Women, Peace and Security Bill [HL]

Lord Loomba Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 15th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (CB)]

My Lords, I support this vital Bill and commend the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson, for her dedication to women, peace and security. This legislation presents a clear opportunity to address the persistent challenges that obstruct the empowerment and safety of women, both here and globally.

Today, we live in a world where cyber threats, violence and disinformation campaigns are routinely deployed against women, especially those in leadership and public roles. This digital age, with all its potential for progress, has sadly also become a tool for oppression: women in prominent positions face unprecedented levels of harassment and intimidation, and falsehoods are spread to damage their reputations. We must consider this when drafting laws meant to protect women and uphold their roles as leaders in our society.

The women, peace and security agenda aligns closely with the United Nations sustainable development goals, particularly the principle of leaving no one behind. Sustainable peace and security cannot be achieved if half of humanity is systematically excluded. A society that sidelines women is one that deprives itself of potential stability and resilience. As we consider the Bill, we must remember that peace and security are possible only when every individual, irrespective of gender, has a stake in their community and nation.

A cornerstone of the Bill is the emphasis on participation. Women must have meaningful roles in decision-making processes, from local governance to national legislatures. The UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security rightly prioritises that. University of Cambridge researchers have recently assessed gender-based participation in 11 countries across Asia, Africa and South America. The findings revealed stark realities. As of 2022, female representation in Parliament stood at just 15% in India, 20% in Bangladesh, under 20% in Guatemala, 23% in Kenya and Malawi, and as low as 5% in Sri Lanka. Yet there are encouraging signs, too. India has now mandated one-third female representation in its Lok Sabha. South Africa has 47% female representation, and here in the UK our recent election has brought female representation to 41%. Putting the commitment of the Bill into legislation will reinforce Britain’s position as a global advocate for gender equality. This is not just the right thing to do morally; it strengthens our influence on the world stage and fosters a more peaceful, secure future for women everywhere.

I wholeheartedly support the Bill and urge others to do so as well. Let us send a clear message that the United Kingdom stands firm in its commitment to gender equality and sustainable peace.

Sudan

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Friday 13th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Collins, for introducing the debate on this urgent and important topic. To those who are tempted to dismiss the conflict in Sudan as a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing, I say that a glance at our history and at what the future holds clearly shows that Sudan is also our problem. The way Britain, nominally with Egypt, governed Sudan for six decades until 1956 directly sowed the seeds of the first civil war in Sudan. This still echoes in the conflict today.

According to the UN, since the civil war started in Sudan in 2023 more than 13,900 people have been killed, with 27,700 people injured and more than 13 million forced to flee their homes due to the widespread violence. More than half the population of Sudan faced crisis or worse conditions of food insecurity between June and September this year and famine is projected during the following season, between October 2024 and February 2025. People need access to safe shelter, healthcare services, food and water. The intensity of the conflict has been steadily rising, meaning more hunger, fatalities and people having to flee.

As many of your Lordships are aware—here I declare my interest—my focus is on those who are caught up in conflict through no fault of their own, particularly women who are widowed or abandoned. They are ostracised by the community and unable to care for themselves and their children. In poor countries and conflict zones, women, single mothers and widows are invariably at the bottom of the pile, destitute and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Since conflicts involve high mortality among men, the number of families left exposed is much greater than usual. It is important that we see the suffering in Sudan not just as numbers but as people with particular needs; we need to tailor our intervention in ways that address their situation in the community, as well as the overall need for water, food, medicines and other essentials.

However, neither money nor the United Kingdom on its own can change the tragedy that afflicts Sudan. We are spending nearly a quarter of a billion pounds in this part of the world this year alone. During her visit to the region recently the Development Minister, Anneliese Dodds, rightly called on the warring parties to stop using starvation as a weapon of war. She also pointed out that most of those suffering are invisible. This brings us back to the individuals, many of them mothers and children, suffering in the shadows; they are invisible and without hope.

This factor is all too familiar to those who support marginalised widows around the world. In 2015, the World Widows Report recorded more than 700,000 widows in Sudan. It also noted the high level of child marriage in the country, with the age range for widowhood starting at 12. There is no doubt that the numbers involved have significantly grown since, particularly in the past 17 months. The most important lesson we learned from the report was not what we already knew—although it remains the only global, country-by-country compilation of data and research about widows—but how little we know, and how that hampers us in bringing about the changes that are desperately needed.

This was reinforced by Not Leaving Widows Behind, a study of 11 countries across Asia, Africa and South America by University of Cambridge researchers, commissioned by the Loomba Foundation, which we published last week. This concluded, first, that we cannot hope to achieve the United Nations global goals for sustainable development without addressing the plight of those who are most in need; and, secondly, that we cannot address their plight effectively without substantially increasing our research and data-gathering to understand what is going on.

This certainly applies to the continuing tragedy in Sudan. I applaud the Government’s approach of engaging with all parties to de-escalate the conflict through the Security Council, the G7 and directly supporting the aid agencies in their work. I am heartened by the importance attached by the Minister to understanding what is happening on the ground. My appeal to the Government is that we redouble our efforts to gain access through wider and much-needed research, to gather evidence so that we can deliver the right support where it is most needed and avert further catastrophe.

The Importance of the Relationship Between the United Kingdom and India

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (CB)]

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for bringing this important topic to your Lordships’ House today. It is important to the UK because, within the next decade, India will be the world’s third-largest economy. It is important to India because the UK is home to the largest Indian diaspora outside Asia and, as we have already heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, Prime Minister Modi has said that non-resident Indians are the living bridge between our two countries.

Twenty years ago, I organised an event at City Hall in London for the Chief Minister of Delhi to mark the twinning of the two capital cities, which has seen business between them blossom. In three weeks’ time, I will lead a trade delegation at a business and trade summit in Uttar Pradesh with 12 British businesses.

The importance of the 2030 Roadmap for India-UK future relations cannot be overstated. The relationship between our two countries is multidimensional. We have shared values, strong family ties and a record of co-operation for mutual benefit. The Indian Government attach a high priority to this, and I hope they will do all that is necessary to remove unnecessary obstacles and back up their ambition with actions.

In particular, I welcome the vision to collaborate on research and innovation, but will the healthy exchange of knowledge and skills be hampered by constraints on migration? Will the Government consider excluding Indian students who are in the UK for a limited time from net migration targets? I also welcome the mutual recognition of qualifications and ask the Minister to tell us what progress has been made in recognising professional, as well as academic, qualifications to improve high-level skills exchange.

India is rapidly becoming a global powerhouse in technology, and the UK has world-leading expertise in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, robotics and creative technologies. We also have a mutual interest in global challenges such as climate change and the green economy, the power of arts and culture to drive growth and regeneration, and delivering social value by addressing inequalities. Networks and partnerships are key to leveraging the potential of these common interests and delivering new approaches. Will the UK Government actively facilitate and encourage the development of networks and partnerships between cities, universities, cultural organisations and micro-businesses?

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was an extraordinary and remarkable man. His support and dedication to the Queen as a husband and consort for over seven decades will not be matched. His presence, calm nature, patience when listening and appetite for a jovial sense of humour will be missed. In one of her speeches, Her Majesty the Queen said about her husband:

“He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”


Listening to the tributes paid by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his siblings, as well as Andrew Marr’s interviews yesterday with Sir John Major and Joanna Lumley, I believe in every word that Her Majesty the Queen said in her speech about her beloved husband.

The Princess Royal has said that she would like to walk in the footsteps of her father, who always thought of helping others. Through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, he helped more than a million youths in over 100 countries succeed in their lives. I am proud to say that my daughter and two granddaughters are recipients of this award.

I had the good fortune and honour of meeting him at a London First event many years ago. He asked me, “What do you do?”; I replied that I was a businessman but also ran my own charity, which supported widows and their children around the world. Then I mentioned that there are over 258 million widows around the world. His quick and spontaneous response was, “Have you counted them all?” I saw his sense of humour first-hand. I was left with immense pleasure after that discussion and meeting with him. It will always stay with me.

Covid-19

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Thursday 28th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con) [V]]

Many noble Lords’ contributions have shown how difficult this issue is. So many groups and individuals rightly have a claim to prioritisation of the vaccine, which is why we have been following the advice of the JCVI, which has taken all these issues into account and come up with its prioritisation list. Most importantly, that is why we are rolling out our vaccination programme as quickly and effectively as we can, so that we can reach the largest number of people as quickly as possible during this endeavour.

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Covid-19 pandemic has so far taken the lives of over 100,000 people. Businesses small and large have collapsed or are on their knees, 800,000 fewer people are in employment, and millions more remain furloughed. Would the noble Baroness the Leader of the House agree that the Government should have used the experience of other countries to improve its approach, to save lives while protecting the economy?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con) [V]]

We have in fact put in place one of the world’s most comprehensive economic packages in response to the pandemic, spending over £280 billion on support so far. That is absolutely not to diminish the situation that many people have found themselves in, or to question the hardship that many have faced, but we have put an extremely generous package in place. We have continued to review and refine it as and when it has been necessary. I also remind the noble Lord that we have protected more than 12 million jobs through the furlough and self-employment schemes, both of which have been extended until April.