Commonwealth Summit: Human Rights

Lord Bishop of Oxford Excerpts

Wednesday 21st March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

If I may finish, including freedom of religion and belief.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

I want to ask the Minister about two groups of people whose human rights are sadly violated. The first is LGBT people in many African countries, who are treated most shamefully, and the second is the Dalits and Adivasi or tribal peoples in India and other south Asian countries, who by every indicator are discriminated against most cruelly.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

On the latter group, I totally agree with the noble and right reverend Lord. We continue to raise these issues in the context of the Commonwealth but also bilaterally where those groups are discriminated against. On LGBT rights, I assure noble Lords that the Prime Minister herself has committed to raising issues around LGBT rights during Commonwealth Week. As I have also made clear on a number of occasions, we continue to raise these issues, particularly with those nations across the Commonwealth which still criminalise homosexuality. We continue to raise this both in the context of the Commonwealth and bilaterally.