Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

It is not interesting; it is urgent. Aid needs to get to the people who need it. One of the problems when a place descends into such desperation is that lawlessness always inevitably follows. That is what has happened, but we are still able to work with partners on the ground to get the aid to where it is needed. That is what we must continue to focus on. We have proven that we are able to get the aid where it is needed. We managed to vaccinate children against polio, where they needed two vaccinations. We managed to deliver that; it is not beyond us to get food, medicine and shelter to children in Gaza.

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that measures must be taken now to protect and document locations where mass graves have been reported in Gaza? With that in mind, I suggest that we consult the International Commission on Missing Persons, which stands ready to support all efforts to protect and investigate mass graves and reliably identify human remains, for the sake of the dignity of the people of Gaza but also for the sake of peace and security in the long term.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Yes. That is a very good suggestion, and I will take it up. The noble Baroness is of course completely right that it is essential to be able to identify remains and to have an accurate picture of what has happened, for there to be consequences where appropriate and for loved ones to be able to identify the bodies of people they have lost. It is a bedrock without which it is very difficult to imagine how any peace could be achieved in the future.

UK-Ukraine 100-year Partnership

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

First, I think the lack of attendance this evening is probably something to do with a couple of late nights of voting. It is not lack of support at all; it is a lack of disagreement between our parties. If we disagreed, this place would be full, and the fact that we agree so strongly means that noble Lords feel confident in all Front Benches being here and saying things with which they would agree.

I am so glad that the issue of people-to-people links is featuring so much in this discussion. It is true that this cannot only be Government to Government or Parliament to Parliament; it needs to encompass the whole of civil society. We are speaking to the British Council, the Premier League and many other organisations so that there is a real depth to that partnership, under pillar 9 in the agreement, which is something we feel passionately about. I know that Members from across the House will want to bring their contacts, expertise and experience to contribute to making pillar 9 as deep and meaningful as we can.

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the Government’s clarity on the moral and strategic necessity of supporting Ukraine, and the House’s full support—from those who are here—for the future of Ukraine, and what both we and the Government have done previously. But the West’s longstanding appeasement of Russia, from Moldova to Georgia to Crimea, emboldened Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A pre-emptive and timely response would have been far less costly in lives and resources than addressing the aftermath. However, we are where we are. We now risk repeating the same mistakes in the western Balkans. Sadly, today’s Serbia mirrors Russia’s 2014 trajectory, engaging in large-scale rearmament and actively backing secessionists in Bosnia and Kosovo. With that in mind, can the Minister say what concrete steps the Government have taken in the western Balkans not to have the Ukraine scenario repeated there? Can she clarify the Government’s position on rejoining Operation Althea?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for reminding us of the wider context—it is very important—as well as reminding us of the not-too-distant history of this conflict. I can assure her that my honourable friend, Minister Stephen Doughty, is in regular contact with our friends and allies in the Balkans, and he is working very hard to prevent the situation that she warns us of. It is right that we do not take our eye off the situation which she discusses.

Rules-based International Order

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for introducing this vital debate and congratulate her on her speech. As other noble Lords have noted, the international rules-based system is under unprecedented stress. It faces not only the test of time and a world vastly different from the one it was designed for but the shortcomings of our collective response to global challenges, from climate change and mass migration to artificial intelligence and advanced weapons systems. Revisionist autocratic powers seek to disrupt and displace the system, while regional powers pursue nuclear and missile programmes and terrorism. Populist movements and illiberal democracies challenge global economic integration.

The founders of the international order could also not have envisaged the way in which the large tech companies operate as quasi-states, often prioritising profits over democracy. Unregulated algorithms amplify harmful content, fuelling disinformation and even ethnic violence, as tragically witnessed in the genocide against the Rohingya. With more active conflicts occurring now than at any time since the Second World War, global cohesion, stability and security have entered a dangerous phase.

As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this month, we should remember those who perished, reflect on our values and never stop learning from that tragedy: never allow its lessons to be algorithmed away, diminished or deliberately reinterpreted by those who seek to distort history. The international institutions, treaties, and laws we rely on today were born from the two world wars and the particular tragedy of the Holocaust. Britain played a proud and pivotal role in establishing these foundations. As prosecutor Ben Ferencz said after the Nuremberg trials:

“I learned that if we did not devote ourselves to developing effective world law, the same cruel mentality that made the Holocaust possible might one day destroy the entire human race”.


Today, these institutions need more than our respect or fond memories. They require us to recommit to their principles and work to strengthen and reform them. It is widely accepted that Russia and China pose primary challenges to the international order. Both seek to reshape it: Russia through force and subversion, China through subtler means. One crucial way to counter this is by defending—and adhering to—the international rules and norms that we helped to establish, remembering that international law is not discretionary: something to be ignored when it is inconvenient and adhered to only when convenient.

After Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, our collective response showed international co-operation to uphold international law at its most effective, with Ukrainian courage bolstered by decisive multilateral action. On the other hand, our darkest moments—the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica, the invasion of Iraq, the impunity for atrocities in Syria and, most recently, the mounting catastrophes in Sudan and Gaza—occurred when we disregarded our collective responsibility to uphold international norms.

While we all welcome the ceasefire in Gaza and hope that it holds, and deplore Hamas’s terrorist attacks, we must acknowledge that the Israeli Government, with the support of the United States, the United Kingdom and other friends and allies, has ignored numerous orders from both the ICJ and the International Criminal Court to comply with humanitarian law. In the words of Omer Bartov, the Israeli-American genocide scholar, these acts have destroyed

“the entire edifice of international law that was put into place after WWII”.

Whatever one might make of the merits of this assertion, the fact that it had to be made at all is tragic.

Britain too has fallen short on occasions. Between 2015 and 2023, we dropped from second to eighth place in the global humanitarian aid rankings, even as crises multiplied worldwide. While these cuts may have saved some money in the short term, they have cost us in international credibility and soft power. At the same time, our responses to human rights violations have shown some inconsistencies. In Ethiopia, we seem to have prioritised trade over justice. In the DRC, where M23 rebels rape and pillage with Rwandan support, we defer to President Kagame. In Sudan, we would rather not talk about external enablers. In Gaza, while rightly supporting Israel in its response and defence after 7 October, we have failed in our duty to be a candid friend and to defend and uphold international humanitarian law.

Theodore Roosevelt once observed that the most unpleasant truth is a safer companion than a pleasant falsehood. If we believe that we are safer in a world without rules or that we can pay no price for selectively applying them, we gravely misunderstand our own interests. Our international engagement is not about idealism; it is about self-interest. During moments such as the Falklands War or after the Novichok attacks on British soil, most of our allies stood with us because they believed in shared principles. We must therefore reaffirm our commitment to international institutions, investing in diplomacy and deterrence while leveraging soft power through mechanisms such as the BBC World Service. Most importantly, we must restore moral principles at the heart of our foreign policy, not just through stirring rhetoric but through consistent actions that reflect those values.

Human nature remains constant. It is prone, as ever, to error, greed and conflict. This reality demands a response from international institutions and sustained efforts to address poverty, injustice and conflict. The rules-based order is not merely a diplomatic construct; it is humanity’s best hope for lasting peace.

Gaza: Healthcare System Support

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, a recent report by Save the Children reveals that at least 14,100 children have been killed. Gaza now has the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history. Additionally, at least 17,000 children—approximately 3% of Gaza’s population —have been orphaned.

For the last year, I have consistently supported Project Pure Hope, which, since November, has been trying to extend UK medical assistance to severely injured children in this country, at no cost to taxpayers, for a limited time and in limited numbers. So far, it has failed, and I have failed too. It has recently reached out again to the Cabinet Office but has not received a response. Can the Minister assure me that these initiatives will be considered?

There is a lot of passion and controversy about this issue. Can the Minister tell us whether international journalists will finally be allowed into Gaza so that they can bear witness to 13 hospitals, to the citizens of Gaza who have been cared for in hospitals on Israeli territory and so that we can finally get what could be considered an objective view of what exactly has been happening on the ground and the results of those actions?

I will use my last 20 seconds to ask the Minister to update us on the status of UNRWA and the UK Government’s current position on UNRWA being kept out.

Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Helic]

To ask His Majesty’s Government (1) what representations they are making to the Government of Israel and (2) what steps they plan to take to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, following reports of infant deaths due to hypothermia and starvation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her Question. The suffering that we are seeing in Gaza is intolerable. The UK is committed to alleviating this. We announced £112 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories this financial year, while also supporting Palestinians in the wider region. Our support has provided 52,900 shelter items, 76,000 wound care kits, 1.3 million items of medicine and 500 warm children’s clothing kits. The UK continues to press the Government of Israel to better protect civilians in Gaza. In November the Foreign Secretary wrote, with his French and German counterparts, to urge Israel to ensure sufficient winter preparations and supplies.

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in paying tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson.

A year ago, on 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice issued the first set of provisional orders in the case of the application of the genocide convention in the Gaza Strip. Less than a year later, nowhere are civilians in Gaza safe. Everything and everybody is a target. Schools, hospitals, civilian infrastructure, aid workers, journalists, medics and civilians are all reduced to rubble and corpses. North Gaza has been under a near-total siege for more than two months and south Gaza is under constant bombardment. Today, an eighth baby froze to death.

According to Tom Fletcher, the head of OCHA, the Israeli authorities have denied over 100 requests to access north Gaza since 6 October. With the fear of polio spreading to the region, the UN was able to respond and vaccinate 600,000 children twice. Now we see babies dying of cold when blankets and shelter, and all the aid that we have paid for, have been sat waiting to enter Gaza for six months. Removing UNRWA, the largest aid organisation on the ground, is another step in the wrong direction.

The only way anything can change is with political will. Given that nothing the UK has done so far has shifted the dynamic on the ground and prevented this catastrophic loss of life, what will now change? What will HMG do to defend international humanitarian law, maintain UNRWA’s vital work and secure the basic protection of civilians in Gaza, including humanitarian access and the release of hostages?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. We were quick to reinstate aid to UNRWA. She is quite correct to point out that October and November 2024 were the worst months since 2023 for access to Gaza. The success—if I can put it that way—of the polio vaccination programme shows that access can be achieved. When it can be facilitated, it can be used to good effect and can save lives. We urge the Israeli Government to allow the international community, we think through UNRWA—if there is another viable way of doing this, we would be interested, but our assessment is that there is no viable alternative to UNRWA at this time—to have that access, so that the protection from the weather, the food and the medicine that are so urgently needed can be provided.

International Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very careful about the use of the word “genocide”. It is not a word that should be bandied around by any politician. Genocide is for a court to determine. That has not happened, and unless and until it does, I will not refer to this as genocide.

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, there are numerous independent reports of sexual violence being perpetrated against imprisoned Palestinian aid workers and medics. The worst, tragic reported case is of a male orthopaedic surgeon who was allegedly raped to death. What specific actions have our Government taken to ensure that reported cases are documented and preserved in accordance with the Government’s International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict, with the purpose of supporting future investigations into sexual violence as a crime under international law?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right to highlight what has been happening to health workers and aid workers. Almost 1,000 health workers and around 300 aid workers have been killed since October 2023. It is important that what happens is documented and recorded for the future, as she says.

The Ukraine Effect (European Affairs Committee Report)

Baroness Helic Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Helic (Con)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Lord’s valedictory speech outlining a remarkable journey from transforming United Scientific to leading Lloyd’s of London and serving in government in such a distinguished way. The noble Lord’s contributions to business, public service and the City of London have been truly exceptional. I hope he will not mind me saying that, when I consulted his biography, I thought I was reading a perfect Hollywood script of a businessman who has done it all. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to follow his words today.

I welcome this debate, the report and its recommendations, and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, and the members of the committee. More than 30 years ago, crimes against humanity and genocide were committed in the country of my birth, Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the time, and until recently, I hoped it would never happen anywhere else again, not in Europe or elsewhere. Yet today, after more than 1,000 days of the most recent aggression, the unprovoked and illegal full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, such horrors are once again unfolding in Europe and beyond, in places like Sudan and Gaza.

Since the invasion, at least 16 children per week have been killed or injured. Sexual violence is once again being used as a weapon of war against Ukrainian women and girls. The risk of another Bucha intensifies with every new report of Russian advances. There are reports of serious challenges with the Ukrainian front line and Russia’s territorial gains. Consistent attacks on critical infrastructure are well-known tactics that Russia has deployed in each and every theatre it has fought in.

This demands a sober response. Unity of and with our friends on the continent and across the Atlantic is essential. I therefore welcome the Foreign Secretary’s clarity that:

“UK security is indivisible from European security”,


and the ironclad support for Ukraine from His Majesty’s Government. But the question we should always ask ourselves is: what more can be done?

First, we should work with the European Union to impose tougher and more extensive sanctions on Russia. With that in mind, does the Minister agree that we should work with the EU to explore further seizures of Russian assets, tighten currency restrictions and not neglect sanction-busting third-party states, which have so successfully supported Russia over the last 1,000 days?

Secondly, we should use this opportunity to genuinely reset our relationship with the European Union. I therefore welcome the calls for co-operation with PESCO, the European defence fund and the European Defence Agency. The lack of an institutional framework and regulatory divergence are fundamental problems, but we have other problems that go beyond that; the loss of trust on both sides is at the heart of the issue. We must work towards rebuilding it.

A wide-ranging and legally binding UK and EU defence pact is a perfect opportunity to fill the gaps and rebuild relations. The only way to prevent another Ukraine and to help this Ukraine is to invest in collective deterrence. Increased and consistent funding for the Armed Forces and Diplomatic Service is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Working together is the only way forward.

Thirdly, I would like to step away from Ukraine for a moment, because there is a region the report sadly did not mention or reflect on: the western Balkans, where Russia has continued its damaging, malign influence and spread of disinformation. The foundation of peace and prosperity is deterrence, not appeasement and neglect. That applies to Ukraine as much as to the western Balkans and vice versa. I therefore welcome His Majesty’s Government’s renewed commitment to the region, but we must go further.

We must build on this by working more closely with the EU and partners—I hope the United States as well—to promote capacity building, engage in joint exercises and conduct training missions across the region. This is in our interest. Were there to be a collapse of security and renewed instability in the western Balkans, the illegal migrant route would be wide open. The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, recently visited Bosnia. Can the noble Baroness the Minister let us know his assessment of the strength and capability of the EUFOR deterrent there and the need for a UK role in strengthening Operation Althea? Additionally, has any thought been given to replicating the Joint Expeditionary Force model, which has been such a success in northern Europe, in the Balkans?

Fourthly, I commend the report for its focus on winning the peace. We must be cautious about a Dayton-style agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Incidentally, today it is 29 years since that agreement was signed. While it brought peace, it also created an unworkable institutional system in Bosnia-Herzegovina, easily exploited by secessionists and their enablers. If so-called autonomous regions were to be established in Ukraine to appease Russia and satisfy secessionists, that would be a complete disaster. To do so would be to reward the aggressor and trust it with the post-war power-sharing arrangements. This would entrench corruption, embolden strongmen and autocrats and encourage adversaries worldwide. It would betray the Ukrainians who have lost their lives for their nation and for their sovereignty.

This is all, of course, up to the Ukrainians. They must never feel pressure from any of their partners, allies or friends to agree to or settle on an unjust peace. We have no right to trade in their territory, and I hope that we never see that. Ukraine will outlive Putin and anyone else who comes after him. But its cities, schools and hospitals will need to be rebuilt. The people of Ukraine, who have been fighting so admirably and valiantly, will need to know that this scenario will not be repeated in the future. They need to feel secure and safe.

Much can be learned from the past and from other theatres. The international community must come together to foster reconciliation and prevent another outbreak of violence. The use of tribunals and commissions must be introduced to hold perpetrators accountable. This method worked elsewhere; it should work in Ukraine too.

Finally, as the second Trump Administration approaches, we ought to be cautious but not despondent. We ought to embrace the return of peace through strength by raising our own defence spending and our overall capabilities. I hope, therefore, that we can use this moment to rebuild our relationship with our friends and partners on the continent and strengthen it with the United States across the Atlantic, as we stand with Ukraine in her finest and most difficult hour.