Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 26th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

Since 28 August, over 500 more individuals eligible to come to the UK have been able to leave Afghanistan, as well as more than 400 British nationals and their dependants. We have assisted over 135 British nationals and their dependants to leave Afghanistan on Qatar-chartered flights. The total number of people who may be eligible is almost impossible for us to assess with clarity.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

11. What recent assessment she has made of the political and human rights situation in Bahrain.

[The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa (James Cleverly)]

We continue to monitor the political and human rights developments in Bahrain. Bahrain is a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country. We publish our assessment of the situation, including on areas of concern and areas of improvement in Bahrain, in the annual FCDO human rights report, most recently published on 8 July 2021. The details the hon. Lady requires are available in that document.

[Margaret Ferrier]

Over a decade after pro-democracy protests were crushed and oversight mechanisms, which the UK helped to fund, were adopted, cosmetic reforms have failed to remedy Bahrain’s deep-rooted problems. Will the Government show their commitment to Bahrain and publicly call for meaningful and inclusive political dialogue there, and for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Dr al-Singace, Hassan Mushaima, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, and Sheikh Ali Salman?

[James Cleverly]

The United Kingdom enjoys a constructive relationship with Bahrain, which means that where there are areas of concern we are able to bring them up directly. I myself have done so in bilateral meetings I have had with Bahraini officials, both here in the UK and on my trips to Bahrain. We continue to monitor the cases the hon. Lady raises, and others as necessary.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

The right hon. Lady raises an important point. I can assure her that we speak about this issue, as I say, directly with the Iranian regime, but also with other countries, both in the region and those friends and allies that we have in Europe and in the United States of America. We will not rest in our efforts to bring British dual nationals home not because questions are raised in the House or exchanged in correspondence, but because it is the right thing for us to do. We do not need to be pressured into doing this. This is what we choose to do because it is the right thing to do, and I can assure her and the House that it will remain a priority until they are all able to come home.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

I am sure all of us send our solidarity to Richard, who is having to go on a second sit-out outside the FCDO this evening and for the coming days. I send my solidarity to him and his daughter, and to Nazanin. Further to calls for the Government to set out a comprehensive strategy to secure the release and return to the UK of dual nationals such as Nazanin and Anoosheh Ashoori, Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof, can the Minister tell us what discussions the Prime Minister has had to secure the release of state-taken UK dual nationals as a matter of urgency with his Iranian counterpart?

[James Cleverly]

Obviously, the majority of the interactions with Iran take place within the FCDO at ministerial level, and I can assure the hon. Member that the Prime Minister takes a very keen interest in this, as does the Foreign Secretary and as do I. I can only repeat what I have said previously: the Government will not rest until we have secured the release and repatriation of these incarcerated British dual nationals.

Arrest of Sudanese Prime Minister

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. As I have stated, there is a communications black-out at the moment and therefore contact is intermittent. I note that General al-Burhan made a statement today, but I say back to him one more time —I do not think that one can say this enough—all parties should support the civilian-led Government, the constitutional declaration and the Juba peace agreement. The military leadership cannot claim to be committed to a democratic future while simultaneously acting unilaterally to dissolve transitional institutions and to arrest leading civilian politicians.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Will the UK call for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council concerning the situation in Sudan?

[Vicky Ford]

We are already actively calling for a briefing at the UN Security Council to ensure that the situation gets the attention that it deserves. We welcome the statement by the UN Secretary-General, condemning the actions of the military today.

Violence against Christians: Central African Countries

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 23rd September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I thank her for that intervention, because her words are salient to this debate and underline the issue.

Events in sub-Saharan Africa have accounted for much of that persecution and discrimination. There has been a significant increase in the number of violent attacks against Christians perpetrated by Islamic extremists. In Niger, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Nigeria—I will focus on Nigeria, as others probably will—the situation has become increasingly worrying. Many of us in this House—everyone who is here today—try to highlight the shocking and rapidly deteriorating situation in Nigeria, where the number of Christians killed last year rose by 60% on the year before. That illustrates the issue that the hon. Lady referred to. Open Doors states that things are getting worse, not better, because the number of people being murdered because of their faith has increased greatly. The stories of what is happening on the ground are horrifying. More Christians are being killed in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. That is worrying for us all.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Sudan recently abolished the death penalty for apostacy—a step forward in the region, which I hope we will see in more countries in the near future. Although there has been resistance to such huge changes, it has been considerably less in recent years. Does the hon. Gentleman have any thoughts about how tolerance of religion can be built upon?

[Jim Shannon]

Over the last few days, the hon. Lady and I seem to have followed each other in each debate. I thank her for coming along and for her intervention. The APPG that I am very privileged to chair speaks up for those with Christian faith, those with other faiths and those with no faith. That is what we try to promote. It is about tolerance and understanding people of other faiths, but it is also about accepting other faiths and people of different religious viewpoints. That is something that we all need to take on board.

The hon. Lady referred to Sudan. There have certainly been some stories in the press recently about an attempted coup that was thwarted. I welcome the steps that Sudan took, but what they have done needs to be replicated elsewhere in the region.

Violence is increasingly bleeding—and I use the word intentionally—over the borders into an already destabilised central Africa. This region, in the shadow of its more powerful neighbours, has all too often been overlooked, both by—I say it respectfully—the UK Parliament and by the wider international community. We must not let the displacement and killing of hundreds of thousands of Christians go almost unchallenged by parliamentarians. That is why we are having this debate, and I am very grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting time for it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I remember the abduction of the children. I think of Leah Sharibu. She is still missing—a young Christian girl who had never converted and was therefore kidnapped and imprisoned. Her mum, Rebecca, would love to see her back. A day does not pass that I do not pray for the return of Leah Sharibu back to her mum. Perhaps the Minister could give some indication—this is one of the questions that I wanted to ask, so I thank the hon. Lady for it—of what we can do in conjunction with the Nigerian Government to ensure that young boys and girls are not abducted from school.

Some countries in central Africa are in the unenviable position of being among the poorest in the world. I understand those issues: poverty often becomes violence, because there are people prepared to take advantage of it. Several of these states have spent much of the past decade trapped in violent conflict, governed by people who exert little or no control over vast swathes of their countries.

Increasingly, Islamic groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State’s west African arm are expanding their terrorist campaigns against Christians eastwards, even into areas that have in the past been considered peaceful. Analysts warn that the region’s widespread poverty greatly increases the risk of the radicalisation—Islamist or otherwise—of these youthful and rapidly expanding populations. The region is an example of the fact that it is not only minority religious and belief groups that face persecution for their peacefully held beliefs; those belonging to dominant faith groups can also become the victims.

To return to the matter raised by the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire, more than 95% of people living in the Democratic Republic of Congo are Christian, yet Open Doors warns of soaring violence against Christians in that country, with DRC rising 17 places up the charity’s world watch list this year. That is the one league table that one does not want to rise up—one wants to be at the bottom of it. The Christian population in the DRC and their churches are said to be at huge risk of violence in the east of the country, where the Islamic extremist rebel group that calls itself the Allied Democratic Forces operates—its name itself is wrong.

Violence has left more than 1 million people internally displaced and has seen countless Christians become the victims of killings, kidnappings, forced labour and torture. Christian men are forcibly recruited into militia groups, while women often face rape and sexual slavery. It causes me great angst to recall that my brothers and sisters are subjected to this. Sometimes we become desensitised to the horror of rape and sexual slavery until we hear a story such as that of the young woman raped at the age of 13, passed on to be married to bring her into a “true faith”, according to her abductor, or passed on to be used—these are the words used by her family—as a pair of shoes to be tried on by whoever wants to try them on. These are not simply words: words are the way in which we try to explain such experiences, experiences that children suffer through, and while words in this Chamber cannot change those experiences, perhaps they can lead to change that will prevent them from happening again. That is what I would like to see.

Over the northern border lies the Central African Republic, which has been occupied by various armed militia groups since 2013. Many of those militias specifically target Christians, leading to mass displacement of people. There was a shocking surge in sectarian violence in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections last December, which led to a further 120,000 people fleeing home. Armed groups are responsible for the vast majority of human rights violations being perpetrated in the Central African Republic, including violating people’s right to freedom of religion or belief. Those groups continue to operate across the country without any restraint whatever, so we need a concerted plan by the Governments of all these countries for how we can help Christians in these areas, but also a plan from our Government and our Minister, to whom we look for support and leadership. I am quite sure that that will be forthcoming.

[Margaret Ferrier]

Lockdown saw an increase in domestic violence rates across the world, even here in the UK, but for vulnerable Christian women in central African countries, the danger has intensified, with increased reports of kidnappings and forced marriages—a devastating removal of any autonomy. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there need to be aid efforts focused specifically on women and girls?

[Jim Shannon]

I absolutely agree. I know that the Government intend to address the issue of violence against women and children, and if domestic abuse has risen in this country throughout the coronavirus pandemic, that is even more the case in countries such as the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Sudan.

Christian converts in the Central African Republic are ostracised by their local community and even face persecution from their immediate family members, who often force them to renounce their Christian faith through violence. They are not just asked to renounce their Christian faith: they are physically abused to make it happen. Christian leaders who have publicly denounced the violence have been threatened, and churches have been repeatedly attacked, ransacked and burned down.

Across Nigeria, there has been a significant number of attacks on church buildings and others. Aid to the Church in Need has said that displaced people are sheltering in monasteries and mission stations, where priests and religious leaders risk their own lives to try to protect others from persecution. I commend all the aid charities that are helping out, including Open Doors—to which the shadow spokesperson for the Scottish National party, the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire, referred—and many others such as Release International, the Barnabas Fund, and Aid to the Church in Need.

It is important to stress that Muslims and other faith groups also suffer greatly as a result of this violence, and in some regions are even the primary victims. A significant percentage of the Central African Republic’s minority Muslim population has also fled across the borders: more than a quarter of a million refugees have fled to neighbouring Cameroon, for example. The problem starts in the Central African Republic, but it rapidly spreads, and Cameroon now becomes part of it. Cameroon itself faces an increased threat from Boko Haram, which is active in the north of the country, killing and kidnapping Christians for their faith with remarkable ease.

Security injunctions in the region have set heavy restrictions on churches that have already seen much of their congregations flee. Female converts from Islam are often forced into marriage with non-Christians there, and Christian women are threatened with abduction by Boko Haram. Religious leaders in the anglophone regions, some of whom are accused of supporting separatists, repeatedly accuse security forces of burning churches and desecrating religious spaces.

I believe there are actions to be taken; there are questions to be asked, and answers to be given by some of those security forces, who seem to be using their positions to enforce those illegal and criminal activities against Christians—all this despite Cameroon’s constitution, which prohibits religious harassment and guarantees freedom of religion and worship. That is a question for Cameroon to answer.

The international community must work to end the culture of impunity surrounding such attacks. People in the region have grown weary of the near-continuous conflict and the lack of law and order. They often have no trust in the institutions that claim to govern them. Those failing states then become the breeding grounds for further radicalisation.

I implore my Minister and my Government to provide support to the region’s Governments to fully investigate reports of kidnapping, violence and killings, and to bring those responsible to justice. The hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) referred to the groups already there. The non-governmental organisations, Christian churches and charities, those who stand up for persecuted Christians and those involved in human rights issues are all there, and they would be able to provide an evidential base that would fully justify actions taken against those responsible.

Those administering UK aid in the region face stark choices. In central Africa, we see the intersection of great need, staggering volumes of people displaced by violence and severe cuts to official development assistance. My position on aid—like that of many others in this Chamber, I suspect—is clear: we did not want to see the aid being cut, because we felt it would have a detrimental effect on those who need it most, but none the less we need to make that point very clearly.

Cyber-attack: Microsoft

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are working across Government on the issue. We recognise that it is an incredibly important area of activity: as we are now all reliant on information technology and cyber-space, these cyber-attacks go to the very heart not just of our ability to conduct commercial activity, but of public service and government. We are building up our domestic defences and have already delivered a sustained programme of investment through GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre to establish the UK as a global leader in cyber, but we are not just reinforcing resilience in the Government; we are helping everyone, including businesses and families, to take basic, necessary steps to stay safe online.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Given that in the past the NHS in England has been paralysed by cyber-attacks due to outdated systems and Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities, what steps are the UK Government taking to ensure faster roll-out of computer system upgrades with an aim to preventing vulnerability to such cyber-attacks in future?

[James Cleverly]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that point. As I said in response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), the immediate response to the attack was to release a patch. By the end of March, 92% of organisations had installed it and closed the vulnerability. Advice has been provided by the National Cyber Security Centre and by Microsoft to deal with any residual impacts. Government computer roll-out programmes will always have cyber-security at the very heart of their thinking, planning and deployment.

Official Development Assistance and the British Council

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 30th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

It is an honour to speak in this important estimates debate and to follow the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish).

The British Council works with more than 100 countries worldwide, with programmes promoting greater cultural understanding, and wider knowledge of the English language and of the culture of the nations of the UK. Its work in education, arts and local development has changed the lives of millions of people. Its English language teaching and examinations include the International English Language Testing System, which is run jointly by the council with Cambridge Assessment English and IDP Education Ltd, and has allowed hundreds of thousands of international students to pursue a tertiary education in the UK.

We were promised that Brexit would not mean the end of UK engagement with the world, but here we see the UK Government presiding over yet another retreat. Twenty office closures have already been officially announced by the British Council; grant in aid funding for British Council projects in 11 countries will cease altogether, while, in another nine, grant in aid programming will be delivered through offices in other countries. According to the official British Council press release on the subject, job losses across the organisation appear to be “unavoidable”.

Afghanistan is one of the countries affected by the decision. British Council projects there over the last decade have included training thousands of English language teachers and promoting the revival of Afghan arts. Its English for Afghans programme, which fosters training in greater English language skills in schools, the civil service and among religious leaders, was invaluable in furthering Afghan economic self-reliance and combating political extremism. The British Council also runs Active Citizens training packages in Afghan universities that facilitate community engagement, active citizenship and youth exchanges. Young people on these courses develop a wide range of skills in leadership, communication, citizenship and volunteering, and address unique local priorities through social projects in their own communities.

The work of the British Council is therefore critical to building cultural understanding and international partnerships between the people of Afghanistan and the wider world. Given the deep military and political involvement of the UK and our allies in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and historical ties between the UK and Afghanistan going back over an even longer period, this disengagement from British Council activity constitutes nothing short of a betrayal of our commitments to the Afghan people.

Malawi will be greatly impacted by the UK Government’s overseas development cuts. It is a country with which Scotland has long-standing bilateral links, as does Blantyre in my community. If the Government plan to maintain many existing bilateral commitments, there is a specific concern that countries such as Malawi that are small, peaceful and habitually overlooked in UK Government aid policy, may disproportionately bear the brunt of the cuts.

The Prime Minister, in previous remarks in this House, has characterised overseas development aid as a

“giant cashpoint in the sky”.—[Official Report, 16 June 2020; Vol. 677, c. 670.]

That is not the case in Malawi, where overseas development assistance means clear water, primary education and the most basic healthcare provision for millions of the poorest in the world. Water, food and education—this is not a cashpoint, or a tap that can be turned off and on as seems politically opportune 5,000 miles away.

I turn to Sierra Leone, another country where cuts to the British Council will be harshly felt. The British Council, jointly with local NGO AdvocAid, runs Justice Matters, a project supporting vulnerable women and girls in conflict with the law. Justice Matters provides legal aid to women and girls, literacy training and welfare support to women and girls in prison, and information to the wider community about the legal rights of women and girls.

According to AdvocAid, in 2014, a third of the female inmates in Sierra Leone said they had never been to school, while 83% had a salary of less than $1 a day. Poverty and lack of education leads women and girls to conflict with the law, admitting guilt inadvertently or being forced to pay bribes because they do not understand their rights. Very few can afford lawyers, minors are rarely treated differently from adults by the courts, and the reasons behind crimes are rarely taken into account in the legal process.

In that light, the work of the British Council in Sierra Leone is invaluable. The Prime Minister has asserted many times that he considers the education of women and girls a personal priority for international aid in developing countries, but it is precisely that education on their legal rights that these cuts will affect.

Aid should not be a tool in the Foreign Secretary’s toolbox as he looks to influence other countries to take actions that benefit our own wealth, security and political ends. In that light, it would be good if the Minister would clarify that he understands the severity of these decisions. Will he say by how much the overseas development budget will be cut in Malawi, where those cuts will fall, and what impact the UK Government foresee them having? How are the Government mitigating the impact of the 20 British Council closures around the world?

Uyghur Tribunal: London

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is right to bring that up. Of course, we condemn any intimidation of witnesses to this tribunal or to any other forums where people are giving similar such evidence. As he will have seen, yesterday’s communiqué called on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, specifically in relation to Xinjiang. Additionally, in the recent communiqué of the Foreign and Development Ministers of the G7, the G7 expressed deep concern about human rights violations in Xinjiang and reiterated our call for independent experts to be given unfettered access to Xinjiang. We will continue to work with our partners to build a caucus of those willing to speak out against China’s human rights violations.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

Arriving at the NATO summit in Brussels today, the Prime Minister said that nobody wants to

“descend into a…cold war with China”

and that, when people see challenges, they are things that we have to manage together with China. Can the Minister assure us that the Prime Minister will highlight the grotesque human rights abuses committed against the Uyghurs and that he recognises the importance of this matter in any dialogue with China?

Sri Lanka

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

The seriousness and urgency of this debate cannot be overstated. The current presidential Administration of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stand accused of multiple historical and ongoing human rights violations. Their Administration continue to prevent any accountability for the Sri Lankan military, many of whose leaders stand credibly accused of innumerable war crimes in the Sri Lankan civil war. These leaders include army commander Shavendra Silva and Secretary of Defence Kamal Gunaratne, who are accused of deliberately shelling hospitals and civilians, involvement in sexual violence, extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.

During the civil war, an estimated 100,000 people were forcibly disappeared. These disappearances have affected all communities, but the bulk of the victims were Tamils. Forced disappearances also occurred in Sri Lanka before the war, when hundreds of students in the south of the country were disappeared, as well as in its aftermath. The vast majority of these cases remain unresolved, and attempts by relatives of the victims to attain justice have provoked visceral resistance from the Sri Lankan state.

In February 2017, the relatives of the disappeared in the north and east, mainly Tamil women, began a continuous protest seeking the truth about what happened to their loved ones. At least 78 of the protesters have sadly passed away since the beginning of the protest, without ever learning the truth about what happened to their families. There is, at present, no prospect that these families will ever know real accountability from officials responsible via the domestic justice system in Sri Lanka, the independence of which has been severely compromised by the Rajapaksa Administration.

However, that does not mean we are without options to defend the human rights of Sri Lankan citizens. The US applied sanctions on army commander Silva for his complicity in human rights abuses in February last year. The UK should immediately follow suit, in designating both General Silva and Secretary of Defence Gunaratne on the UK sanctions list.

Furthermore, given the Sri Lankan military’s continued complicity in preventing any real accountability for historical and ongoing crimes against humanity, we should immediately halt UK defence engagement with the Sri Lankan armed forces and withdraw our resident defence adviser in Colombo. That post was established in January 2019,

“to hasten the development of a modern, accountable and human rights compliant military,”

but all the post has created is a legitimisation mechanism for the Sri Lankan military and state.

The UK has a long record of training Sri Lankan military and security forces on human rights issues, but there is no evidence of significant changes in the approach of the military to human rights, nor of effective vetting or accountability in the army for those accused of serious human rights violations. The UK must not remain complicit in these grievous crimes. If our engagement is truly aimed at preventing further human rights violations, we must take real steps to remind the Sri Lankan Government that they cannot expect military engagement and support unless those human rights violations are addressed.

In conclusion, I hope that the UK Government take these considerations on board and act accordingly, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) on securing this debate.

Hong Kong: Electoral Reforms

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 10th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is right to push this point and, of course, we are constantly reviewing our regime, as he knows. We have raised our concerns directly and with our international partners, and it is no mean feat to have increased the number of countries signed up to our declaration in the manner in which we have over the past year.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

The Chinese Government insist that they are within their rights to unilaterally propose these undemocratic changes to Hong Kong’s constitutional framework, as Hong Kong’s Basic Law was enacted by the Chinese National People’s Congress. What assessment has the Minister made of the validity of this claim and whether it contradicts the Sino-British joint declaration?

[Nigel Adams]

As the hon. Lady knows, we called two breaches of the joint declaration last year. We will have to wait and see what comes out of the National People’s Congress, possibly this week, but who knows when we are likely to get an accurate read out? We will closely examine what comes out of this, and we will make it clear what action will be taken once we have seen it.

Official Development Assistance

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

We now have audio link only, as there is a problem with the proper link, to Margaret Ferrier.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

“International aid saves lives. It supports the world’s most fragile and it gives the world hope.”

Those are not my words, but the words of just one of many constituents who have contacted me to express their anger and sadness at the decision to reduce the international aid budget to 0.5% of GDP. Has the Foreign Secretary carried out an impact assessment identifying how many lives could be lost as a result of slashing assistance to some of the world’s poorest countries?

[Dominic Raab]

We will still be spending £10 billion next year. I will run an allocation process that allows all the other Departments that bid for aspects of ODA to scrutinise these things very carefully to mitigate precisely the risks that the hon. Lady talked about.