Economy: Remittances

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 4th February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

I assure the noble Lord that I will do just that.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab) [V]]

While the whole amount of remittances is clearly more than UK aid to developing countries, it is not targeted at national strategic objectives being mainly used for housing and business development. Have the Government been able to make any analysis of the proportion of remittances that went to those sectors, or education?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises an important point. Our priority for remittances has been key countries across the world, in Africa and Asia in particular, and key sectors focused on the most vulnerable. I will write to the noble Baroness with a specific breakdown if that is available.

Burma: Military Coup

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I note what the noble Lord said about China. We appeal to China, as a member of the international community, to ensure that the democratically elected Government are restored to their position of governing the people. The 2020 elections were an important milestone on Myanmar’s path and were monitored by international and local observer groups.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, following the questions of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans and several others, can the Minister confirm that the Government of Bangladesh have definitely undertaken not to send Rohingya people back to Myanmar while they are at risk?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I can assure the noble Baroness and the whole House that in all my interactions as Minister for South Asia with the Bangladeshi Government I stress that the voluntary, safe and dignified return of the Rohingya community is paramount on any ask that they make. They have again been reassuring on that point. I have not spoken to them specifically over the last day or so, but I am seeking urgent engagement on this very point.

Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, on the noble Lord’s final point, it is appropriate that the governance of such a scheme has the support it requires to make it effective. While I have already made a Statement on my opinion and the Government’s view on what is happening in China and Hong Kong, it is not appropriate to speculate on future designations.

On the noble Lord’s earlier point about the role of my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary has played, I know that this has been a priority for him for a long time. Indeed, it was very much cross-party in the other place when it was initiated. I pay tribute to his personal efforts and have certainly seen since his appointment as Foreign Secretary the personal priority and effort he has put behind ensuring that the promise we made in our manifesto has come to life—today it has.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the Foreign Secretary said that the United Kingdom will help the world in standing up for human rights. Will he also apply this very commendable aim to the United Kingdom’s conduct towards the dispossessed Chagossians, whose deportation the International Court of Justice agreed was unlawful?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, we have made our position on the British Indian Ocean Territory very clear. The ICJ decision was an advisory opinion which we do not agree with. The ICJ should adjudicate only where both parties have agreed to it. We believe appropriate support was provided at that time, although there were many shortcomings in the way that the Chagossian people themselves were treated, which we have also acknowledged. We wish to work in a progressive way with the Government of Mauritius on ensuring that we build a strong bilateral relationship.

China

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

This is a point that the noble and gallant Lord has raised before and one on which he continues to campaign, and I pay tribute to him. We have made very clear our position on BNOs. I will take back his specific point on those who have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and will write to him with an update on the matter. I share his sentiments in this respect.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, following on from the question from the noble Lord, Lord Bowness, have Her Majesty’s Government conveyed to the Government of China that, as the UK is the other party to the joint Sino-British declaration on Hong Kong, which is a treaty, the Chinese are mistaken in claiming that the UK is meddling in its internal affairs?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

As I have said already, the UK Government have made our position absolutely clear to the Chinese authorities, very much along the lines that the noble Baroness has outlined.

Saudi Arabia: Death Penalty

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I do indeed recall that, and I have followed it up with colleagues at the Department for International Trade. I will come back to the noble Lord on the specific issue of the inquiry. I can reassure him that, since the review of that decision and the decision on the three conditions—one in particular that went against the Government—there have been no new arms licences issued to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that I spoke in support of this report at the United Nations in Geneva? A whole audience unanimously agreed that only Governments could shift the Saudi Arabians’ atrocious use of the death penalty. Some of the people under sentence of death are students who took part in a demonstration; that is all they did. Although I commend Her Majesty’s Government for their efforts so far, what further efforts are they making to ensure that all the other Governments who care about human rights can make a concerted front against the Saudi Government on this matter?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Baroness raises an important point. Collaborative efforts on matters of foreign policy and on issues such as the death penalty do have an impact; we have therefore made a collective effort. I alluded earlier to the efforts the United Kingdom Government have made at the Human Rights Council, and we were pleased to support Australia on the broad concerns raised about human rights in Saudi Arabia. I add to an earlier point made to the noble Lord, Lord Collins, that we are seeing change and positive steps are being taken, as I saw when I visited. Notwithstanding that engagement, I assure the noble Baroness and your Lordships’ House that we continue to make an issue of a moratorium on the death penalty—as a first step, perhaps, to its prohibition—not just to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but elsewhere in the world. Our strategic alliances are important and allow us to make that case forcefully.

Intelligence and Security Committee Report

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I hear what my noble friend says. I am sure I speak for everyone in your Lordships’ House when I say that we all should pay tribute to those who lost their lives during the Second World War, battling Nazi aggression across Europe, and to the many Russian civilians who lost their lives. I reiterate to my noble friend that our differences and disagreements with Russia are not with the Russian people. However, we have seen Russia commit aggressive actions. As I am sure my noble friend acknowledges, Russia committed an act right here on UK soil in Salisbury and should be held to account for it. We have been asking for its co-operation on this matter. On the wider issue of talking to Russia on important security issues, I, as Minister for the United Nations, reassure my noble friend that we continue to engage with Russia on important issues of global affairs in fora such as the UN Security Council.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, in view of the Government’s answer to the questions on this subject yesterday, can the Minister give the House a categorical assurance that there is nothing in the report that embarrasses the Government in any way?

International Roma Day

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd April 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Whitaker]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to mark International Roma Day.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, why is there an International Roma Day on 8 April? It was declared in 1990 to acknowledge the first major international meeting of Romany representatives who had founded the International Romani Union in April 1971. The different groups who make up the Roma peoples were finally motivated to come together to form a united front against the prejudice, discrimination and violent persecution which had dogged them since they first arrived in Europe in the 14th to the 16th centuries. The IRU now has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Committee and institutional links with the Council of Europe, OSCE and other UN agencies. The excellent pack produced by the Library gives more information.

The motivation in the 1970s perhaps drew on the increasing capacity and political consciousness of a small number of educated Roma Europeans, but the declaration in 1990 had more to do with the persistent and indeed often growing hatred expressed by populist movements unleashed by the collapse of the Soviet hegemony, backed in many cases by the state itself. Let me briefly set the scene.

Because until recently there was no written history, the reasons why these people migrated west from northern India in the 11th century are not fully understood. However, the world was full of migration then, even more so than now, as readers of the fascinating Vanished Kingdoms by Norman Davies will know. Until Europe solidified into nation states, it was more or less normal to owe major allegiance to a much smaller group. Of course, many of them gained dominance through warring against others, but the Roma are distinctive in not going to war against their neighbours as well as travelling, and thus they did not found a state. They travelled via Persia, the Middle East—hence the British term “Gypsies”—and Turkey, adding words from those languages to their native Indian language as they went. It is only through linguistic analysis of the present-day European Romani languages that these steps can be traced. One theory for the discovery of their ancient roots has it that a Hungarian student at Leiden University in the 1760s recognised in the language of his fellow students from Malabar in India words used by Roma slaves on his father’s estate.

In contrast to ethnic groups who conquered and seized territories, the Roma have experienced only brief periods of acceptance. The story of the relegation of these peoples, who insisted on preserving their culture without fighting, to a demonised or sometimes exoticised limbo has many cruel twists and turns. In our time, the culmination was the genocide during the Nazi Holocaust, when perhaps a quarter of their number was annihilated.

However, even this did not give the nation states of Europe pause. It is important, I think, to recognise in the life-threatening persecution experienced by Roma in so many European countries an extreme tendency of a sadly common human trait. The treatment of the Roma is a European scandal, but racist persecution is hardly confined to Europe. I think we should admit that it is human and general, and work out more thoroughly why it is that worthwhile emotions of solidarity with one’s own can be transformed into murderous extinction of those who are different. We enjoy the more or less harmless rivalry of national and local football teams, but we have not learnt how to call a halt to extreme and violent separateness. In a time when the mysteries of the origin of the universe are increasingly within our grasp, could we not pay a bit more attention to the safety and security of its inhabitants? Could we mark International Roma Day in this way?

In the European domain, one forgotten area is the situation of the Roma in Kosovo. Tens of thousands of them fled the Balkan wars for refugee camps set up by the United Nations in 1999. These were, however, heavily contaminated by lead. Eventually, after several years of much pressure, the families were moved, although not to their original home, which the incoming Albanians appropriated. Their children suffered serious lead poisoning but were not afforded any treatment other than dietary supplements. Your Lordships will be aware of the brain damage and behavioural difficulties which follow a high level of lead poisoning. May I ask the Minister to find out what in the EU aid sent to address this problem was aimed at reversing the physical effects of the poison—to the extent that that could be done—and what more can be done?

Another issue for these unfortunate victims of a conflict for which they bore no responsibility is that they became effectively stateless, with therefore none of the rights to assistance which accrue to residents or to nationals. It is a long and complicated story, and I have only skimmed over what seem to me to be the essentials. Can the Minister tell noble Lords what knowledge she has now of the residence rights of the Roma in Kosovo and what pressure Her Majesty’s Government can bring to improve their position?

The American Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, marked last year’s International Roma Day by reaffirming the determination of the United States to achieve, together with European Governments, equality, opportunity and inclusion for all Roma. I commend those British faith leaders who signed a letter a few weeks ago to the mayor of Cluj-Napoca in Romania, urging him to stop the deportation of his Roma citizens to substandard accommodation on polluted industrial land, and I am delighted that the right reverend prelate the Bishop of St Albans will speak today.

What will our Government do now to signal the repugnance I hope we feel for the treatment meted out to Roma all over Europe, and to enable remedies? The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has had a good record so far, through both diplomatic efforts and exchange of good practice, as the noble Baroness has had the task of informing me many times through Parliamentary Questions, for which I am grateful. So I hope for more good news on the diplomatic side.

How is International Roma Day to be marked in the UK? We still have widespread expression of prejudice and many attacks. We have made it hard for children of Romany descent, whether recent immigrants or citizens of many centuries’ standing, to attend school and thus gain the credentials which will lever them out of poverty. I declare an interest as chair of the Department for Education’s stakeholder group for Gypsy, Traveller and Roma education. Health outcomes are worse than for any other minority ethnic group. Despite that, we have responsible Roma citizens who have formed constructive neighbourhood groups and who are anxious that the positive values of their culture should be properly acknowledged, as well as their extraordinary history. It would be good to hear of their heroes of our two world wars, of our writers of Romany descent and even of Members of your Lordships’ House who are descended from the Gypsy kings—and there are some.

Surely it is good to have among us groups which value family solidarity, which care for their children throughout the extended family, which respect old people and which have the culture of enterprise and skill, albeit one that needs easier entry into modern circumstances. Surely nothing can be gained by marginalising people, other than the risk of marginalised behaviour on the part of a few and much hardship for many.

The previous Government funded Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month. The present Government refuse to devise a strategy to comply with the European Union framework on Roma integration to which they signed up. The European Commission is holding a European Roma summit in two days’ time. Ministers from most member states will be going but so far none from the UK. Perhaps the noble Baroness can tell me who will attend on our behalf.

Finally, the Decade of Roma Inclusion Secretariat Foundation has commissioned a prominent British charity, the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, to monitor the progress made in the UK on this framework. I hope it has a better story to tell when it reports in the summer than what we see now. I urge the noble Baroness to exert what pressure she can in her faith and communities role to target resources on the unfair plight of our oldest and most neglected minority ethnic group, and to mark International Roma Day by this commitment.

Afghanistan: Protection and Women’s Safety

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

This matter is incredibly close to my heart. Indeed, my maiden speech in this House was on the plight of women in Afghanistan. There has, of course, been some progress there: 27% of all parliamentarians are now female; 25% of civil servants are female; and, indeed, one deputy presidential candidate, Habiba Sarabi—the ex-governor of Bamiyan—is standing on one of the presidential tickets. However, of course so much more needs to be done, and one of the messages that I and my colleagues—Justine Greening, for example—send out very clearly when we are in Afghanistan is that the fragile gains that have been made on women’s rights in that country must not be allowed to slide.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, what pressure can HMG bring to bear on the Government of Afghanistan to let more girls go to school?

[Baroness Warsi]

Again, huge progress has been made here compared with only a decade ago. Of more than 6 million children in school in Afghanistan today, 2 million are girls, and many more are now attending higher education institutions. However, in a year when we are approaching the drawdown, at the end of 2014, it is important that the gains that have been made are not allowed to slip. That is why our DfID programme will continue at the level it is now.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Whitaker]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, I will not rehearse the tragic story of the exile of the Chagossians again. Numerous Hansard references can do that. I will just remind your Lordships that it was an acknowledged fundamental injustice—acknowledged not least by the present Government.

As the noble Lord, Lord Luce, said in the most recent parliamentary mention on 17 October:

“This remains a blot on our copybook which we must rectify”.—[Official Report, 17/10/13; col. 695.]

I am very pleased that he will speak tonight, and I look forward to the contributions of my friends the noble Lords, and my noble friends. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, added that it was,

“contrary to the core values … in the Commonwealth charter”.—[Official Report, 17/10/13; col. 703]

Their views are shared all round this House and very widely in the media, including the Times and ConservativeHome, so all efforts to put all or part of this injustice right will be widely welcomed.

The Minister will be aware that five years ago an all-party parliamentary group, of which I am a member, was established to press for justice. It will have its 40th meeting on 17 December. I congratulate the chair, my honourable friend Jeremy Corbyn, for his unshakeable determination to restore the rights of the Chagossian people, and our indefatigable co-ordinator, David Snoxell, whose advice has been unfailingly constructive. On 17 December we shall have something to celebrate: the latest step in the progress that has been made since the Foreign Secretary’s announcement 11 months ago that he would take stock of the policy on resettlement. I commend the Minister, Mark Simmonds, for the publication on 19 November of the draft terms of reference for a new feasibility study into the resettlement of the Chagos Islands.

The draft terms are thorough, far-reaching, objective and imaginative. It is a very good start to have a wide range of options and a comprehensive analysis of factors, including environmental, social, economic and legal. I am very pleased to see that the legal section explicitly includes human rights. Clearly the Foreign Office is not frightened, like some, of using these words, part of our core native values. Incidentally, Magna Carta, too, has something to say about wrongful exile. This draft, in fact, implicitly acknowledges the violation of the human rights of the Chagossians. The reasoning for the abolition of the rights of return and abode in 2004 has now largely been discredited by this whole new approach, so they should be restored.

I was particularly taken by the possibility that the British Indian Ocean Territory could become a new model for sustainable development. I remind noble Lords that the UK’s latest marine protected area, in the Pitcairn Islands, will seek to employ the people living there to maintain it. That is surely the right model, rather than depopulating it of its rightful inhabitants.

It was very good to see emphasis on possible resettlement on Diego Garcia. I assume that there must have been some prior consultation with the United States, which is also progress and will be supported everywhere. The commitment to wide consultation, especially with the Chagossians, is also to be commended. Can the noble Baroness assure me that Mauritius will also be consulted?

As to costs, I would demur from the assumption in the draft that these fall solely to the UK. I myself established with Commissioner Piebalgs of the European Union—through the offices of my noble friend Lady Ashton, which is not the only good thing she has done recently—that the UK would be eligible for resettlement funds for the Chagos Islanders, and it is not unrealistic to expect contributions from the international community, the American Government or, modestly, the Commonwealth. Let us not give up before asking.

When we come to the timeframe, let us remember that this most welcome progress has not been rapid. The Foreign Secretary’s commitment to work towards a just solution was first made in March 2010, over three years ago. On the timetable proposed, it looks as if the terms of reference will not be in final form until next year, to be followed by a period for selecting the consultants, so that the study might not be ready until just before the election in 2015. This is a risk. I understand that following the completed study, there will be a policy review into which it will feed. This, of course, will go wider, and include, for instance, renegotiation of the 1966 UK/US agreement, sovereignty and future management of the marine protected area.

There really must be a solution before the election. I urge Her Majesty’s Government to shorten this timetable to get it in well before the election. Can the noble Baroness advise her colleagues that procedures should be simplified where possible so that it takes six not 12 months; that the consultants should be chosen by the quickest appropriate means rather than lengthy tender; and that experts be identified without delay? These must, of course, be drawn from specialists in small island development, familiar with the culture, strengths and history of the Chagossians. I ask for the Minister’s response to these points, if not now, in a letter.

We have come a long way from the lament of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, the noble Baroness’s predecessor at the Dispatch Box, answering my late noble friend Lord Brockway—Fenner Brockway—on 11 November 1982, that,

“the departure of the Ilois from the island settlements must have been a sad and distressing occasion”.—[Official Report, 11/11/82; col. 411.]

That is a far cry from the present Foreign Secretary’s admirable statement that,

“it is not in our character as a nation to have a foreign policy without a conscience, and neither is it in our interests”.

But it has taken too long to get there and we still need to make up for that.

Pope Benedict XVI: State Visit Funding

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Yes, I often find myself in that position.

[Baroness Whitaker]

My Lords, is it not rather odd to regard the Vatican as a state?

[Noble Lords]

No!