Queen's Speech

Lord Hylton Excerpts

Wednesday 26th May 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hylton]

My Lords, I welcome the new coalition. I suppose that I may, being descended on one side from Disraeli’s long-serving Chief Whip and on the other from Prime Minister Asquith.

Today I draw attention to the importance of religious factors in foreign and defence policy. Ministers and advisers, used to our secular and scientific culture, can find this very difficult. They sometimes think that religion and faith are important only to children and old women. They are quite wrong, and show ignorance in much of today’s world. An extreme example was in 2003, when some very senior people in the United States simply did not know about the important differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

I have spoken before in this House about the folly of the so-called “war on terrorism”. One can sometimes fight terrorists but it is madness to try, using military means, to fight against an “ism”. It is usually a case of winning hearts and minds, as many wise military men know. At home, I urge those reviewing the previous Government’s Prevent Terrorism programme to keep this clearly in mind.

The second need is to distinguish resistance fighters, who may sometimes use terror methods, from ideological terrorists seeking world revolution and, if possible, world domination. The Anbar Awakening in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine are good examples of religious resistance groups. They wanted to end brutal and oppressive foreign occupation but not to fight for world domination. Al-Qaeda and its offshoots, on the other hand, can seldom be satisfied as they aim by violence for a completely Islamic world.

In the 1970s and 1980s in Northern Ireland I had my first experience of religious factors in conflict. It was not, of course, an old-fashioned war of religion. Politics, identity, culture and religion had, however, become so tightly interwoven that nominal religion served as the identifier in a deeply divided society. To a lesser extent, this is still the case today. Since then, I have made many visits to Israel and Palestine and their neighbours. I believe that it is only religious faith that has given Hezbollah and Hamas the strength to resist oppressive military occupation. Similarly, religious and ideological zeal inspires some Israelis to live in hardship on hilltops in order to colonise someone else’s country, to which they claim a kind of divine right. I have already mentioned the Sunni Anbar tribes in Iraq who agreed to fight with the Americans, whom they had previously resisted, because they saw the greater threat posed by al-Qaeda.

The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, in which I have a non-financial interest, has been working for years in Iraq with the most senior religious leaders—Sunni, Shia and Christian—towards national reconciliation. This process has produced joint statements, which are being filtered down so as to reduce the general level of violence. Further mediating work is still needed with the political parties and with other opinion formers.

In Kosovo, I have an indirect interest through the British charity The Soul of Europe. There, it is surprising that UNMIK, EULEX, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Union in Brussels had barely attempted to resolve the problems surrounding the UNESCO-listed, enclaved, Serbian Orthodox monasteries. These splendid buildings, with their frescos and living communities, stand surrounded by barbed wire and protected by NATO troops against the potential ill-will of their Albanian neighbours. Fortunately, the charity that I mentioned has been invited to mediate by both parties. The hope is that it will be commissioned to do so by the European Union. This religious and political issue has huge symbolic importance as the monasteries were founded at the height of the medieval Serb kingdom and in its very heartland. The issue has great immediate urgency because the enthronement at Pec in Kosovo of the new patriarch of all Orthodox Serbs is being planned for October in the presence of many bishops from all the Christian Episcopal traditions. Your Lordships can imagine the security worries and the dangers of misperceptions if a good modus vivendi is not quickly established. In the longer term, the resolution of the problems affecting these monasteries could speed up the accession of Kosovo to the EU while also helping tourism and the economy generally.

I will give only one more example of constructive inter-religious work in process. The Nyon process is bringing together in dialogue Sunnis and Shias, together with western secular leaders and American evangelicals. The combination is so diverse that many have never been in the same room before. The process has the support, I am glad to say, of the UN Alliance of Civilizations and of the Governments of Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. Nyon has produced a practical first fruit in the form of additional help for eye surgery in beleaguered Gaza. Its potential for mutual respect and co-operation is almost unlimited.

From my personal experience and the examples I have given, I urge Her Majesty’s Government to treat religious factors with the seriousness that they deserve. This can only benefit our policies in Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Like my noble friend Lord Hannay, I particularly ask this Government to listen to Hamas. Secondly, will they support and encourage unofficial diplomacy and conflict resolution wherever these can improve conflict and post-conflict situations? I was encouraged by what the noble Lord, Lord Howell, said in opening this debate about sub-governmental bodies and new global networks. Perhaps the answer is yes.