Eritrea and Ethiopia

Baroness Morgan of Ely Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morgan of Ely (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, on securing this very important debate, and particularly on his illuminating introduction.

The tragedy unfolding in Eritrea and Ethiopia is impacting directly on us here in the UK and across the EU, and the picture painted by the right reverend Prelate tugs at your heartstrings. It is another example of how we cannot isolate ourselves from the problems of the world; we cannot haul up the drawbridge and hope that the situation will go away. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are desperate in both these countries: so desperate that they are prepared to risk everything—and I mean everything—to start a new life, not just here in Europe but in other African countries, too, as noble Lords have said.

There is no doubting the seriousness of the situation, particularly in Eritrea. As has been suggested, Eritreans and Ethiopians are the main nationalities of the irregular migrants seeking asylum in the EU, apart from Syrians. They come either by land, normally through Lebanon and Syria into Turkey and the western Balkans, then on to the EU, or by sea, often using Tunisia or Alexandria in Egypt as their key point of departure. I ask the same question as that asked by my noble friend Lady Kinnock: what are they fleeing from? What is driving this mass exodus, which includes not just women and children but thousands of unaccompanied minors? The simple answer is that neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea is a functioning democracy.

Although both Ethiopia and Eritrea are suffering real problems, there is more scope to influence activities in Ethiopia. In the past, there seems to have been a modicum of free speech and a free press in Ethiopia, although the Government’s intolerance of dissent seems to be increasing significantly in the face of general elections in May. There have been large-scale arrests of protesters and a crackdown on opposition opponents. This is particularly true in the Oromo region, where at least 5,000 people have been arrested as a result of their opposition to the ruling party.

But if we think that the situation is bad in Ethiopia, it is truly catastrophic in Eritrea, where all freedoms were suppressed in September 2001. There is no religious freedom, as the right reverend Prelate underlined, no political pluralism, and no independent press in the nation. The forced and interminable military service to fight the unending border war with the neighbours in Ethiopia is clearly a real problem that is driving people from the country.

There are some key points which we would like the Government to take on board. We believe that all possible pressure should be brought to bear in particular on the Eritrean regime to give way to a democratic Government who will respect human rights and the wishes of their people. What this does not mean is attempting to start a new relationship with the existing Eritrean authorities through providing unconditional aid. Given the failure of all previous attempts to engage in a meaningful way, do the Government really believe that the regime can respond positively? Do the Government agree that, unless there is clear and verifiable evidence that human rights in Eritrea have improved, there should be no new beginning with the regime?

I understand that the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea will visit the UK this week to hold meetings and collect testimonies and accounts on the human rights situation in Eritrea. Can the Minister give an assurance that the Government will support the UN in its work and ensure that an objective picture of the situation in the country can be assembled?

We are all aware that there are fears and concerns within the British population about the scale of immigration to the UK. Such a fear is not just here in the UK, but true across the EU. We need to ensure that, across the EU, we have a co-ordinated approach to migration from this part of the world. Let us be clear: if Britain left the EU it would not stop people from coming, but it would stop us from working together in a co-ordinated fashion with our EU partners.

A €5 million programme is being established between FRONTEX—the agency of the EU that manages co-operation between national border guards to secure the external borders of the Union, including from illegal immigration, human trafficking and terrorist infiltration—and the UNHCR to help the countries of the western Balkans strengthen their asylum and migration policies and capabilities. Additionally, FRONTEX is co-operating closely with Turkey, which has helped to stem the flow of the ghost ships that we saw before Christmas. I understand that it has assigned a member state expert to help the Turks to improve security around the port of Mersin.

The EU has also signed a readmission agreement with Turkey, which means that Turkey must take back not only nationals who may be irregular migrants, but migrants who are seen to have come from Turkey. There is close and joint co-operation in the Aegean Sea and on the Greek and Bulgarian land borders. Could the Minister explain how on earth the UK could begin to influence or support these actions if we were outside the EU?

We should not underestimate the people who are seeking to benefit from people’s immense suffering: the people traffickers who extort thousands from these desperate people. Europol is ensuring that there is an exchange of information across Europe and with our partners in the western Balkans and Turkey that ensures that European nations can tackle some of the criminal aspects behind this migration.

However, we should be clear that none of this will stem the flows out of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The human rights violations are simply too much for many of the population to bear. While Eritrea is considered a real basket case in terms of human rights, the tragedy is that things seem to be getting worse in Ethiopia, which was once the darling of the international aid community. Can the Minister explain how aid, being conditional on improvements in human rights, can be strengthened for Ethiopia? Can she outline how we can offer more support to Eritreans in the camps in Sudan and Ethiopia? Finally, can the Minister clarify the situation relating to migrants from these two countries when they arrive in the UK? What proportion of them are termed “irregular migrants”? What proportion are given asylum status? Is there any recognition that there are many desperately poor countries in Africa, but that poverty and economic migration does not explain the disproportionate numbers arriving from these two countries?