King’s Speech

Baroness Goudie Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goudie (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome my two new colleagues to the House of Lords—the noble Lords, Lord Young and Lord Roberts—both of whose speeches I enjoyed enormously. I also welcome the noble Earl to his role and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, for all her kindness and work with us, especially the meetings on many issues on which I and others work. I hope to see her here again soon. I am very pleased that my good friend the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, is still in place and look forward to working with him.

I will raise the vital issue of women’s involvement in foreign policy and defence. I pay tribute to those suffering in all conflicts around the world and draw attention to the fact that women and girls suffer the damages of war greatly, both during and after the conflict. That is why we must acknowledge the vital role of women in shaping and influencing foreign policy and defence.

It is imperative that we recognise and harness the immense potential that lies within the talents, prospects and capabilities of female citizens. Over the years, we have witnessed remarkable strides towards gender equality in various spheres of society, including politics and the Armed Forces. However, as we evaluate the landscape of foreign policy and defence, it becomes evident that there is still much ground to cover. It is our duty to ensure that the voices and contributions of women are not only acknowledged but actively integrated into the decision-making processes that shape our national security and global engagements, at every level.

I bring this topic to you today, a few weeks after the release of the 2023 Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security index. The index draws on recognised data sources to measure women’s inclusion, justice, peace and security around the world, using 13 indicators ranging from education and employment to laws and organised violence. The United Kingdom scored 27th place out of 177 countries ranked in the index.

The index gives some stark reminders that must be held at the forefront of the Government’s mind when they consider foreign policy actions, especially in relation to the unfolding situations that we see in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, and everywhere else around the world afflicted by war. Women’s involvement in peace processes is vital, as is meaningful economic support for women, their education, business endeavours and health. Peace settlements that invite women to the table are more likely to endure, and women are more likely to advocate for policies that benefit all society, such as much better healthcare and education systems, and investment. Societies where women are doing well are more peaceful, democratic and prosperous, and are better prepared to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the events that took place in summer 2021, Afghanistan sits at the bottom of the Georgetown index on all matters relating to women’s safety, security and access to justice. Since the reinstatement of the Taliban’s brutal regime, women have been forced to stop working and to cease education, and have no protection from male violence. Despite the eruption of new, horrific conflicts, we cannot let women in Afghanistan be forgotten in their most desperate need, at a time like this.

Conflict and fragility have the most devastating effects on the lives of women. In all the fragile states of the world, one in five women experience intimate partner violence, and maternal mortality rates stand at 550 for every 100,000 live births—more than double the global average of 212. This is why, as we move forward into 2024 and beyond, and as the Government and nation seek to reaffirm our position in relation to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, to Gaza and Israel, and to every other instance of interstate and intrastate warfare, we must have the safety and security of women at the heart of our aims.

This is not even only for the sake of the women themselves. There are strong, proven correlations between women’s peace and security and other crucial matters, such as human development, climate change resilience and the likelihood of sustainable peace. All these attributes, essential to human health and well-being, are more related to women’s issues than to a country’s GDP, but we spend more time talking about post-war economics and development than we do trying to protect women and girls.

Women’s rights are the backbone of resilient, peaceful and democratic societies. It is now time for the Government to honour the promises they have made in this House to protect the rights and freedoms of women around the world. The emergence of new threats, such as escalating political violence, the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis, threaten to stall or even roll back the strides we have made in recent decades to protect women and girls. It is vital that we maintain a correct course and continue to support women’s participation at all levels of society, around the world, including at the peace table, in all discussions and in all military activities. I would also like the Government to look once again at the speech made a few years ago by the noble Baroness, Lady Sugg, on a feminist foreign policy. I hope that they take that forward as part of their plans.

Ukraine

Baroness Goudie Excerpts

Friday 25th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goudie (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sedwill, on his speech and welcome him to the House of Lords.

Around the world, we watch the fear and violence in Ukraine. Our hearts go out to all of them. I welcomed the Prime Minister’s Statement last night, but at the same time he did not mention aid and I felt he did not go far enough on the whole question of sanctions. I congratulate noble Lords on the Liberal Benches on what they had to say on sanctions. They are really important.

As the crisis in Ukraine escalates, it is important to hear the voices of women on the ground, as well as global experts. Last week, I attended a meeting convened by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, which stands with the people of Ukraine, especially the women peacebuilders who have been struggling for their freedom, democracy and integration in Europe. We simply must amplify their calls to action. Leading up to this terrible situation, they worked on the ground with other NGOs to provide economic and financial support to Ukraine and to ensure that aid is given to those women who are working in Afghanistan—I am so sorry, in Ukraine; I usually make speeches about Afghanistan.

The majority of SME workers in Ukraine are women. With Covid and the present situation, they are unable to be helped. They are the breadwinners of those families, as we know. I hope all the international aid, and aid from this country, has a gender and family lens.

We must ensure that there is monitoring and accountability of internal actors. The OSCE and other third-party organisations must closely monitor and report on the human rights situation. They must prepare and publish a joint statement on how security threats affect the women in Ukraine, since we know what has happened to women close by in Belarus.

We must ensure women’s participation and leadership. Those assessing and reporting on the current security situation are almost exclusively men. We as a country have promised that we will try to ensure that there is 50:50 representation in these sorts of situations, otherwise women will be erased from the crisis narrative, which will hinder their ability to prepare. We must advance inclusion security. Gender should be mainstream in all internationally supported programmes, and security responses in Ukraine and the OSCE should create a regional action plan on Resolution 1325.

We should support civil society, including those international and local NGOs working on the ground, such as the International Rescue Committee. Women’s rights organisations and activists should be supported through targeted funding. We should train and provide mentorship to them from afar, and when this tragedy is over.

We should engage regional and international allies to leverage unprecedented co-operation from ourselves, the United States and our European partners, and maybe as far as Australia and New Zealand. We must raise awareness through the media, such as the World Service and other media platforms we talked about earlier.

I call on the Home Office to publish an urgent plan outlining how the United Kingdom can offer safe and legal passage to people fleeing Ukraine. We must absolutely do this, and I call on the Minister to make sure this will happen, because nothing has happened at all. I do not want to see what has happened to other refugees happen to those in Ukraine.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Goudie Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goudie (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as listed in the register and I congratulate my noble friend Lady Ritchie on her maiden speech earlier this afternoon.

We have an opportunity today in this House to look at the promises that the Government made in the Queen’s Speech. It is for us to scrutinise that legislation and ensure that those promises are kept. I am a European. I am a child of Europe and I love Europe. I find it very difficult to say that we will no longer be in Europe, but, having accepted that decision, I am prepared to work hard with other people to repair whatever damage has been done between ourselves and other communities to ensure that we go forth in a much better way. At the same time, I am not prepared for us to give anything up. We must never give up.

I am reminded that it is the 25th anniversary of the events in Beijing. Women’s rights are human rights and a lot has happened to women. We have moved back and we have moved forward, but in the present situation we are moving back very badly. When one of the partners that we are meant to be trading with, America, is not prepared to accept CEDAW or allow any of its funding to go towards supporting maternal rights in any country, and goes around the world trying to persuade other countries not to put funding into maternal rights and family planning, it is not the best way to be going forward. So I hope that when we do these trade deals with America we can put some pressure on there.

Also, America refuses to accept the International Criminal Court. I hope that we can take a look at that court in future, because it does not have a good record at all in terms of prosecutions on PSVI and other human rights. I sometimes wonder whether that court is worth being kept or whether we should look at something completely fresh. I hope that we can discuss that or put it on the agenda of the G7 or the G20 in the next year or two, because it is a bad institution.

On the G7, I hope that Britain will take a lead on the issues that it has taken a lead on before, but I am concerned about where the G20 is taking place. We know that Saudi Arabia has started to play games about women’s rights and human rights. We know that that will be a plaster for only a few weeks, or a year or so. I hope that Britain is not taken in, as other countries might be, at the G20, or at the W20, in which industry will be taking part.

On the foreign service and Ministry of Defence inquiries, I hope very much that we will strengthen these departments. We should encourage people to come and work for us, pay them and give much better facilities than they have previously had, and we should encourage them to stay and not be headhunted off after a couple of years. We need to have a defence department, diplomacy and a foreign service that really care. Embassies abroad should be serviced properly and should have the right staff who can take in everything, from DfID to trade and the position of people who need help—the whole gamut—and soft power. At the moment, less is happening in embassies than before.

On the whole question of DfID, I would like an undertaking from the ministry about what I read in this morning’s Daily Mail, which you have to read to find out the Government’s policy. The political editor, John Stevens, said:

“The foreign aid department will escape the axe”


of the Prime Minister’s scaling back of the proposed Whitehall shake-up and the Prime Minister will largely concentrate instead on improving the Minister’s performance. Now this newspaper constantly attacks foreign aid, however it comes, so I have a proposal to ensure that we continue giving foreign aid. Maybe we should have better governance over aid. At the moment the governance is quite good, but it could be much better. There should be better monitoring. Nothing should be without measurement, so if the monitoring were done better and there were more transparency between the NGOs, INGOs and other organisations that we give funding to, we would see a difference in the attacks by the extreme right, by newspapers and by programmes such as “Panorama”. We would then see a whole difference and people would understand why we are giving aid to these countries and the conditions that people are living under.

Also, if we do not educate girls and boys, the world will be in a much worse state than it is now. It is vital. So I would like to hear an undertaking not only that DfID will stay but that it will be strengthened and given much more respect from the outside world and the inside of Whitehall. I sometimes feel that DfID is the poor relation, in particular with the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.

On those three departments, the issues of PSVI and girls’ education both slip between departments, particularly PSVI. You cannot get decisions made because somebody is thinking, “Oh well, we will have to put this back or that back.” I hope that the conference in March will take place and that it will be more than a conference, and that Britain will come back to being the world leader that it was on this issue, and that the right sort of funding will be put in. The funding can be found. We must do this: it is absolutely vital.

On aid, my noble friend just mentioned that a large amount of aid goes to countries and is just given there, and then we find out four or five years later that it has been siphoned off by some member of the ruling family or something—I am sorry, I forgot the time. I was on my bandwagon.