Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill [HL]

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 29th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington, to the Government Front Bench, as I believe this is the first occasion that she has addressed the House from the Government’s side. I know that, when she was on the Opposition Front Bench, her contributions were valued around the House.

I support the Bill, just as I supported it 10 weeks ago. As the Minister said, it has been through the rounds before, and was ably introduced as a Private Member’s Bill in this place by the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, who will be speaking today. My right honourable friend Dame Maria Miller campaigned for this Bill for a long time, trying to get it through another place. Finally, she did, and it gained support from around the House of Commons before it reached this House. When the Bill had its Second Reading here, it again received support from around the House. It was, of course, a disappointment when Dissolution cut it off in its prime. Perhaps its prime is being reintroduced now by the Minister. Its reappearance as a government Bill is welcome.

It is right that the Bill should change the status of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the International Committee of the Red Cross to ensure that the Government can treat them in a similar way to international organisations of which this country is a member. Currently, as the noble Baroness has mentioned, neither organisation falls within the scope of existing powers under the International Organisations Act 1968. Therefore, the Government cannot confer upon them the legal capacities of a body corporate unless this Bill is passed, not only by this House but by another place. Nor could the Government grant the organisations and their staff privileges and immunities which are appropriate for their functional needs.

The CPA, as I think we all appreciate as parliamentarians, plays a vital role in the promotion of democratic governance across the Commonwealth. Its constitution requires it to pursue the positive ideals of parliamentary democracy and the core values and principles of the Commonwealth on democracy, development, equality, human rights and the protection of the environment. Like my noble friends Lord Howell and Lord Ahmad, I was privileged to be Minister for the Commonwealth when a Minister of State at the FCO, but we did not get the Bill to this stage. So, this is a first as far as I am concerned.

The CPA advises us that, as a UK charity, it is limited in its ability to carry out certain activities which would assist in promoting democracy, human rights and democratic values across the Commonwealth. It is therefore all the more important to pass this Bill, which would enable the CPA to widen its activities and participate in an even more active promotion of democracy. Of course, there is a subtext here that the Minister raised—in bold text, as it were. We are advised by the CPA that if these measures are not passed, there is a strong possibility that it will relocate its headquarters outside the UK. That would surely risk weakening the UK’s involvement in the CPA and the Commonwealth more broadly—a risk that can and should be avoided by passing this Bill.

The importance of the work of the ICRC is very well known—the noble Baroness has pointed that out. Its key functions under the Geneva Convention include assisting victims of armed conflict and serving as an intermediary between parties to armed conflict. Those who carry out their work are indeed brave. They face considerable difficulties; often, they are citizens of the country they are working in, and work at great risk. It is for their work that the ICRC does need at least some of the privileges and immunities normally accorded to international organisations. Until now, we have not taken the steps to make that leap—a leap that has already been made by over 100 other states. We are, I hope, catching up in the right way, at last.

During my time as Minister at the FCO, I used to meet Peter Maurer fairly regularly. He was then a redoubtable president of the ICRC and he would, on each occasion, explain to me why this Bill and these powers were necessary. When I say “explain”, I of course mean firm, diplomatic, strong persuasion. Unfortunately, the parliamentary time just did not happen at that stage. We can put this right by passing this Bill, I hope in its current form. It was amended as a Private Member’s Bill in another place. The amendments have been alluded to by the Minister, but I would like briefly to mention them because I think they go far enough on the immunities issue to make sure that the text we have before us today can stay as it is and not face further amendment.

Subsection (1)(e) and subsection (4) of Clause 2 put into effect those amendments that were agreed in another place when the Bill was a Private Member’s Bill. The text provides for protected ICRC information to be exempt from disclosure, except in circumstances where there was a court order in criminal proceedings or where information had been published by the ICRC itself. Those amendments were agreed then, appeared here and were welcomed when we had Second Reading of the Private Member’s Bill. I hope no further amendments are needed. I wish the Bill a fair passage and look forward to hearing from my noble friend Lord Ahmad, who will respond to this debate. It is a pity that it will be from the Opposition Front Bench now, because I valued him very much when he was in the Minister’s place.