China: Treatment of Uighurs and Taiwanese Airspace Incursions
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Goudie
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Baroness is right to point to the integrated review, which sets out how we will work with international groupings, including our Indo-Pacific tilt and our international leadership of the G7 and COP 26 this year. The UK has led international efforts to hold China to account, including by leading the first two joint statements on this issue at the UN. Last week, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary released a joint statement with his G7 counterparts, expressing their concerns at the continued erosion of rights in Hong Kong.
Baroness Goudie (Lab) [V]
Following on from the noble Baroness’s question, is it not true that the Foreign Secretary still thinks that we should continue to trade and not worry too much about human rights, as he said to members of Foreign Office staff yesterday, which was leaked to the Guardian? Secondly, can we take note of what America is doing with companies that are trading with China and other countries that are causing genocide? Should we not be putting on the same pressure and asking the same questions of companies here, particularly those in the garment trade?
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Baroness should see what my right honourable friend said in full, at least what he said in his speech at the Aspen Security Forum this week or what we say in the integrated review, which makes clear that open countries such as the UK need to engage with China and remain open to trade and investment. We will engage with confidence, which is important because China is an increasingly important partner in tackling global challenges, including climate change, biodiversity and preventing future pandemics.
Global LGBTI+ Rights
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Goudie(3 years, 4 months ago)
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Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Viscount is absolutely right: Covid-19 affects everybody, whatever their sexual orientation or their gender identity. The Baring Foundation report explores some of the particular impact that the virus has had on LGBT people around the world. We are very clear that states must not use the pandemic as cover for repressive action. On Hungary, our embassy in Budapest is closely monitoring recent developments there, and we will be discussing them with Hungarian officials and civil society groups.
Baroness Goudie (Lab) [V]
My Lords, the evidence shows that sustained funding for development work is more cost efficient and leads to better-quality programming, allowing the underlying causes of crises to be addressed and resilience in communities to be built. Much of the Government’s funding of LGBT issues has been short term, which limits its impact. Will the Government commit to putting their funding of LGBT issues on a much longer-term footing, which will increase its effectiveness and give the organisations it funds much greater certainty?
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Baroness makes an important point about sustainable funding, which I know is informed by her own extensive work in this field. That is why, notwithstanding the global pandemic, we are continuing to fund the projects which are running this year, and why we are determined to do better across government, delivering the maximum impact for every pound that we spend and continuing to make a world-leading difference.
Hong Kong: Human Rights
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Goudie(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Goudie (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, for this debate. Nothing is more fundamental to human rights in Hong Kong and elsewhere than an independent, impartial judiciary. Hong Kong has that; mainland China has not. An important feature of the judicial system in Hong Kong is that, since handover, its local Court of Final Appeal has replaced appeals to the Privy Council. This was authorised by the Hong Kong Basic Law in London. The judges in the Court of Final Appeal are mostly from Hong Kong, but very senior judges or retired judges are from the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada and do participate. A clear violation of human rights in Hong Kong would be interference by China in the composition of the Court of Final Appeal for cases or categories of case, or interference in the filling of vacancies. There is no doubt that the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary is under attack, and this is a grave danger for the rule of law in Hong Kong. Hong Kong judges have been threatened—