Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Sheehan]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

My Lords, DfID has monitored and assessed the disasters and emergencies preparedness programme through annual reviews, which are publicly available, and an external evaluation was conducted. Based on this information, the core part of the programme will run its course and end in March 2018, as planned, and the innovation window will run its course and end in March 2019, again, as planned.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

I thank the Minister for his response, but does he agree that the disasters and emergencies preparedness programme has shown that investing in preparing for humanitarian disasters is a lot more effective than responding in a hurry? I am glad that he has cleared up some of the confusion about when the programme will end. What might be replacing this very cost-effective programme?

[Lord Bates]

The noble Baroness is right: UNICEF and the World Food Programme have identified that every £1 spent in preparedness can save £2 in humanitarian assistance. It is absolutely right that we are spending approximately £175 million this year on resilience and prevention programmes. We looked at the specific DEPP programme she mentions. It was very complex in how it delivered. The overheads were quite high at about 25%. We have said that we would like to take a good look at it again to see whether we can deliver a more effective programme, but our commitment to preparedness and humanitarian intervention remains absolutely the same.

HIV: Global Response and Young People

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Thursday 30th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

That seems a very good suggestion. I am happy to take it away and look at the possibility of sending a young delegate to the AIDS conference next year. I think that we could do more in this area. Above the youth strategy, we have the HIV/AIDS strategy, which cuts across all these issues. The noble Lord is absolutely right to remind us about the effects of AIDS. It is the biggest killer of young girls in sub-Saharan Africa and 80% of all new infections among adolescents occur in young girls. Education, the involvement of peer groups, overcoming stigma and making sure that people have access to the right sexual and reproductive health advice are all very important, and I am very happy to take away the noble Lord’s suggestion and look at it again.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, the latest figures from the WHO show an increase in new infections in Europe. In Africa, the number of new infections is declining far too slowly. Does the Minister agree that prevention is better than cure and that investment in vaccines and other prevention tools must continue?

Rohingya: Refugees

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Thursday 23rd November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

We are in a strong position to provide it because of my noble friend’s work when he was Foreign Secretary and the leadership he has taken in this important area. As a result of that, one of the first things we did was to ensure that counselling was available for 10,000 women who had been subjected to gender-based violence, and 2,000 who had been subjected to sexual violence in conflict. That is only part of our wider effort on this. There is no doubt that significant crimes have been committed and those responsible need to be brought to justice. The events in The Hague yesterday should remind us that, however long it takes, the resolve of the international community will ensure that happens.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, DfID’s support for the almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who have fled such horrific violence would be effectively demonstrated by implementing its recommitments to the Grand Bargain and releasing funds to local first responders swiftly, paying particular attention to women, so that they can lead the response to the 448,000 women and girls who have suffered devastating sexual and gender-based violence. To what extent is this happening and by what mechanism? Secondly, has the FCO team specialising in responding to gender-based violence been deployed? I understand that is now the case.

[Lord Bates]

That work is going on: the International Organization for Migration and the UNHCR are working there, and we are co-ordinating with all the organisations. We have committed £47 million and should take pride in the UK being by far the largest bilateral donor, with $63 million pledged. Next is the United States, with $38 million, then Sweden, with $23 million. We are proud of that, but it is not just about the money; it is also about driving the political and international pressure.

Israel: DfID Secretary of State Meetings

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Tuesday 7th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, the Secretary of State for DfID has repeatedly admonished her department for not being sufficiently transparent in making sure that every single penny of UK taxpayers’ aid money gives value for money, yet she herself goes rogue. She meets with the Israeli Prime Minister. Regardless of what the Minister says, it is a very sensitive region indeed—particularly in this year, the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. Nevertheless, she meets the Israeli Prime Minister, in secret, without her officials, without the prior knowledge of the Foreign Office and without the prior knowledge even of Prime Minister Theresa May herself. Furthermore, on her return to the UK, she attempts to influence government policy by asking that UK taxpayer money be handed over to the Israeli army for aid work in the illegally annexed Golan Heights. Does the Minister agree that she has comprehensively broken the Ministerial Code, forfeited the respect of colleagues and officials and should, in all decency, go?

[Lord Bates]

I do not accept that. Indeed, Section 8.14 of the Ministerial Code states:

“Ministers meet many people and organisations and consider a wide range of views as part of the formulation of Government policy”.


It does not make a specific point on that. That is why the Prime Minister has responded today to say that we need some clarification. It is important that people see that these meetings are occurring, and that that is important.

The Israeli Defense Forces’ Operation Good Neighbor in the Golan Heights provides emergency medical support to Syrians crossing the border. It has received widespread humanitarian recognition for what it is doing, and that was something that was explored. But our policy is that, because it is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we would not support such a programme because we do not believe that the Israeli Defense Forces should be there. Therefore, the answer was no to that.

Overseas Development

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Wednesday 1st November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

If we had worked unilaterally, we would not have achieved the advances that we did yesterday. I should make clear what those advances were. By working together we managed to increase the coefficient for peacekeeping forces from 7% to 15%. The noble Lord asked about the difference between the position that pertained earlier in the year and now. The difference is that category five hurricanes have hit the Caribbean and caused extensive, catastrophic loss to some small island communities that lack the capacity to rebuild. We consider it important that the rules must be fit for purpose, and that they were lacking in that regard. That is the reason why the Secretary of State secured an important advance so that when an island falls back under the threshold for overseas development assistance as a result of a catastrophic loss, they can be readmitted to the list. That is a major advance. Small countries and small islands welcome it and I hope the noble Lord will too.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, as the Minister has already said, the government press release yesterday said that DAC has agreed to work to create a new mechanism to readmit countries previously eligible for ODA back on to the list of ODA-eligible countries if their income per capita falls low enough. I know that the Secretary of State is touting this as a great victory but does the Minister really believe that the income per capita of people in the British Virgin Islands, which is currently greater than in the UK, will drop to a level which will allow it to qualify for ODA any time soon? After all, the hurricanes destroyed shoddily built houses that poor people lived in, not the digitally insulated, prosperous world that those who live in the tax haven enjoy.

[Lord Bates]

It may not be the case in the BVI, but it certainly may well be in countries such as Anguilla which have only recently graduated from the list of least developed countries. We are talking about losses that would be equivalent to the entire GDP of the country, so it is important that we offer assistance to them. After all, the primary purpose of aid is to help people in need—people in poverty—and for the purpose of economic development. In my view, and in the view of the Secretary of State and the DAC earlier this week, all those criteria apply in this case.

Sierra Leone: Ebola

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Monday 30th October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, I add my voice to that of other noble Lords in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for bringing this important debate to the House. I share wholeheartedly the sentiments of so many in your Lordships’ House expressing admiration for all involved in bringing this crisis to an end.

The deadliest outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history dominated headlines for many months from 2014 to 2016, when the international community found itself faced with a steep learning curve. Today is an opportunity for our Government to demonstrate that lessons have been learnt and planning for future such outbreaks has been accordingly modified.

We have heard from noble Lords of the great challenges that bringing the epidemic under control presented to the affected population, the authorities on the ground and the international community. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin, and hope our Government have taken on board how important it is to engage at an early stage with faith and community leaders. The Minister will know that it was only when community leaders were properly involved that important aspects of controlling the spread of the disease, such as safe burial practices, were brought to the fore. So may I ask the Minister: how is DfID continuing to work with faith and community leaders and civil society organisations in Sierra Leone?

I was fortunate enough to take part in a visit to Sierra Leone in November 2016, under the auspices of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge. What we found was that a health system which had been thought to have improved immeasurably was brutally exposed by the Ebola crisis to be very fragile. How is DfID leveraging its considerable reputation in strengthening health systems and what headway is it making in pressing the Government of Sierra Leone to take ownership of delivering sustainable development goal 3, which focuses on building robust health systems?

I would briefly like to turn my attention to prevention. The WHO Ebola virus disease fact sheet, most recently updated in June 2017, mentions an experimental Ebola vaccine, rVSV-ZEBOV, which proved highly protective in trials. Could the Minister update the House on progress on rolling out a vaccine programme in Sierra Leone?

The International Development Committee’s report on the responses to the Ebola outbreak exposed shortcomings in the World Health Organization’s dealings with the crisis, a point made by the noble Viscount, Lord Ridley, specifically in delays to sounding the alarm and declaring a public health emergency of international concern. This was despite the early warnings from Médecins Sans Frontières. The report specifically recommended the need for a,

“transparent and clearly understood grading system for public health emergencies”.

Is the Minister able to confirm that that work is under way? In the same vein, what has DfID done to improve its ability to,

“independently assess international public health risks,

as asked to do so by the International Development Committee? This is important because a recurring theme in the IDC’s report is that early intervention will save not only money but, more importantly, lives also.

Burma: Rohingya

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Thursday 26th October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, for bringing the deeply distressing situation in Myanmar for debate in your Lordships’ House. She is indeed well qualified to do so, as her opening remarks showed.

A Muslim terrorist attack in northern Rakhine province is the justification that the outside world is asked to accept for the merciless, inhuman attacks on villages and civilians which resulted in more than 600,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh to date, thousands killed, hundreds of villages burned and reports of horrific human rights atrocities including mass rape—even of very young children—torture, execution without trial, and the blocking of aid and independent observers. It has been described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Alton, that we should have no truck with this utterly disproportionate military response against Rohingya civilians, who have suffered decades of persecution. The 1982 Myanmar nationality law stripped the Rohingya people of statehood and restricted freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs—the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, gave us great detail of how that has affected the civilian lives both of the Rohingya and of other minorities.

The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh now number almost a million, as 600,000 of them join the 300,000 who had previously fled their homes in Myanmar after similar atrocities. There is a clear pattern of a desire by Burmese nationalists to cleanse the region of all non-Buddhist nationalists. Today, it may be the Muslim Rohingya being singled out and driven out, but make no mistake, the ruthless Buddhist nationalists will, in time, also come methodically for Christians, Hindus and anyone else who is not a Buddhist nationalist.

What should Britain do? Britain has authority on the international stage to lead, not just on mustering an effective humanitarian response to aid the refugee camps in Bangladesh—welcome though that is—but on co-ordinating a response aimed at stemming the army’s actions. I pay tribute to the Government of Bangladesh, who, despite domestic challenges, have shown such generosity in welcoming those who have nothing.

To date, action on our part has been woefully inadequate. The removal of UK military training personnel is hardly commensurate with the scale of events in Myanmar. I wholeheartedly agree with noble Lords who have suggested, or indeed demanded, that the military be held personally accountable. Will the Government urgently seek a UN Security Council resolution to impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmarese army? Will they urge the Myanmar Government to allow unhindered access to all parts of Rakhine state for international humanitarian aid, human rights monitors and the media? Will they urge the Myanmar Government to implement immediately the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan?

I have reserved my closing comments for a few words on democracy. Some exhort us to not criticise Aung San Suu Kyi because she is walking a tightrope in her attempts to bring an end to the generals’ power, and thus bring democracy to Myanmar. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate herself knows that democracy is much more than fair and free elections. It is about putting in place a state apparatus that will deliver the international norms that define a civilised society: the rule of law; an independent judiciary; and human rights for all citizens, regardless of race, gender, creed or sexual orientation.

Sometimes the argument that the means justify the end is used to mitigate condemnation of actions, but what can justify means that lead to an end which is in itself abhorrent? In the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu—also a Nobel laureate, like Aung San Suu Kyi—what the Government in Myanmar are pursuing is no less than apartheid. When Archbishop Desmond Tutu uses that word, the world must pay heed; and when Aung San Suu Kyi fails to condemn what is happening in her country, we must question what has happened to her moral compass and not rein in our criticism.

East Africa: Refugee Crisis

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I agree with that assessment. In terms of what our aid is actually doing, at the basic level, during 2017 it will put 200,000 girls into education and help to construct and support 2,000 schools. It will provide food and medicine. We have committed £100 million to this crisis, which is one of the largest interventions that we have made. Moreover, we made it very early on and we have been leading in this area. What we are also trying to do is help refugees in neighbouring countries, where significant pressures are developing as the result of 2 million people having fled into them to escape from the fighting and violence.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, the situation in east Africa is truly awful and I commend the fantastic work that DfID and other UK agencies are doing there. The Minister will know that for every £1 we spend on preparing for disasters, around £7 is saved in recovery costs. I have two questions for the noble Lord. First, is DfID planning to increase investment in humanitarian aid for disaster risk reduction? Secondly, will the department commit at the very least to extending the excellent Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme when it expires in March 2018?

[Lord Bates]

My Lords, we have not taken a decision on that particular programme, but I am happy to write to the noble Baroness once the processes have been gone through. This is at the core of what we do, and the humanitarian mission is absolutely critical in this area. We want it to be continuously strengthened. One thing that I am most proud of is that, in the case of Somalia in particular, we were there right at the beginning, and we led the initiative—because we know that sometimes there can be a lead time of months before much-needed supplies get to a region. We were starting our work in February, which has contributed to saving tens of thousands of lives in that particular country.

Overseas Development Assistance

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Tuesday 4th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I share the noble Earl’s view that it is inconceivable. Wherever I travel around the world, the EU is there, represented in force. We have to remember that wherever we operate, particularly in development, we are always working in partnership. We are working in partnership with the G20—for example, at the Hamburg summit this weekend. We are working in partnership with the African Union and the UN agencies; the whole thing is about partnership. That is one of the reasons it is so effective.

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, the Asia-Latin America programme is funded from the European budget. Therefore, the UK would no longer make direct contributions. However, the programme, particularly in Latin America, is a major source of influence in a region where we do not have a major bilateral presence, and there may be advantages in remaining part of the programme. Will the Minister assure us that some thought has been given to maintaining arrangements for the UK to remain associated with the programme?

[Lord Bates]

We continue to work to the UK’s strategy, which is a cross-government, cross-Whitehall approach about where our priorities should be, in consultation with our international partners. In relation to Asia, we have some bilateral programmes. One of the areas where we work quite closely is with the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which has been established. We were a founder investor in that. We will continue to keep all these things open and will continue to work in partnership.

Overseas Development Assistance

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Monday 3rd July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, I would like to press further the point that the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, made. Will the Minister share with your Lordships’ House a definition of ODA that the Secretary of State will be content with, bearing in mind that she is on record as saying that she would like to see the department that she now leads abolished?

[Lord Bates]

She is also on record as a passionate defender of the 0.7% target. That was in the Conservative manifesto; it was secured under a coalition Government and maintained under a Conservative Government, and it is something that we are extremely proud of. The fact that we have a 0.7% commitment does not mean that everything to do with reform should stop there. We want to make sure that every single penny and pound of that is directed to the people who are in the greatest need because we cannot afford to leave them behind when there is so much need visible around the world.