Sudan: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the findings of UNICEF’s report on child rape and sexual violence in Sudan are truly appalling. Through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative, we fund clinical management of rape, safe spaces and mental health support for survivors. Last September, I co-hosted a side event at the UN General Assembly High-level Week to spotlight the issue of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan, where I called on the warring parties to immediately protect civilians. Through the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programmes, we provide integrated sexual and reproductive services to women and girls in both IDP camps and non-IDP settings.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, UNHCR reported in December 2023 that underfunding was severely hampering comprehensive life-saving, gender-based violence treatment in Sudan. I am very grateful for what the Minister said about the UK Government’s current work, but we have heard that the UNICEF report said last week that things are much, much worse. Can the Minister say whether UK international aid to women and girls, especially those subject to gender-based sexual violence, will be protected from Treasury cuts?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness. The Prime Minister has made it absolutely clear that Sudan is a priority and will remain a priority through the spending review that we are currently undertaking.

I should reassure the noble Baroness that we have taken consistent action; on 4 and 5 March, Harriet Matthews, director-general for Africa, visited Port Sudan; on 24 February, I hosted a round-table in Geneva with the head of the fact-finding mission to talk about these issues; and of course on 31 January, a UK-sponsored UN Security Council press statement condemned the recent violence in al-Fashir and Sudan.

So we are continuing to focus on this, and that is what the April conference that the Foreign Secretary is convening will be all about—not only making sure that the international community acts on humanitarian support but looking forward to developing a civilian-led coalition that can lead Sudan out of conflict.

Iranian Regime: British Citizens

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, I congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford on securing this important debate and on her clear exposition of the problems facing Britons in Iran, whether they be British-Iranian dual nationals or British nationals. It is a pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans. He has slightly broadened the debate, but it is utterly relevant that he has done so.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford spoke movingly of her own family’s experience of her brother’s death, the threat to life and having to flee the current regime in Iran. During the last 45 years, that regime has doubled down on its infamous and bloody approach to human rights.

As chair of the human rights committee for Liberal International, last week I attended the opening meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee and, the following day, the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, where we heard of many of the appalling practices of the Iranian Government, with moving testimony from the sister of Mahmoud Mehrabi. Mahmoud was sentenced to death in Isfahan for “corruption on earth through lies on Instagram” because he called out corruption by local officials. Mahan Mehrabi cited the 1,500 Iranians shot in three days during the November demonstrations, with thousands imprisoned and, like her brother, sentenced to death. We also heard of children aged 15 being sentenced to death and executed, which is clearly illegal under international law.

I start with these examples to reinforce the point that the Iranian treatment of British nationals is not, sadly, out of character with their barbaric human rights record. Worse, it is clear from evidence over the years that their behaviour of arresting foreign nationals and accusing them of spying is a standard tool for state kidnapping of foreigners in order to use them to blackmail other countries.

In that context, the most recent detention of Craig and Lindsay Foreman is another egregious detention on security charges and is depressingly familiar. Iran claims that, despite them saying they were tourists, they were spying. While I appreciate that the Foreign Office’s strong official advice is against all travel to Iran because British nationals and British-Iranian dual nationals are at

“significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention”,

what high-level representations are being made to help these two people swiftly, so that their detention is brief?

We know that in recent years, Iran has arrested dozens of Iranians with dual nationality or foreign permanent residency, mostly on spying and national security charges, of whom at least 15 have had links to the UK. They include Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, whom others have already spoken about. As my noble friend Lady Northover has said, Richard Ratcliffe’s campaign was absolutely outstanding, despite government advice not to say anything. She was released after six years in detention, including years in isolation, on the same day as Anoosheh Ashoori, three years ago in March. It is now clear that Iran used this as leverage for the debt for an order of tanks that was cancelled shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The then Foreign Secretary in 2022, Liz Truss, confirmed that the debt issue had been resolved after highly complex negotiations. She said then that the money could be used only for humanitarian goods purchases. Can the Minister confirm whether this has happened?

Mehran Raoof, also an English national, remains in prison after spurious convictions. He was arrested in 2020 and remains in solitary confinement in violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. He is a prisoner of conscience and must immediately and unconditionally be released. A fortnight ago, the Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs APPG heard about the different approach that the UK takes in these cases, compared with the US, Canada, France and others.

Morad Tahbaz, a UK and US national, was first arrested in 2019 and jailed. He was born in London and holds both British and US citizenship. He is the founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. He was released into home furlough in March 2022, but he was then rearrested two days later. Public pressure from the campaign group Bring Our Families Home, which works to bring home the wrongfully detained and hostages, ensured that US negotiators were able to have him released as part of a US-Iranian prisoner release scheme. The UK Government have a long practice of not negotiating for their own citizens in these circumstances. Are the new Government going to review this practice?

Finally, what pressure are the Government putting on the Iranian Government, via the UN and directly, to cease these abhorrent practices of kidnapping individuals, not just British nationals but Iranian citizens as well?

Georgia

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Brinton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, following the Foreign Secretary’s statement on 9 December concerning attacks on protesters and journalists by authorities in Georgia, whether they plan to sanction those involved in the elections in that country.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Collins of Highbury) (Lab)]

My Lords, in his statement on 9 December, the Foreign Secretary called for violence towards protesters and journalists in Georgia to stop. Until Georgian Dream halts its move away from European democratic norms and freedoms, the United Kingdom is suspending programme support to the Georgian Government, restricting defence co-operation and limiting engagement with representatives of Georgian Dream. It would not be appropriate to speculate about future sanctions designations, as to do so would reduce their impact.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

I am grateful for the Minister’s response. Georgian Dream, the pro-Putin party of unconstitutional actions and democratic backsliding, last Saturday appointed a new President, having cancelled the people’s presidential elections. Protests continue to grow in towns and cities across Georgia, but security threats and police violence against protesters—including killings—are growing and worsening daily. Will the Government seriously consider following the examples of Estonia in sanctioning Georgia’s Prime Minister and 13 officials, and of the European Council, which yesterday agreed to suspend visas for all Georgian officials?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I think the noble Baroness will know that I will repeat that it would not be appropriate to speculate on future sanctions designations, as to do so would reduce their impact. I repeat what my honourable friend Minister Doughty said yesterday when he

“reiterated in the clearest terms to Georgian Dream representative … that police violence and arbitrary arrests in Georgia are unacceptable”.

He said:

“The UK will consider all options to ensure those responsible are held accountable”.

Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill [HL]

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 10th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, I remember with real excitement Petertide in 1994, because my school friend Angela Berners-Wilson was ordained and, because of the timing of the ordination service and the fact that her name began with B, she was the first woman ordained that day and is deemed to be the first woman ordained in the Church of England.

I was equally excited the day that the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Gloucester joined your Lordships’ House as the first woman diocesan bishop. Rachel Treweek started a new part of history for women in our country. However, it would be more correct to say that women spiritual returned to your Lordships’ House because, even before Magna Carta and the King’s Council, it was noted by Gurdon, in his antiquities of Parliament, that

“ladies of birth and quality sat in council with the Saxon Witas”.

In Wighfred’s great council at Becconfeld in AD 694, abbesses sat and deliberated. Five of them signed decrees of the council, along with the king, bishops and nobles.

More significantly, during the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, four abbesses were summoned to Parliament. They were from Shaftesbury, Barking, Winchester, and Wilton. Noble Lords may wonder why I go back so far in history. I grew up near Shaftesbury and my mother was involved in the archaeology at Shaftesbury Abbey around that time and we, as a family, were brought up on the story of the Abbess of Shaftesbury.

It is important to note the contribution of our women Bishops. I believe they strengthen the Spiritual Benches and your Lordships’ House through a combination of wisdom and bringing their own worldly experience to the House.

It is such a shame that the Church of England has to revisit this issue, as it was hoped back in 2015 that 10 years would be long enough to ensure that there were enough women diocesan bishops that the Lords spiritual would have some semblance of a gender balance. As somebody who had to organise gender balance among parliamentary candidates in my party, I realise that it is never an exact science. While there is welcome progress, the Lords spiritual still have the lowest proportion of females in the main groupings, at 24%.

It is a most unusual situation and arrangement to have places in a nation’s legislature determined by a process within a Church and by an external organisation, albeit one whose rules pass in this Parliament. Gender balance of the composition of the legislature is reliant on that process working, so unusual is perhaps a bit of an understatement.

My concern is that one has to reflect on whether extending the law will work or could in fact be a perverse incentive not to appoint women as diocesan bishops. Is this one of the reasons that only two of the last 11 appointments have been women? Without the extension, only men on the Lords spiritual waiting list would join the House, but even with the Bill we could end up with only men. In the next five years there are 14 retirements due, and the replacements—bar the Bishop of Peterborough, who will replace the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Worcester—would be men. Surely that would be unfortunate, to say the least. Two of the last three vacancies have failed to appoint.

Surely this is also avoiding the well-overdue question of how many bishops, if any, should be in Parliament—a matter last considered in 1878, which is recent history for your Lordships’ House. One cannot also ignore that there are 31 Church of England bishops if one includes the retired archbishops and bishops on the Cross Benches: one of Oxford, one of London, two of Canterbury and one of York. A possible solution might be to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1878 Act with either a sunset clause of this Bill in 2028 or a review, which would give the Church time to sort out the process. It has 10 years under its belt; another five might help.

Also, frankly, given the aims of the current Government, it is a good point to review the composition of the Lords more generally. If His Majesty’s Government achieve their aim, the hereditary Peers will no longer be here and perhaps it will be time to move on to the next stage of reforms for your Lordships’ House.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

On the first point that my noble friend raises, there is an issue about deregulation, which should always be seen in the context of what is appropriate; it is not about the numbers of regulations that we have. Most importantly, what struck me when reading this report was that, although deregulation was certainly part of the issue, honesty and dishonesty were an even greater part. Parts of the report refer to deliberately concealing from the market the true extent of the danger, systematic dishonesty, how a company embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers in the wider markets, as well as a deliberate strategy to continue selling those products in the face of a statement about the fire performance which they knew to be false. The scale and depth of the dishonesty there is extraordinary. So regulation is important, but the point about honesty, misleading information and systematic failures runs so through deeply throughout this that there are multiple threads to the failure.

On resources, the Prime Minister has made it clear that they should be made available to ensure that prosecutions can be brought, if that is the view of the police and the CPS, and that they will have the resources to do so.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, six people died in the Lakanal House fire. The coroner said in that inquest, published in 2013, that, if Lakanal House had had sprinklers, not one of those six deaths would have happened. While it is good that the Government have accepted the need to review the height of 18 metres, there has been no mention about sprinklers, not just in new buildings but in tall, older buildings. Will the Government reconsider ensuring that sprinklers are retrofitted, particularly in the most high-rise flats? Also, while the Statement recognises the need for residential personal emergency evacuation plans, can the Minister please confirm that work will be done with disabled communities before decisions are made, which did not happen with the previous Government when they created their interim versions earlier this year?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

Yes; the noble Baroness is right that we have to engage with those who will be directly affected. Work is ongoing on that now. On the point about sprinklers, it is one of many solutions in terms of reducing the risk of damage from fire. Sometimes it can actually be quite difficult to do. All options are open in looking at how to ensure that buildings are safe.