indicated that they would not be using these chemical weapons, certainly in relation to their own people. However, going back to the foreign ministry spokesman’s threats made, sadly, in July of this year, he said they would be prepared to use them against external aggressors, as they call them.

Russian Federation: Council of Europe

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

The noble Lord will be aware that the UK Government are not part of the process by which the Parliamentary Assembly adopts reports and makes recommendations. He will also be aware that the government response to the report lays out those parts of it that we agree with and those parts that we may not. The process that is adopted thereafter as to whether this matter will be dealt with by a simple resolution or will go further in the form of a recommendation is a matter for the Parliamentary Assembly.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the report mentions Mr Sergei Magnitsky. She will be aware that the European Parliament passed a resolution that allows member states to impose a visa ban and to freeze the assets of the 60 officials who have been identified as being implicated in his murder. What are the British Government doing in terms of a visa ban or indeed of freezing the assets of those individuals?

[Baroness Warsi]

The UK’s position on the Magnitsky case is very clear: this was a terrible crime and needs to be fully investigated as soon as possible. We have made that clear to the Russian Government on a number of occasions. With regard to calls for a visa ban, we do not prejudge visa applications but, where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, that individual will not normally be permitted to enter the UK.

Arms Trade Treaty Negotiations

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I think that that apprehension is ill founded. Ambassador Moritan, who chairs the process, obviously has had to manoeuvre. We have to be realistic that there are sceptics and that there are countries which, from the start, have been outright opponents of anything other than broad political agreements. We have to accept that. Our determination is not to be deviated from the pattern which was reflected under the noble Lord’s own Government, and I repeat that we are determined not to sign a weak consensus but to go for a robust treaty. That remains our position.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that when in the past decade $2.2 billion-worth of arms have been sold to countries that are under an arms embargo, such as Iran, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, it is terribly important to get a text of some sort? I have to say, with all due respect, the Labour Benches have been fantastic about this treaty, but the binary question they pose to the House is that we either go for a treaty or, given that it is a consensus procedure, we go for nothing at all. Would it not be better to negotiate to the very last moment to get any text on the paper to build for an incremental future whereby we regulate arms than to settle for nothing, which is what I suspect they are posing?

Syria: Olympic Truce

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Anyone applying to enter the United Kingdom is treated according to our Immigration Rules. If an individual is currently the subject of a European Union or UN travel ban, they will not be able to come to the Games. However, I emphasise that this is a matter that relates to individuals, not to teams generally, groups or nationalities. I repeat: accreditation to the Olympics will be refused to any individual who may present a safety or security risk, or whose presence at the Games or in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, my noble friend mentioned the Annan plan. Amnesty International reported today that Syria is in a state of civil war. In his Statement to the House of Commons on 11 June, the Foreign Secretary said that if there was a full civil war the Annan plan would be set aside and the United Kingdom would move to a resolution in the Security Council. Are the Government co-operating with the French to do so next week?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

My understanding was that it was the International Red Cross that raised the concept of civil war, although whether it is qualified to establish an accepted viewpoint is debatable. The British Government are looking at the issue in the light of what has been said and the continuing, horrific and totally unacceptable level of violence. I cannot say more than that at the moment. We have not reached a clear view on the point that my noble friend raised.

Middle East: Recent Developments

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Friday 13th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, I start by thanking the Minister for his periodic attempts to update this House on developments in the Middle East. It is a matter of concern across the House, and this debate on these issues is welcome. I will speak principally about Iran and Israel, and will touch on Syria—the potential flashpoints for even greater conflict in the Middle East. I am speaking today, in part, with reflection on my role as co-chairman of the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs committee.

First, on the vexed issue of Iran’s attempts to become a nuclear-weapon state, I share my noble friend’s disappointment that our P5+5 talks in Istanbul last week did not make the progress that we would have hoped for. We need to be clear that diplomacy and negotiation is our preferred option in all circumstances. It follows from this uncontroversial position that when the country in question—Iran—continues to assert that its nuclear programme is for peaceful means, and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has regularly asserted that weapons of mass destruction are deemed to go against Islamic principles of proportionality in warfare, that we need to take care to assure it that international peace and stability are our motives, not belligerent action.

It is on these grounds that we in the Liberal Democrats have always supported a mix of measures to demonstrate our seriousness that there are consequences for Iran if it does not comply with its obligations as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Negotiations, IAEA inspection, verification and economic sanctions all have to play a part in the international community’s response to Iran. When we uphold international law and work through the United Nations, it demonstrates to other countries that the international community expects that they too should be bound by their obligations under the NPT and that there will be consequences for Iran if it does not.

We know that the escalation of sanctions is having an effect on the ground. The Iranian rial has devalued by some 45%, food prices and all basic commodities have increased significantly—unfortunately hurting some of the poorest and most vulnerable Iranians. Iran, too, has difficulties selling its oil. Economic sanctions are a blunt instrument in their impact across the whole population, rather than just the Iranian leadership but, given the apparent lack of responsiveness to international pressure, it is the ordinary people of Iran who have the most power to tell their leadership that they need a change of course. We hope that this change of course will come about in 2013 when presidential elections are held, but hoping for a change of leadership through elections is not the same as pursuing regime change through the use of force. I hope that my noble friend will take the opportunity to reassure Iran that we have no interest in bringing about regime change through force, although we would of right champion the cause of greater democracy and human rights in that country.

Let me turn to the position of our partners in Israel and the United States and speculation about their use of force against Iran to prevent it attaining nuclear weapons. We have seen today extraordinary revelations in the Telegraph that Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, has spoken publically of the role of MI6 assets in alleged assassinations or the use of cyber-warfare against Iran. He is described as having talked up MI6’s role in dealing with the threat. Given that the United Kingdom Government have previously denied any involvement in illegal actions against Iran, I hope that my noble friend will tell the House whether this speech was cleared by the Foreign Secretary, and whether this signals a change in the United Kingdom Government’s stance on publically declaring where their intelligence assets have been active. If these reports are true, they will do little to reassure the public that we are likely to comply with international law. In fact, the effect will be to signal to the public that we are happy to engage in unlawful and belligerent action—something we should have learnt the lesson about, given our unhappy history over Iraq.

Sir John’s comments could almost be construed as bragging. He is reported to have said:

“I take great pride in the fact that, in the last ten years, over a number of jobs, I’ve been involved in an issue of global concern, and I feel that I as an individual [have made] an impact in the outcome of events”.

His follow-up remarks indicate that we have not made a positive impact on the outcome of events if we are now so concerned about Iran’s capability to acquire nuclear weapons by 2014 as he warns. In my view, it would be best for the veneer of silence to descend on the Secret Intelligence Service once again. There is such a thing as “too much information”, and today we have seen an illustration of that. The fact that this speech took place under the heading of an “unclassified chat” and is extensively reported in a journal known as Civil Service World demonstrates a clear lack of judgment on the part of a senior official. It would behove our senior civil servants to express a clearer concern about the UK engaging in unlawful activities rather than indulging in “unclassified chats” which give a contrary impression.

This is not the TV programme “Spooks”. This matter engages UK interests and security directly. There are serious issues about accountability to Parliament as well. I am sorry that the two noble Lords who are members of the Joint Intelligence and Security Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, and the noble Marquess, Lord Lothian, are not hear today to share their views on the accountability of the services with us.

It is undoubtedly the view of the Liberal Democrats that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a significant threat to international peace and security within the definition of the United Nations Charter Chapter VII wording. The public comments of the Iranian leadership are also contradictory, on the one hand wishing to see the destruction of Israel and on the other hand declaring that it does not consider the use of weapons of mass destruction to be in conformity with Islam. I share the views of Israelis that they must do all they can to prevent Iran from carrying out its threats against them. However much one might appreciate Israel’s dilemma, I would put it to the Israeli establishment that it is not in their interest to carry out unilateral military strikes in the absence of UN authorisation. This is not an issue of legal niceties, either: it is fairly clear that there is no current build-up of military forces against Israel, nor a state of mobilisation against it which might, against a backdrop of hostilities, lead one to conclude that a clear and imminent threat exists, thereby justifying pre-emptive military strikes. The action would therefore be illegal and would destabilise the entire Middle East to a greater extent than ever before.

Lest there be any ambiguity regarding the use of pre-emptive strikes or, to use the more formal expression, anticipatory self-defence, I refer noble Lords to the seventh report of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the other place of June 2004, which had a chapter on international law and the use of force. In the evidence submitted to the committee by Professor Philippe Sands QC, another legal expert, it is clear that self-defence encompasses a right to use force in anticipation of an actual armed attack where there is an imminent threat. You do not need to be an international lawyer to see that the situation has not yet arrived, nor is it likely to for some time, even by Sir John Sawers’s estimation.

We know, too, that wise heads in Israel are themselves unconvinced of the use of strikes. Not only have we heard from Yuval Diskin, the former head of Shin Beit, who criticised the idea of an attack in Iran as recently as April 2012, but we also know that Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, the head of the Israeli Defence Force, has stated that in his view Iran has not decided yet to build nuclear weapons.

There is also the issue of whether the strikes would be successful. Even if Israel were to carry out these strikes unilaterally, which it has indicated it has the capacity to do, they would not be surgical in the sense that the June 1981 attack on Osirak was, which destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction south-east of Baghdad. My understanding is that, with numerous nuclear installations spread across Iran, we would potentially be looking at several weeks of a sustained airborne campaign. This would be not a pre-emptive strike but plain military aggression—a war, in ordinary English.

It is undoubtedly true that in this eventuality United Kingdom interests would be engaged beyond our responsibilities as a member of the United Nations Security Council. There is the question of asymmetric retaliation by Iran. We have forces in Afghanistan, more than 100,000 Britons are resident in the Gulf states, we have naval operations hosted by Bahrain and we have an obligation to keep international shipping lanes open. There is also the question, if the United States decided to support Israel, of the use of Diego Garcia. Will my noble friend give the House a reassurance that in the case of Diego Garcia, which is sovereign UK territory, the United States cannot use it for logistical support without express consent from the United Kingdom Government? It follows, therefore—and I ask my noble friend to confirm this, too—that if such a request was outside international law, permission would not be forthcoming.

My time has run out. I look forward to my noble friend’s response in his concluding statement.

European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [HL]

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Wednesday 4th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

Does the Minister recall the Committee stage of the Bill, when we debated several amendments tabled by a diligent Back-Bencher? If he recalls that, and the time that was taken over very careful and correct scrutiny of the Bill, will he confirm that those amendments and many more could have been tabled on Report and at Third Reading? Will he draw to the attention of the Leader of the House that if he and the Government continue in the way that they are, there might not just be one awkward Back-Bencher on one Bill but many awkward Back-Benchers on many Bills?

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, this is a vital measure but a very small and technical one. Throughout Second Reading, Committee and Report, the opposition Front Bench supported it, as did most people around the House. It is now important that it goes through to the House of Commons, where it should pass as speedily as possible, because the eurozone and the broader EU need to get on with solving the crisis.

Syria

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The prospects of success obviously remain clouded while there is no sign of all the warring and killing parties in Syria agreeing to anything. However, the movement that was agreed at the weekend was not all that we would have wished but it was something. The agreement was that there would be a combined move to try to achieve—with the aid of the Kofi Annan plan—a transitional government body, upon which the beginnings of peace and dialogue could be built. So, the Kofi Annan plan is there. It is the path to the transitional government body that has now been agreed. There was disagreement about who should be on that body. This was an undoubted difficulty that we cannot gloss over. However, the Kofi Annan plan is a means to an end and it is still in place.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, given that the plan agreed this weekend has a mutual consent clause that bars the US and Russia from either getting rid of President Assad or keeping him there, it is evident that the plan will not go anywhere. Will the UK Government work with the UN to review our sanctions regime in light of the fact that 40,000 fighters now belong to the Free Syrian Army and the carnage is continuing unabated? Should we not review this to allow the Syrians to defend their wives and children rather than be massacred in cold blood?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

These again are sentiments one totally agrees with, and of course we have some pathway forward with the European Union. Within the European Union, we are all agreed to apply and strengthen the sanctions and we are working all the time to see how that can be done. Once we get to the United Nations level, we are back with the difficulty that my noble friend, from her experience, understands full well—I know that she does. This is that, if we cannot get the wholehearted agreement through the United Nations Security Council of those who are supplying arms and of those who apparently resist the adequate condemnation of the slaughter, we cannot get the resolution in place. We will continue to work extremely hard to break through on this matter but we have not got there yet.

Falkland Islands

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I cannot comment on the movements of our submarines or on related intelligence matters. I applaud what the noble Lord said at the beginning but completely refute his later sentences. There are forces in the Falklands. We are perfectly well placed to rebut and repel any renewed invasion. Decisions about the strategic defence review, the future of our carriers and so on have no effect whatever on that sustained ability to defend the islanders against another invasion.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, I express our gratitude to the families of the service personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice. On behalf of others in the House, I say how grateful we are to hear from the noble Lord, Lord West, when he speaks with such passion about the events of 30 years ago.

My question is about the conduct of the referendum. The Falkland Islands Government have obviously been very bold in making this move to demonstrate their confidence in their ability to determine their own future. I note that the Statement says that international observers will be invited to observe the process. I wonder whether my noble friend might suggest to the Falkland Islands Government that it is important to have observers from Latin American countries to demonstrate the rigour of the process. That would be most helpful in countering Argentina’s public relations, which are of course inaccurate.

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

If I may say so to my noble friend, that is a very interesting thought, which I will certainly pass on to my colleagues. It will be important to establish beyond doubt that whatever emerges from the referendum is absolutely and properly established, and that the whole process is properly conducted. Of course it is undeniably on a very small scale, and therefore the monitoring and checking should be absolutely 100% proof that this is a sensible and precise expression of the wishes of the islanders.

Government of France: Meetings

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The noble Lord should not understand that, because I find his question rather hard to understand as well. The polarity of argument that he poses simply does not exist. The aim of Governments throughout Europe and throughout the global system is to restore expansion. We welcome the ideas of the French and of Monsieur Hollande where we think they would go in that direction, just as I think France and all responsible countries recognise that there has to be tight budgetary discipline as well, otherwise the efforts to expand if they immediately jack up interest rates would simply cancel out the policy. There is a matter of balance, and the noble Lord is better than most at understanding the need for balance in economics rather than one side or the other.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that while a pro-growth pact in Europe is welcome, it seems to be a bit of challenge to reduce a budget deficit supposedly exceeding even Italy’s by 2017, while magicking up 3.5% growth next year and massively cutting unemployment? It is a very ambitious project. If it is likely to succeed, will we listen very carefully to the ideas that bring it about, particularly after next Sunday when we might see a few more details of these plans?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

These are challenging demands, and they are obviously creating great strains and tensions in the countries affected. In a way, my noble friend has asked me to comment not so much on Monsieur Hollande’s wish to see expansion, which we all share, as on the German wish to stick very rigidly to certain austere budget disciplines. Somewhere between those two, and perhaps in talks between Monsieur Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel, there will emerge a sensible balance. We hope that there will and we shall certainly contribute to anything that achieves that.