Refugees: Mass Displacement

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 6th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to hear the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths. While thanking my noble friend Lord Alton for this opportunity, I will focus on the Palestinian refugee crisis that culminated in the creation of Israel in 1948 and has continued ever since.

The Motion today includes the phrase “root causes”. In the case of Palestine, we have to go back many centuries but after 1945 Britain, alongside other European powers, had the responsibility to encourage the two communities to live together. We failed miserably, at a cost to our own soldiers and police at the hands of the Zionists. This story is easily forgotten today alongside many other dramas. Today, there are still 6 million to 7 million refugees from that period, plus over 700,000 displaced people.

The worst massacres, such as at Deir Yassin on 9 April 1948, were carried out by the ruthless Irgun and Stern gangs; in response, the Palestinians have developed their own brands of resistance and terrorism, now incorporated in the military wing of Hamas. The UN’s right to return concept has been ignored. Most of these refugees remain in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, apart from those abroad or internally displaced. I was at Christian Aid at the time of the Shatila and Sabra massacres, mentioned by my noble friend, and I well remember the horror we felt in the aid agencies as we scrambled to help with medical teams.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza still live under foreign occupation after 73 years. They depend to a great extent on the services provided by UNRWA, the UN agency designated to help them. But their situation is worse than that of refugees, in the sense that they are treated as second-class citizens, shuttled between barriers and barbed wire and wholly dependent on Israel for permissions. They are often left without a means of livelihood; they also have to live in diminishing space. Recently, I watched a video showing abandoned Palestinian villages overshadowed by Israeli settlements and streets where the two communities live divided by the wall, one of them overlooked by watchtowers as in a prison camp. Progressive demolition of houses in favour of new settlements continues.

Many NGOs and human rights agencies are making the case for Palestinians, including some within Israel. However, the Israeli Government have recently outlawed half a dozen local NGOs as agents of terrorism, and the UK has unwisely decided to proscribe the political wing of Hamas. In my view, our present Government are going backwards and urgently need to rebuild our reputation as a state wishing to see justice for the Palestinians. I should say at this point that my wife is chair of PalMusic UK, a charity that helps Palestinian musicians. It has perennial problems in obtaining all the necessary permits to allow musicians to travel, even within and between Palestinian territories.

Now that we have left the EU, are we not falling back in influence in the Middle East? Have we abandoned the two-state solution altogether and what is the UK position on the so-called Abraham accords, which draw a few Arab states into economic and, above all, security arrangements with Israel? The Biden Government have not so far stepped back from these agreements, although in September Mr Kushner feared that if they

“are not nurtured, we run the risk that they could go backward.”

The Minister will know more about this, so I would be grateful if he could share the information.

China: Genocide

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for this chance to discuss one of the most pressing matters of today, our relationship with China. As always, he has set the scene admirably—although it does not make for happy listening—and he has kindly shared briefings with us. There is no need to repeat any of what has been said, but I endorse it to the extent of my own knowledge. The treatment of China’s Muslim and other minorities by Beijing is one of the disgusting scandals of our time, of which there are many, and we must confront it squarely.

This is not a new issue. I can remember a number of us, including Lord Avebury, inviting to the House the then Uighur leader in the United States, Rebiya Kadeer, and my friend Christian Tyler, the writer, back in March 2013. We heard then the latest revelations of the re-education camps and the manipulation of the Uighur community by officials in Xinjiang province, which still remind us today of the sinister totalitarian world of the thought police conjured up by Orwell and Huxley. My noble friend mentioned facial recognition. Everyone is encouraged to report on their friends and neighbours. Any deviation by any person throws suspicion on other members of their family, who may then be detained.

All this is happening in one of the world’s greatest and oldest countries. We can still acknowledge the remarkable qualities of the Chinese throughout history, including in science and the arts. I would add China’s endurance against our own colonial exploitation, which the noble Lord, Lord Desai, just mentioned, and its extraordinary escape from poverty, at least in some provinces. However, none of this justifies the behaviour of the Han-dominated Chinese Communist Party during the cultural revolution, at Tiananmen Square and now towards minorities.

Last month, 43 countries complained to the UN about

“reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations”

and accused China of detaining more than 1 million people in the camps. Not surprisingly, China responded that these were “lies, all lies”.

We must get down to practicalities: in our case, careful consideration of our trade and foreign policy. We must ensure that, as far as possible, our trade with China is not in any way assisting the oppression of the Uighurs or any others. This may be an easy statement, but it is no simple task. Due diligence by companies importing cotton goods will depend on detailed research to identify the active supply chains. Judging by the work done by Sheffield Hallam University, it will be nearly impossible to identify Uighur fabric and yarn supplied to other Asian cotton producers.

The legal route is also arduous. I expressed doubts during consideration of the Trade Bill that the Government, or even a dedicated parliamentary committee, could ever arrive at a definition of genocide to satisfy both judges and human rights activists. I admire the courage of so many human rights lawyers who have worked for years in Rwanda and Bosnia. My noble friend knows that, much as I agree with him on the principle of human rights abuse, I was unable to support his amendments, simply because of the problem of definition. There, I warm to my noble friend Lord Anderson, who spoke so well about this difficult question of labelling.

The wider issue is whether exposure of China’s abuse of the Uighurs and other minorities, not forgetting its abuse of the Tibetans and their culture over decades, could ever rule it out of global diplomacy and international trade in particular. We have to be realistic and admit, as the noble Lord, Lord Desai, said, that we cannot rule it out. The size and outreach of the Chinese economy means that it has now percolated the economy of almost every country in the world, but we can make it increasingly difficult for it. As has been suggested, Magnitsky-style sanctions listing individuals can be very effective and we should continue to apply, widen and strengthen them. In so far as we can identify local leaders in Xinjiang, we should add them to the list.

I declare that I am also a member of the International Agreements Committee of your Lordships’ House. As it happens, we are half way through our discussion of the CPTPP, the trans-Pacific partnership, and we are likely to have a debate quite soon on the UK’s objectives. These will be based on the present membership of the partnership and the current state of the agreement. However, with China and Taiwan becoming serious applicants, it would be absurd to discuss the benefits of membership without taking them into account—but that is for another day.

We are hanging all kinds of weights around trade deals, such as climate change, concern for developing countries and human rights. Whatever we think of our Government’s policies, they are rightly beset by a number of obligations that can and must slow down their negotiations of treaties. I am looking forward to hearing the Minister on this. In fact, I believe Ministers are listening more to the demands of human rights, climate change and devolution, but I am impatient to hear what he is going to say on China.

Zimbabwe: Makomborero Haruzivishe

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness: she is quite right to say that. SADC and other organisations—including, more broadly, the AU—have a key role to play and must lead on these discussions, as people want to see an inclusive, progressive Zimbabwe. Within Zimbabwe, we must see rights restored, constitutions respected and human rights—which includes the rights of other political parties to participate fully in the democratic process—guaranteed. Those will form part of our current and future discussions with key partners.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, the US embassy in Zimbabwe has issued some devastating reports on conditions in prisons in that country, including ill-treatment of activists, violence against women and rape. Does the UK embassy confirm these reports? Can he confirm the continuing harassment of Hopewell Chin’ono, who is a highly respected figure, as reported by the American Bar Association?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, on the noble Earl’s final point on the case of Mr Chin’ono, yes, we are very much engaged on that particular case. I have not seen the details of the report to which he referred, so if I may, I will write to the noble Earl in that respect.

Afghanistan: Women and Girls

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I can assure my noble friend that we are working on all the particulars that she mentioned. I have travelled to the region with my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary to look at the issue of borders. The other matters that she mentioned are getting our full attention.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, a number of Arab countries already encourage the participation of women in the economy as a whole, and in business. Is the FCDO doing enough in preparing for its future relations with the Taliban to work closely with those countries?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I assure the noble Earl that we are doing just that. Sir Simon Gass and Martin Longden are in Qatar, in our temporary embassy to Afghanistan. From an operational standpoint, we are working with the Taliban to ensure safe passage—but also, importantly, to make sure that they uphold the guarantees they have given.

Human Rights Situation in India

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Grand Committee

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, any friend of India must be sad about the direction of the BJP Government in the past few years. There is plenty to be sad about, as my noble and right reverend friend said, especially the continuing discrimination against so many minorities, including the Dalits, and the attacks on the media. Journalists covering protests now get arrested alongside the protestors, just as if they were in Belarus, even during the pandemic. I am sorry about the feebleness of the opposition—Congress and the smaller parties—which ought to be able to stand up to the Prime Minister, but I am sad above all about the treatment of Muslims.

During the year my wife and I lived in India, mainly in Mumbai and Delhi, we made many Muslim friends. I regret having to state the obvious—that they are people of great honesty and integrity. I have to say it because there is an almost universal, mainly unspoken, prejudice against Muslims among many Hindus in India and here in the UK, and in France, hidden under the thin veil of anti-terrorism. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 led to violent communal riots in Delhi, costing many lives. It specifically excluded Muslim refugees from Indian citizenship and was condemned by the UN and human rights groups, as well as Indian Muslim leaders, as discriminatory.

In such a climate of fear, it should be up to that Government to face up to their own constitution, reassure Muslims and counter prejudice. But that would not fit in with the history of Prime Minister Modi, a member of the RSS who left a trail of persecution when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat back in 2002. He was widely accused of condoning the violence in Ahmedabad which left over 1,000 dead, on a conservative estimate, although he was personally acquitted by India’s Supreme Court.

We know that the Minister has dropped polite hints to South Block—Whitehall’s opposite number in New Delhi—about the virtues of human rights and democracy, and rightly so. We have a long, shared history, and we should be able to speak out much more bravely and frequently than we do. The high commission has done well in putting on programmes such as the interfaith leadership programme and cultural events promoting minority rights, and that is absolutely right.

A free trade agreement is in the offing and our expensive visa regime still presents Indian students and businessmen with an enormous obstacle. But we need more action, specifically to condemn the injustice and discrimination against Muslims, now being encouraged at a very high level.

The Indian Government should also amend their invidious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, the FCRA, which regulates foreign donations in India. As my noble friend said, it restricts all international NGOs and has a damaging effect on local civil society. Amnesty has had to suspend its operations; even the Commonwealth human rights initiative, based in Delhi, had its FCRA certificate suspended and its bank account frozen. The Minister will be well aware of this; I expect he has mentioned it during his human rights dialogue. I would be grateful to hear whether that still continues.

Finally, I expect that the Minister has already perused the study by the Ethical Trading Initiative of India’s business and human rights framework. It is just the kind of quality academic work which can bring together all stakeholders, UK and Indian, including those benefiting from the new FTA. With that, I wish the Minister a restful summer holiday.

Health Partnership Schemes: Funding

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Monday 7th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I hear what my noble friend says. But, as I have already indicated, these have been extremely difficult budget rounds. However, I can assure him that we are working with multilateral organisations; indeed, some of the additional funding we are providing through the World Health Organization will focus on global health priorities, including universal health coverage, providing support to professional midwifery, and sexual and reproductive health.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I know that the Minister keeps a close eye on Nepal. Are the FCDO and NHS also supporting and encouraging any volunteer health workers in the UK who want to go out to train Nepalese health workers, especially in rural areas where, as we have heard, services are most fragile? The need is quite desperate in places.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, as the Minister responsible for south Asia, I assure the noble Earl that I have prioritised support to Nepal, particularly on its requirements and prioritisations. We are working very closely with the Nepalese Government in identifying needs. Because of the situation on the ground, it is important to identify the safety of health workers who may be deployed, but we have teams on the ground who are providing first-hand information.

Environment Bill

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 7th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Bill is urgent and long delayed, so we must not waste time deliberating on it at length. It has been well scrutinised, but there are a number of points that the Commons have missed. My own interest is like that of most people: to prevent damage to the planet, especially to the least developed countries which have been hit hardest by climate change. However, I am also a member of the NFU and keen to introduce ELMS to west Dorset and to recommend any legislation that helps farmers adapt further to biodiversity and more sustainable land management.

It is not easy for farmers because there is understandable concern that ELMS will present considerable risks. While they are being offered a range of environmental choices to suit everyone, they fear they will lose their sense of security in the present landscape which provides the nation’s regular food supplies and the dependable regular income which goes with that. These fears are being amplified by the challenge of a whole raft of new trade deals. I realise that this issue came up in the Agriculture Bill but it is highly relevant to this one as well.

I suffer from a lung condition and am therefore acutely conscious of air pollution in London. Of course, there are cities around the world that are more extreme examples. But as the noble Lord, Lord Khan, said earlier, we in the UK still have to come up to WHO targets or guidelines if we are to prevent thousands of deaths. We need a better answer than the one given by the Minister, Rebecca Pow, in the Commons, which was basically to tighten local regulations and report and review the position annually.

The Government are trebling their tree-planting targets in England under the Trees Action Plan. That is fine, but this Bill talks about less deforestation, which means that forestry must surely be tackled much more urgently at the international and G20 level. The noble Lord, Lord Trees, made some vital points about pasture and grassland. Any sales here in the UK from illegal deforestation in the Amazon must be stopped, and forest clearance for food production must be slowed down, perhaps via shareholders of companies such as Cargill, JBS, McDonald’s, Burger King, Tesco and Unilever, as well as through pressure on Brazil from the G20 and the BRIC countries. JBS, aside from a massive cyberattack, is also the main target of Brazilian activists concerned about the overconsumption of meat and the destruction of the rainforest. Organisations such as Share Action in the UK which campaign on ethical investments are having a lot more impact these days on corporations and supermarket chains.

Most of us have watched David Attenborough and “Springwatch” or listened to farming programmes. We all know in principle that we need to halt and reverse the decline in habitats and species, but that is going to require a much more radical advance in public awareness and education for us to act on this as individuals. As the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, said, we need a new vocabulary. I hope that I have finally reversed my earlier indifference to nature and biodiversity. I now confess that until recently, I did not spend one moment bewailing the loss of bumblebees, but now under the scrutiny of wife and family, I have begun to recognise the southern marsh orchid and all the species that I had dismissed as dandelions. I am learning to respect all the benefits of rewilding and the vital role of the beaver in flood control, which are recognised in the Bill.

Our oceans should be in the Bill. They need much better protection. The Benyon review has shown that the proposed highly protected marine areas must be strengthened. The HPMAs need careful designation, management, monitoring and enforcement, along with the funding that all of this requires. The Government will just have to stand up to the fishing industry, which is bound to suffer in the short term. Like the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, I would certainly support any amendment to further reduce plastic in the oceans and clean up our rivers and canals. I am very concerned about the depleted number of fish, which means that we will have to avoid overconsumption or there will not be any fish to consume.

The Bill deserves to pass. We can always have a second Bill, but we need to get on with this one because, as others have said, it is urgent. It has already been scrutinised at length by the Commons and in various Select Committees, including some in this House, such as the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I sincerely hope that noble Lords will be more restrained than usual in seeking to amend it further.

Finally, I look forward to hearing the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Salisbury and thank him sincerely for all the work that he has done in Parliament, including his support for South Sudan and Sudan, which are of special concern to his diocese.

Commonwealth Heads of Government

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 27th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, first, I am sure that the noble Lord did not mean “cancellation”; it is a postponement of the CHOGM. On the second point, which is practical, I assure the noble Lord that, as Minister of State for the Commonwealth, I shall seek to take up all opportunities, including future debates, as long as we remain chair-in-office—and indeed beyond when Rwanda takes over. On the specifics of the agenda, we will continue to support democracy and champion human rights, inclusion and the rule of law, which includes issues of media freedom, LGBT rights and gender equality, as well as 12 years of quality education for girls. On that final element, the joint meeting that we are having with Kenya will bring further focus to that priority.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

Last September, the Foreign Secretary claimed that the UK had helped to update laws discriminating against women, girls and LGBT communities in six Commonwealth countries, which he could not mention. Can the Minister, who we know stands up for human rights, now name those countries and confirm that this project is complete and that there is no more discrimination?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, on the noble Earl’s second question, this is of course ongoing. Dealing with discrimination is never a job done, whether at home or abroad, and we need to remain vigilant on the issue. On the specific countries, some have declared quite openly the reforms that they have undertaken. Others, because of domestic sensitivities, have sought more discreet support from us in that regard, which is why we have not named them specifically. I am sure that the noble Earl is aware of several countries that have declared progress on, for example, the important priority of LGBT issues.

Nepal: Covid-19 Vaccine Request

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 20th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I have already alluded to the cross-government approach and the structured approach. We are engaging with the Nepalese Government directly, both in Kathmandu and in the UK. We are sending experts in technical support and assisting Nepal’s Ministry of Health in its responses. We will continue with a very active dialogue both in Kathmandu and in London.

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, this is an emergency on the scale of Nepal’s civil war or the 2015 earthquake. Is the UK responding adequately, especially to the local demand for vaccines and oxygen? The Minister will be aware of the current fragility of government and of rural health services, but there are also many experienced NGOs supporting clinics there—both Nepalese and international—with safe supply lines. Are we making full use of those?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I assure the noble Earl that we are looking at all key players to ensure that the response and the requirements of Nepal can be met in the best possible manner by the United Kingdom working with other international partners.

Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, anyone who follows developing countries will long remember Frank Judd for his advocacy of poverty reduction and sustainable development. Here, we miss him right now for his eloquence and the determination he would have brought to this debate.

Like the noble Lords, Lord Wei and Lord Bilimoria, I am generally impressed with the spirit of the review and the direction of travel, and even by the impatience with which the Government have raised their flags overseas. I do not go with buzzwords like global Britain, but I welcome their recommitment to the international and the multilateral. I am pleased that the FCDO wants to be a force for good—soft power is here to stay—although without enough visas. There is also a determination to deal with online harms, sexual violence and a range of human rights violations, and we see new approaches to science and technology, with phrases such as “building national resilience”. Some of these are either brave promises, far ahead of reality, or they are things the Government ought to be doing anyway.

All this laundry list, as the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, dubs it, comes at a more positive time, when the new US leader, Joe Biden, is back with similar aspirations, scrubbing out policies left behind by his predecessor. Climate change, Covid and SDGs are all getting proper attention. Of course, I welcome the recommitment to aid and the sustainable development goals, but the cuts are damaging and unnecessary, and the departmental merger blurs the line further between aid, defence and diplomacy. The Government have ignored their own aid target and the Minister will, I hope, repeat the assurance that the legally binding 0.7% target will return next year. The Minister was rightly besieged with questions about this this morning and I am sure he will look forward to the debate brought by the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on this next week.

On the merger, I focus briefly on the Government’s intention to tighten up the cross-government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. Was the merger really necessary, if we already had joined-up arrangements for that fund? The FCDO claims that the fund will receive £874 million for 2021-22, but Bond, on behalf of aid agencies, says that the fund has been cut by £363 million and that aid to conflict-affected states could be cut by between 50% and 90%. Could the Minister please confirm these figures? For states such as South Sudan and Yemen, a cut on that scale would be devastating. Could the Government not publish a breakdown of aid cuts by country and sector, so that we can all speak from the same statistics in future?

We are seeing the relaunch of Britain as a trading nation, with rollovers and FDAs signed almost every week. The question arises whether the new official enthusiasm for human rights is being properly translated into trade deals. The answer is that there is a formula of words in the explanatory memorandums and in some of these agreements, but we have yet to see consequent actions anywhere. On China, of course, we have a difficult and at times impenetrable way between sanctions on human rights and the benefits of normal diplomatic and trade relations. Meanwhile, what is happening to the Foreign Office post Brexit? Is it becoming submerged in trade and aid? The letters F and O surely need more attention.

Can we really be global without Europe? Chatham House puts it quite bluntly: the Government’s

“longer-term ambitions for relations with the EU are notably thin”.

We will be living under the shelter of the US again, and our policy towards Ukraine will follow NATO rather than EU initiatives. We may see reconciliation with Iran, but we must, as many have argued this afternoon, continue to work closely with our European neighbours on all these issues, even if we have—blindly, in my view—shut ourselves out of their meeting room.