Zimbabwe

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Chidgey

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I will certainly take that point away and bring it to the attention of colleagues; it is very important. We do our utmost to ensure that our bilateral aid, for example, does not go through the Government of Zimbabwe or their agencies directly. We work primarily through multilateral organisations, notably United Nations agencies. The noble Lord is absolutely right: the economic crisis in Zimbabwe is very serious indeed. We are disappointed that the staff-monitored programme agreed with the IMF has gone off-track. Our focus at the moment is on mitigating the worst impacts of the economic crisis and concentrating on the most vulnerable Zimbabweans.

[Lord Chidgey (LD)]

My Lords, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols, has stated that the Government must implement a market-based agricultural policy, fully liberalising the trade in grains and paying farmers on a par with the cost of imports. He added that the Grain Marketing Board was allocating subsidised grain to millers, who were selling it on the black market in neighbouring countries. This corruption costs the Zimbabweans in both food and treasure. What measures are the UK Government taking to support the US plans for a market-based economy and to make sure that UK aid is not lost through corruption?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord makes some extremely important points. As I mentioned, DfID Zimbabwe operates under a strict funding policy whereby no UK aid money passes directly through the Government of Zimbabwe. We work through multilateral organisations, notably UN agencies, international NGOs and the private sector, to deliver our UK aid projects. Apart from immediate aid, it is important that we also focus on enabling Zimbabweans to help themselves in the longer term on a more sustainable basis. In particular, DfID has two programmes supporting agriculture in that sense, enabling infrastructure to be developed.

Zimbabwe

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Chidgey

Thursday 23rd November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey]

When Mr Mugabe took Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in December 2003 to avoid suspension, both the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and our own Foreign Secretary showed their approval for Zimbabwe rejoining, should it conform to Commonwealth principles. Does the noble Earl agree that the forthcoming London summit provides an excellent opportunity for us, as the oldest friend, to encourage Zimbabwe to reapply to rejoin the Commonwealth at the London CHOGM?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, several steps need to happen before Zimbabwe can rejoin the Commonwealth. First, it falls to Zimbabwe itself to apply to the Commonwealth Secretariat and to make it clear to the Commonwealth that Zimbabwe fulfils the criteria on human rights, the rule of law and democracy that are necessary for Commonwealth membership. Its eventual readmittance to the Commonwealth will obviously be a matter for all Commonwealth members to decide following a formal approach by Zimbabwe in the way that I described.

Female Genital Mutilation

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Chidgey

Thursday 7th November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

Yes, my Lords, we work closely with our colleagues in the devolved Administrations. The noble Lord is absolutely right: FGM is a crime in the UK under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, and in Scotland under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005. I am advised that it is a feature of both Acts that if someone is taken overseas for the mutilation, it is still a crime in the UK if the mutilation is done by a UK national or permanent UK resident.

[Lord Chidgey (LD)]

My Lords, the UNICEF report released in July sets out that 129 countries practise FGM. Most of those countries—which have 125 million girls—have strong community links with the United Kingdom. Does my noble friend agree that if we are to eliminate FGM on girls in the UK we must work alongside organisations such as Tostan and AWEPA, which are successfully campaigning for the abandonment of FGM throughout rural communities in much of Africa and elsewhere? What liaison is there between government departments in this country to address FGM at home and overseas? There must be some working together here.

[Earl Howe]

I agree with my noble friend. I referred to the work being done by DfID. The approach of DfID’s programme is to work with communities through civil society organisations in at least 15 of the most affected countries. Developments in FGM abroad tend to change attitudes towards communities here, which is why the Government are confident that the work of DfID will result in culture change and, hopefully, abandonment in both Africa and the UK. I would be happy to write to my noble friend with details of the co-operative work that we are doing.