Commonwealth Summit 2018

Lord Judd Excerpts

Thursday 2nd November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Judd (Lab)]

My Lords, if there was any need to have the relevance of the Commonwealth pointed out, it was underlined powerfully by the noble Baroness who has just spoken—but then, she always speaks powerfully.

I am particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, for having given us this opportunity because he is a lifelong champion of the Commonwealth. All of us in this House, and any intelligent person in our society, are concerned about global security. The world is totally interdependent and we have to work out ways in which we can handle effectively the governance of that reality. The Commonwealth has an important part to play.

Of course, international terrorism is part of that global reality of interdependence. If we are to look at the causes and underlying reasons that lead to abominations such as international terrorism, for a start we have to face up, just as an indication, to the size of the global refugee problem.

We touched on this in an earlier debate this afternoon and I do not apologise for repeating one point that I made in that debate: there are 65.6 million totally displaced people in the world; there are 22.5 million people who are refugees; and there are 10 million people who are stateless. How on earth can we have a hope of a stable, secure world while that social reality with all its dangerous consequences still exists? The Commonwealth contains very many of the people to whom I have just referred.

The issue of refugees is one to which we have to face up. I do not think it altogether encouraging that in the agendas so far the issue of refugees, with its massive significance within the Commonwealth, is not spelled out specifically and clearly enough as an objective for the Commonwealth to tackle together. I would like some reassurance from the Minister this evening, and I will take this opportunity to say how glad I am to see the Minister handling the issue of the Commonwealth, as I know he is deeply committed.

Then there is the issue of climate change. We played a very big part in the success of the Paris conference. The Commonwealth summit is a great opportunity to generate more momentum and more commitment to the objectives of the Paris agreement. Can the Minister tell us a bit more about the meaningful package on climate finance? What are we doing within the Commonwealth to generate support for that? On disaster preparedness and risk reduction, what is being done within the Commonwealth to tackle the issue of humanitarian aid to help less advanced countries meet their role within the overall situation? If we are going to remain committed to low-carbon prosperity, would this not be an ideal opportunity to see a strengthened commitment coming from the Commonwealth conference?

On human rights, there is so much that can be said. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2016 publication dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights stated:

“The authorities in many countries actively persecute LGB&T people. Consensual same-sex relations remain criminalised in 75 jurisdictions, including the majority of Commonwealth countries. Even in countries where consensual same-sex relations are legal, many people still face violence and discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity”.


What are we doing at this meeting of Commonwealth heads to face up to that reality and generate a genuine commitment?

Then there are all the issues of effective justice, security sector reform to ensure that what happens in the security sector is not counterproductive, and all that is necessary in education, health and employment.

I shall finish with one reference. We should also see the Commonwealth conference as a great opportunity to generate real commitment and action on conflict resolution and pre-emptive diplomacy. What is the Commonwealth doing about the ugly situation which is developing within the Cameroons?