Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

Lord Geidt Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, my noble and learned friend raises two very important points. First, on the NGOs, we have published an information note aimed specifically at NGOs and civil society organisations, which formally lays out a dialogue with government and allows NGOs to raise their issues directly with us. Prior to this, as the Human Rights Minister I had already had regular engagement with leading NGOs and civil society organisations. On his second point, I, like my noble and learned friend and other noble Lords, pay tribute to Bill Browder and his work in this respect. I assure him that the Government take any misuse of Interpol notices and systems very seriously. Article 3 of the Interpol constitution forbids any organisation undertaking any intervention or activities, be they of a political, military, religious or racial character. Interpol has robust checks and we will make sure that they continue to be upheld.

[Lord Geidt (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister’s Statement and the remarks of other noble Lords echo the thanks owed to the extraordinary, tenacious advocacy of Bill Browder, often at considerable personal risk. The other published designations, beyond that of Sergei Magnitsky, also reflect a high profile of public concern. There is evidently more to come: consideration of designations against Chinese actors, for example, in other very visible cases would appear to be ripening. Building on the comments of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, can the Minister comment on what measures are intended by Her Majesty’s Government, including through the agency of civil society organisations and NGOs, as just mentioned, actively to hunt down similarly egregious cases of human rights abuses which are far less well known but to which this new regime might equally apply?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, again, I agree with the noble Lord. Through the information notes—and whether through working with colleagues across Parliament, with NGOs or with civil society organisations—we want to ensure that we collect the evidence base, irrespective of who the perpetrator is and wherever they are in the world, so that we can impose these kinds of restrictions on them. They include a travel ban and an asset freeze within the UK. I take careful note of what the noble Lord says, but I assure him that all processes will ensure that there is a robust evidence base behind any designation.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018

Lord Geidt Excerpts

Thursday 22nd March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Geidt (CB) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, after four months of mutely haunting this Chamber, listening and trying to learn, it is with some trepidation that I utter my first words into the record of your Lordships’ House. I am very glad to be doing so on the occasion of a debate on the Commonwealth, with which I have been closely associated for many years. I was until recently private secretary to the Queen, the Head of the Commonwealth, and refer noble Lords to my declared interests both as chairman of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and, in the company of three other Members of your Lordships’ House, as a trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

I have been shown very many kindnesses, including reassurance and much encouragement, by fellow Members of your Lordships’ House during my short time here. There is comfort to be had in the knowledge that every noble Lord and noble Baroness was new once, though I worry that I may feel and behave like a very new parliamentarian for rather longer than them. I have also been greatly struck by the care, thoughtfulness and powers of forgiveness of the staff who have gently inducted me into the ways and labyrinthine geography of this House. I am enormously grateful to all those I have met and regret only the inevitable discourtesy of having failed to introduce myself more assiduously to others.

I am not entirely a stranger to this House. As the Queen’s private secretary, I would duly process into this Chamber at the State Opening of Parliament and end up pressed against the officials’ Box. There I would gently poach over the hot air vent. The very minor practical contribution of a private secretary to the proceedings of a State Opening of Parliament is as the bearer of a second copy of Her Majesty’s Speech. It is of course a role in the category of what one might call “highly unlikely contingency”. But, had the Lord Chancellor, resplendent in gown and tights, kneeling before his or her sovereign, reached into the purse only to produce a dry-cleaning ticket, I or my predecessors might have had our brief moment of glory. Alas, we have been thwarted by the always flawless organisation of that occasion by Black Rod and others. In his time as Lord Chancellor, no such drama befell the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, who did me the great honour of supporting me on my introduction and whom I am delighted to see in his place today. I am very grateful also to my noble friend Lord O’Donnell, my other supporter, who was a sage and generous mentor to me as I learned the ropes of my previous office.

This debate is a timely appetiser for the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next month. The Minister, with whom it was my pleasure to have worked at an earlier stage in the preparations, has outlined what by any measure will be a colossal piece of high summitry. I join other noble Lords in commending the work of the secretariat supporting this effort, and indeed also the efforts of the Royal Household, to achieve what we all hope will be an outstanding success.

I am also very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford, for the initiative of the International Relations Committee and its members in stimulating this debate. I yield to none in my admiration for his tireless work in promoting so thoroughly and positively the great work of the Commonwealth’s global network. The recent publication, The Commonwealth Transformed, is a brilliant collection of his many wisdoms on the subject. The noble Lord, Lord Howell, has already—and, I am afraid, with far greater erudition—saved me from speaking to the grand sweep of the Commonwealth enterprise, so I wish to make just three points of my own.

First, the intergovernmental grandeur of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will of course have its own effect in the high councils of Commonwealth jurisdictions around the world. It may not, however, of itself initiate, invigorate or renew deeper popular awareness and interest in the Commonwealth in this country. There are, of course, prominent pockets of favourable sentiment and reservoirs of knowledge about the Commonwealth up and down the country—the Minister referred to some of his visits in that respect—but those pockets are patchy. Despite the very considerable funding that has been properly directed by the Government to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and indeed to the Commonwealth in general, it is not yet the case that the Commonwealth message can be said to flow universally through the capillaries of the nation, to put it mildly. Were the message to be more keenly and widely felt, however, I firmly believe that it would inform and improve the United Kingdom’s appreciation of itself. It might also license the muscularity that the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, has suggested the Commonwealth might be capable of as it goes about its business around the world.

It is perfectly reasonable and useful for the United Kingdom to evangelise with full throat about the merits, virtues and—above all else—the rich potential of the Commonwealth. Indeed, from my own experience, I have seen a rudimentary understanding of the Commonwealth being often far more apparent in other Commonwealth jurisdictions than our own. The Minister made reference to the passion that he has witnessed in the wider Commonwealth and I would commend that same passion in our jurisdiction with equal vigour. It is a puzzle, although not an insoluble one. Actively sustaining attention in the Commonwealth is, of course, as much a matter for the non-governmental apparatus and networks of the Commonwealth as it is for Her Majesty’s Government. Nevertheless, I believe that one should never underestimate the power of a British governmental lead to help flatten the sine curve of interest in the Commonwealth between summits. May I therefore encourage the Minister to use the forthcoming period of the United Kingdom’s role as chair-in-office vigorously and imaginatively and, where necessary, in partnership with other actors, to promote the Commonwealth to an often-ignorant domestic audience as well?

My second point picks up briefly on the evidence submitted to the International Relations Committee. Tim Hitchens, the previously mentioned chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, made reference to the outstanding work done recently to combat avoidable blindness, particularly blinding trachoma, right across the Commonwealth. Much of that work has been the responsibility—and achievement—of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, which has programmes established in 12 Commonwealth countries and has deployed the convening power of association with the Queen’s name to great effect. I endorse without reservation the case for using the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to give these initiatives a significant push and add my encouragement to the leading voice that I know the Minister will give to the chorus. It is worth emphasising that tackling the widespread affliction of avoidable blindness is precisely the kind of highly effective Commonwealth work—in this case of potentially global application—that thrives within, but especially outside of, a governmental apparatus. To my first point, this redoubles the case for maintaining the highest possible profile for the Commonwealth outside of the intergovernmental rhythm of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.

My third point is really just an observation, and probably an impertinent one at that. I of course share the view so powerfully expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay; the Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth, has been one of its greatest strengths and stays for more than 66 years. During his own lifetime, the Prince of Wales has given highly active and enthusiastic support to Her Majesty in this role, as well as in all others. His Royal Highness’s wealth of experience in Commonwealth matters is a deep echo of the Queen’s own commitment. In these later years of Her Majesty’s reign, I occasionally accompanied the Prince of Wales as he represented the Queen, such as at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in 2013. From my vantage point, it was striking to observe His Royal Highness’s own dedication to and lifelong affection for the Commonwealth.

My Lords, I am very honoured to find myself among your number. I aspire to contribute usefully to the business and reputation of this House. The territorial designation of my title is Crobeg in the county of Ross and Cromarty, a place which Dr Johnson would have recognised as a “tack” in the old Highland system. It describes a place across the Minches, in the Outer Hebrides, where I live and farm, and to which my forebears were deeply rooted. The Isle of Lewis is where I grew up and is the hinterland from which my own erratic journey to this House has proceeded.

I am grateful to noble Lords and to the wonderful staff of this House who have made me so welcome. In the language of my distant corner of the kingdom, I simply say, “Tapadh leibh, a h-uile duine”—I thank them all.