Middle East

Lord Hughes of Woodside Excerpts

Friday 16th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

My Lords, anyone who has seen the reports on television and elsewhere about Syria must be appalled at the carnage that has been shown and must feel anguish, concern and great anger towards the Assad regime. There is no doubt that we all want to see a peaceful end to that process, and we want to see it quickly. None of us has a silver bullet that is going to bring it about overnight, and we are therefore perhaps left in the position of seemingly imploring the world to act to stop the carnage.

I was brought up during the Second World War and I remember the saying, “Careless talk costs lives”. There are those who are now advocating that the opposition—now called “rebels”—be armed, and there is the beguiling prospect of giving those who are defenceless the possibility of defending themselves. However, as noble Lords must be aware, this policy would make matters worse. This really is careless talk that would cost lives. Those who advocate it are seized of the inevitability of a full-scale civil war or indeed believe that such a civil war would be desirable. I am deeply disappointed that at one stage the Foreign Secretary, Mr Hague, appeared to give some sort of support to the idea of arming the rebels. I hope that he has changed his mind or that the reports have not been entirely accurate. Also, talk of arming the rebels seems to give some credence to Assad’s claim that it is an outside-fomented revolution, and it will do nothing whatever to encourage the Chinese and the Russians to come on board with the Security Council.

I turn to the situation in Libya and raise, in particular, the plight of the migrant African workers who are caught in the backlash of the ending of the Gaddafi regime. There are many reports of violence against them. They are living in appalling conditions, which are deteriorating day by day. There have been reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, all of which are calling for an end to the violence against these African labourers, although of course the violence is not confined to them. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, reported in January:

“A related area that I am extremely concerned about is the conditions of detention and treatment of detainees held by various revolutionary brigades. The ICRC visited over 8,500 detainees in approximately 60 places of detention between March and December 2011. The majority of detainees are accused of being Gaddafi loyalists and include a large number of sub-Saharan African nationals. The lack of oversight by the central authorities creates an environment conducive to torture and ill-treatment. My staff have received alarming reports that this is happening in places of detention that they have visited”.

I have seen unverified footage of migrant workers being forced to perform in zoos, cavorting, playing and being taunted by onlookers, and even being made to eat the former Libyan flag. That should not, and must not, happen. I have no means of knowing whether that was an isolated incident or whether it was true, but there is no point in our making grandiose statements on the sanctity of human rights if we cannot even protect the most vulnerable and the poorest in that society. We must do something to help these destitute people to return to their homes.

I think that Libya is in some danger of fragmentation. On 6 March, the authorities in Benghazi declared the semi-authority of the Cyrenaica eastern region, raising fears for the future. The leaders in Benghazi have made it clear that separation is not on the agenda, but things move all the time. We should remember that Libya was a confederation from 1950 to 1961 of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan. That only ceased when Gaddafi came to power.

It is clear that we have a very difficult situation, and we must address it. It is worth bearing in mind that the African Union, before Gaddafi’s downfall, drew attention to the serious possibility that the integrity of Libya would be fragmented. We must not let that happen. The Arab spring raised great hope and optimism for the future, not just in Libya but in the whole of the Middle East. I fear that the storm clouds are now gathering over the Middle East. Instead of an Arab spring, we now face an Arab autumn—and an Arab winter is not far behind.