South Sudan

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. Of course it is the fact that this is a very fragile state which leads to the problems that we are indentifying here. It is one of the reasons too why it is important to act early and to plan ahead, which the United Kingdom is seeking to do.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

Does the noble Baroness agree that the key players in this future operation will be Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, which is receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees already? What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to back up those resources on the border?

[Baroness Northover]

We are concerned about not only those in South Sudan but obviously those who have been displaced into the neighbouring countries, who indeed have a destabilising influence. We are supporting both those within South Sudan and those in the neighbouring countries, and are very concerned about the instability caused by that.

Syria: Aid

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Wednesday 18th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

They are indeed under great pressure and a number of them are in hard-to-reach areas. Those who are blocking humanitarian access come from all sides in this conflict and we urge all parties to the conflict to remove those barriers to humanitarian operations.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, we have all seen thousands of refugees crossing the Lebanese border. What are this Government doing to assist the Lebanese Government in bringing their shelters for refugees up to international standards? Have we considered sending British troops, who are very well versed—as we knew in Macedonia—in meeting these appalling conditions and building structures that will be durable?

[Baroness Northover]

We are contributing £89 million to Lebanon, and that will contribute shelter, food, medical consultations, water and sanitation. Lebanon has recently come out of a long, protracted civil war and we are very concerned about its stability. In terms of troops, the noble Lord will be well aware from his work with Christian Aid and other organisations how essential it is to make sure that any apparent military intervention is separated from humanitarian intervention, and I think there would be risks in what he proposes.

Human Rights

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, it is a considerable honour to congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie. She is a proud daughter of Hawick, a historic town, which I know. She has told us of her experience of international development and human rights, especially in Russia and eastern Europe. I know that she has spent many years in Westminster and has gathered that kind of political experience, not least in managing two senior Liberal Democrat politicians, including the Deputy Prime Minister. That must be a test of endurance. We look forward to hearing her many times in future.

I also have the exhortation of the new noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, ringing in my ears—that we know we can all do more. That will take a lot of living up to, because human rights is an essential issue in foreign affairs. My noble friend Lord Alton has raised it with a skill nurtured over many years in Westminster, and he has given me and others a lot of encouragement. I have joined him often in debates, especially on Sudan, where human rights violations continue daily. He mentioned the Nuba mountains and the bombing there, and I agree with him about strengthening the ICC. But today I shall be in Asia, for a change.

The Commonwealth summit, or CHOGM, has again tested the nerves of diplomats all over the world in the past week, which is largely down to our own Prime Minister and the initiative that he has taken. I have seen the Channel 4 documentary; there can be little doubt of the shelling and abuses of human rights against fleeing Tamils in the last stages of the civil war. President Rajapaksa has a hard shell but, with India and Canada keeping away, he has received a strong message of disapproval. I am sure that the UK was correct to stay with the Commonwealth meeting and influence it from within. At the same time, we must not forget the atrocities of the Tamil Tigers during the war; nor can we ignore the strength of feeling on both sides.

There comes a point where outsiders without such recent experience cannot really fathom the depth of prejudice and discrimination that continues beneath the surface, long after the world has turned away. I am thinking of the EU candidate countries mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, in the Balkans, where the European External Action Service is still pushing through its hardest tests of good government, not always with success, against the relatively recent background of ethnic genocide. Politicians cannot behave like leaders of human rights NGOs, whose stamina we all applaud. Political parties have to be selective; picking from what my noble friend called an à la carte menu, they turn continually to other subjects, and for this reason are always open to charges of hypocrisy.

We can learn a lot from our recent debate on China—another Conservative initiative, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs. His understandable concern was with our business and trade with China, and whether our relationship would be affected by too much emphasis on human rights, such as our preoccupation with Tibet and China’s attitude to the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, where the conflict has been no less violent. The noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, said in that debate that,

“it is perfectly possible … to exert quiet and helpful influence, to encourage moves towards greater openness while avoiding explicit criticism or confrontation … not through lecturing or preaching but through the sharing of best practice with partners representing a very ancient civilisation”.—[Official Report, 7/11/13; col. 349.]

That seems to sum things up very well.

The Dalai Lama told a journalist recently that trust develops gradually, even with an animal,

“if you show genuine affection”,

but that if you are,

“always showing bad face and beating, how can you develop friendship?”.

The same might be said of many other situations in which we have to do business with tyrants or bring humanitarian aid to victims of brutality.

In Nepal there are unresolved human rights cases left over from the 10-year civil war—more than half of them at the hands of the army or the state. According to the agency INSEC, more than 3,500 violations took place in one year alone, 2012, including much violence against women, but there has been no single prosecution in the seven years since the end of the conflict, owing to the political turmoil. This is why I am particularly asking the Minister if she will make every effort to encourage Nepal to re-establish the independent human rights commission, which has never been quite independent and needs more support from outside. This is where I fundamentally disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, who seems to think that every country can fend for itself. We must reassert the international solidarity that is so important in these situations.

Human rights in the Commonwealth and elsewhere will elude us as long as governance, the rule of law and other principles of democracy remain unaddressed. We have to keep banging the drum and not get too frustrated when no one listens.

Millennium Development Goals

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

Again, if the noble Lord looks at the proposed new MDGs, he will see that that kind of approach can be assumed to be there. There is new emphasis on, for example, good nutrition, which is so important in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, as well as education—not just primary education but covering a wider scope. Therefore, if the noble Lord looks down the list, he will see that concern for young children is built into a number of the goals.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

The noble Baroness mentioned our progress towards 0.7% of GDP, but does she agree that our European neighbours are getting nowhere near that target? What are the Government doing to encourage them?

[Baroness Northover]

As the noble Earl knows, the northern European countries are stronger in that regard than the southern and eastern ones. However, there has been progress among some of the new EU countries, and that is encouraging. We do, and will, continue to argue this case to make sure that that is a high priority.

Overseas Aid: Post-2015 Development Agenda

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I have seen a copy of what Commissioner Piebalgs said and he was talking about all financing sources, which includes private finance flows, domestic resources and ODA. We quite agree that all those things can contribute to the relief of poverty. We work very closely with the Commissioner. I have certainly found, after meeting him many times, that he and DfID very much agree about how best to take this forward.

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, given the huge success of the water, sanitation and hygiene programme, would the Minister not prefer to see it higher in the priorities for the post-millennium period, and is she surprised that it is not?

[Baroness Northover]

There are 12 goals, as the noble Earl will know, and I am very pleased that achieving universal access to water and sanitation is among them. I do not think that he should regard them as being in order of priority. The ones that are in there are very significant.

Global Partnership for Aid Effectiveness

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Tuesday 16th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend has enormous experience, of course. It is lessons such as those which he derives from Bosnia that we carry over when trying to rebuild in fragile states elsewhere, for example in Afghanistan. We are aware of these challenges, which is why the United Nations and the international bodies seek to address them.

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, when the Government have discovered which of their programmes are effective, will they make more effort to communicate this to the general public, who are still largely in ignorance of the aid programme?

[Baroness Northover]

There is sometimes a disconnect between what comes over in Comic Relief programmes, which people sign up to and understand—for example, linking back to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, the importance of education and its transformative effect, especially for girls—and the news that sometimes comes out via some of our newspapers. We all need to continue to emphasise how effective and transformative aid can be.

Queen’s Speech

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, I will comment on the EU at the end. First, I will speak on conflict and post-conflict states. I begin by acknowledging the work of our Armed Forces, diplomats, journalists and aid workers in Afghanistan. There have been many casualties among Afghan soldiers and civilians as well as our own soldiers and Marines, but we often forget that our own civilians and aid workers are also working in a dangerous environment. I declare an interest because two members of my family have served in that capacity, while another is currently serving in our Armed Forces.

I completely agree with the noble Lord, Lord King, and others about the translators. I put it to the Minister—when he comes back—that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has a resettlement programme which would exactly fit this group of refugees. I hope that he will give us a reply on that point.

One key aim we have all been fighting for in Afghanistan has been the rights of women. Madonna said recently, when making a generous donation, that she did not want to live in a world where women and girls are treated as they are in Afghanistan. I expect the same could be said by all of us, yet despite what the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said at the beginning, it appears almost inevitable that after we have withdrawn our Armed Forces, we shall gradually downgrade our aid programme, at least from the scale on which it has been operating

At best, we shall see continuity and perhaps a return to true Islamic ideals, which respect the role of women. At worst, we shall see the Taliban exerting increasing pressure and perhaps returning to power.

I look back at what the aid agencies were saying during the Taliban era after 1996, when any movement of women from their homes was discouraged and education was banned in many areas. I was at that time involved in a clandestine project in Badghis province to support girls’ education in private homes, which was the only way of doing it. At that time the UN and most of the large aid agencies were wary of getting involved at all. Women were discouraged even from working for the United Nations agencies—we forget that.

Of course, the situation has dramatically changed and it seems almost inconceivable that today’s programmes for women can be reversed. We are told that after NATO withdraws, aid through agencies such as our own DfID will continue, but we have to be realistic: less security means less protection for programmes outside the main cities. Every degree of un-Islamic prejudice or extreme interpretation of the Sharia in the madrassahs means less take-up of education and more opportunities for terrorism. Can the Minister assure me that DfID will maintain its support for education and that its programmes in rural areas, including the successful National Solidarity Programme, will continue to have priority and be given adequate support? Knowing that protection will be provided by the Afghan army and police, what arrangements are being made to equip and train Afghan soldiers and men after 2014?

It is not just Afghanistan that will lose international aid but Pakistan, which, besides foreign aid, has received massive US backing for the war against the Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. We should recognise, especially this week, that Pakistan has made huge sacrifices and is still at war with terrorism, as are we. Whatever the future make-up of Governments in Kabul and Islamabad, the world will not tolerate the brutality of the Taliban towards young women or men seeking education in either country.

We remember the pleas of the remarkable Malala Yousafzai, the child activist who was the victim of the Taliban. She has been nominated by Desmond Tutu for the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr Nafisa Shah, a prominent Member of Parliament and chair of the National Commission for Human Development, said recently that no other nation was suffering from terrorism like Pakistan, and yet,

“there seems to be little understanding … from the international community. The world needs to ... support us to promote, expand and strengthen the political and social space for a democratic and progressive civil society”.

It is certainly time to congratulate Pakistan and its new leader. Although the election last weekend saw violent episodes, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, earlier, it at least demonstrated a leap forward in the democratic process following electoral reform and a recent strengthening of the judiciary. I am pleased to say that we have been part of that. DfID, alongside its focus on girls’ education, supported voter mobilisation, with an emphasis on the participation of rural women voters. We are claiming to have helped 100,000 first-time women voters in that election.

I was impressed also by our involvement in helping IDPs—internally displaced persons—in the Khyber region, especially with water and sanitation. This is the key frontier area around Peshawar—where we should be working—represented by a famous cricketer whose anti-corruption campaign has won him a lot of votes. Most of the IDPs have fled violence in the tribal areas, but the vast majority of them, 88%, are still living outside any organised camps or UN protection. Foreign investment in Pakistan is draining away and donors are getting tougher. Even our own International Development Committee in its latest report has emphasised corruption and human rights violations and calls for more effective aid through the aid programme and through IMF lending, conditional on better governance. Pakistan is a fragile state, but, for reasons of history and security, we must do our utmost to remain there, both to meet emergency needs and to respond to the pleas of the heroic Malala and many others working for a better future.

Nepal is another Asian post-conflict state still recovering from the bloodshed of only a few years ago before the Maoists entered government. Political stultification has set in and the country is now run by civil servants, for lack of any Ministers, pending elections which are always being postponed. I know that our aid programme is still in place despite delays in the forestry programme, but we cannot consider that Nepal is yet off the danger list.

In Africa, thankfully, May has been a month of positive development. We have to be pleased that the Kenyan elections went well, although while the new president remains on the ICC list, there can be no lasting political stability. Kenya has played a vital role in the quelling of al-Shabaab in Somalia, although that country will take years to rebuild and the diaspora is still cautious.

Sudan and South Sudan, mentioned by my noble friend Lady Cox, are due to reopen oil supplies at any moment following the success of Thabo Mbeki’s high level panel under the auspices, we must remember, of the Ethiopian Government and the African Union. The 50th anniversary of the AU would be a good opportunity to celebrate ultimate reconciliation between the two sides of Sudan, but unfortunate1y, as my noble friend said, the conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei still have to be resolved.

Nearer home, we need to work harder to promote more reconciliation in Europe’s own conflict states, notably between Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vucic visited four Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo last week and spoke in favour of the recent compromise agreement in Brussels, saying that it was the only way for Serbia to survive. He is right. I firmly believe in gradual enlargement of the EU as a means of preserving peace in Europe.

Once the quarrelling in the Conservative Party is over, I hope that the coalition or whatever Government succeeds it will bring this country back to its senses. We belong in Europe and we have to remain in Europe if we are going to solve any of the problems there or in conflict states all round the globe.

Developing Countries: Budgetary Support

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

We keep this under constant review, as did the previous Government. The noble Lord will know that the previous Government reduced budget support, particularly when it was reassessed under Hilary Benn. We continue to work out how best to support the poorest in these countries. Sometimes that is best done through supporting the wider Governments and sometimes in other ways. There is no specific policy to reduce this or increase that. We look at the situation in each country and how best to support the poorest within it.

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, Ethiopia has come in and out of direct budget support over the past decade. Will the Minister tell us which criteria, and especially which human rights criteria, are being applied to Ethiopia?

Health: Neglected Tropical Diseases

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Wednesday 30th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend because I know that water fleas, snails, blackfly and many other deadly insects and parasites are still infecting millions with NTDs such as trypanosomiasis and onchocerciasis. “Trips” and “oncho” became part of my vocabulary when I joined Christian Aid 40 years ago. Remembering the WHO mass-spraying campaigns in west Africa at that time, I now feel disappointment that we always seemed to be on the point of eliminating oncho but never quite succeeded.

Agencies specialising in this field have long had the target of “clean water for all”. Water is given a green light in the MDGs but this remains an enormous task —the UN says that 783 million are still using traditional drinking water supplies and one of the most successful agencies, WaterAid, now has 27 country programmes, which last year provided 1.6 million people with safe water and 1.9 million with sanitation. Oxfam and CARE have also been prominent in this field. Coming from the background of the voluntary sector, people like me can sound quite glib in describing the needs of the poorest people—all they have to do is boil their water, wash their hands and follow the advice of the nearest health centre. However, life of course is a little more complicated: the advice may be 50 or more miles away; tradition and culture dominate; and the worms and flies may be too numerous. Education is vital. Water and sanitation must be complemented with child-focused health education that promotes lifelong healthy behaviour.

I have some scepticism about the donations offered by pharmaceutical companies and the doctors they direct, and even control, in developing countries, which undoubtedly gives them a PR advantage. I am also aware of the ill effects of overprescription, which leads to dangerous dependence and painful withdrawal. I remember how subsidiaries of well known pharmaceutical companies in countries such as Bangladesh bought doctors and tyrannised village clinics that did not comply with them. I nevertheless congratulate these companies, and the charities that are contributing to this important campaign. We know that more than 700 million people have been treated for seven diseases and that the numbers treated for soil-transmitted worms have quadrupled in one year, which is nothing but impressive.

Just after DfID announced its fivefold increase in support for the NTD programme—which is to be warmly welcomed, alongside the US contribution—the Lancet asked, a year ago, whether increased funding for neglected tropical diseases really made poverty history. It pointed out the risks of undermining healthcare systems and of relying on volunteers, the gaps in the knowledge of combination drugs, and the limits in the evidence base for these drugs. Mass campaigns, although necessary to meet the MDGs, can at the same time take staff away from fragile healthcare administrations.

I have consulted Save the Children, which of course is well aware of the importance of tackling the NTDs with major campaigns. However, its key message is that, as the communities affected are often those excluded from health services, any work to ensure sustainable access to NTD prevention and control interventions should always be integrated with the strengthening of comprehensive health systems for sustainable change. Does the Minister agree with that and will she ask DfID to ensure that health workers who get involved in these interventions are always adequately remunerated, trained and motivated to support them as part of a package of essential services?

EAC Report: Development Aid

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2012 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich]

My Lords, I, too, have high regard for our aid programme, and it is encouraging that so authoritative a committee as the EAC should have decided to report at length on its impact and effectiveness. I say this sincerely because, like the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, I believe that aid, although universally popular in this country, is a neglected subject in Parliament. Even in this House, which has a good record on foreign affairs, aid tends to come up only in general or country-specific debates. With such a large budget, though, international development should be examined like every other aspect of our economy. Indeed, in many ways much overseas assistance provides a catalyst to our own domestic economy.

I still cannot decide whether the committee was attacking the 0.7% target as an intellectual exercise or whether members of the committee such as the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, disapprove of the use of the aid target as a mantra of the political parties. It helped that the media picked up on the report and ran the headline, and I in no way attribute base motives to the committee in seeking attention from the press. All Governments should receive criticism, especially of their core values and their red lines, so this debate and others at least challenge Ministers to rethink and reaffirm policy if necessary.

The 0.7% target is only a target and has now been set in stone by all the main political parties, if not yet in legislation. After all, we have taken 60 years to get to this point; it was back in 1958 that the World Council of Churches proposed a target, initiating the debate leading to the Pearson commission’s recommendation and the UN’s first adoption of the target in 1970. The noble Lord, Lord McConnell, talked of our international responsibility, and today Britain’s acknowledged leadership in the world of development assistance, as measured by the OECD in terms of its performance and effectiveness, to me makes the UN target of 0.7% inevitable.

We have not yet caught up with the Scandinavian countries, which came up to the target some years ago. Last year we were only at 0.56% but we are getting there. Whatever one’s assessment of the Liberal influence on this Government, it is this coalition that should be congratulated on ring-fencing aid during a recession—a difficult thing to do, as they are finding. It was the Labour Government, as we have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Boateng, who deserve credit for raising our sights in the first place, reflecting growing public support for aid. We should give the maximum support to the Government in fending off critics within their own ranks and maintaining our international reputation. After all, it is widely acknowledged that DfID, whether or not it remains a different department, is a cornerstone of our foreign policy and should remain so.

That the developing world needs more aid can hardly be in doubt, considering the effects of poverty, conflict and climate change. Agriculture in Africa, above all, as the noble Lord, Lord Boateng, said, requires much greater investment at a time of extreme weather conditions and rising populations. India will continue to have a large proportion of the world’s poorest people, and I disagree with the committee about an exit strategy; with the benefit of our historic experience and partnership with India, there is a moral as well as an economic imperative to defy the critics and keep at least three or four Indian states inside our aid programme.

There is little doubt in my mind that aid works if it is carefully managed. It can be very successful in what must be its primary objective and motivation, which is to help the poor on to a sustainable level at which they can earn more, feed themselves adequately and care for their own health. Aid agencies such as Oxfam, Christian Aid and Save the Children have given us many examples not only of their own successes but of DfID’s achievements in malaria prevention in Kenya and Tanzania or the reduction of infant mortality in Bangladesh—there are many examples.

Perhaps more important to the committee is whether the aid system—the current machinery for delivering aid to the poorest communities—can really absorb the budget over the next two or more years, during which our aid is supposed to climb towards £12.6 billion. I doubt whether 0.7% will be reached next year or even the year after. A lot depends on recipient Governments, and I think the committee may be too cautious in recommending more conditionality and less budget support—although I understand what the committee is saying.

However, the committee rightly points out that speed can reduce quality and accountability and encourage corruption and diversion. We also need an assurance from the Minister that DfID’s own administrative cuts, such as country office closures and the loss of staff, are not going to affect the efficiency of the current programme. The committee recognises, as I do, that NGOs in the right context can often deliver aid most effectively and, better still, can be a catalyst to more efficient official spending. I have seen NGOs and church agencies working so successfully with the poorest in India, for example, that—through small business development, loan and credit schemes and integrated development in the best sense—they have shown the way to local government and have often substituted for government altogether. We cannot take that away.

At the same time, I agree that while NGOs have increasingly taken on a quasi-governmental role, they occasionally and perhaps deliberately get in the way. One thinks of Ethiopia under the late Meles Zenawi, especially where even the most established agencies like Oxfam and Save the Children were outlawed at different times. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact says that NGOs funded in recipient countries are not subject to the same level of scrutiny, and this is not surprising. Although DfID is rightly stepping up its monitoring of NGOs, ultimately it is their freedom from bureaucracy that ensures their flexibility, quality and innovative character.

I will not go into the issue of corruption because DfID’s anti-corruption strategy is still at an early stage. No kind of aid can be free of it altogether, but I think there is some exaggeration of deliberate corruption. Much of it can be incompetence. Those of us who have visited UK projects overseas will recognise what might be called the “muddle factor”, which is where perfectly good, well designed programmes are brought down by incompetence both by donors and recipients. I will give one example from Nepal. DfID’s once excellent Livelihoods and Forestry Programme in Nepal—which the Minister may remember visiting with the Inter-Parliamentary Union a few years ago, and was seen more recently by the Commons International Development Committee—was notable for its direct involvement of the local community through forestry user groups. However, in the past two years the whole programme has stalled during an attempt to upgrade it into a multi-stakeholder project involving the Swiss Government. There have since been management failures, expertise and jobs have been lost, and there is still doubt whether the new programme in its revised form will go forward.

The position was summarised in an answer I received in Kathmandu this summer from DfID:

“Following formal approval in January 2012, the new programme is currently in initiation with activities being geared up to establish a project coordination office and select implementing agencies for the new programme”.

This kind of language—which I have also seen in explanations of delays to projects in South Sudan—reveals wastage of taxpayers’ money, nothing less. I emphasise that there are usually two sides to these problems, although they are more often blamed on the host Government or the lack of government, as in Nepal. If the noble Baroness is still familiar with this project, she may wish to make a comment in writing. The Minister Alan Duncan’s letter of last month gives me no confidence and suggests that the project should be the subject of a wider inquiry.

I will say a final word on the multilateral agencies. I do not agree that we should reduce our EU funding to neighbouring states, and I am not convinced that the committee had enough time or evidence to draw useful conclusions about the World Bank or the UNDP. How do you decide in a report like this whether the bank should invest in coal in Kosovo, when half the country cannot afford the price of electricity?

In conclusion, my support for the UN target is as a target, and even for legislation, but it does not contradict the main thrust of the report, which concerns our aid performance and effectiveness. As it says in the report, experts also disagree on what effectiveness usually means. However, experts often disagree anyway.