Yemen

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Luce, for introducing the debate. Of the many press reports on recent events in Turkey, one that I found shocking was the New York Times report covering the work of Dr Mekkia Mahdi in a northern Yemen health clinic, who was quoted as saying: “We’re surprised the Khashoggi case is getting so much attention while millions of Yemeni children are suffering and nobody gives a damn about them”. According to the reporters, she said those words while sitting by the bed of a seven year-old girl named Amal Hussain, who was severely emaciated. Sadly, as many noble Lords will know, Amal died two weeks ago, with her mother Mariam fearing that her other children would suffer the same fate.

We know, and we have heard it in today’s debate, that for every child like Amal, there are millions more children with stories just like hers and thousands of others whose stories ended when the air strikes came, or when they picked up a cluster bomb, or when the Houthis put a rifle in their hands. The children of Yemen have a right to demand more than sympathy and tears. They are calling out for action. There is no possible military solution without unthinkable human cost for Yemen’s civilians, the innocent people who ask no more than to be allowed to live their lives. Of course, Jeremy Hunt expressed similar sentiments 10 days ago when he said:

“For too long in the Yemen conflict, both sides have believed a military solution is possible, with catastrophic consequences for the people”.


He also confirmed that the UK has been discussing with UN Security Council partners what more the council can do to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and step up support for the work of the UN special envoy, Martin Griffiths. I hope the Minister can reassure the House that we have stressed to our Security Council partners—in particular, the United States—that for any ceasefire proposals and subsequent peace deal to be sustainable, all parties must be properly involved. We cannot have a ceasefire that will simply lead to failure.

As the Minister has said before, in the search for a political solution there is a special responsibility on the United Kingdom as the penholder on Yemen at the Security Council. However, as we were reminded by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, the UK has ducked that responsibility for two years by sitting on a draft resolution. Now is the time to bring it forward. As my noble friend Lady Blackstone said, the shocking murder of Jamal Khashoggi has brought into sharp focus the current Government of Saudi Arabia’s apparent disregard for human rights, the rule of law and the sanctity of human life.

On 23 October, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Mark Lowcock, set out to the Security Council the need for urgent action in five areas: a cessation of hostilities in and around all the infrastructure and facilities on which the aid operation and commercial importers rely; protection of the supply of food and essential goods across the country; a larger and faster injection of foreign exchange into the economy through the Central Bank, along with expediting credit for traders and paying pensioners and civil servants; increased funding and support for the humanitarian operation; and a call on the belligerents to seize this moment to engage fully and openly with the special envoy to end the conflict.

In addition to those areas, I hope that the Minister will be able to confirm that other vital issues will be considered in any draft resolution. In this Chamber, I have repeatedly raised the need for accountability for war crimes and human rights violations. A new resolution should demand that all parties to the conflict abide by the laws of war, including prohibitions on attacks that target civilians and civilian objects, that do not discriminate between civilians and military objectives, and that cause civilian loss disproportionate to the expected military benefit.

I want to pick up on a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay. A new resolution should specifically mention the Saudi-led coalition by name; vague appeals to “all parties” will not have the required impact on Riyadh and the regime there. It should also specifically address arms by calling for the cessation of weapons transfer to any party where there is a clear risk that they will commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law. As noble Lords have said, the time for action is now. The people of Yemen cannot wait any longer.

Freedom of Religion or Belief

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My noble friend makes a very practical and useful suggestion, and I am looking at my new role to see whether we can provide that kind of country detail.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I strongly associate myself and the rest of these Benches with the remarks of the Minister in respect of the person who attended this place last night. We strongly support his attempts to stop that kind of behaviour. We do all have a responsibility. One of the things that happened at CHOGM was a conference at Lambeth Palace, involving religious leaders and politicians. Can the Minister tell us a bit more about what progress has been made since CHOGM? It is not simply a matter of Governments; it is about all community leaders and faith leaders taking the initiative.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord raises an important point, and we of course welcomed the progress at CHOGM. I have continued to work closely with Lambeth Palace and other faith leaders as well. I am working closely with the Vatican, through Archbishop Gallagher, and I recently met His Highness the Aga Khan. We are looking across the piece with leaders from different faith communities, and from humanist societies as well, to ensure that we can work together as one on this important priority.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord speaks from great experience in this respect. I assure him that the United Kingdom will do all within its power to ensure that this treaty is sustained and strengthened. But it is a bilateral treaty between the United States and Russia and one party—Russia—has not complied. The other positive note in this respect is that, as the noble Lord will know, at the last NATO meeting in July all NATO partners stressed the importance of sustaining this treaty. It has kept the peace for more than 30 years, and that is evidence of its importance.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, by leaving the treaty the US has no way of pressuring Russia into compliance. The Minister is right about the need to ensure compliance. With the New START treaty on strategic arms due to end in 2021, we could be left with no limits on the arsenals of nuclear states for the first time since 1972. So my noble friend is absolutely right to raise this critical issue. Will the Minister tell us what conversations we had with our ally the United States and whether the United States consulted any of its European allies on this question before making this announcement?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, the noble Lord mentioned the New START treaty. It is important to recognise that major strides have been made in de-escalation and the destruction of missiles. That treaty remains on the books. Both sides are complying with it, and we will continue to work to ensure that it is sustained. On this treaty, we all heard the US President make the announcement. The issue of Russia’s non-compliance was not new to the NATO alliance. It was reflected in the communiqué in July. The noble Lord will also be aware that subsequent to the discussions a member of the US Administration recently visited Russia, and we hope that productive discussions will come from that. We continue to work very closely with the United States and other NATO allies to ensure that our efforts over the past 30 years are not just sustained but strengthened.

Jamal Khashoggi

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating yesterday’s Statement. I start by expressing my and my colleagues’ deeply felt condolences to Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice, and all his family.

The one thing that has been absolutely clear from the beginning of this horrific episode is that a crime was committed. There was never any doubt about that. The Saudi kingdom has provided conflicting accounts of what happened, and after weeks of maintaining that he was alive the Saudis now say that the 59 year-old was killed in a rogue operation. I suspect that the only thing we can be certain of is that President Trump will find that answer credible.

The fact is that an investigation is being conducted, and yesterday the Foreign Secretary said he would not decide what actions to take until that investigation, conducted by the Government of Turkey, had been completed. The Foreign Secretary also reminded us what was at stake, including counterterrorism and the jobs of people in this country; he said we were dependent on trade with Saudi Arabia. However, we also need to understand that the failure to act has consequences—consequences for the international rule of law.

This morning President Erdoğan of Turkey told MPs from his ruling party that the killing of Jamal al-Khashoggi was planned days in advance. He confirmed that Turkey had strong evidence that he was killed in a premeditated and savage murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. What is the Government’s assessment of the conclusions reached by Turkey in the report made this morning? What is the Government’s opinion of Turkey’s call for the suspects to be tried in Istanbul? Are the Government backing Turkey’s demand that Saudi Arabia provide answers about where Mr Khashoggi’s body is or was and who ordered the operation?

We on these Benches have consistently raised our concern over Saudi actions, including its strategy in Yemen, the doubling of the rate of executions, the kidnap of the Lebanese Prime Minister, the jailing of women and the threats to behead them simply for protesting for their human rights, and the freezing of trade with Canada when it had the temerity to criticise that policy. All these things show a Crown Prince with no respect for the rule of law or for international boundaries, and no tolerance of dissent.

Now that we have the conclusions of Turkey’s investigation, what are the consequences that were promised by the Foreign Secretary? What further steps will the Government take with our allies to help bring those responsible for this murder to account? Will the Government accept that the UK arms sales for use in the war in Yemen must be suspended pending a comprehensive UN-led investigation? This is not a matter that we can leave any longer to the Saudi authorities. More than two years since the UK presented its draft resolution to the UN demanding a ceasefire in Yemen, will the Government now ignore the informal Saudi veto that has applied to that resolution and submit it to the Security Council?

These events have shown us how important it is to act. We must show Saudi Arabia that there are consequences from its actions. As my right honourable friend Emily Thornberry said yesterday, that is the way,

“to end its impunity and persuade it to change its ways”.—[Official Report, Commons, 22/10/18; col. 81.]

Jammu and Kashmir: Human Rights Abuses

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

Her Majesty’s Government, as the noble Lord has rightly said, are a friend to both Governments—India and Pakistan. Our position remains that it is primarily for India and Pakistan to come together. They are countries tied together by history, culture and families. Indeed, my parents herald from India and my wife’s parents herald from Pakistan. Communities and families can come together. Perhaps I am living proof of that.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, we have a very proud record of defending human rights, particularly in countries such as Pakistan and India. What is of concern to me when we object to abuses of human rights, particularly the use of the death penalty, is that we now have a Government who are saying that it is okay to extradite people to a country where they might end up suffering capital punishment. Does the Minister agree with that assessment and the impact it might have when we try to defend other people from capital punishment?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, first, I am greatly humbled and honoured to be the Minister for Human Rights. Indeed, prior to coming to your Lordships’ House, I launched our human rights report, which again reflects its importance, our priorities and the key role that the United Kingdom plays in standing up for the broad spectrum of human rights across the world. The noble Lord raised the death penalty; I assure him and the House that the Government’s position remains the same.

British Overseas Territories: Same-Sex Marriage

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, in Her Majesty’s territories overseas we obviously have an obligation to uphold human rights, and it is a fundamental human right to be treated equally under the law. Of course, when the Minister read out that list, Bermuda would have been on it, because it did pass same-sex marriage laws. In fact, people were able to marry, and then we had that overturned. The Government cannot abrogate their responsibilities here, because it was agreed to by this Government and it should not have been. They should have upheld the rights of LGBT people. I declare an interest: I am actually half Bermudian, so when I go out there with my husband, will I be able to exercise the same rights? I hope the Minister will stand up for same-sex marriage in Bermuda.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord specifically mentioned Bermuda and he will know the history there. There was a referendum on both domestic partnerships and same-sex marriage, which the Bermudians did not accept in their vote. A decision was taken by the Supreme Court in advance which permitted same-sex marriage. That was overturned, as the noble Lord said, in the Parliament there to bring forward domestic partnership legislation which protects pension rights and other rights of same-sex couples. As to where we are with Bermuda, as the noble Lord will be aware, that legislation has been referred to the Supreme Court. The Government of Bermuda are appealing that decision, and, later this year, a determination will be made. We need to ensure, and it would be entirely appropriate—I am sure the noble Lord will respect this—that those local issues of justice are played out appropriately.

Freedom of Religion or Belief

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 19th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

First, having special envoy status strengthens the role. Many countries around the world have employed ambassadors and they continue to make representations to Governments. Being at the heart of government, I believe that I will be able to influence policy on exactly the kind of points and issues that the noble Lord raises. I assure him that I have represented this particular area in my wider brief as Minister for Human Rights, and the ability to influence the direction of policy and statements that are made is an immense privilege. To do that within government as well as being an envoy to the Prime Minister will, I believe, open further doors.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I completely accept the ability of the noble Lord to wear many hats and I think everyone in this House will admire the way that he has carried out his previous responsibilities. But the key here—he is absolutely right—is that it is a cross-Westminster, cross-departmental responsibility. Can he tell us a little more about how as a Minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office he will ensure that there is co-ordination across Westminster and Whitehall departments to ensure the effective implementation of this policy?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

That is a very important question and I assure the noble Lord that that will happen both in terms of ministerial engagement and with officials. We are currently setting up the structures on a cross-departmental basis. There is already strong working between DfID and the Foreign Office. But I want to extend that further from a local government perspective in terms of the initiatives domestically and in education. In that regard, I shall be meeting my noble friends Lord Bourne and Lord Bates later today to discuss the framework. That ministerial engagement will happen on a regular basis.

Sudan

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Grand Committee

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, for initiating this debate on Sudan, a country where more than one-third of the population still lives in poverty. As I have no doubt the Minister will remind us, the UK is an important donor, giving £50 million each year that is focused on humanitarian assistance to over 500,000 internally displaced people and South Sudanese refugees.

The Minister said at the end of last year that the Government continue to work with the international community to reform the approach to long-term displaced persons in Darfur. What is the Minister’s assessment of that process in achieving collaboration internationally?

On human rights in Sudan, Amnesty International has said:

“The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly were arbitrarily restricted”,


and that there are,

“widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law”.

The Government have argued—we have heard it in this debate—that the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue represents a shift from the stick to the carrot, and that real change in Sudan could come only through engagement, a point reinforced by the noble Lord, Lord Luce. Clearly, the Government of Sudan are gaining a great deal of credibility from these high-level ministerial exchanges. Can the Minister provide us with a specific example of where such engagement from our Government has brought about a positive change from their Sudanese counterpart?

After the fourth session of the strategic dialogue in October last year, agreement was reached on the clear steps that the Government of Sudan would take to address human rights issues. In relation to the five key issues of humanitarian access to conflict-afflicted regions, non-interference in South Sudan and maintaining the Government’s cessation of hostilities in Darfur and the Two Areas, is the Minister satisfied that progress continues to be made? The UK also raised specific issues, including sexual and gender-based violence, freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and the convention against torture. At the time, the Minister also stated that corruption was discussed. Sudan currently ranks 170th out of 176 on the Transparency International corruption index.

Following April’s fifth meeting of the strategic dialogue, the communiqué stressed trade and investment. Trade promotion in Sudan must be paired with macroeconomic reforms to ensure that any growth dividend is evenly shared, and it must not result in a watering down of human rights concerns. What steps will the Government take to ensure that such reforms are implemented to prevent the benefits of this trade going solely to the narrow elite that has ruled the country for almost 30 years?

I agree totally with the noble Lord, Lord Luce, that it is important that we support civil society. It is critical to sustaining meaningful peace and dialogue for the future, and this should be the focus of UK policy in Sudan. UK aid has funded a £1 million British Council project to strengthen,

“cultural and educational development by building skills and capacity and by creating new opportunities and connections with the UK”.

The UK Government, through the Chevening scholarships,

“enables students to pursue postgraduate study at UK higher education institutions”.

Like the noble Baroness, Lady Uddin, I would particularly like to know how those students are selected. We have been supporting only 14 students, who are mainly from Khartoum. Will the Government commit to expanding the programme and ensure that the students are drawn from a much wider group of the population, particularly from Darfur and the Two Areas of eastern Sudan?

Violent Extremism

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Grand Committee

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, for introducing this debate. I also thank all his colleagues on the British Council APPG for an excellent report highlighting the critical role of soft power in preventing and countering violent extremism in the Middle East and north Africa. The report makes a powerful case for tackling extremism overseas at its source by confronting the fundamental factors that increase people’s susceptibility to extremist ideology: economic problems, civic problems and social factors.

In an earlier debate on Sudan—not many noble Lords present would have had the opportunity to hear it, but the Minister did—I stressed that it is important to support civil society. It is critical to sustaining meaningful peace and dialogue for the future. I will do the same in a later debate—the one immediately following this one—because democracy is not limited to parliamentarians. Civil society, including trade unions, women’s groups and faith groups, is often the most important defender of human rights. It is the abuses of human rights that often catapult people into extremist behaviour.

In Sudan, UK aid has funded a £1 million British Council project to strengthen,

“cultural and educational development by building skills and capacity”.

As we have heard in this debate, the effect of promoting projects that build skills and support economic growth, encourage civic behaviour and strengthen community ties among young people can significantly counteract the underlying environment in which extremism is currently able to flourish.

I totally agree with the report’s conclusions that all our organisations carrying out this range of work, including the British Council, should collaborate to build a joint base of evidence of its impact to determine which interventions work best in which contexts. I certainly agree that the UK Government should work with the British Council to scale up its cultural, educational and civil society programmes in the region and I hope that the Minister will respond to the questions in that regard.

I have just a couple of questions to raise. In particular, I want to focus on the £1 billion Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, used by the Government to finance programmes in areas of conflict and instability. Concerns have been raised by groups such as Reprieve, as well as the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, about the unpublished spending of the fund. According to both, some CSSF programmes could have led to human rights abuses, which in turn might spur extremism. Will the Minister undertake to provide greater transparency on the fund and perhaps ensure that we utilise it to promote exactly those programmes which we have been talking about and which are encouraged in the APPG report?

The other element that the APPG report has highlighted is climate change. Both CAFOD and the ODI have reported about the level of spending in developing countries on fossil fuels. What steps are the Government taking to ensure investment in sustainable renewable energy, particularly by DfID and the CDC? I am pleased to see the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Bates, here. I hope that in the next debate he will pick up these points.

The use of education as a tool to tackle extremism is well established and is discussed heavily in the APPG report. The Global Partnership for Education has provided grants totalling $8.4 billion since 2003. Unfortunately, the UK’s recent pledge to the GPE was lower than expected and attracted criticism from a number of development charities. I hope that the Minister recognises—I am that sure he does, bearing in mind what he said in the previous debate—the role that education plays in tackling extremism. I hope that he will respond more positively on the need to back up such programmes abroad and to give more backing to the GPE.

Turkey: Prisoners

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Wednesday 27th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the fact is that, since the coup, 160,000 people have been arrested under the state of emergency and 152,000 civil servants have lost their jobs. The situation is getting worse and, while I note what the Minister is saying about representations—I welcome those made by the Prime Minister—what direct steps are the Government taking to ensure that the state of emergency is lifted as soon as possible?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

As with any bilateral relation, as the noble Lord is aware, we have strengthened co-operation over a range of areas. We co-operate with Turkey on aviation security and counterterrorism, and those important relationships are valued both by us and by Turkey. It is the nature and strength of that relationship that allows us to be very candid, open and honest in our exchanges on human rights issues, including the detentions the noble Lord has referred to. We continually raise those concerns generally and, as I said to my noble friend, specifically.