Zimbabwe: Human Rights

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, I can confirm to the noble Lord that public health guidance is adhered to on all removal flights. I will have to get further information on how many were from Brook House. The welfare of those detained in our care is of the utmost importance. We are working closely with our providers and PHE to stop the spread of the virus. That absolutely includes immigration removal centres.

[Lord Chidgey (LD)]

My Lords, to come back to the assessment of the situation and consultation before decision to deport, in April, the US State Secretary, Antony J Blinken, assessed Zimbabwe as one of the worst countries abusing citizens’ rights, with state-sanctioned violence continuing a culture of impunity. Zimbabwe’s security forces acted with tacit support for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Government, torturing human rights groups by brutal sexual assault and beating with clubs, cables, gun butts and heavy whips. Victims were forced to eat human excrement and drink poisonous chemicals, among other tortures. Victims included MDC Alliance members, Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri, who suffered 36 hours of sexual abuse and physical torture. Can the Minister confirm whether the US report was included in the Government’s human rights assessment? If not, why not? And what were the conclusions of the assessment?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

What I can say to the noble Lord is that, back in 2018, the Government, with officials from the embassy in Zimbabwe, agreed to redocument Zimbabwean nationals without a right to remain in the UK, including foreign national offenders. Since we commenced that redocumentation in 2018, we have returned 50 people to Zimbabwe. While it is an FCDO priority country for human rights—the noble Lord is right—we have received no reports of human rights violations against those returned since the 2018 agreement.

Port Examination Codes of Practice and National Security Determinations Guidance Regulations 2020

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Friday 10th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey (LD) [V]]

My Lords, terrorism is a cross-border problem requiring international co-operation between law enforcement agencies. Freedom and security can go hand in hand, but the first duty of government is the security of the people. That means providing both the human resources for policing and the associated physical resources needed, everywhere they are needed—whichever port or airport it might be.

The noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, made the point that he welcomed the introduction of NSD guidelines and the retention of biometric data being re-examined, but there are concerns over the increased length of national security determinations under the SI from two to five years. We need reassurances that this data will be stored correctly and securely, and used only for the purposes intended. I am hoping the Minister might be able to give some guidance on the assurances that are proposed.

There is evidence of potential abuse of power. Statistics from surveys in 2014 on Operation Insight found that 88% of a sample of those stopped under Schedule 7 were Muslim. Of the 419,000 people stopped under Schedule 7 since 2009, just 30 have been convicted. Despite stopping over 11,000 people in the year to March 2019, only three convictions were secured; that is a conviction rate 0.007%. This is hardly encouraging, particularly as convictions can be secured for, for example, failure to disclose passwords, even on the basis of client confidentiality, or refusal to answer questions. This is a bit rich coming from a Government who systematically use the excuse of commercial confidentiality not to reveal data and have raised the avoidance of answering both Oral and Written Questions from Members to an art form. Finally, this raises serious questions about the utility as well as the purpose of Schedule 7 in revealing actions associated with the planning of acts of terrorism.

Surrender of Offensive Weapons (Compensation) Regulations 2020

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey (LD) [V]]

My Lords, let me say straight away that I am generally supportive of the Act and these regulations, which will make it harder to carry dangerous weapons. The thought of any move that might take us down the path to an armed society is total anathema to me. The base rock on which our society is founded is that of being policed by the consent of the people. As Peel said,

“The police are the public and the public are the police.”


Who in their right mind would want to trundle around a town towing a heavy-duty machine gun or, better still, an artillery piece, for sport, as is the case in some countries? Similarly, bladed weapons such as Rambo knives, death star knives and the like have never had a legitimate place on our streets; their mere ownership must imply criminal intent, and of course that may well be the crux of the problem.

The draft regulations are intended to compensate the owners of some kinds of rapid-firing and self-loading rifles for surrendering their weapons—those that were made illegal under the terms of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 with a value of £30 or more. We need more clarity on the process of surrendering the weapons and how the financial transactions will be conducted. For example, will there be a track and trace system covering both the act of purchase and surrender? Is this another case of requiring social media providers to take a legal responsibility for denying the sellers of prohibited or simply dangerous weapons and knives access to their platforms?

With more than 22,000 crimes involving knives and other offensive weapons in England and Wales last year, we must look at ways to deter the selling and carrying of them on our streets. We must address the reasons why the young carry them for perceived protection.

Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for her involvement with FORWARD, which presented a key report that identified the 66,000 possible victims of this abuse. The amount of money spent is within individual department budgets, but there is a specific £50,000 budget dedicated to ensuring that this matter is fed across departments and that leaflets are produced. The Government are spending £35 million in countries where this practice is prevalent, in seeking to change the cultural background against which the abuse occurs.

[Lord Chidgey]

On that very point, my noble friend is possibly aware that, since 1997, DfID-supported anti-FGM education and empowerment programmes have led to some 5,500 communities in Senegal abandoning FGM. What discussions is the Minister’s department having with DfID to establish the impact of the success of those programmes on British African communities in the UK, particularly with regard to Somalia, where 98% of young girls are still mutilated, placing thousands of Somali girls in this country at risk?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

My noble friend has identified Somalia as a particular area of concern. We are working very closely across all government departments. I think it is clear to noble Lords that the only way we can achieve progress is by using all the levers available to us: government departments; communities; and, through DfID, the overseas cultural base of this practice.

Rainforests

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Tuesday 13th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. It is about working with other countries, which we are doing aggressively. We have worked very closely to get all our partner countries to sign off the new EU timber regulation that came into force last December. It is about being persistent in our argument. I agree with the noble Lord that it is really a devastation to all countries if we do not tackle this issue right now.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware that the Democratic Republic of Congo officially produces more than half a million cubic metres of timber each year, and illegally produces about the same amount each year? Is she also aware that British technology is now available to the DRC that tracks the entire supply chain of timber from standing forest trees to the wholesale timber market? What action will the Government take, therefore, to help facilitate the DRC Government’s efforts to complete negotiations with the European Union to enter into traceability agreements?

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend is right about Congo. However, as with the previous question, it is about all partner countries being able to respond with severe penalties when they see illegal timber coming through their borders. Of course, the important thing is that these are conversations that continue. They are not had at one conference—it is a continuous conversation at many conferences, and it will arise again at the Durban conference in December.