G8 Foreign Ministers
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 2 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the meeting of G8 Foreign Ministers in London last week, which also allows me to update the House on international events over the recess.
The theme of the meeting was preventing and resolving conflict, and dealing with its consequences. There were important agreements in five areas that the UK had established as priorities.
The G8 agreed to support the re-engagement of international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, with Somalia, so it can invest in its economy, and welcomed the Somalia conference, which will be held in London on 7 May. The Ministers endorsed the Burmese Government’s proposals for responsible investment to support political and economic progress, while urging peace and reconciliation to end ethnic and religious conflicts. On cyberspace, we agreed to share best practice and build up the capacity of other countries to secure their networks effectively. The UK’s G8 presidency this year is being used to help create economic opportunities in countries in transition in the middle east and north Africa, particularly for women and young people. The Ministers endorsed our programme to promote investment, support enterprise, and work with Arab countries on the return of stolen assets. The G8 agreed a landmark declaration on preventing sexual violence in conflict, which I will return to shortly.
We also had extensive talks on pressing international issues. In Syria, we face worsening conflict and extreme humanitarian suffering. Well over 70,000 people have died, a truly horrific number; 5.5 million people are in desperate humanitarian need, and there are now 1.3 million refugees in neighbouring countries—a quarter of a million more than when I last spoke to the House on the subject only last month. The UK is deeply concerned that the UN relief effort is critically underfunded, and that only 34% of the $1.5 billion humanitarian appeal has so far been provided, even though the need will become far worse if the conflict continues. The G8 agreed immediate priorities of increasing humanitarian access inside Syria, ensuring that donors provide the funding they have promised, and the need to support stability in host countries.
The G8 Ministers reaffirmed the view that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would demand a serious international response. The UK is increasingly concerned that there is evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria. These allegations must be fully and urgently investigated. We welcome the UN Secretary-General’s announcement of an investigation into the allegations, and call again on the Syrian regime to co-operate fully and allow the investigation unfettered access to all areas. They should take heed that the world is watching, and those who order the use of chemical weapons, or who participate in their use, must be held to account.
We also agreed that a Syrian-led political transition is urgently needed, based on the principles of the Geneva communiqué. The opposition has stated that it is open to dialogue and we are supporting its efforts to prepare for political transition. The Syrian Government must demonstrate that they are ready to enter negotiations in good faith. We are calling on Russia to work with us to establish a genuine political effort on that basis.
I, along with my American and French counterparts, held talks with the Prime Minister designate and two vice-presidents of the Syrian National Coalition ahead of the G8. We discussed how the coalition can best represent the interests of all Syria’s communities and uphold human rights, and how we can work together to increase services and humanitarian assistance inside Syria.
The UK is determined to do more to support the Syrian National Coalition. Our aim is to bring about a political transition by building the credibility and capability of the moderate opposition and increasing pressure on the regime. The package of non-lethal assistance, including protected vehicles and body armour, that I announced last month is now being shipped to the region. As I said during my previous statement to the House, we have to be prepared to do even more to help to save lives. Our policy on Syria cannot be static in the face of this growing calamity.
As the Prime Minister said last month, we have taken no decision that we would like to send arms to the Syrian opposition, but the UK and France argue that we will need further amendments to the EU arms embargo, or even to lift it altogether. As things stand, we need greater flexibility if we decide that urgent action is necessary, for example in response to a specific incident or continued grave deterioration on the ground, or to create the conditions for a successful political transition. I will discuss that with the Foreign Ministers of other key countries in the Friends of Syria Group in Istanbul on Saturday, with EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, and in further international meetings next month.
The G8 Ministers also reviewed the threat to international security from North Korea. We condemned its aggressive rhetoric, the announcement that it would reopen the nuclear facility at Yongbyon, and its development of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, breaching its international obligations. We urged North Korea to engage in credible and authentic multilateral talks on denuclearisation, to abide by its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, to abandon all its weapons programmes and to refrain from further provocative acts.
All G8 Ministers were clear that North Korea’s current posture will lead only to further isolation. We emphasised our willingness to take further significant measures if North Korea conducts another missile launch or nuclear test. I discussed North Korea in detail with the Japanese Foreign Minister in the margins of the G8 and spoke to the South Korean Foreign Minister this morning. I also welcome Secretary Kerry’s visit to the region at the weekend. I have laid a written ministerial statement today on these developments and the action that the Government are taking.
The G8 also discussed the recent E3 plus 3 talks on Iran’s nuclear programme and the disappointing outcome. Tehran’s position falls short of what is needed for a diplomatic breakthrough. We will continue the twin-track approach of sanctions and negotiations, but the G8 was clear that the window for diplomacy will not remain open for ever.
We also had very good discussions on the middle east peace process, strongly welcoming Secretary Kerry’s recent visits to the region and the US commitment to finding a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. Both sides must show bold political leadership and refrain from actions that threaten the viability of a two-state solution.
I was delighted that the G8 Foreign Ministers agreed a major declaration on preventing sexual violence in conflict, which is the first of its kind and the result of a year of effort and negotiations by the United Kingdom. I pay tribute to the special representative of the UN Secretary-General on sexual violence, Zainab Bangura, and to UN special envoy for refugees, Angelina Jolie, who has worked with me to develop this initiative from the beginning—[Interruption.] And very good work it has been.
The G8 has declared, for the first time, that rape and serious sexual violence in conflict constitute grave breaches of the Geneva convention. G8 members have the responsibility to search for, prosecute or transfer for trial individuals accused of such crimes, regardless of their nationality and wherever they are in the world. The G8 committed itself to the development of a comprehensive international protocol on the investigation and documentation of rape and sexual violence in conflict to increase the number of successful prosecutions. We will now take the lead on developing this protocol with experts from all over the world.
We declared that there should never be any amnesty for sexual violence in peace agreements and pledged to review the doctrine and training that we provide to our own national military and police, and to peacekeeping troops of other nations. The declaration also includes vital commitments on women and children’s rights, and the protection of women human rights defenders.
The G8 endorsed the deployment of international experts to help build up the judicial, investigative and legal capacity of other countries, which the United Kingdom is already doing. Our team of over 70 experts has been deployed to Bosnia, the Syria border and Libya, and will carry out further deployments this year to those three countries, as well as to South Sudan, Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The G8 Ministers announced £23 million in new funding to back these efforts, including £10 million from the UK.
Taken together, that was an historic step, marking a wholly new international effort to shatter the myths about sexual violence in conflict and end the culture of impunity. We will now take this campaign to the United Nations. I will lead a debate at the UN Security Council during our presidency in June, and it will be one of my top priorities for the UN General Assembly in September. In all these areas, the G8 Foreign Ministers addressed the crises of today, but also, as I believe strongly we must always do, addressed ourselves to improving the condition of humanity.
Mr Douglas Alexander (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and for advance sight of it. The G8 Foreign Ministers meeting covered a range of subjects, as the Foreign Secretary made clear in his statement, but I will focus on Syria and North Korea.
First, however, it would be remiss of me to do anything other than express my personal congratulations to the Foreign Secretary on his leadership on the issue of sexual violence in conflict zones. His steps to bring the international community together to tackle the horrific use of sexual violence in conflict have rightly received warm support from Members in all parts of the House. I also pay tribute to the civil society groups that have campaigned tirelessly on the issue, and on whose significant efforts the Foreign Secretary’s engagement has been built.
The Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister have speculated in recent weeks about the need to ensure that the Syrian rebels are armed and trained. The Foreign Secretary will be aware that the G8 communiqué made no reference to international efforts to stem the flow of arms into Syria, but did he raise the transfer of weapons at the meeting or, indeed, in any bilateral meetings with G8 Foreign Ministers in attendance, in particular with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov? In his statement, the Foreign Secretary stated that the UK has “taken no decision” on arming the Syrian rebels, but in the Liaison Committee on 12 March the Prime Minister struck a rather different tone, as he was keen to stress that the UK
“might have to do things in our own way.”
He added that the UK was “still an independent country”.
Will the Foreign Secretary clarify those earlier remarks from the Prime Minister, and will he further clarify whether the Government’s approach to arming the rebels has altered in any way in the light of recent evidence of radical Islamist militants operating on the ground? That includes the al-Nusra Front, which only last week confirmed its affiliation to al-Qaeda. Indeed, the Foreign Secretary will be aware of a letter that I sent to him on 20 March raising questions about the British Government’s decision to
“fund training to help armed groups understand their responsibilities and obligations under international law”.—[Official Report, 6 March 2013; Vol. 559, c. 963.]
I have not yet received a reply from the Foreign Secretary, so in the light of the upcoming deadline for the renewal of the EU arms embargo, will he kindly confirm his intention to reply to that letter?
I also welcome the fact that the Foreign Secretary said that one of the immediate priorities arising from the meeting was ensuring that donors provide the funding that they have promised for Syria. Will he confirm whether all the states represented at the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting last week have provided all the funding that they have promised?
A key priority on Syria as we approach the G8 summit must be to build influence with Russia, and encourage it to stop its continued sponsorship of the Assad regime. Given that, I found it a little curious that the Foreign Secretary restricted his observations about discussions with Russia to a single line in a statement of six pages. Will he clarify what, in the light of the final communiqué from the Foreign Ministers meeting, is the British Government’s strategy to help to bring an end to the violence in Syria? If it is the Geneva accords, what practical steps have been taken to secure the anticipated negotiations?
Finally, I should like to turn to the points made by the Foreign Secretary on the ongoing situation in the Korean peninsula. We support the agreement reached by Foreign Ministers following the G8 meeting to condemn the continued aggressive and provocative actions of the North Korean regime. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that China’s role as an historic supporter of North Korea is key to defusing the crisis, so will he join me in welcoming its constructive engagement on the issue to date?
The efforts of others will not absolve the North Koreans of their own responsibilities, so does the Foreign Secretary agree that the responsibility is now on the North Korean leadership to accept an open offer that has been extended from the international community to initiate meaningful negotiations in relation to this troubling and dangerous situation?
Mr Hague
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his questions and for his strong endorsement of the initiative that I have been pursuing on preventing sexual violence in conflict. This is a cross-party issue that is of concern to people in all parties in the UK, and we can all enthusiastically get behind it. We are, as he said, building on the efforts of people in civil society, many NGOs and people who have already worked at the United Nations for some years, but it is time for the most powerful, active Governments of the world to get behind the initiative, make major international diplomatic progress, and show that we can change the situation on the ground. I will keep the House updated throughout the year on our efforts.
On Syria, the right hon. Gentleman asked about discussions on the transfer of weapons. We had a long discussion about Syria at the G8 and with the Russian Foreign and Defence Ministers when they made a bilateral visit here on 13 March. So in the past month we have had two substantial rounds of discussions with Russian Ministers—indeed, three rounds in just over a month. Of course we discussed the continued flow of weapons to the regime in Syria. Part of the problem is that the regime can continue to receive weapons, but many moderate figures in opposition groups say that they cannot obtain them.
What the Prime Minister said last month about the possibility that we might have to do more is very much what I am saying here and what I said in my last statement—that our policy cannot be static. He said, and I repeated in the statement, that we have not taken any decision about arming the opposition ourselves. There are legitimate arguments against that. They have sometimes been put in the House, and the right hon. Gentleman has raised some of them. If we were to take that step, we would have to assure ourselves to the maximum degree possible not only of the international legal position, but that the weapons could not be misused by others for whom they were not intended. Those are major considerations.
It must also be a major consideration that we currently face a humanitarian catastrophe, with tens of thousands of people being killed and millions in desperate need. A regime that is not bringing the conflict to an end can get weapons and extremists can get weapons, but people who are in favour of a free, democratic and moderate Syria find it very difficult to do so. We all have to ask ourselves how long we can go on with that situation if the conflict continues and if it continues to get worse. Of course, what we need most of all is a diplomatic and political settlement. Giving additional assistance to the National Coalition is part of putting pressure on the regime to come to a political settlement.
To expand on our discussions with Russia about that, we have discussed with our Russian colleagues several times in the past month how to try to come together to bring about the Geneva communiqué—a transitional Government drawn from regime and opposition, with full executive authority—but no one in other western or Arab nations, nor the UK, has yet succeeded in agreeing with Russia the mechanism to bring that about. A United Nations Security Council resolution would, in our view, be the appropriate mechanism, but Russia and China have vetoed that in the past and would do so again under current circumstances. It could come about through each of the countries involved—through us, the United States, the Russians and others—putting pressure on all the parties involved to negotiate that. We are ready to do so. We are always doing that with the national coalition, but sufficient pressure has not been put on the regime to do that, so we will always work hard on a diplomatic and negotiated way forward. In the absence of that, we have to do what we can to save lives and to try to make a resolution of the conflict more likely.
I agree with the thrust of the right hon. Gentleman’s questions about China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. China’s position of agreeing to UN Security Council resolution 2094, which put additional sanctions on North Korea, is welcome. I will discuss that with the new Chinese leadership over the next couple of days to see how we can work together on it. The message should be clear, as it is from the whole House and from the whole UN Security Council: North Korea has a choice, and with the choice it is making at the moment it will end up with a country that is even more broken and even more isolated, even from China. It is not too late to make an alternative choice; the path of multilateral negotiations and greater engagement with the international community is still open.
Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)
I share the Foreign Secretary’s loathing of the violence of the Syrian regime, but will he comment briefly on the opposition forces? To what extent do they believe in democracy, freedom and human rights, and how well armed are they already?
Mr Hague
The answer, of course, is a mixture. I believe that the National Coalition, which we met last week—we met the Prime Minister designate, two of the Vice-Presidents and, indeed, the President, Mr al-Khatib, whom I talked with on the phone—is sincere in its commitment to democracy and human rights and to the inclusion of Syria’s very varied communities in the country’s future. I have met them and discussed that a sufficient number of times to be sure of that answer. There are extremist groups, however, and the longer this goes on the greater the risk that they will gain more support. Estimates of the number of fighters in the al-Nusra Front, which the shadow Foreign Secretary referred to, are in the low thousands, but that is still thousands. The number of fighters supporting various opposition groups is likely to be in six figures—more than 100,000. Although that is proportionately small, we must nevertheless take that seriously, which is why we argue that we have to give more practical support to the moderate democratic opposition so that the focus of opposition in Syria does not become the more extreme groups.
Angus Robertson (Moray) (SNP)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and commend all the efforts for peace in Korea and Syria and the progress that has been made in combating sexual violence in conflict. I think that all Members on both sides of the House will be absolutely horrified that 66% of pledged UN aid, which is vital for UN agencies and the Red Crescent, has not been provided. Will he outline for Members, perhaps by placing a paper in the Library, which of the countries that have pledged amounts have provided it and which have not?
Mr Hague
I will consider that. The hon. Gentleman will understand that sometimes there is a delicate diplomacy in naming and shaming on pledges. It is necessary first to get the facts absolutely straight, because there are countries that have disbursed money, countries that have allocated money but are awaiting the details of the projects they will spend it on, and other countries that have done neither, so the picture is quite complex. However, I will look at the idea. After all, we should be as transparent as we can about the data.
I neglected to answer the question the shadow Foreign Secretary asked on whether all G8 nations have disbursed all the money they pledged. The answer is no, although they are better than most at delivering the money. I think that in the main they have allocated it to particular countries and projects. I will consider how best I can provide the House will more information, although my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary can provide the House with more information on that that is consistent with delivering on the pledges made.
Sir Menzies Campbell (North East Fife) (LD)
I am sure that the whole House would wish to express its appreciation to my right hon. Friend for finding space in his busy diary to spend time with Angelina Jolie, and to good effect, as we have heard.
Returning to the question of Syria, I maintain my reservations about arms supplies, as my right hon. Friend would expect, but I recently met a senior Jordanian official who went to great lengths to express to me the impact of the refugee problem on Jordan. When there is a country that is fragile politically and even more fragile economically, a failure on the part of those who have made pledges to provide assistance for the refugee problem becomes more acute. The truth is that their failure is nothing short of disgraceful. Does my right hon. Friend agree?
Mr Hague
Yes, I do. The official number of refugees now in Jordan is 424,000. To put that into perspective, that would, on a rough calculation, be equivalent to about 8 million or 9 million people arriving in the United Kingdom—that is the scale of the addition to the population there. We can all imagine the strain that that would impose on any country.
The House is clear, strong and united on the subject of countries’ meeting pledges. The additional dimension to this matter is that if it is so difficult to come up with the $1.5 billion agreed in January at Kuwait, how difficult will it be to come up with the $1.5 billion every few weeks or couple of months that we are going to need if the crisis goes on and the numbers get much bigger? That is why I say again that our policy cannot be static. There is only a choice between the lesser of evils in how we pursue our policy on this subject, but that underlines the fact that we cannot ignore the crisis.
Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op)
The Governments of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan armed the mujaheddin in Afghanistan, with unforeseen and terrible long-term consequences. Rather than giving to elements of the Syrian opposition surface-to-air missiles that can shoot down civilian aircraft, would it not be better to consider again whether a no-fly zone, controlled by us, is a better option?
Mr Hague
All options have to be considered. The hon. Gentleman has asked about the issue several times and has been pursuing it wholly legitimately. My answer is quite similar to the one I gave him last time. To enforce a no-fly zone, there are, again, international legal considerations. It would also require the participation of aircraft on a very large scale, so the decision would essentially be one for the United States, given the scale required. No such decision by the United States has been taken. We are working in an environment where we do not have a no-fly zone and we have to consider the options available to us in the light of that.
Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) (Con)
I congratulate the Foreign Secretary on a successful conference, which obviously entailed a lot of hard work behind the scenes. On Syria, he said, “As things stand, we need greater flexibility if we decide that urgent action is necessary”. Does he accept that any further action in Syria must be lawful and have a legal basis if it is to have international support?
Mr Hague
Yes, absolutely. It is a fundamental principle for British Governments that the action that we take must be lawful. My hon. Friend will know that when, for instance, we took action ourselves in Libya, based on UN resolution 1973, the Cabinet collectively considered the legal advice before that took place. We were able to be clear about it in the House.
Yes, international law is of paramount importance for us. Due regard must be given in international law, of course, to extreme humanitarian suffering. There comes a point where trying to ameliorate extreme humanitarian suffering becomes the prime consideration. However, I assure my hon. Friend that such legal considerations will never be absent from our minds.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)
I welcome the decisions taken by the summit in respect of the Roma-Lyon group and the fight against international terrorism. Last week, I visited Interpol and was briefed on the work of its Fusion Task Force. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that there seems to be a synergy between the work of the taskforce and the Roma-Lyon group? Will he undertake to try to bring those initiatives together while we hold the presidency of the G8, so that there is no duplication in the fight against international terrorism?
Mr Hague
I will certainly look at the point that the right hon. Gentleman makes. The G8 Ministers strongly and unanimously reinforced our commitment to countering terrorism effectively; that was a major part of our discussion. There is the kind of synergy to which he refers, and I will look at what we can do in that regard.
Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend cast his mind back to the first G8 summit that he attended as Foreign Secretary? Was anybody forecasting that we would be facing a horrendous conflagration in Syria and the threat of thermonuclear war in North Korea? Does not that underline how unpredictable our current international security situation is and the fact that it is impossible for us to predict that we will not require nuclear weapons for our protection within the next 50 or 60 years?
Mr Hague
Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right, particularly with regard to the attempts of the DPRK to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. The effects of the decisions that we are making about a successor to Trident will last for decades. We have to provide for the security of this country over several decades to come, and we must therefore, absolutely, have at the forefront of our minds the fact that we cannot predict—even a few years out, as he says—the threats that we might face. We can imagine that anyone in 1913, rather than 2013, who was trying to predict the threats they would face into the 1940s would have struggled very seriously to do so.
Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)
I congratulate the Foreign Secretary and all those involved in securing the declaration on preventing sexual violence in conflict. Will he say a little more about the development of the protocol that the UK will be leading on? Does he envisage any role at all for parliamentarians? If so, will he agree to seek a debate in Government time on this very important issue?
Mr Hague
Yes, there is absolutely a role for parliamentarians. Indeed, as we work on the protocol over the next few months and take it to the United Nations, I would welcome informal meetings and informal consultation with hon. Members of all parties. Of course, we would have to speak to the business managers about debates. We did have a short debate that covered the subject on 14 February, and there was enthusiastic support for this measure across the House. However, I am sure that as the year goes on—indeed, during the forthcoming debate on the Gracious Speech—there may be opportunities for us to look at this together.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Even if the Assad regime fell tomorrow, the Government could give us no guarantee at all that their chemical weapon stocks would not fall into the hands of the thousands of al-Qaeda fighters who are fighting alongside the opposition—and it took just a couple of dozen people to organise 9/11. Would not a more sensible strategy be to work with the Russians and to try to get a ceasefire rather than to remain obsessed with overthrowing the regime?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend must not misunderstand this. We are working on a political solution and endlessly debating and discussing it with Russia. We are not advocating, nor do we believe in, a military solution in any direction in Syria. The additional support that we give to the National Coalition is part of our effort to promote a political solution to show the regime that the National Coalition is not going to go away—and of course to save lives, which is another reason we give that assistance. We are not advocating the destruction of the institutions of the state. Whatever happens in Syria—if, as my hon. Friend says, Assad fell tomorrow—we do not want the same situation as arose in Iraq, when entire institutions and armies were disbanded. Therefore, a political settlement is absolutely what we should be looking for. Of course, we must also have contingency plans, and we must be discussing with other nations what we can do in emergencies about the security of chemical weapons. We do indeed discuss all those contingencies and we are preparing for them.
Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)
What message does the Foreign Secretary give to journalists who endanger students by travelling with them secretly to film in North Korea?
Mr Hague
This is really a matter for the BBC and the London School of Economics, and the BBC will have to look at it. I think that I have enough matters to decide on with regard to the DPRK and all the international events we are describing without my intervening in that particular row.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the protocol on sexual violence in conflict and wish him success at the United Nations. He might recall that I was one of the first Government Members to back the army of the Libyan freedom fighters, but I have grave reservations about any army of Syrian rebel freedom fighters. Would their arms be subject—whether this is done unilaterally or multilaterally —to the new arms treaty regime, which, of course, the Foreign Office ably led on in New York over the past few weeks?
Mr Hague
I am aware of my hon. Friend’s long-held views on this. In any debate we have or decisions we make on this matter, the views of this House are, of course, of paramount importance. There are a variety of views across the House in the current circumstances. We strongly believe in the arms trade treaty and in applying its provisions. We also apply the consolidated guidance that applies to arms exports from this country, although we can choose to exempt some items from that in emergencies. Of course, having fought so hard for the arms trade treaty, we will uphold it.
Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)
May I express appreciation to the Foreign Secretary for his efforts in seeking to resolve many of the international challenges that he has outlined today? Will he assure the House that, should the present North Korean aggressive posturing be found to be more than rhetoric, he will endeavour to reach an agreed international response?
Mr Hague
Yes, absolutely. We do that, of course, at the United Nations Security Council, successfully so far. We have agreed with China, Russia and the United States on resolution 2094, the most recent resolution. The G8, including Russia, was completely unanimous, which was an important statement by many of the world’s leading nations. We concert closely on this subject with the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea, so whatever we do on it we will do in very close partnership with those other leading nations.
Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)
The bombs of Korea and Syria understandably dominate many of the headlines, but the G8 is absolutely right to focus also on the more subtle dangers of cyber attack, not only to the digital realm, but to wider economies, societies and infrastructure. Is the Foreign Secretary confident that the UK and the G8 are devoting sufficient resources to countering this growing global threat?
Mr Hague
We in the UK are certainly devoting substantially increased resources. As my hon. Friend will know, we allocated in the strategic defence and security review an additional £650 million to developing our capabilities in the cyber area. One of the things that I discussed with my G8 colleagues is the setting up of our own cyber capability centre, which they can take part in and contribute to. I am satisfied that we are devoting the necessary resources. I think that, around the world, countries are in different stages of waking up to the scale of this threat. I discussed it with the South Korean Foreign Minister this morning and I welcome the fact that, later this year, they will hold the next international cyber conference, following on from the series that I started in 2011, to raise our awareness and co-operation on the issue.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
I congratulate the Foreign Secretary on the great progress made this year on the arms trade treaty, but implementation is often even more difficult than getting the agreement in the first place. Eighty-one countries have now signed up to banning cluster munitions and we are committed to trying to get other countries to ban them as well. Did the Foreign Secretary get a chance to mention the issue to the Americans or the Russians at the meeting the other day?
Mr Hague
That was not part of this meeting, but it is a regular part of our bilateral discussions with many countries. The hon. Gentleman is right that we have to maintain our efforts to increase that number. We are committed to it—again, on a cross-party basis—in this House and across Government, and support what the previous Government did and achieved on the issue. Although it did not figure in the G8 discussions, I assure the hon. Gentleman that it will continue to be part of our diplomatic effort around the world.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)
On Saturday, The Times reported that the Ministry of Defence has evidence of chemical weapons being fired in Syria. What assessment has the EU made of reports that Assad has made efforts to transfer advanced chemical and biological weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon? Is that factored into the EU’s efforts to proscribe Hezbollah?
Mr Hague
I cannot comment on intelligence matters. However, my hon. Friend will have heard me say in the statement how important it is that the UN Secretary-General’s investigation into the use of chemical weapons has access to all the areas involved in the allegations of chemical weapons use. We would be gravely concerned, as would most nations, about the transfer of such weapons to any other nation or entity. Indeed, the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah, let alone chemical weapons, would be a direct contravention of UN resolution 1701. We and many other countries would take that extremely seriously. However, I do not have any information to give my hon. Friend about that.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
Further to the Foreign Secretary’s answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Mr Roy), surely he has had a chance to form an opinion on whether the BBC’s “Panorama” programme and the manner in which the footage was obtained will help or hinder diplomatic processes.
Mr Hague
I honestly think that that is a matter for the BBC and the LSE to pursue. Since I have spent the day talking to the South Korean Foreign Minister, hosting the Moroccan Foreign Minister, launching our human rights and democracy report, preparing for this statement and overseeing the diplomatic arrangements for the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, I have not formed a view. It is for the BBC and the LSE to take the matter forward.
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
The Foreign Secretary has correctly noted that North Korea should be encouraged to participate in a multilateral framework. Following Secretary Kerry’s visit to the region and the encouraging signs that emanated from his talks with the Chinese, what can the Foreign Secretary tell the House that would encourage us to think that North Korea will move in the right direction at the appropriate speed?
Mr Hague
I have no immediate good news for my hon. Friend and the House on that matter, except for the clear unity in the G8 to which I referred. That unity extends beyond the G8 to our working closely with China. My hon. Friend referred to Secretary Kerry’s visit, during which he agreed that the United States would work with the Chinese Government. China has more leverage and influence over North Korea than any of the other nations to which we have referred. The extent of Chinese concern and determination that North Korea should not go down the path that it is on is one encouraging piece of information in an otherwise very difficult situation.
Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Foreign Secretary has commended the Chinese and referred to Secretary Kerry’s visit to China. That is positive and is in stark contrast to the position a couple of weeks ago, when the Americans, and to some extent our country, were saying that the Chinese were not doing enough with regard to North Korea. I am sure that the Foreign Secretary accepts the co-operation that is now taking place, but does he accept that if there was a major conflict on the Korean peninsula, the Chinese Government would have to deal with millions of refugees and the scale of the humanitarian disaster would make Syria look like a fairly small-scale operation?
Mr Hague
Of course, the prospect of any conflict on the Korean peninsula would be deeply alarming to the whole world. China, as a close neighbour, would be particularly concerned. That is always a factor in China’s foreign policy calculations in such matters. I welcome China’s agreement to UN resolution 2094, because it is evidence that it sees that the avoidance of such conflict involves additional pressure on the DPRK, although in a graduated way in its view. I welcome China’s position and we will continue to work with it, including through direct discussions in the coming days.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
How far are the United Kingdom and the international community prepared to go to prevent North Korea and Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and is the Foreign Secretary confident of success?
Mr Hague
We heard from our hon. Friend the Member for Harwich and North Essex (Mr Jenkin), who is no longer in his place, about how unpredictable world events are, and it is not wise for Foreign Secretaries to express complete confidence in a happy outcome for every single situation. I am confident, however, that the international community is united on both those issues, and given that unity it would be wholly irrational on the part of North Korea or Iran to continue down the path they are following at the moment. One cannot, of course, rule out miscalculations and sometimes irrationality, but I am at least confident that all countries that should be working together are doing so. I mentioned the unity on North Korea, and on Iran we work as the E3 plus 3, which includes all five permanent members of the Security Council, including Russia and China. There could not be stronger international unity on those subjects.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
Humanitarian needs arising from Syria and work on violence against women both require aid. The last time the G8 met at a Heads of Government meeting in the UK, they came to an historic Make Poverty History deal to increase aid. The new Government support that decision but some G8 countries are backsliding from the commitments they made at Gleneagles. Will that be discussed when the Heads of Government meet in G8 format later this year?
Mr Hague
That was an important agreement and across parties we should be proud that this year we are hitting the 0.7% UN target on overseas aid. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that not all G8 members have done that—not all are even increasing their aid, let alone hitting the target. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will be chairing the Heads of Government meeting, and he is of course passionate about this subject. I will put the hon. Gentleman’s point to him.
Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)
I was a strong supporter of the arms trade treaty and I congratulate the Foreign Secretary on the work done by his office in ensuring that it became a reality. The world will be watching how that is engaged with in the situation in Syria. I wish to highlight to the House and the country something important that the Foreign Secretary said, which was that time is not unlimited in finding a diplomatic solution to Iran. I urge him to ensure that in E3 plus 3 meetings he takes the opportunity to encourage Russia and China to ensure that a proper strategy is in place to engage effectively and as ruthlessly as can be done with the new President of Iran who will arrive later this year.
Mr Hague
Absolutely. The E3 plus 3 group has been united in its approach in its negotiations so far, and I hope that will continue in any negotiations that take place after 14 June and the Iranian presidential election. My hon. Friend is right to say that that will be an important period, and if there is no diplomatic breakthrough with Iran before then, it will be seen across the world as crucial. When the elections are over and there is a new President of Iran, that period will be seen as the test as to whether Iran is going to engage seriously with the rest of the world.
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)
I sincerely commend the work done by the Foreign Secretary on sexual violence in conflict areas, and I know he is committed to that. I hope however, at the risk of being put down as a humourless feminist, that the kind of frisson that went round the Chamber at the mention of Ms Jolie was not intended to detract from the great seriousness of the issue. Are women’s rights organisations involved in this initiative, and does the Foreign Secretary have any proposals to give them funding?
Mr Hague
Yes, of course many organisations are involved and the steering board of my initiative includes many NGOs. It would be best for me to write to the hon. Lady with details of all organisations involved. The funding we deliver generally goes to overseas organisations such as those I saw on the ground when I visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo three weeks ago. I announced support for women’s groups that are active on the ground in the DRC and working to document cases of sexual violence in conflict so that prosecutions can take place. They need equipment that helps to gather and preserve the necessary evidence. I therefore announced a series of grants for those projects. I will send the hon. Lady a list of those things for completeness and to save time in the Chamber.
Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)
The Secretary of State will be aware that the Syrian regime has asked the UN to list Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organisation. What will be the UK position on that?
Mr Hague
Of course, we will consider anything that is put to the UN Security Council and look at all the facts about Jabhat al-Nusra, but we must bear in mind that it suits the Syrian regime’s narrative to portray the opposition as a collection of extremist groups, whereas, as I pointed out earlier, the vast majority of the opposition are not. We will discuss that with other nations on the UN Security Council—the matter has not yet come to the Security Council—and I will keep the House informed.
Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)
I, too, welcome the protocol on preventing sexual violence in conflict and congratulate the Foreign Secretary on his work in that regard. As all hon. Members know, sexual violence in conflict has been a serious problem for a long time, and there are known perpetrators of it throughout the world. What can be done to pursue those people and bring them to justice?
Mr Hague
I am glad to say that some prosecutions are in prospect for such crimes. The recent arrest and transport to the International Criminal Court in The Hague of General Bosco Ntaganda for alleged crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one such case. I hope the initiative I am pursuing will lead to a sharp increase over several years in the number of prosecutions. That is the objective of the team of experts I have mentioned—we have already deployed it to several conflict-affected areas and will deploy it to several more this year. The team will help to gather the evidence, which means that prosecutions of both big offenders and individuals can take place so that the culture of impunity is shattered, and so that it is known all over the world that sexual violence in conflict is not something that people get away with any more. That is very much the purpose of the initiative.
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)
I was grateful that the Foreign Secretary in his statement and the G8 communiqué referred to Burma and to the need to end religious and ethnic tensions there. I am sure he is aware that, in recent weeks, there have been more reports of sectarian violence against the Rohingya community and other Muslim communities. The root of much of it is Rohingya citizenship. What pressure, through the G8 discussions, can he bring to bear on Burma both to recognise Rohingya citizenship and to safeguard the human rights of all religious minorities in Burma?
Mr Hague
The focus of what we did on Burma at the G8 was supporting responsible investment in the country—responsible with regard to the population of Burma—but we are active in any case in pursuing the hon. Gentleman’s point. I met last month the Burmese Foreign Minister and made very strongly the point about sectarian violence in Burma and the need for the state to ensure that it comes to an end. I also discussed the matter by telephone last week with Aung San Suu Kyi, because it is important to pursue the matter with both the Government and the opposition in Burma. We will absolutely maintain our efforts on that.
Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
I return at the end of the statement to the questions at the beginning on the growing humanitarian catastrophe that is overtaking Syria, the need for action, and the lamentable lack of action by the international community. You mentioned that some of the G8 had not lived up to expectations on UN aid, but you did not speak of the other nations. You have been very clear with us, but can you be clear what action the G8 proposed to deal with the matter, and what further discussions you will be having to ensure that everyone lives up to that commitment?
Mr Speaker
Order. I cannot be clear on any of those matters and will be having no such discussions, but the Foreign Secretary may be able to oblige.
Mr Hague
I am sure we would enjoy you being clear on this issue, Mr Speaker, but I will try to be clear on it. The G8 nations do not do badly in this regard, although everyone has to make sure that they deliver on their commitments. Most of the problems of not meeting commitments are outside the G8. Of course, we are working very hard, and my colleagues in the Department for International Development are working hard bilaterally with individual Governments, to say that amounts, adding up to $1.5 billion, that were pledged in Kuwait at the end of January—nearly three months ago—must be delivered if there is to be any hope of meeting the needs of the huge numbers of refugees that I have described. The Government are very active in trying to bring that about. Suggestions have been made by hon. Members during our exchanges about publishing some of the information, and I undertook to have a look at doing that.
North Korea
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 2 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
I would like to update the House on recent developments on the Korean peninsula and the action the Government are taking in response.
I am concerned by North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and missile technology, and more recently by its frenetic and bellicose rhetoric. I am also concerned by the danger of miscalculation by the North Korean regime. The international response to this must be clear, united and calm.
UN Security Council Resolution 2094, adopted on 7 March in response to the nuclear test on 12 February, was agreed by consensus. This is a strong signal of the international community’s unity and resolve. The measures in this resolution provide the international community with the enhanced means to tackle North Korea’s illicit proliferation. In addition, the resolution makes clear that the UN Security Council would take “further significant measures” in the event of another North Korean launch or nuclear test.
G8 Foreign Ministers also discussed the international response to North Korea at our meeting last week. This resulted in a clear joint statement that included condemnation in the strongest possible terms of North Korea’s continued development of its nuclear and ballistic programmes, and we urged North Korea to engage in credible and authentic multilateral talks on denuclearisation. Foreign Ministers all agreed that North Korea must address these and other issues and co-operate fully with all relevant UN mechanisms. We made clear our support to the UNSCR commitment to take further significant measures in the event of a further launch or nuclear test by North Korea.
The statement of the G8 Foreign Ministers also expressed concern over the systematic and widespread human rights violations in North Korea. This echoed the agreement in the UN Human Rights Council on 21 March to establish a Commission of Inquiry on human rights abuses in North Korea. The fact that this inquiry was agreed without a vote again demonstrates the strong international consensus that North Korea cannot and should not continue on its current course.
We are working to ensure all states fully implement the latest UN Security Council resolution and have been speaking to international partners about the importance of this. The UK is not a member of the six-party talks, but we will remain in close touch with the US, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan on their approach towards North Korea. I have also spoken to the South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byun-se, where I welcomed South Korea’s measured approach to the situation and confirmed that the UK will continue to support our allies in the region.
In this call I stressed the importance of not responding to North Korean rhetoric. Our assessment remains that there has been no immediate increased risk or danger to those living in or travelling to either North or South Korea. We judge there is no immediate need to either change the level of our travel advice or draw down embassy staff, although we are keeping this under constant review and making regular factual updates to our travel advice.
The UK played a leading role in work to agree a co-ordinated and unified response by EU member states to the 10 April deadline set by North Korea for embassies to notify them of what assistance they would require should they wish to be evacuated from North Korea. We made sure that the EU took this opportunity to remind North Korea of its international obligations on proliferation. From our discussions with other Governments we do not believe any foreign embassy in Pyongyang is currently planning to close.
Our message to North Korea is clear. It has a choice, between constructive engagement with the international community, or further international action and isolation. The choice it is taking now will lead it to be a broken country, isolated from the rest of the world.
Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will shortly commence a triennial review of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission (MACC), to Cabinet Office guidelines. As part of the coalition agreement, all Government Departments are required to review all their non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) at least every three years. The review of MACC will commence during the final quarter of the programme (2012-13), and will be conducted in two stages. The first stage will examine the key functions of MACC. Providing the outcome of this stage is that the work of the commission should continue, the second stage of the project will ensure that MACC is operating in line with the recognised principles of good corporate governance. Copies of the review will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
BBC Monitoring Scheme
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
Following the announcement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 20 October 2010, Official Report, column 962 that from 2013 BBC Monitoring will be funded from the TV Licence fee, I can confirm that I will be the Cabinet Minister representing the Government’s interests with regards to BBC Monitoring. A new Monitoring Consultative Group (MCG) consisting of Government officials and BBC representatives will meet twice a year to discuss BBC Monitoring’s strategic direction, to review BBC Monitoring’s performance, and to resolve any issues as necessary.
This arrangement takes effect from 1 April 2013 and will be set out in the BBC Monitoring Scheme. I will place a copy of this “Scheme” in the Libraries of both Houses after that date.
Afghanistan (Monthly Progress Report)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
I wish to inform the House that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, together with the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development, is today publishing the 25th progress report on developments in Afghanistan since November 2010.
On 3 and 4 February my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister hosted a summit at Chequers, attended by the Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were joined by Foreign Ministers, Chiefs of Defence Staff, Chiefs of Intelligence, the Afghan National Security Adviser and the Chair of the Afghan High Peace Council. Key achievements included agreement on co-operation between Afghan and Pakistan military and security services, strengthened co-ordination of Taliban prisoner releases from Pakistani detention and a public statement in support of the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha.
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made her first visit to Afghanistan 24-27 February. The visit focused on British-Afghan co-operation in areas including police training, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and migration. The Afghanistan Minister of Defence, Bismellah Mohammadi, visited the UK 24-26 February. He held discussions on the development of the Afghan National Security Forces, Institutional Development, countering the insider threat, and progress of the UK-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral with the Foreign Secretary, the Defence Secretary, the Minister for the armed forces and the Chief of the Defence Staff.
The UN Assistance Mission Afghanistan reported that civilian casualties in 2012 decreased by 12% compared with 2011. Civilian deaths caused by ISAF and Afghan Forces fell from 14% of the total to 8%, while deaths caused by the insurgency rose by 9% to 81%.
In February, my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary approved £12 million from existing DFID funds to help deliver emergency food support to over 900,000 people in Afghanistan. This assistance will support activity over a five month period up June 2013 and target food insecure regions of Afghanistan to help reduce malnutrition-related rates of mortality and morbidity.
In his State of the Union Address on 14 February President Obama confirmed that the US military presence will be approximately halved over the next year, reducing to 34,000 US troops in Afghanistan to the end of 2014. The reduction in international forces is made possible by the increasing capacity and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces.
I am placing the report in the Library of the House. It will also be published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website (www.fco.gov.uk).
Afghanistan
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
With permission, I will make a statement, as we do quarterly, on our progress in Afghanistan. This represents the combined assessment of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department for International Development.
I pay tribute to the great courage and professionalism of our armed forces in Afghanistan. Four hundred and forty British service personnel have lost their lives there since 2001, including two since my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary made the last quarterly statement on 19 December. We will never forget the sacrifice they and their families have made to protect our nation’s security, or the efforts of the civilian staff, who have also served bravely in Afghanistan over the past decade.
The Government’s objective and strategy in Afghanistan are unchanged. We seek an Afghanistan that can maintain its own security and that is not a safe haven for international terrorists. That requires us to help the Afghan Government to increase the capability of their national security forces, to make progress towards a sustainable political settlement, and to build a viable Afghan state.
Although formidable challenges remain, there is progress to report to the House on all three of those fronts. First, significant progress is being made in building up the capability of the Afghan security forces. In the past three months, insurgent activity in Afghanistan has followed the historical cycle of winter seasons, with a reduced level of violence nationwide. High-profile attacks have been limited over the period. Recent attacks, such as those against the national directorate of security and traffic police headquarters, have been largely dealt with by Afghan forces, without direct support from the international security assistance force. Afghan security forces are now leading 80% of all security operations in Afghanistan, and are due to take lead responsibility for combat operations across the country by this summer, with ISAF taking an advisory role. More than three quarters of ISAF bases have been closed or transferred to the Afghan Government, and the ANSF is on track to assume full responsibility for security in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
That progress is allowing the gradual redeployment of UK military forces and equipment. The Prime Minister announced in December that our military presence will be reduced by nearly half this year, and that the UK, along with our allies, will move steadily towards a supporting role. The role of UK personnel is changing from a combat role to training and advising the Afghan security forces. In the short term, UK personnel will continue to support Afghan operations through casualty evacuation, air support and the provision of surveillance capabilities, while working to help the Afghans to develop their own suitable capabilities. In addition, UK personnel provide the infrastructure necessary to work in Afghanistan, including food, medical care, welfare and transportation. Although our focus is increasingly on supporting our Afghan partners, we will maintain sufficient capability to project military force if the conditions require it until the end of 2014.
The ANSF currently has more than 330,000 personnel and is progressing towards a final number of 352,000. As those forces become more capable and approach full strength, our mentoring has switched from company to battalion level, and by the end of this year, our forces will no longer need to mentor them below brigade level. The vast majority of training is also now led by the Afghans themselves.
Of course, our task is still a difficult one. The Taliban will continue to seek to undermine popular confidence in the Afghan authorities, and as Afghan forces assume the lead in combat operations across the country, they are likely to become the focus of Taliban attacks. Moreover, the formation of professional armed forces takes time, and reducing attrition rates and improving leadership across the Afghan forces will be important priorities for years to come. The UK is therefore proud to take the lead in building up the new Afghan national army officer academy which will develop the next generation of Afghan military leaders.
Secondly, we continue to help drive progress towards a sustainable political settlement and efforts by the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to strengthen their relationship. On 3 and 4 February, the Prime Minister hosted a summit at Chequers with President Karzai of Afghanistan and President Zardari of Pakistan. That was the third in a series of trilateral meetings hosted by the Prime Minister in the past year. The aim was to assist the Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process, and strengthen joint Afghan and Pakistani efforts to address extremism, and to advance regional peace and stability.
The summit led to an agreement on co-operation between military and security services, and strengthened co-ordination of Taliban prisoner releases from Pakistani custody. It also led to a public statement supporting the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha. That sends a clear message to the Taliban that now is the time to take part in a peaceful political dialogue. The UK will continue to support this Afghan-led peace process and to facilitate improved relations between the Afghan and Pakistani Governments, including supporting further trilateral meetings in future.
Thirdly, we continue to work to help strengthen Afghanistan’s democratic institutions. In just over a year’s time, on 5 April 2014, the Afghan people will begin voting in the third presidential elections since the fall of the Taliban. Elections to the provincial councils will take place on the same day. These elections must be credible, inclusive and transparent. All Afghan constituencies, including women and minorities, must feel part of the electoral process and have the opportunity to make their voices heard. Although it will be Afghan-led, the UK will continue to provide support and advice to the local authorities. We are lobbying the Afghan Government to ensure that key electoral laws, which will underpin the credibility of the 2014 elections, are passed by the Parliament and not by presidential decree.
The UK is supporting the Afghan authorities to prepare for the elections through providing funding to the United Nations Development Programme ELECT II programme—Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow—which builds the capacity of the Independent Election Commission. The UK will provide £12 million between November 2012 and December 2013 to the ELECT II fund. In addition, last year we provided $215,000 to the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, and we have provided an additional $750,000 to the Afghan Parliamentary Assistance Programme, which supports capacity building for Afghan Members of Parliament, including on drafting legislation, improving budget analysis and oversight and strengthening links between parliamentarians and their constituents.
Economic growth is also vital if Afghanistan is to become a stable and secure state that is not dependent on foreign aid. The country has significant natural resources that must be developed, including metals, minerals and hydrocarbons. On 6 March, my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for International Development, and the Afghan Minister of Mines, hosted a forum for representatives of the extractives industry to help attract credible international investment to Afghanistan. The Department for International Development has also agreed a three-year, £10 million programme of support to the Ministry of Mines to improve transparency and accountability, so that the main beneficiaries of that mineral wealth are the Afghan people themselves.
I wish to emphasise that it is critical that Afghanistan takes the necessary steps to ensure women are able to play their full role in society and developing the economy. The Foreign Office, along with other Departments, continually lobbies the Afghan Government on human rights issues. Women’s rights were an important theme of the visit of my noble Friend Baroness Warsi to Afghanistan earlier this month, and the Secretary of State for International Development met President Karzai in her visit in December to discuss the challenges faced by Afghan women.
UK aid funding has already helped to ensure that 5.9 million Afghan children are regularly attending school, including 2.3 million girls. That compares to virtually none under the Taliban. Our aid money is also being used to recruit and train teachers, build and maintain schools, and increase the availability and quality of education. DFID has announced a further £45 million for the global girls education challenge fund, which is helping to improve education for more than 250,000 marginalised girls.
The FCO and DFID are also working together to ensure that the Afghan Government uphold their commitments on women’s rights, including through implementation of the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, which is a central commitment under the Tokyo mutual accountability framework. The International Development Secretary has stated that tackling violence against women and girls will be a strategic priority for the Department’s work in Afghanistan.
The UK will do whatever it can to increase rights for women in Afghanistan, and we must also do more to improve the lives of all the Afghan people. We will therefore play a key role in ensuring that Afghan commitments from last year’s NATO summit in Chicago and the Tokyo conference on development are implemented by the Afghan Government. We look forward to the initial review of progress against the Tokyo mutual accountability framework in July, and we will chair jointly the first ministerial review of it in 2014.
We also continue to take steps to address the immediate humanitarian needs of the Afghan people; DFID has announced a new £12 million humanitarian programme from existing funding that will provide nutrition and food support to more than 900,000 vulnerable people affected by conflict, natural disaster and harsh winters.
The end of the ISAF mission next year does not mean an end to the support provided by the international community. Planning continues for the NATO-led follow-on mission that will help to train and advise the Afghan security forces after combat missions draw to a close. The UK will continue to support governance and development in Afghanistan through the next decade—with £178 million per year agreed until 2017—helping to ensure that the progress made to date is not lost. That is in addition to our £70 million commitment to sustain the ANSF after 2014.
The path of transition will not be easy. But progress is being made, and we will stand by the people of Afghanistan as they build a more peaceful and secure future.
Mr Hague
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his comments. He rightly joined in the tributes to our armed forces and everyone who has worked so hard and so bravely in Afghanistan, and I join in his tribute to Malala Yousafzai. I am proud that we took the decision to bring her to this country and that she has been so well looked after in Birmingham—in Edgbaston, to be specific. I visited her family there shortly after she arrived for medical care and was enormously impressed by their determination, resolve and bravery, as well as by that which she herself displayed.
The right hon. Gentleman is right that the transition is a testing period, and he correctly pointed out many of our priorities. The Afghan national security forces are showing steadily increased capabilities, including in their cohesion and ability to hold territory and conduct operations. As I mentioned, they now lead 80% of operations, and by this summer will have lead responsibility for security across the whole country. This transition has been taking place in one area after another, through four transition tranches, on the basis of experience and the capabilities of the Afghan forces, which should be increasingly respected internationally and within Afghanistan.
A great deal of work has been done to minimise so-called green on blue attacks, including through collecting biometric data earlier from Afghans involved in training. The MOD has taken every possible measure to minimise the threat of those attacks, while of course ensuring that training and mentoring can continue in the appropriate way. The right hon. Gentleman also asked about force protection. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, who is here, is clear that those forces must be adequately protected, but we will make decisions in due course about the number, level and nature of the forces necessary to do that.
The right hon. Gentleman asked about the draw-down of forces. There has been no change since my right hon. Friend’s statement in December and the Prime Minister’s announcement then that our force levels would fall to approximately 5,200 this year. That is well aligned with statements made by our partners, particularly the United States, which of course contributes more than two thirds of all international forces deployed in Afghanistan. Since the last statement to the House, President Obama has announced a draw-down of approximately half the US forces—quite similar to our statement, therefore—reaching 34,000 over the next year, up to early next year.
We are intensely focused on women’s rights and the position of women in Afghan society, as I set out at some length in my statement. I will not go over all those things again, except to reiterate the importance that the Department for International Development attaches to this issue in all its huge programme of work— £180 million a year—which is particularly focused on this area. The International Development Secretary has made it a strategic priority of DFID’s work over the next few years. Again, that is a challenge, but the UK has a strong record in this area and can continue to contribute a great deal.
I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s welcome for the trilateral process that we have been conducting with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The involvement and support of neighbouring countries is the most important piece of the jigsaw. He was right to point to it, because when it is clear that Pakistan and Afghanistan will co-operate more closely together, including on their security, that the whole leadership of Pakistan seeks stability in Afghanistan and that Afghanistan knows it can have a successful peace process only with the support of Pakistan—these things are increasingly clear owing to our trilateral process and the efforts of both Governments—that in itself will be a powerful signal to the Taliban that it is time to take part in a peaceful political process. The opportunity is now there for them to do so.
Other regional support comes through different formats, including the Heart of Asia process—I attended the conference of countries from around Asia which took place in Kabul last June. Through that process we are able to encourage support from other nations in the region as well.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Clearly, the long-term economic stability of Afghanistan is key. Arguably, the chief output from the economy is the poppy crop. Can my right hon. Friend report to the House on what progress has been made to ensure that it is used for beneficial, medical purposes, rather than for the illicit black market trade in drugs?
Mr Hague
The poppy crop is of course, if we are realistic, mainly for the illicit black market trade. Only a small proportion of it would be for the objectives that my hon. Friend rightly talks about. There was an increase in poppy cultivation in some areas last year, brought on, it seems, by the high prices that were available in 2011. Nevertheless, the Government of Afghanistan’s eradication programmes have been expanded successfully. The total area under cultivation last year was about 40,000 hectares less than at the peak. It is therefore fair to say that some progress has been made, but we are a long way from achieving the cultivation of such crops purely for the beneficial and medical uses that my hon. Friend speaks about.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his update. Can he tell us what is being done about the criminal gangs that are preying on Afghani citizens, making them pay thousands of euros in order to traffic them from Afghanistan to the border of Greece and Turkey and eventually into the EU? It is an appalling practice that is causing enormous distress, because at the end of the day the Afghani citizens are deported from the EU back to Afghanistan and the cycle starts again. What can we do about that?
Mr Hague
The right hon. Gentleman points to what is a serious problem not only in Afghanistan but in many other countries. Human trafficking of this kind has many sources, in many different parts of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa. We are increasing our law and order co-operation. In fact, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary visited Afghanistan for the first time a month ago, to talk partly about counter-narcotics co-operation, but also about how we work together on policing and maintaining law and order in future. This issue is a natural part of that work. The right hon. Gentleman rightly draws attention to a serious problem and I will write to him with further details on what we think we can do about it.
Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)
Afghanistan has been of great security and strategic significance for centuries. May I echo the Foreign Secretary’s tribute to the work done by British and international personnel, both military and civilian, in recent years to try to ensure the stability of Afghanistan? I broadly share his optimistic view of the future, but some commentators do not. What discussions has he had with his international counterparts on what the international response would be if the situation deteriorated and those historical anxieties recurred?
Mr Hague
Of course the situation remains difficult, as I made clear in my statement, but it is important that responsibility for security should be passed to the Afghans themselves. It is for them to make decisions about their own country. Regarding future support, the international commitments made at the NATO summit in Chicago last year and at the Tokyo summit on development are very strong. Each commitment involves the provision of $4 billion a year, well into the future, to maintain the Afghan national security forces in one case and to contribute to sound economic development in the other. That $8 billion commitment from the international community is a huge one. That is the support it is going to provide, and we now have to help to ensure that the Afghan leadership can make good use of it.
Mr David Winnick (Walsall North) (Lab)
May I press the Foreign Secretary on one point? He has pledged that Britain’s combat role will end in 2014. Is that absolutely firm, no matter what occurs or whether the Taliban engage in talks?
Mr Hague
Yes, that has been firm for a long time. The hon. Gentleman will have heard the Prime Minister talking about this, as well as my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary and me, and he will remember how clear the Prime Minister has been on the matter for a long time. It is in any case the commitment of the whole of ISAF. There are decisions to be made about the presence after that, but that is the end of our combat role. We have already made a commitment to lead the officer training academy afterwards. I have given such enormous attention to building up the Afghan national security forces and a viable Afghan state, as well as pursuing the political process and an Afghan-led peace process, so that we can be absolutely sure about this.
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)
The beginning of the end in Afghanistan is a welcome moment indeed, but let us cast our minds forward to what will happen after 2014. Am I right in thinking that the bulk of our training forces will be in the north, in and around Kabul and the officer training base? If so, will we retain any presence in Helmand province, and what will happen to Lashkar Gah and Camp Bastion?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend is right to suggest that the bulk of the effort will be near Kabul. As I have said, we have made no decisions about any other military presence apart from that after 2014. We will make those decisions in due course, along with our partners in NATO, and we will keep the House updated on that through further statements. Of course, the transition is already taking place in many parts of Helmand. Lashkar Gah, for instance, was one of the first places to undergo transition, and other parts of Helmand have been involved in tranches 2 and 3 of the transition process. So even in Helmand, it is increasingly the Afghan forces that have been taking the lead, and they are equipped to do so.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
When does the Foreign Secretary expect the first meetings in Doha to take place between the Taliban and the High Peace Council of Afghanistan? Also, has the UK considered making post-2015 aid dependent on respect for the human rights of women?
Mr Hague
On the hon. Lady’s first question, that will depend on the actions of the Taliban. Afghanistan and Pakistan support the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, with our encouragement and with the support and readiness of Qatar. The Taliban leadership now need to decide whether they are prepared to take this opportunity to enter into a peaceful political process, or whether they will let it slip by and lose such an opportunity.
As to decisions about development—if my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development were here, she would prefer to put it in the positive sense—we are committed to development in Afghanistan with the programme of £178 million a year, and women’s rights are an important part of that programme. It is not our normal habit around the world to say, “This aid will be withdrawn unless you do X, Y and Z”. If countries behave in a completely unacceptable way, of course, we have been known to withdraw our assistance.
Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)
On the point about commitment by the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Foreign Secretary will know that there may be a new Government in Pakistan in May, as there is an election going on, and that within a year there will be a new President in Afghanistan. Have there been discussions with some of the main opposition elements to see if they are committed to this process of working together for national security, peace and stability? Linked to that, will the Foreign Secretary join me in paying tribute to the Government and Parliament of Pakistan for the latter being the first in the history of Pakistan to serve its full term?
Mr Hague
Yes, I readily join in that tribute. This statement was very much focused on Afghanistan rather than on anything internal happening in Pakistan, which explains why I did not mention that earlier, but I absolutely join in that tribute. It is an important milestone in the democracy of Pakistan, which all parties across the House strongly support, that a democratically elected Government have served a full term and that another democratically elected Government of whatever shape or form will follow; that has never happened before in the history of Pakistan. The discussions we have hosted between the Pakistani and Afghan Governments have been broader than comprising just the political leaders, as they have included the military and intelligence leadership of those countries. Wherever possible, we have briefed opposition leaders. Just last week, for instance, I had discussions with the leading member of the opposition parties in Pakistan, Mr Nawaz Sharif. If opposition parties come into office, they will of course have to make their own decisions, but I believe there is a strong consensus across government—and, I hope, across political parties—in both countries in support of that.
Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)
I thank and congratulate the Government and the staff at Brize Norton on the very sensitively conceived new facility for receiving the fallen from Afghanistan and on providing some consolation to their loved ones.
Frederick and Kimberly Kagan were at the right hand of General Petraeus during his time in Afghanistan, and they had access to all the secret documents and secret meetings. They were employed not by the Government, the military or Petraeus, but by the defence contractors, who were thought to be hugely influential. As our policy is tied to American policy, should we not look at the influence of defence contractors in prolonging existing wars and fomenting new ones?
Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman raises a wider issue. I think he can be very confident that the decisions of the United States—and, indeed, of its allies, including the United Kingdom—have been thoroughly consistent throughout the last few years with what I have described: bringing our combat role to an end, transferring responsibility to Afghans and building a peaceful future for Afghanistan. I do not think anyone could accuse President Obama of anything other than that—or of any of the things the hon. Gentleman has just described. The President’s commitment to bringing this about in Afghanistan is abundantly clear, and I do not think he has been influenced against that by any contractors.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s report on the further democratic developments in Afghanistan as it moves towards its presidential elections next year, but is he at all concerned by the report in The Times that the first major political figure to announce his candidacy—Mr Daudzai, the President’s former chief of staff—has, in the past, received cash in aid from the Government of Iran?
Mr Hague
I do not think it would be very helpful to the Afghan electoral process for Foreign Ministers in other countries to give a running commentary on each of the candidates as they emerge. My hon. Friend has made his point, but I do not think I will take it any further. In view of your injunction that I should be less informative in my answers, Mr. Speaker, I shall take this opportunity to set an example.
Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)
I am sure the whole House agrees there should be no drop in the quality of medical care available to personnel after 2014, given that some will be staying behind. Can the Foreign Secretary update the House on the progress of talks with the United States about the need to ensure that the air bridge and the medical support continue to be of the present high standard?
Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
May I press the Foreign Secretary on a point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham and Rainham (Rehman Chishti) and touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher)? How dependent are the nature and extent of the Government’s involvement in Afghanistan on the outcomes of the elections in Pakistan and Afghanistan this year and next?
Mr Hague
I can assure my hon. Friend that they are not dependent on that. It will be important for us to work with the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, whoever is elected this year and next year, because we have vital strategic interests and it is vitally in our national interests for us to continue to do so; and it is important for whoever stands for election in those countries to know that we are prepared to do so. The imperative to support—in a new and different way, after 2014—the building of peace and prosperity as well as security in Afghanistan will continue, and it is not dependent on those two elections.
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)
As the Foreign Secretary will know, the original ministerial decision to shift United Kingdom military effort from northern Afghanistan down to Helmand in the south came at a time when the UK was already dedicating a significant effort to operations in Iraq. I am not saying that that decision was right or wrong, but I do think that a mechanism is needed to enable the Government to review such decisions and learn from them. Does the Foreign Secretary agree, and if so, what does he think is the best mechanism for the purpose, in the context of Afghanistan?
Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman has raised a very interesting issue. The decision to which he refers was made back in 2006, under the last Administration, so I cannot go into too much detail about the making of it. However, it is important for us to learn lessons after any conflict, and we have learnt enormous lessons in Afghanistan as we have gone along, including about such matters as military equipment and tactics. It will be for the House, and for all of us, to take stock when our combat role comes to an end, so I will not commit the Government to some new process of examination or inquiry at this point.
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. We must never forget the ultimate sacrifice made by so many of our soldiers, including Lance Corporal Jordan Bancroft and Lance Corporal Michael Foley from Pendle, in achieving a sustainable settlement in Afghanistan.
I also welcome the Prime Minister’s recent trilateral meeting with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts. Can my right hon. Friend say more about the continuing dialogue with Pakistan? Are there plans for any more trilateral meetings to take place before the Pakistani elections?
Mr Hague
Pakistan is going through a period of caretaker government before the elections. We will of course maintain contact with the caretaker Government, and I will continue to pursue with the caretaker Foreign Minister of Pakistan the trilateral process that I have pursued with the outgoing Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, over the past year. I have spoken to the Afghan Foreign Minister in the last 10 days to make sure of Afghanistan’s continuing commitment to the trilateral process. The election in Pakistan will not interrupt that process.
Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)
It is 10 years to the day since the illegal invasion of Iraq, yet we have no statement and no debate in this House, even though the Scottish Parliament could debate it. Is that because the Foreign Secretary has sent a memo to senior Cabinet members telling them not to discuss the war—not to mention the war? Did he get away with it?
Mr Hague
It is easy to obey your request, Mr Speaker, by giving a short answer to this question because it is not relevant to the subject we are discussing. This statement is about Afghanistan, and we do not forget our responsibilities to our forces there just because there are controversies about other conflicts in the past.
Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for his precise report, and I welcome the idea that we are going to be very supportive of governance in Afghanistan. The key to that is ensuring that an independent judicial system and a corruption-free police force are in place, so is he happy with the progress being made on that? Does he think that when we eventually come out of Afghanistan next year, that will be able to continue?
Mr Hague
It would be going too far to say that I am happy with all the progress made, because a lot more needs to be done to tackle corruption in Afghanistan. At the Tokyo conference last July, the Afghan Government entered into 164 specific different commitments about fighting corruption, and it is very important that they implement all of those. They have started implementing them, and we have seen some prosecutions following the Kabul bank scandal, but more work needs to be done on that as well. My hon. Friend draws attention to a very important subject, on which a beginning has been made—but it is only a beginning.
Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)
Our objectives in Afghanistan have always been noble, but surely there are lessons to learn from how we have pursued them at various times during the conflict. That applies not only to specific decisions, as my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) mentioned, but to how we have deployed and rotated our forces, which initially led to a frequent change of tactics. As we approach 2014, surely the Government are doing some work to assess how our country has fought and managed this conflict.
Mr Hague
A great deal has been learnt under both Governments who have been involved in this as matters have progressed in Afghanistan. We have learnt about military tactics, training and equipment, all of which have been improved as time has gone on. Secondly, at this moment our focus is, of course, on the priorities I have set out: on making sure that our forces come home safely, and that the rest of the help we are giving Afghanistan is properly and effectively supplied. Thirdly, there must be a time for reflection in the round on all these matters, but I have no new announcement to make about that today.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Since 1945, Her Majesty’s Government have had more experience than any other on earth of withdrawing armed forces from theatre, and since the 1840s we have disengaged from Afghanistan several times. Sadly, the countries we have left behind have not always had the most stable of new beginnings. Since we have left Iraq, Iran’s influence over that country has grown exponentially. What is to stop the pernicious influence of Iran taking over in Afghanistan?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend is right to ask that question. It underlines the importance of building up the Afghans’ capability to look after their own security and to develop their own economy—that is the only sure answer to the excessive interference by, or influence of, any other power in the region. It also shows the importance of supporting an Afghan-led peace process with the active co-operation of Pakistan. That is the best hope of bringing about a political settlement and a general peace in Afghanistan that would also then minimise outside interference in Afghan affairs. So those are two central planks of what the Government are trying to do.
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)
Yesterday, I met two female Afghan MPs. One had narrowly avoided being killed by a suicide bomber, and the other had been evacuated from her constituency by the UN and ISAF after having the temerity to celebrate international women’s day. Does the Foreign Secretary accept that not all Afghan women are victims, that those are exactly the kind of women we need to work with to ensure that the gains in women’s rights are not lost post-2014, and that an important way to do that is to implement the EU guidelines on human rights defenders in Afghanistan?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Afghan Government made a series of public commitments at the Tokyo conference in July to uphold the human rights of all Afghan citizens. That includes women, of course, and the promotion and protection of their rights as enshrined in the Afghan constitution. It is vital not only that human rights are upheld, but that human rights defenders are defended and protected, and that the Afghan Government fully implement their commitments on the law on the elimination of violence against women and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. We will try to hold them to all those things.
G8 UK Presidency: Foreign Ministers' Meeting
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
The G8 Foreign Ministers’ meeting will be taking place on 10 and 11 April 2013 in London. I wish to inform the House about the Government’s objectives for this meeting, further to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s written ministerial statement about the UK’s G8 presidency of 9 January 2013, Official Report, column 20WS.
The G8 represents a group of nations with a broad range of global interests and responsibilities. We have a collective responsibility and opportunity to use our influence to address some of the most pressing issues in the world.
We will be inviting G8 nations to provide leadership on the following issues:
First, we will seek a clear statement of intent and concrete commitments to begin to shatter the culture of impunity for those who use rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, including support for a new international protocol on the investigation and documentation of sexual violence in conflict and practical assistance in countries affected by this problem. Tackling rape and sexual violence in conflict is a major challenge for our generation, and I am grateful for the expressions of support voiced during the debate in this House on this subject on 14 February.
Secondly, we will encourage the G8 to provide high-level political support for Somalia in advance of an international conference on Somalia in London in May, which will be co-chaired with the Somali Government. G8 Ministers will consider how best to support the re-engagement of the international financial institutions with Somalia.
Thirdly, I intend to propose ways we can build greater trust and security in cyberspace as a means of expanding the growth potential of the global digital economy. The G8 can show leadership on international capacity-building efforts, following up the UK initiative announced at the Budapest cyber conference last October.
Fourthly, support for Burma will also be a priority. Following a remarkable period of political reform we believe that the G8 should, in partnership with the Burmese leadership, support a framework for responsible international investment.
Fifthly, we will follow up on the Deauville partnership which represents G8 and partners’ support to countries undergoing transition following the Arab spring. Over the course of 2013 the G8 and its partners will oversee several Deauville partnership initiatives, centred on trade and investment, promoting small and medium-sized enterprises, and supporting women’s economic empowerment.
In addition to these issues, Foreign Ministers will also discuss urgent foreign policy issues. This agenda will be determined closer to the time, but will certainly include the situation in the middle east, including Syria and Iran, security and stability across north and west Africa, DPRK and climate change.
I will keep the House informed of progress.
Falkland Islands Referendum
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
I would like to update the House on the Government’s response to the Falkland Islands referendum on their political status as a British overseas territory.
On 10 and 11 March 2013, the Falkland islanders voted overwhelmingly to maintain their current constitutional arrangements with the United Kingdom. The result is a clear democratic expression of the islanders’ wishes and was conducted in a free, fair and transparent way.
We believe that the result should be recognised by the whole international community as a definitive act of self-determination. It has sent the clearest possible message to the Argentine Government that their demands to control the Falkland Islands against the wishes of the people who live there are fundamentally incompatible with modern democratic values. Attempts to intimidate the islanders must cease.
Representatives of the Falkland Islands Government will travel widely in the coming weeks to convey the result around Latin America and elsewhere. More broadly, the Government will continue to strengthen our engagement with Latin America, as I set out in my Canning House speech in November 2010. The UK has considerable interests in the region, with high potential for future economic growth. I am confident that this increased co-operation and partnership with the countries of Latin America is consistent with our desire to ensure that the interests and wishes of the Falkland islanders are respected and protected.
Syria
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the crisis in Syria.
The time has come to announce to the House necessary developments in our policy, and our readiness to develop it further if the bloodshed continues. Two years after it began, the conflict has reached catastrophic proportions. Ten thousand people have died since I last updated the House in early January. That means that more people have died in the first two months of this year than in the whole of the first year of the conflict. The total estimated death toll is now more than 70,000. The regime has used Scud ballistic missiles against civilian areas, and the UN commission of inquiry for Syria has found evidence of grave human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including massacres, torture, summary executions and a systematic policy of rape and sexual violence by the regime’s forces and its militia.
A year ago, 1 million people needed humanitarian aid inside Syria. That figure is now up to 4 million people, out of a total population of 21 million. Forty thousand people are fleeing Syria each week; three quarters of them are women and children. The number of refugees has increased thirtyfold in the past 10 months, and today the sad milestone of 1 million refugees has been reached. The population of Lebanon, which I visited two weeks ago, has risen by 10% owing to the influx of destitute people. This is a desperate situation of increasingly extreme humanitarian suffering.
There is no sign that the Assad regime currently intends to enter into a genuine political process. It appears to believe that it can defeat its opponents militarily, and it counts on being shielded by some countries at the United Nations Security Council. It will be necessary to turn each of those calculations on its head if the conflict is to come to a peaceful end.
Securing a diplomatic breakthrough remains, of course, our objective. Last week, I discussed Syria with the new US Secretary of State John Kerry here in London, and with other close partners in a core group meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People in Rome. In Rome, I met President al-Khatib of the Syrian National Coalition, and welcomed his brave announcement that the national coalition is open to direct talks with members of the Assad regime. We continue our efforts to develop common ground with Russia. I will have talks with Russian deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov later this afternoon, and next week with Foreign Minister Lavrov, also here in London. At the end of January, the UN and Arab League special representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, set out a credible plan for the establishment of a transitional authority in Syria. We are working with allies to achieve, if at all possible, Security Council backing for a transition process, and I am meeting Mr Brahimi again this afternoon.
However, the fact remains that diplomacy is taking far too long and the prospect of an immediate breakthrough is slim. Each month of violence in Syria means more death, wider destruction, larger numbers of refugees and bloodier military confrontation. The international community cannot stand still in the face of this reality. Our policy has to move towards more active efforts to prevent the loss of life in Syria. That means stepping up our support to the opposition and thereby increasing the pressure on the regime to accept a political solution. What we face is not a choice between diplomacy on the one hand and practical assistance on the other; helping the opposition is crucial to bringing about a political transition and saving lives, and both must be pursued together. We will always be careful in how we develop our policy, but our readiness to develop it further should be unmistakable, particularly to the Assad regime.
What happens in Syria is vital to our national interest for three reasons. The first is the growth of extremism. We should never forget that the vast majority of those opposing the regime are ordinary people trying to defend their communities and gain freedom for their country. However, Syria today has become the top destination for jihadists from anywhere in the world, and we are already seeing a rise in sectarian violence and attacks using improvised explosive devices, including car bombs. We cannot allow Syria to become another breeding ground for terrorists who pose a threat to our national security.
Secondly, the crisis is undermining the peace of the region. On top of the refugee crisis, there have been reports of clashes on the Iraqi border and in Lebanon. We are increasingly concerned about the regime’s willingness to use chemical weapons and have warned the Assad regime that the use of chemical weapons would lead to a serious response from the international community. Those who order the use of chemical weapons and those who use them will be held to account. There is also credible information that, through its Revolutionary Guard corps, Iran is providing considerable military support to the regime, including personnel, equipment, weapons and direct financial assistance.
Thirdly, we and our allies must always be prepared to respond to situations of extreme humanitarian distress. Our foreign policy is inseparable from upholding human rights, protecting lives and supporting international law. We must assist the genuine moderate and democratic forces in Syria who are in dire need of help and who feel abandoned by the international community. The longer this conflict goes on, the more human suffering, persecution of minorities, radicalisation and sectarian conflict there will be.
Despite these three compelling arguments, there will still be those who say that Britain should have nothing to do with Syria, but we cannot look the other way while international law and human rights are flouted; we cannot step back from a crisis that could destabilise the heart of the middle east, and it would be the height of irresponsibility to ignore potential threats to our own security. I want to explain to the House, therefore, the next step in increasing our support to the Syrian people, and I emphasise that there may well have to be further steps.
We have contributed nearly £140 million in humanitarian aid so far. This is funding food, clean drinking water, medical assistance, blankets and shelter for many tens of thousands of people. We are supporting the Syrian National Coalition’s own efforts to deliver aid inside Syria, and we will seek new ways to relieve the humanitarian crisis and to expand access to aid across the country, while preparing to help a future Government deal with the aftermath of the conflict.
We have also committed a total of £9.4 million so far in non-lethal support, such as power generators and communications kit, to the Syrian opposition, civil society and human rights defenders. We have trained more than 300 Syrian journalists and activists and are providing satellite communication devices to document human rights violations and abuses.
I informed the House in January that we would seek to amend EU sanctions on Syria to open up the possibility of further assistance if the situation deteriorated. On Thursday, we finalised with our European partners a specific exemption to the EU sanctions to permit the provision of non-lethal military equipment and all forms of technical assistance to the Syrian National Coalition where it is intended for the protection of civilians.
This is an important advance in our ability to support the opposition and help save lives. Such technical assistance can include assistance, advice and training on how to maintain security in areas no longer controlled by the regime; on co-ordination between civilian and military councils; on how to protect civilians and minimise the risks to them; and on how to maintain security during a transition. We will now provide such assistance, advice and training.
We intend to respond to the opposition’s request to provide equipment for search and rescue operations and for incinerators and refuse collection kit to prevent the spread of disease. We will help local councils to access funds and equipment to repair electricity and water supplies to homes, and we will respond to the opposition’s request for further water purification kits and equipment to help civilian political leaders operate and communicate.
We will also now provide new types of non-lethal equipment for the protection of civilians, going beyond what we have given before. In conjunction with the national coalition, we are identifying the protective equipment that will be of most assistance to them and likely to save the most lives. I will keep the House updated, but it will certainly include, for instance, armoured four-wheel drive vehicles to help opposition figures move around more freely, as well as personal protection equipment including body armour.
We will now also be able to provide testing equipment to the opposition to enable evidence gathering in the horrific event of chemical weapons use. We will also fund training to help armed groups understand their responsibilities and obligations under international law and international human rights standards. Any human rights violations or abuses are unacceptable on all sides. We have allocated nearly £3 million in funding this month to support this work and an additional £10 million thereafter, comprising $20 million in non-lethal equipment and practical support for the Syrian opposition and civil society, on top of the $60 million announced by the United States. We hope other countries will offer similar assistance.
The Cabinet is in no doubt that this is a necessary, proportionate and lawful response to a situation of extreme humanitarian suffering and that there is no practicable alternative. All our assistance will be carefully calibrated and monitored, as well as legal, and will be aimed at saving life, alleviating this human catastrophe and supporting moderate groups. The process of amending the EU sanctions regime in this way was difficult, and the decision came down to the wire. We persisted with it because we believe it is preferable to have a united EU approach. In our view, if a political solution to the crisis in Syria is not found and the conflict continues, we and the rest of the European Union will have to be ready to move further, and we should not rule out any option for saving lives. In case further necessary amendments to the EU sanctions regime prove impossible to agree, we stand ready to take any domestic measures necessary to ensure that core sanctions on Syria remain effective.
This is a situation in Syria where extreme humanitarian distress and growing dangers to international peace and security must weigh increasingly heavily in the balance against other risks. With the crisis now becoming one of major dimensions by any standard—with millions of people on the move, many tens of thousands dead, tens of thousands more in daily danger of losing their lives, the world’s most volatile region in growing tension and political deadlock that has endured for two years—our policy cannot be static nor our position indifferent. A situation of growing gravity requires a steadily more active approach, learning the lessons of previous conflicts and always emphasising the need for a political and diplomatic resolution of the crisis, but crucially also being prepared to use increased pressure and levers to try to bring that about. We will continue to keep the House properly informed as we press for an end to the conflict, to provide life-saving assistance and to work to ensure that Syria has the political transition its people need and deserve, and which they have now waited far too long to see achieved.
Mr Alexander
One of my missions is to always seek to put your mind at rest, Mr Speaker, so I will endeavour to keep my remarks as short as possible. In my own defence, I would simply say that, by way of introduction, I indicated that the Foreign Secretary’s statement prompted more questions than it answered. I am, however, mindful of your view, Mr Speaker, so I will conclude shortly.
I understand that the frustrations of Government Members are growing, but a strategy born of frustration is less likely to deliver than one based on clear thinking and strategic insight. Surely the priority now for Britain should be to work to unify the Syrian opposition, not to arm it. The continuing loss of life underlines the fact that Syria needs to see a de-escalation and a political resolution. Although the Government have our support for their actions to provide the humanitarian and non-lethal assistance to Syria announced today, it is far from clear that taking steps to intensify this conflict in the months ahead would do anything to reduce the present level of violence being suffered by the Syrian people.
Mr Hague
The right hon. Gentleman correctly draws attention, as I have done, to the extent of the human suffering. The fact that the United Nations has launched the largest ever financial appeal for humanitarian assistance underlines the catastrophic scale of that suffering. We must all remember that that is the background to the situation and to deciding what we have to do.
The right hon. Gentleman made some recommendations towards the end of his remarks, some of which we have done, including work to unify the Syrian opposition, which, of course, is what we did for many months. They have been unified, to the extent that it can be practically achieved, in the Syrian National Coalition and we have recognised that group as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. I do not suppose that any opposition or political grouping will be perfect in the eyes of this or any other country, but I do not believe that there will be a better attempt or greater success at unifying the Syrian opposition than the national coalition.
It would be wonderful if some of the right hon. Gentleman’s other recommendations could be achieved, including Russian and Chinese agreement to impose an arms embargo by the whole world on Syria. We would, of course, support that—we will go over this ground in our meetings with the Russians this afternoon and next week—but I have not seen any prospect of Russia agreeing to such an arms embargo. It is a good thing to wish for, but in practical, diplomatic terms there is no possibility at the moment of it being achieved. That is the background to the decisions that we have to make. Many things would be far preferable, such as an immediate agreement on a negotiated political transition in Syria.
The right hon. Gentleman asked, rightly, how seriously we should take the offers to negotiate. Having talked to President al-Khatib of the national coalition last week, I believe not only that his offer is sincere but that he would love it to be taken up and that he really would negotiate with members of the regime without prior insistence on the departure of Assad. However, President Assad’s insistence during his weekend interview that the regime is ready to negotiate is something that we have heard for two years but that has never turned into actual substance. Of course, we will discuss with Mr Brahimi again this afternoon whether those statements can be used to bring both sides closer together. It is part of his job to try to do that. The evidence of the past two years, however, is that, in current circumstances, offers to negotiate by the regime are not sincere, are not followed up and do not lead to the sort of progress that we all want to see.
It is against that background of diplomatic deadlock and political stalemate while tens of thousands die that I argue that we have to do what we can in a very cautious, considered and clearly thought-out way to try to change that situation and to save human lives as best we can, working at all times with our partners and allies, including those in the Arab world. There is a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League today.
We will continue to use every diplomatic effort, but the situation that the right hon. Gentleman and I are describing cannot remain static. He is quite right to say that the international community has been an abject failure collectively. The United Nations Security Council has not shouldered its responsibilities. We have tried many times to put that right, but our resolutions have been vetoed. We have been working in the last month since Mr Brahimi’s last briefing to the Security Council to find a new common way forward for the council—we will discuss that again with the Russians in the coming hours—but that common ground has not emerged in a month of discussions behind the scenes in New York.
Given that situation, we all have to ask ourselves whether we are going to hold our policy completely static or show that we are prepared to change as the situation deteriorates—reluctantly perhaps, and cautiously at all times. I argue that we must be prepared to show an increased level of support for the opposition, and that it has to take a practical form if we are to exert any pressure on the regime—and, indeed, on Russia as well—to successfully negotiate on this matter. The parameters have, I hope, been clearly set out in my statement. They are clearly set out in the amendment to the United Nations arms embargo. It is amended, not lifted. The arms embargo remains in place; these are specific exemptions for non-lethal military equipment and for technical assistance for the protection of civilians. I have just given examples of what that means in practice.
As for the future, the EU sanctions have now been rolled over, with that amendment, for three months. There will therefore be a further discussion in May about the renewal of such sanctions, and the Government—and every Member of this House—will be able to form their views on what we should do, in whatever situation we have arrived at in May, about further amendments to the embargo, if they are necessary. I think the parameters are clear. The policy is clear, and above all I want to make it clear that its direction is clear: we must be prepared to do more in a situation of such slaughter and suffering, and a more static policy would not measure up to the gravity of the situation.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Kensington) (Con)
While I welcome the tone of the Foreign Secretary’s speech and the specific measures that he has announced, I regret to say that I cannot see how any of them will have any serious prospect of reducing the length of the conflict or preventing the massacre of tens of thousands more Syrians. Will he accept that, until such time as the Syrian opposition have the military equipment that will enable them to defeat the Assad regime and thereby bring the conflict to an end earlier than would otherwise be the case, we will continue to see tens of thousands of people being killed and the extremists in the opposition benefiting from that delay? What would the Foreign Secretary have to be persuaded of, in order to accept that giving military support to the opposition in a controlled and responsible way is indeed necessary?
Mr Hague
What I—and, I suspect, most of the House—would have to be persuaded of is that there was absolutely no alternative remaining. My right hon. and learned Friend has put the case—for a long time, actually—for going much further than I have proposed today in regard to the arming of the opposition movements in Syria by western countries. The difficulties involved in doing that have partly been set out by the right hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mr Alexander), but we also have to recognise that that conflict in Syria is already militarised. Opposition groups have access to substantial quantities of weapons, and those weapons are already inside Syria. There is such a flow of weapons. I therefore believe that it is right for the development of our policy to be graduated, for us to show our readiness to deliver increased assistance and for the European countries and the United States to be willing to amend our policy if the situation continues to deteriorate, but in a way that will command general support and that will pose the least danger to the increased militarisation of the conflict. That is why I think this is the right balance to strike, rather than moving to the position that my right hon. and learned Friend has consistently advocated.
Mr Jack Straw (Blackburn) (Lab)
Would it be a fair summary of our position to say that we are now providing every kind of assistance to the military forces of the opposition, short of the explosives, guns and bullets that actually do the killing? I have no objection to that; I think it is essential. In my judgment, the Foreign Secretary is right not to rule out the option of direct lethal military supplies, but would he acknowledge that the strategic diplomatic consequences of any such decision, and the degree to which we could get bogged down in a kind of cold war or proxy war, really need to be thought through very carefully indeed before we make any such positive decision?
Mr Hague
Yes, I very much agree with the right hon. Gentleman. He accurately characterises the position, although it is perhaps putting it too strongly to say that we are providing “every kind of assistance” short of lethal equipment. We are providing the assistance that I have set out today, and we will provide other assistance of that nature for the protection of civilians. That is an important requirement in the exemption to the UN arms embargo, and we will interpret it exactly. The assistance has to be for the protection of civilians. So the right hon. Gentleman went a bit too far in his characterisation of the position. He is right, however, to say that it would be a bigger and further step to decide to send lethal equipment. We have taken no decision to do that, and we have no current plans to do that, but it is necessary to be clear that in a situation of this gravity, with its implications for the peace of the whole region, we cannot rule out options. We cannot definitively rule that out. That was the thrust of his question.
Sir Menzies Campbell (North East Fife) (LD)
My right hon. Friend gives a compelling analysis of the deteriorating situation in Syria, and the measures that he has announced should be not only accepted but welcomed by the House, in that they are designed to alleviate suffering and save life, but as we approach the 10th anniversary of the mistaken military action against Saddam Hussein, does he understand that many of us in the House are concerned lest we drift towards something that might be described as military intervention?
Mr Hague
I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend for saying that the measures I have announced should be welcomed by the House. I welcome his support and, yes, I absolutely understand that after more than a decade of conflict, in different ways, people are always anxious about new conflict. That does not mean, however, that we can stick our heads in the sand and ignore the new conflicts that have arisen in the world and that can affect us, for all the reasons that I have described. It does mean that our response to them has to be very intelligent and well calculated. Getting to the heart of his question, I think we can say clearly that no western Government are advocating the military intervention of western nations—or of any nations—in the conflict in Syria. The discussion is entirely focused on the degree of assistance that can and should be delivered to the opposition inside Syria. That is what the discussion is centred on, rather than on an external military intervention.
Mr Peter Hain (Neath) (Lab)
But will the Foreign Secretary accept that the logical next step in the strategy that he has been pursuing for six months, if not more, is to arm the opposition? That is the logical position that he is now in, but I think that it is profoundly mistaken. Every time he has made a statement on this matter in the past six months, he has carried the whole House with him in eloquently condemning the horror, the deterioration and the barbarity of the evil Assad regime, but his strategy is wrong. Just going for regime change in what is a civil war, with its Shi’a-Sunni conflict and its reincarnation of the cold war, is never going to achieve his objective. What he should be doing, instead of just promoting the opposition’s call for negotiations, is testing the willingness to negotiate that Assad expressed over the weekend. He should test it to destruction, but he is not doing that. He is pursuing a failed strategy involving a monumental failure of diplomacy, and it is making the situation worse.
Mr Hague
The right hon. Gentleman does not help his case in describing the Government’s position in that way. It very much follows from what I said in response to the shadow Foreign Secretary that we believe the apparent offer of President Assad to negotiate must absolutely be tested and tested to destruction. We will certainly do that, and the right hon. Gentleman and I will strongly agree on that. If he were in government today, however, he would have to think about what else to do if that did not work, and it has not worked over the last two years—
Mr Hague
It has been tried countless times: Lakhdar Brahimi has been to Damascus countless times, and Kofi Annan before him went to Damascus countless times. Every possibility has been given to the regime to negotiate, but it has never entered into a sincere or meaningful negotiation. That being the case, it is not adequate to watch slaughter on this scale and say that we will stick our heads in the sand about it. It is important to have a foreign policy that relieves human suffering and upholds human rights. I would have thought that the right hon. Gentleman would always be in favour of that.
Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) (Con)
While I agree with the Foreign Secretary’s position in not supplying weapons to the rebels, it is perfectly clear that someone is supplying weapons to the rebels at present. Is not the great challenge for Syria the fact that that lot will end up fighting against Shi’a-backed militants, supported by Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, some time in the future?
Mr Hague
Of course, the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict is one of our great concerns. That is why we have to do everything we reasonably can to shorten the conflict, as that will only get worse as the conflict goes on. As my hon. Friend says, the conflict in Syria is already militarised and weapons have already been obtained and are being obtained by all the factions fighting in Syria, including the military council, working with the national coalition. I fear that the longer the conflict goes on, the more sectarian it will be in nature and the more opportunity there will be for extremists to take hold there. Giving our assistance to moderate forces and not to extremist forces is therefore one way in which we can try to shape the situation in a more sensible direction.
Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)
What consideration, if any, has been given to the possibility of implementing a no-fly zone?
Mr Hague
A no-fly zone is sometimes advocated, including at international meetings. The greatest difficulty with a no-fly zone is, of course, that it is a response of a totally different nature. It is a military intervention of the sort that we have been talking about and against which many hon. Members have warned. It would require military force externally on a substantial scale. A good argument of principle can be made for that on the basis of relieving human suffering by doing whatever is necessary, but the willingness of nations around the world to implement such a military intervention is limited, for understandable reasons. Indeed, such a no-fly zone could be achieved in practice only with the full participation of the United States of America, so major practical difficulties are involved. What we must not get into is saying that there are protected areas or humanitarian corridors, but then not being able to protect people. There is a sad and tragic history of those things. We should only take the step that the hon. Lady is talking about if the world and the international community were truly ready to bring it about.
Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)
My right hon. Friend is right to say that Syria can count on being shielded by some countries at the United Nations; not least, we know that Russia had the opportunity to bring about some sanctions in the Security Council early on. Will he start talking to his counterparts in the European Union and, indeed, in the United States about saying to the Russians, “If you don’t want to take part in this and put on the blue berets, get on the ground and do something, there will be consequences”? If the Russians refuse to take that sort of action, and are willing to stand by and let tens of thousands of people be slaughtered, we should work with our European partners, the US and south American countries to say to them, “We are not going to come to your country to showcase it in the World cup in 2018.”
Mr Hague
I say to my hon. Friend that we must use every art of persuasion we know in our talks with our colleagues in Russia. I can assure him that we do that. The shadow Foreign Secretary argued earlier that we must put the case to Russia about the growth of extremism in Syria and so on—and we do. I have lost count of the number of occasions on which I and other western Foreign Ministers have put the case to our Russian counterparts that everything Russia most fears in Syria is more likely to come true the longer the conflict goes on. That includes the rise of international terrorism and instability in the whole region. The Russians clearly have a different analysis, and we have not had any meeting of minds on the issue. I have to say that I am not a great fan of sporting sanctions. As a country that has just hosted the Olympics, we have a well-established position on that, but we will use every other art of persuasion in dealing with Russia.
Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)
The Assad regime is clearly barbarous and has to go, but does the Foreign Secretary understand the concerns of many of our constituents who raise issues about atrocities and war crimes carried out on the opposition side, about the role of al-Qaeda and about the fact that support and help going into the country for good and proper reasons set out in good faith can end up helping people who are deeply hostile to western interests and equally guilty of terrible crimes against humanity?
Mr Hague
Yes, of course people are right to be concerned about any atrocities and any opportunity for international terrorism to take hold in a new place. That is one reason why we cannot just turn away from this crisis. It is also why—this is the nub of the right hon. Gentleman’s question—the assistance we give must be carefully thought out and monitored. Of course, all the assistance and equipment I have talked about is non-lethal. We will monitor its use to the best of our ability, but if it were misused or fell into the hands of groups for which it was not intended, that would have a very serious impact on our willingness to provide any such further assistance in the future. I stress that while people read about the opportunity for extremists to take hold, and while we are concerned about it, as I have described, the great majority of the people, even those involved in the fighting in Syria as far as we can tell, are not extremists. The opposition leaders whom I meet are people who sincerely want a future for their country that has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We must not leave those people feeling abandoned by the world.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Unfortunately, the record of moderates in standing up against extremists in such situations is not all that great. Does the Foreign Secretary accept that our sworn enemies, al-Qaeda, are fighting on the side of the opposition? Our concern is therefore that if and when the appalling Assad regime is overthrown as the Government wish, its chemical weapons stocks will fall into al-Qaeda’s hands. What practical guarantee can the Government give us that that will not happen? I asked that question on Monday; it was not satisfactorily answered, which is why I am asking it again.
Mr Hague
No one can give any guarantees. This is why a political and orderly transition should happen in Syria. There are certainly terrible weapons, chemical and biological, in Syria, which is why it is important to be clear that there is no military-only solution, whatever one’s point of view on the situation. Those chemical weapons are best safeguarded through a peaceful transition. That is what we need to keep arguing for. Without giving additional assistance to the moderate elements of the opposition, however, we would reduce rather than enhance the prospects for an orderly transition.
Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op)
Is it not the case that it would be more secure, and more in our interests, to introduce a no-fly zone than to arm the opposition? We can keep control of the equipment in a no-fly zone, but we cannot do that if we hand it over to jihadist groups. Is it not also the case that the United States Administration and some neighbouring countries, including Turkey, are against the introduction of a no-fly zone, which means that we are unable to introduce one?
Mr Hague
Let me make it clear that I have not announced the arming of the opposition. This is different; it is about increasing the assistance that we give the opposition in the form of non-lethal equipment. The hon. Gentleman is putting the case for an external military intervention, rather than a move to any policy of support for the sending of lethal equipment to Syria. There is a respectable case for that, but as I said earlier to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Meg Munn), it would require the willingness of a large part of the international community, almost certainly including the United States, so that we were not making a false promise of safety to people. Syria continues to have strong air defences with very modern equipment, and the implementation of a no-fly zone would be a very large military undertaking. It is important for those who advocate it to bear that in mind.
Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot) (Con)
However distressing the picture of the humanitarian crisis that we see on our television screens—and it is indeed distressing—I must tell my right hon. Friend that I am extremely concerned that the United Kingdom’s hand is being drawn ever more closely into this mangle. I share all the concerns expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis). What confidence has my right hon. Friend in his belief that what I think he described as the modern and democratic forces can be assisted, and will thence be in charge of a post-conflict Syria? If he is not confident of that, what we will be faced with is a further load of bloody jihadists. I hope that he will completely rule out the use of Britain’s armed forces, who are already greatly overstretched.
Mr Hague
I entirely understand my hon. Friend’s concerns. What I am confident about is that giving the active support that I have described to that modern and democratic opposition is the best way of helping to ensure that they are the ones who are successful. Our hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) rightly pointed out that it is often the moderate forces who lose out to extremists in circumstances such as these. The longer this goes on and the less support those forces receive from outside, the less will be their chances of success in standing up to those extremists. We must make a choice about whether we are prepared to give that support, and I think that the right choice for the United Kingdom is to increase the level of support for people who we would be prepared to see succeed.
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)
The situation in Syria is obviously appalling, and the humanitarian crisis is absolutely devastating, but the ending of every war requires a political solution of some sort. What serious negotiations are being undertaken with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are fundamentally the funders of the opposition forces in Syria, and what serious engagement is taking place with the Government of Iran, particularly in regard to bringing about some kind of comprehensive peace negotiation and peace process? Without that, there will be more suffering, more deaths and more difficulties for everyone.
Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. If regional powers were able to agree among themselves about the situation and about a solution, that would be an enormous step forward, just as it would be a vital step forward if we, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, were able to agree among ourselves. There have been some attempts. Last autumn, the Egyptian Government convened a group consisting of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey to consider the situation together and to see if they could agree on a way forward. I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that they did not reach an agreement, but that is not to say that such a group could not be revived in the future. We have absolutely no problem with that. It did not succeed before—the reason it did not succeed is that Iran has not been prepared to agree on a way forward with other countries in the region—but that does not mean that it should not be tried again.
Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)
In this civil war, it seems that there is a military stalemate between two sides that have military forces. In those circumstances, and given that each side claims that it wants to negotiate, is there any chance that we can put all our efforts into securing a ceasefire, so that when the guns stop and civilians stop being killed, we may actually be able to use politics to resolve the situation?
Mr Hague
That is a very good thought. That too has been tried before, but it should be tried again. In any negotiated way forward, a ceasefire would be a very important element of the early part of the negotiations. My hon. Friend may recall that last summer the United Nations envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, proposed a ceasefire to coincide with Eid. For a short time there was some hope that the proposal would be implemented, and there were many efforts to implement it in parts of Syria, but within days the ceasefire had completely broken down. Again, that does not mean that a ceasefire should not be at the top of the agenda for negotiations, but as my hon. Friend will have gathered, we do not have successful negotiations at the moment—much as we will discuss that with Mr Brahimi this afternoon.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
Will the Foreign Secretary tell us what discussions he has had with Turkey, and what Turkey’s attitude is to the easing of the arms embargo?
Mr Hague
Turkey is very supportive of the change that the European Union has made in the arms embargo. It has, let us say, a forward-leaning approach to the crisis. If the Turkish Foreign Minister were here, he would not only say everything that I have said today, but say quite a lot more about the need for greater international support for the national coalition. I shall be meeting him again tomorrow, here in London, when he comes to the Friends of Yemen meeting, but I can say now that Turkey is extremely supportive of this announcement and of the change in EU policy.
Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. I note that he does not rule out any option, and that, according to his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Sir Gerald Howarth), he does not rule out military intervention. No country is advocating that yet, but if Syria is considered to be part of a primary interest in our national security strategy, are we equipped to deal with this crisis? To what extent should my right hon. Friend be talking to his opposite number, my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary, about what contingency arrangements should be made—and, indeed, what additional expenditure is required—to give us the capacity at least to influence the security aspects of this problem?
Mr Hague
Of course the Defence Secretary and I discuss the whole range of international affairs on an almost continuous basis. We make the decisions about our policy on Syria in the National Security Council or in the Cabinet; we discussed it in the Cabinet yesterday. He and I are very much of the same mind, and work closely together in relation to all contingencies.
As my hon. Friend knows, the Ministry of Defence has plans covering a wide range of contingencies. It is not helpful for Ministers to speculate about those contingencies, and I stress again that we are neither calling for nor planning a military intervention. The discussion in the international community is about the degree of support for the opposition inside Syria, rather than about an external intervention. We will plan for all contingencies, but that is the context and the background of any military role in this crisis.
Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op)
What does the Foreign Secretary think is the likelihood of chemical weapons being used in Syria, or of those weapons being moved to Hezbollah in Lebanon, thus destabilising the wider region?
Mr Hague
As I said in my statement, we are increasingly concerned about the regime’s possible use, or possible willingness to use, chemical weapons, and we are always concerned about any transfer of those weapons to other groups or other countries in the region, as are many of those countries. We send the strong message that I conveyed in my statement—and the President of the United States himself has conveyed a similar strong message—about the use of chemical weapons by anyone, including the Syrian regime.
It is important for the Syrian regime to hear the message that the world will be determined that the individuals responsible are held to account if chemical weapons are used.
Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)
I strongly support the Foreign Secretary’s stand on this very difficult issue. Will he tell Mr Bogdanov this afternoon that, with 1 million fled and as many as 100,000 dead, the Syrian catastrophe now stands comparison with the Rwandan genocide, which led the international community to adopt the responsibility-to-protect doctrine in the first place, and that Russia should engage with coalition forces or face the prospect of a jihadist regime, which neither we nor it would want?
Mr Hague
Basically, I will tell him that—yes. That is part of the argument I stated earlier: Russia is rightly concerned about international terrorism—Russians have experience of that themselves—and if this situation goes on for many more months or years, we will see a much greater opening for such international terrorism. This is becoming a human catastrophe of immense proportions, so my hon. Friend can be confident that I will make this argument to my Russian counterpart in the robust terms he would want.
Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the advance copy of the statement, and welcome its emphasis on humanitarian aid. I am sure we all agree that it is now time for all nations to focus on a non-violent resolution if at all possible. That is obvious, but yesterday Israel said—threatened—at the Security Council that it cannot “stand idle” if the Syrian civil war spills over on to its border. This is a very serious situation. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman is aware of that, and that we need to do everything we can to avoid further conflagration.
Mr Hague
Absolutely; the right hon. Gentleman is right. The danger of the spread of the crisis regionally, into other countries in different ways, is one of the reasons we cannot just watch it develop. We have to work out the best constructive approach, difficult though these choices are, to try to turn this crisis in the right direction, rather than let it drift in the wrong direction. Any of the neighbouring countries will take action if their borders are infringed, of course. We have agreed to the stationing of Patriot missiles by NATO in Turkey, Lebanon has been very concerned about clashes on its border, and the Jordanian border is a tense place—and that is even before we consider the Golan Heights and the Iraqi border as well. The regional dimension is of serious and increasing concern, which is one of the reasons for today’s package of policy changes and announcements.
Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
May I strongly reject the neo-con policies and ideas emanating from my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind)? What could be gained by our sending arms into this cauldron? Have we forgotten the disastrous policy of arming the rebels in Afghanistan? Have we forgotten the appalling atrocities being committed now by jihadis against Christians in Syria? What is wrong with basing our policy on life and not death?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend can be reassured that I have never considered myself to be a neo-con and do not describe myself as that as Foreign Secretary. Our policy must be very carefully calibrated. My hon. Friend draws attention to situations that have gone seriously wrong from the point of view of the international community. We must however also bear in mind, in the case of the western Balkans in the 1990s, the sense of abandonment and the radicalisation of Muslims in many parts of the world because of a policy that for too long denied people any ability in an extreme situation to protect themselves. The policy that I have announced, of doing what we can to protect civilian life, is a necessary and proportionate response.
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West) (Lab)
The Foreign Secretary is well aware that there is no shortage of lethal weapons in Syria, so there is very little, if any, case for our supplying any. Frankly, supplying armoured four-wheel drive vehicles as well as personal protection equipment, including body armour, to the opposition and peoples we are trying to support, so that they can drive around in a state of total personal immunity, is not best calculated to enhance the credibility of our policy or its credibility in the eyes of the civilians who continue to live in the most appalling suffering and danger. The Secretary of State would, I believe, carry the whole House and country with a massive increase in our humanitarian assistance. He should direct his efforts to binding our European partners into doing that as well as to sanctions.
Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman can be pleased in that case, because we have announced enormous increases in our humanitarian assistance. It is for my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary, who was here earlier, to announce such things, and she announced at the Kuwait conference at the end of January a vast increase—a £50 million increase—taking the total to £140 million. We are one of the biggest donors in the world in trying to alleviate human suffering. I hope that when the hon. Gentleman lists what I have said we will be sending to the opposition he will cite the full list, including medical supplies, water purification and measures to help prevent the spread of disease. The need to alleviate humanitarian suffering is therefore at the forefront of our minds, and that is what Britain is devoting by far the greatest resources to in all the effort we are putting into addressing this crisis.
Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
In face of these difficulties, I strongly commend my right hon. Friend and the Foreign Office for the policy they are pursuing. In his statement, he rightly drew attention to the jihadists committing atrocities using explosive devices, including car bombs. I have a British-Syrian constituent on the verge of acquiring British citizenship who has immediate family who has been killed by such a car bomb. She now wants to bring her parents to the UK simply for them to have some respite from what is happening there. They are faced with an incredibly difficult journey either to Lebanon or Jordan in order simply to make the application to come here, which now seems extremely difficult even if they were to end up being successful and getting here. If the circumstances are as I have described, will my right hon. Friend make it clear that such applications simply for the parents to come here for a while would merit his support?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend described that case very well, but, as he knows, such decisions are for the Home Secretary. I cannot say that in all circumstances we will be opening doors for people to come to the United Kingdom. As I have said, there are now 1 million refugees in other countries. It is the responsibility of the countries that receive the refugees to look after them, with international support, and I pay tribute to the generosity of the people of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq in what they are doing, and we are doing our best to assist. That is the prime way for refugees to be assisted. My hon. Friend’s question serves as a reminder, however, that not only are 4 million out of the population of 21 million displaced or in desperate need, but many of the remaining people are in extremely dangerous and stressful conditions and are unable to pursue normal life in any way, so this is affecting the great majority of the whole country.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
The divisions among factions in the moderate and democratic opposition not only make the extremists stronger, but make the process of staging negotiations very difficult and the ability to determine who will form a Government of Syria when the regime falls absolutely impossible. What are our Government and allies doing to get greater coherence and common purpose within the moderate opposition?
Mr Hague
There is much greater coherence now than there has been for a long time. In the circumstances, it is not surprising that it is difficult to bring together something like the national coalition, but it is very much the best attempt that can reasonably be made to bring together those moderate and democratic forces, and it is now there to be negotiated with. Quite often over the past two years the refrain of some of the other countries on the Security Council and of the regime has been, “We want to negotiate, but we do not have someone to negotiate with.” Now they do not have that excuse. The national coalition is there for them to negotiate with, and it is willing to negotiate, so the onus is now on the regime to show that it can seriously negotiate.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
I urge caution. Human rights groups have confirmed that atrocities have been committed by both sides, and by arming the rebels we could be arming the terrorists of the future, as well as escalating the violence. May I bring the Foreign Secretary back to the comments he made over the weekend, which clearly indicated a change in thinking about non-lethal support, despite what we were told in this House on Monday? To what extent were his comments a reflection of reports we are now getting that President Obama is thinking about changing his policy on this issue?
Mr Hague
I am not aware of any inconsistency in what I have said. In fact, I have said throughout that we do not rule out any options; I have said that for two years, and it would be strange to start ruling options out as the situation got worse, not having done that at any period. That is what I have said today and it is what I said at the weekend. What we are proposing to do is what I have set out today, and my hon. Friend will know from Secretary Kerry’s announcement that it is closely related to what the United States has announced. It has announced $60 million of additional practical, but non-lethal, support to the national coalition, and I have announced $20 million—to use a comparator—that the United Kingdom will provide. So our policy is closely aligned with that of the United States, but neither country is advocating the policy to which my hon. Friend is so strongly opposed.
Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)
When the Syrian rebels use our armoured vehicles during battle, will that not be seen as the United Kingdom giving lethal assistance?
Mr Hague
Such vehicles are non-lethal equipment—that is how they are defined and that is very clear—as is body armour. The hon. Gentleman could advocate a different policy of not trying to save lives in Syria, and that is what he is suggesting in his question. He is suggesting that we say, “No, we will not try to save lives. We will not send this kind of assistance to people who desperately ask for it, even though they are slaughtered in huge numbers.” It is his choice to advocate that policy, but I do not think it is responsible, and it would not give moral authority to our foreign policy.
Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)
I am very concerned for my constituents whose Syrian Christian family living in Aleppo are being persecuted for their faith and having their friends murdered by the jihadists whom the Secretary of State has mentioned. What assurance can be given to me, and to the many hon. Members here today who are worried about this situation, that any British support is not helping rebels who are also Islamic fundamentalists?
Mr Hague
That is an important point, and it is important to stress, as I did in response to other questions, that our support is to the moderate and democratic forces in Syria. That is one reason why all the support I have set out is also non-lethal. It is also important for us to monitor, as best we can, the use of that equipment. If we thought that at any stage it was being used by people we had not intended it for, our attitude to providing any such further equipment would, of course, have to change dramatically.
Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)
The House is deeply united on the humanitarian aid but deeply divided on the oversimplified view of the Foreign Secretary, who, on this complex civil war, could not bring himself to mention the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group that is a vital part of the opposition. It has been accused of some of the most bloodthirsty massacres of civilians. Will he give an absolute guarantee that before we commit military equipment or personnel to Syria there will be a debate and a vote in this House, so that we can avoid repeating what we have done so often, which is, in trying to punch above our weight we die beyond our responsibilities?
Mr Hague
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has been listening carefully and will know that I have not announced or advocated sending military equipment or personnel. Of course we have conventions in this House, which he and I strongly support, about when we take decisions in the House, and we will observe all those. He will have to decide, given his long concern for humanitarian issues, whether it would be right to be static in the face of this situation. That is the alternative to what I have described. Everybody across the House is rightly concerned about the humanitarian situation, but I do not believe it is responsible for policy to sit still in the face of a rapidly worsening situation.
James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)
The Foreign Secretary mentioned the increasing evidence of the Iranian regime’s involvement in arming the Assad regime. Does he agree that there might be opportunities to put pressure on the Iranian regime to desist, in the context of the ongoing negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme?
Mr Hague
I am not sure that those negotiations provide the opportunity to put on that pressure, as they are very focused on the nuclear programme. Yesterday, I reported to the House during Foreign Office questions the progress—it is at a very early stage—made in those negotiations in Almaty last week. The pressure on the Iranians should be and is a different pressure: the world knows about these activities; in the end it will be proved in Syria that the Assad regime is doomed; and many people in Syria will not want to forgive Iran for intervening in all the ways I have described, including with armed personnel.
Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)
How concerned is the Foreign Secretary at the comments made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees this morning that the number of refugees who would be leaving Syria had been severely underestimated and that there were barely 25% of the resources needed to deal with the 1 million people now leaving the country? What is the Foreign Secretary doing, together with colleagues in the Department for International Development, to make sure that that lack of preparedness is not allowed to continue?
Mr Hague
The United Nations asked at the time of the Kuwait conference for $1.5 billion in donations. This is the biggest financial appeal that the UN has ever made for such a crisis. In promising the additional £50 million, my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary took our total humanitarian support provided through DFID to nearly £140 million. We are very good at not only pledging that, but delivering it. We are good not only at saying we will write the cheque, but at writing the cheque. However, not all other countries are as good. The $1.5 billion was pledged and we have to make sure that other countries deliver on those promises. I am having many bilateral meetings with other nations involved in the next 36 hours and we are raising that issue with each of those countries, saying that we all now have to deliver on our pledges.
Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)
The Foreign Secretary will know that the United States was one of the last leading countries to recognise the Syrian opposition. Do the United Kingdom and the USA now have an agreed joint policy on Syria? If there is no such joint policy, the future for Syria looks bleak.
Mr Hague
There is a joint policy. My hon. Friend will notice that what Secretary Kerry announced last week is very close to what I am announcing this week. I discussed it with him on several occasions last week, in Rome and in London. We have a very similar view, both on the gravity of the crisis and on the need for increased action of the kind that I have announced today in order to try to speed a resolution of the crisis. My hon. Friend can be assured that London and Washington are closely aligned on this matter.
John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
I have heard many statements like this one in years gone by and, inevitably, most of the time we end up being involved in a quagmire from which we cannot extricate ourselves. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn), I take the view that it is time to have a full debate, in Government time, on the Floor of the House, with the possibility of a vote.
Mr Hague
It is important for the hon. Gentleman to distinguish between situations where Britain may be involved in a quagmire and situations where we are helping other people to try to get out of a quagmire—that is what we are trying to do with this sort of assistance. We cannot turn aside requests for assistance. I believe that this is the eighth statement I have given about Syria, so I am always willing to come to the House to debate it.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
The Foreign Secretary has talked about the impact on the wider region, so will he comment on Jordan, a key strategic ally with very limited resources that is facing a huge influx of refugees from Syria?
Mr Hague
I pay tribute to the people and the Government of Jordan. Last summer, I visited the refugee reception areas just inside the Jordanian border. Since then, the numbers involved have got much larger, with more than 312,000 refugees in Jordan, most of whom reside with host communities and families but some of whom are in camps. The Jordanians have done a magnificent job and we have discussed regularly with them how we can help further. I shall meet the Foreign Minister of Jordan tomorrow and we will discuss that further.
Dr Phillip Lee (Bracknell) (Con)
Although he was a ruthless and murderous individual, the late father of the current President of Syria had a reputation for doing what he said he was going to do. By contrast, his son is a fundamentally weak individual surrounded by stronger characters as advisers. To what extent does the Foreign Secretary agree that the personal weakness of the President of Syria will make a diplomatic solution unlikely, if not impossible?
Mr Hague
My hon. Friend is right and the situation he describes is one of the obstacles. Not only the President of Syria but other members of his family are closely involved in the power structure in Syria, including his brother. An entire system of finance, power and rewards makes up a pyramid of which President Assad is simply at the top. A political and diplomatic solution requires people much further down the pyramid to agree that it is a good idea. That makes the situation complex and is one reason why offers of negotiations by the regime are not followed up by serious negotiations. That is indeed one of the obstacles.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
The Foreign Secretary has set out for the House a bleak picture of a dangerous civil war, with a toxic mix of Iranian involvement, possibly al-Qaeda and other extremists. What assessment have the British Government made of the claims of alleged involvement from Hezbollah in the conflict in Syria and of the wider potential for regional instability that would flow from that?
Mr Hague
There is the potential, as we have discussed, for regional instability, including in Lebanon and in relation to Hezbollah. One of the dangers is of clashes on the Lebanese border in the south of Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Free Syrian army or other elements of the Syrian opposition—let alone with Syrian regime forces. I do not have any other evidence that I can cite about Hezbollah, but that in itself is a great danger and is one of the reasons we are assisting with the stability of Lebanon. In Lebanon two weeks ago I announced additional British funding for the Lebanese armed forces, which are an important part of trying to keep that border peaceful, including our direct help with the construction of border observation posts. Of course, there is everything else we are doing to try to bring about a resolution of the crisis.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
My right hon. Friend has always been very clear that our priorities are to try to stop the killing and to find a peaceful solution. If a peaceful solution can be found but the price is that Assad stays in power, would we be able to accept that deal or have we reached a stage at which the precursor to any deal must be that Assad goes?
Mr Hague
It is not for us to decide who is in power in any other country, including in Syria. It is the position of the Syrian National Coalition and all opposition groups that they want to see the departure of President Assad, but we will not be more like the Syrian opposition than the Syrian opposition. Mr al-Khatib has said that he is prepared to negotiate with the regime without Assad going first and that is a position we should support. It is impossible for any observer of these events to see President Assad ever again being able to unify or govern the country, so we say he should go, but the opposition has offered to negotiate and that is the right thing to do.
Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)
It is clear that the House shares the sense of humanitarian urgency that the Foreign Secretary has articulated so well, but many are also concerned that that urgency should not entail a working disregard for the true character and real agenda of some of the opposition forces. May I acknowledge the particular principles expressed by the Foreign Secretary today? Our foreign policy is inseparable from upholding human rights, protecting lives and supporting international law; we must assist the genuine moderate and democratic forces who are in dire need of help and who feel abandoned by the international community; and we cannot look the other way while international law and human rights are flouted. When will we see those principles manifested in the Government’s engagement in other situations, including Palestine?
Mr Hague
They are, but that question might take us rather wider than the subject of Syria—indeed, it is absolutely intended to do so. I welcome in general what the hon. Gentleman says and that is the objective of our foreign policy more broadly. We are heavily engaged in conflict prevention or conflict resolution in Somalia, Yemen and Sudan and are working to promote an arms trade treaty and to pursue my initiative on preventing sexual violence in conflict. The United Kingdom, under successive Governments, has had a strong record in conflict prevention that is true to the principles that the hon. Gentleman cited, and that continues under this Government. We must always uphold that tradition.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lord Hague of Richmond Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
There is a clear need for the United States to lead an effort to revive the peace process. This was top of the agenda of my recent discussions with Secretary Kerry, and I welcome the focus that he has brought to bear on the issue since his appointment. We will make every effort to mobilise European and Arab states behind decisive moves for peace.
Nia Griffith
Does the Secretary of State agree that the starting point for negotiations should be the legal status quo—that is, that the whole of the west bank and east Jerusalem, within the 1967 borders, is Palestinian land, as agreed unanimously by the United Nations Security Council in resolution 242—and not the facts on the ground created by illegal settlement building?
Mr Hague
Across the House, all of us have commented clearly about illegal settlement building on occupied land, but I think the starting point for negotiations has to be a common political will. That needs to be there in Israel, where a new Government are being formed, and among Palestinians, who continue to discuss reconciliation among each other. The true starting point is a common willingness to enter again into negotiations and to develop the middle east peace process, with the leadership of the United States but with the support of us all.
Ian Mearns
The Foreign Secretary seems to expect the Palestinians to have the patience of Job. He might be aware that, in the coming months, Israel is set to demolish hundreds of homes in the Palestinian town of Silwan to make way for a tourist attraction. Is he also aware that that is the single largest proposed demolition of Palestinian homes since 1967? What will he do to try to instil a sense of reality among the Israeli authorities to stop this unlawful theft of Palestinian land, which can only hinder the search for a two-state solution?
Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman is right to say that such actions hinder the search for a two-state solution. Our condemnation of illegal settlement building and of demolitions on occupied land has been very clear across the House, as I have said. The important thing in the coming months is to move beyond that and to get into successful negotiations. The only answer, in the end, will be an agreed two-state solution, and the time for that is slipping away. The hon. Gentleman rightly mentioned patience. The world has been patient, but the time in which a two-state solution can be agreed is now slipping away, partly because of changing facts on the ground. That demonstrates the urgency, and I believe, in the light of all the discussions I have had with Secretary Kerry so far, that he is fully seized of the importance and urgency of the issue.
Steve Brine
I know that the Foreign Secretary is very much of the view that time is not on our side, and he has just reiterated that this morning. With that in mind, will he update Members on the situation in Lebanon, which I know he visited last week.
Mr Hague
I visited Lebanon the week before last, and it is a country whose stability we want to support. While I was there, I announced additional support for the Lebanese armed forces as well as for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. We do our best to contribute to the stability of the Lebanese state, but that is often fragile—not least because of what is happening in Syria at the moment. I believe that we have many friends in Lebanon and that our announcements were strongly welcomed there.
Luciana Berger
As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the Israeli Prime Minister has recently given Tzipi Livni Cabinet responsibility for negotiations with the Palestinians. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that the appointment of a known vocal campaigner for a two-state solution is a welcome development? When will he or his Ministers meet Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterparts to see how Her Majesty’s Government could extend support for negotiations?
Mr Hague
Of course we should and do welcome the appointment of Mrs Livni, although I stress that the final composition and make-up of the Israeli coalition has not yet been agreed—these things have not been finalised. Mrs Livni has worked hard in the past to try to bring about negotiations on a two-state solution. We are indeed in regular touch with her and have been even when she was out of government. The negotiations, which failed to reach a conclusion by 1 March now have a further 14 days to produce an Israeli Government by 15 March. We hope that, whatever the composition of that Government, they will be committed to serious negotiations and have the same sense of urgency that we in this House have just expressed.
Chris Williamson
Does the Foreign Secretary accept that a freeze on settlement building is not a precondition imposed by the Palestinians, but a requirement imposed by international law?
Mr Hague
From what I have said many times about the illegality of settlement building on occupied land it will be clear to the hon. Gentleman where we stand on matters of international law. Now, however, we have to find a solution to all of this, and that will come only from a successful negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians. I do not know anyone who thinks that there will be any other way of bringing about an end to building on occupied land and peace both for Israelis and Palestinians. That is what we want to promote: settlements are obviously a major issue in any such negotiation.
Sir Menzies Campbell (North East Fife) (LD)
My right hon. Friend said a moment or two ago that the possibility of a two-state solution was slipping away. Does he understand that a large number of people, including well-informed commentators and analysts, believe that that time has now gone. If the position now is that the two-state solution is incapable of achievement, what are the prospects for any stability in Israel in the future?
Mr Hague
If, indeed, that possibility has gone, the prospects for stability in the whole region—for Israel and others—would be greatly worsened. We should be clear about that, as it is part of the argument to Israeli leaders to get them to use the time remaining for a two-state solution to be brought about. On that, I differ from my right hon. and learned Friend in that while I think this may be the last chance for a two-state solution and that the time is slipping away, I do not think that the time for it has yet gone. That is why it was at the top of the agenda in all our discussions with the United States at the beginning of this year. We will do everything we can to support American efforts as President Obama arrives in Israel in three weeks’ time.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)
When the Israelis unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, the result was 7,000 missiles from Hamas on to Israeli towns and cities. Does my right hon. Friend agree that any negotiation on the administered territory on the west bank should be accompanied by a guarantee from Hamas of an end to its terrorism?
Mr Hague
It is very important that rocket fire comes to an end. I am very concerned at reports of rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel last week, which was the first such incident since the ceasefire agreement in November. We call on all parties to respect in full the November ceasefire. We have consistently condemned the firing of rockets into Israel, which is not, of course, a helpful backdrop to peace negotiations.
Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
I share the Foreign Secretary’s view that this is the last chance for a decisive move for peace. Is it not time to make it clear to the Israeli authorities that if it does not work on this occasion—if this move for peace ends as all the others have—the flagrant breach of international law that is represented by illegal settlements over 46 years, since 1967, will finally have to be met by some serious consequences, from the European Union and from ourselves?
Mr Hague
It will be important for EU nations, including us, and for Arab nations to give careful and well-calibrated support to the American efforts. I have already been discussing that with Secretary Kerry. We need to allow time and space for this American effort to develop as President Obama visits the region later in the month, but I believe that it will important for us to be able to say in concrete terms, at crucial stages of any negotiations that may develop, what we will do to support the process and to incentivise the parties involved. Of course, it may also be open to us to disincentivise—if I may use that word—those parties at crucial moments.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
In the context of conditions for peace, the right hon. Gentleman may not be aware that last Saturday, in Palestine, I visited the mothers and surviving family members—for some have been killed by the Israelis—of Ayman Ismail, who is being held in administrative detention and has been on hunger strike for 246 days, and of Samer Issawi, who is being held on trumped-up charges after being tried twice, once by a civil court which said that he should be released tomorrow and once by a military court which is holding him for 20 years, He has been on hunger strike for 223 days, and is in a critical condition. Will the right hon. Gentleman make clear to Netanyahu that if these men die, their blood will be on his hands?
Mr Hague
I think we can be absolutely clear that it is important for justice to be properly done and human rights to be observed on all occasions, for a justice system to be properly upheld, and for problems that have arisen in relation to hunger strikes—of which we have seen many in recent times—to be dealt with through successful talks between the Israeli authorities and those concerned whenever possible. We have urged that. There have been such successful talks in the past, and I hope that the same can happen in this case.
Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)
3. What recent representations he has received on the activities of Hezbollah.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
On 18 February, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister told European Union Foreign Ministers that the Bulgarian Government took it as a justified assumption that two members of Hezbollah’s military wing had been involved in the terrorist attack in Burgas last July. Since then we have received representations from the United States and Israel about Hezbollah’s activity, and we have called on our European partners to respond robustly to terrorist actions on European soil.
Mr Clappison
I warmly welcome what the Foreign Secretary has said. This was a terrorist attack which cost the lives of six people, tourists innocently going about their business. Is it not high time the European Union acted against Hezbollah and banned it in its entirety? Otherwise, will not the EU be left looking a little bit casual, if not shoddy, in its approach to terrorism?
Mr Hague
As my hon. Friend knows, we are clear about this. The United Kingdom proscribed Hezbollah’s external security organisation back in 2001, and extended that proscription to the military wing in 2008. We are now discussing the issue in the European Union, and we would like to see the EU follow what we have done. We are engaged in active discussion with EU countries. Some are supportive of this, some are awaiting evidence from Bulgaria before making a decision, and some have other concerns. We are seeking to persuade them that those concerns are not warranted, and that the European Union should take a decisive position.
Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op)
24. The recent murder of Israeli tourists, together with a Bulgarian national, in Bulgaria is just the latest in a string of terrorist attacks by Hezbollah, from Argentina in 1994 to Cyprus and Turkey in 2011. Just what will it take for Europe to act against this terrorist organisation?
Mr Hague
As the hon. Lady will gather, that is what we are discussing in the European Union. My Bulgarian colleague briefed us on the matter at the last meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, and we are now having the discussions that I just described. As I say, some countries wish to look at the evidence in more detail, and some have other concerns about the impact on relations with Lebanon. However, I made it clear on my recent visit to Lebanon that we supported the Lebanese authorities’ statement that they would co-operate fully with the investigation and that there is no need for any decision we make about Hezbollah to have a damaging impact on Lebanon’s stability.
Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)
Hezbollah makes no distinction between its military activities and its political activities, so why does the EU feel the need to make such a distinction before it reaches a view about sanctions against Hezbollah?
Mr Hague
The United Kingdom made that distinction and we believe that those wings are organisationally distinct, even if they both come under the same overall leadership. It is important to recognise that Hezbollah’s political wing is and will remain an important part of Lebanon’s political scene, and we have to be able to act in the interests of the stability of Lebanon. We do not believe that an EU consensus could be arrived at on the designation of the whole of Hezbollah.
Mr Douglas Alexander (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
I have listened carefully to the answers offered by the Foreign Secretary, and on this matter I sense that there is genuine cross-party agreement across the House. He says that active discussions are under way with European partners on the proscription of Hezbollah’s military wing, but that some countries are looking at further evidence. Given the terms of the report published by the Bulgarians on 5 February and the discussions that the Bulgarian Minister has had with other European colleagues, will the Foreign Secretary tell the House what further discussions he is going to have, particularly with the French and with others? What assurance would they need in order to be able to match the action that, with our support, the British Government have taken?
Mr Hague
Of course, we are in active discussion with other European partners, including France. As I say, some are immediately supportive of designation, as we are, but some want to look in more detail at the evidence, although plenty of evidence is available. Some have concerns about the impact on the stability of Lebanon—concerns that I think are unfounded—on EU relations with Lebanon or on European troops serving in the UN mission in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon. So there are a variety of reasons for this, which I do not agree with, and it is clear that the right hon. Gentleman does not agree with them either. I shall, thus, quote the strong cross-party support in this House in the Government’s further discussions about this issue.
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)
4. What steps the Government are taking to secure international agreement on a comprehensive arms trade treaty at the UN conference in March 2013.
Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
10. What assessment he has made of the outcome of the recent summit at Chequers attended by the Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
The Chequers summit on 3 and 4 February brought together the political and security leaderships from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both sides committed themselves to taking all necessary measures to achieve a peace settlement over the next six months, called on the Taliban to open a political office in Doha, and reaffirmed their commitment to a strategic partnership with each other. We will continue to support the two Governments in bringing about peace, taking into account the stability of the whole region.
Paul Uppal
I think that all of us in the House would echo the sentiments of the US ambassador to Pakistan, who said that he wished it to be a stable, prosperous and democratic country. Very much in that vein, given that she is a sizeable and important power in that region, what steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that radical Islamist elements within that country do not destabilise her nuclear role?
Mr Hague
Across the House we are all very strong supporters of a democratic Pakistan. Pakistan is coming to a very important moment with a general election where, for the first time, a democratically elected Government will have served their full term to be succeeded by another democratically elected Government. The United Kingdom, of course, does a great deal to support Pakistan, particularly with the huge programme of the Department for International Development. That in turn is particularly focused on primary education in Pakistan, and we also seek to boost trade and investment.
Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)
In view of what the Foreign Secretary has just said, will he give us his assessment of the state of play in terms of what help elements of the Pakistani security force are still giving to the Taliban and insurgents?
Mr Hague
One important aspect of the Chequers summit was that the Pakistani security establishment was there, representing the leadership of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence. Their clarity and their support for pursuing a peace process, and for working with Afghanistan and with us in order to do so, were abundantly clear. This is therefore now the context in which Pakistan is looking at the Taliban. It wants the Taliban to come into reconciliation and peace.
Mr Speaker
I think that the strength and knee muscles of the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr Brazier) now deserve recognition.
Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Speaker; that is an interesting accolade.
I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on that extraordinary summit between two powers that were very unlikely to share a room together even a few months ago. I also congratulate our embassy in Kabul on the extraordinary work it is doing to promote the commercial side of Afghanistan, particularly the mining projects, which in the long run are the key to prosperity for the country.
Mr Hague
Both points are very important. The embassy is absolutely working hard on such projects. On relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, one must never be complacent, and much work remains to be done. The two Governments, with our encouragement, have achieved a bigger improvement in their relations in the past six months than at any time in the previous 10 or 20 years. That gives us something to work on.
Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
11. What progress he has made in developing proposals to repatriate powers from the EU.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
This morning I returned from Mali, where I met its President and Prime Minister to urge early progress on a political process and reconciliation with all communities in their country. I also met and thanked members of our armed forces who have given logistical support to France and are now beginning to form the EU military training mission.
Tim Loughton
May I take the Foreign Secretary to the other side of the world and declare an interest as a member of the Tibet Society? He will be aware that there have now been more than 100 self-immolations in Tibet. He will also be aware of the big crackdown and harsh prison sentences for protestors, including families of the victims. I hope that he is also aware that next Wednesday there will be a big lobby by Tibetans coming to this House. What is he doing to support the growing number of Tibetan refugees, many of whom are escaping across the mountains to Dharamsala? In particular, what help can we give through the British Council to assist in education about and preservation of the Tibetan language and culture, which are being so brutally repressed by China in Tibet?
Mr Hague
In a very short answer, Mr Speaker, we do indeed have serious concerns about the recent wave of self-immolations and urge the Chinese authorities to show restraint towards Tibetan protestors. As my hon. Friend knows, we believe in meaningful dialogue between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese authorities as the best way to address and resolve the underlying grievances. There is no change in our policy towards Tibet, which we regard as part of the People’s Republic of China. However, we are always concerned about human rights issues and—in the interests of brevity, Mr Speaker—we will take an additional look at the points that my hon. Friend raises.
Mr Douglas Alexander (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
In the light of the latest round of the P5 plus 1 talks held last week in Kazakhstan, will the Foreign Secretary update the House on progress? In particular, will he share with the House, if he feels able, some of the specific guarantees that the UK Government would be looking to achieve from the Iranians as part of these important discussions, given that being clear about the objectives increases the likelihood of success in the negotiations?
Mr Hague
These discussions took place in Almaty last week, on 26 and 27 February, and they were successful enough for further meetings to be agreed. Meetings of officials will take place in early April, also in Kazakhstan. Of course, it is pleasing that it is worth while having those further meetings. In the E3 plus 3 we have put a revised offer to the Iranians. However, that revised offer would involve both sides taking actions that then build confidence for further negotiations, without our thinking that we can resolve the entire problem in one move—one negotiation. We hope that Iran will continue to take a strong interest and a constructive role in these negotiations. It is too early to tell whether the Iranian position is to do that or to play for time, as has often happened in the past.
Mr Alexander
I note that the Foreign Secretary says that it is too early to tell about these negotiations and that the issue cannot be resolved in one go. I certainly recognise both those points. In recent days there has been quite a lot of speculation about the prospects for bilateral negotiations between the United States and Iran. Will he share the Government’s thinking as to the likelihood of a grander bargain between those two powers taking place in the months ahead?
Mr Hague
The United Kingdom is, of course, open to bilateral discussions, which are difficult in our case because of the unavoidable closure of embassies. Nevertheless, I have from time to time met the Iranian Foreign Minister and we are open to the idea of other members of the E3 plus 3 having bilateral discussions with Iran. Such discussions sometimes take place at the margins of the E3 plus 3 meetings. It is important for Iran to know that we are seeking to settle the nuclear issue—Iran would, of course, have all the rights of a country under the non-proliferation treaty—and that the western world is not embarked on regime change in Iran. That sincerely is what we are trying to do. Any bilateral discussions that make that clear and allow negotiations to proceed more successfully on that basis would, of course, be welcome.