East Africa: Refugee Crisis

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Bates

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

It is trying its best. It is a dire situation, to be quite frank, and some 80 humanitarian workers have lost their lives since the beginning of this crisis. The 400 British troops there are doing incredible work as part of the UN mission and are led very ably by David Shearer. There was a commitment last year at the UN for a further regional deployment of 4,000 troops. That needs to happen. However, ultimately it is for the Government and the Opposition to honour the ceasefire that was declared and to allow humanitarian aid to get through. We continue to keep that under review. Major General Patrick Cammaert undertook a review into the incident he talked about and we will continue to follow that inquiry very closely.

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the humanitarian aid that the Government are giving to east Africa but there are reports that the crisis is being used by some people to traffic women from east Africa into Europe. Can the Minister say what steps the Government are taking to minimise this traumatic experience for some of the most vulnerable women?

[Lord Bates]

It is a fact that that is happening. That is the reason why we are a party to, and led off on, the Khartoum process; why we are signatories to, and urging forward, the joint Valletta agreement on human trafficking, which was a follow-up to that; and why it is important that we work particularly with the African Union and European Union colleagues in that area to clamp down on this evil trade.

South Sudan: Famine

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Bates

Thursday 23rd February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, who has worked tirelessly in this area of South Sudan. I will shortly meet the noble Lord, Lord Curry, and the Anglican international aid workers to see what more can be done. The Anglican Communion can be a real instrument for peacebuilding in that part of the world. We want to do whatever we can to help it.

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, I too congratulate the Government on the aid they are sending to Sudan. As we know, undernutrition and malnutrition disproportionally affect women and girls. Have the Government seen evidence that the aid they are sending is going to women and girls as well as men?

[Lord Bates]

That is a good point, and why we are deploying an additional 400 troops as part of the UN mission to ensure that aid reaches the people for whom it is intended. The £100 million announced yesterday will provide food assistance for over 500,000 people, nutritional support for 27,500 children, and safe drinking water for 300,000 people.

HIV Global Epidemic: Young People

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Bates

Thursday 1st December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

We must give credit to PEPFAR, and to George W Bush, who set it up, for the work it has done around the world in tackling this disease. Certainly, that would be our expectation. We have a very close working relationship with USAID in this area and we fully expect that it will continue, into the future, to tackle and achieve the global goal of eradicating HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, good nutrition is important for all of us, but it is particularly important for those living with HIV or AIDS. Can my noble friend say what is being done to ensure that there are proper trigger points when DfID is providing aid so that nutrition is taken as a key point, particularly when treatments cause wastage, lipid malabsorption and other issues to do with dietary needs?

[Lord Bates]

My noble friend is right to point to this. When we look at HIV strategies and DfID’s work around the world and with our partners in the World Health Organization, it is very dangerous to see them siloed. Strategies must be cross-cutting, across all the interventions and all the humanitarian responses which we have to this disease, to bring hope and prevention in the attempt to eradicate AIDS by 2030.

Modern Slavery Act 2015

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Bates

Monday 26th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

There is an interdepartmental ministerial group on modern slavery, which meets and publishes quarterly reports—it published one just last week on its work on supply chains. The Home Office as it should, is ensuring that we lead by example across government in respect of supply chains. Of course, that question is going to be there in the checklist. It is there in a lot of cases already in departments, where they have obligations under human rights legislation to ensure that they check the status of people who are in their supply chain. We will continue to monitor that, and we will certainly continue to report on it.

[Baroness Manzoor (LD)]

My Lords, there is some research saying that nearly 50% of children who are going on to detention centres go missing within their first 48 hours within Europe. What are the Government doing to ensure that these children are not being trafficked?

Women: Domestic Violence

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Bates

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

The noble Baroness makes a good point. This is part of an ongoing trial, as she alluded to. Once the trial is completed later this year, there will be an evaluation process, and factors such as how it has been used in domestic violence situations, in particular, will be taken into account in deciding how we move forward.

[Baroness Manzoor (LD)]

My Lords, the ONS figures demonstrate that last year 1.3 million women and over 700,000 men suffered from domestic violence. There is a strong link between poverty and domestic violence. What are the Government doing to tackle that issue?

[Lord Bates]

That is absolutely right. The figures that I have are roughly the same: 1.4 million women and 700,000 men. Clearly, there is a link to people’s economic situation, their educational achievement and their overall environment. That is why we have extended to a further 400,000 families the troubled families programme, which is having a real impact in this area in tackling that type of behaviour.