"My Lords, I am genuinely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, for providing us with the opportunity to have this discussion. It is probably rather overdue, and there seems to be some pent-up frustration and anger in the Chamber about decisions that have been made, and I absolutely hear …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"My Lords, the decision to withdraw from certain international organisations, conventions and treaties is, of course, for the United States. It is the right of every sovereign state to take its own decisions in this regard, but the UK’s commitment to multilateral co-operation and international law remains as strong as …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"I encourage noble Lords not to overinterpret a decision such as this. I note the announcement last week of $2 billion from the United States to OCHA, which organises humanitarian support through the UN, which many people had not predicted. It is important that we respect the decisions of our …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"As my noble friend said, it is for the Americans to make their own choices about what they decide to fund. The organisations that he referred to—he mentioned Education Cannot Wait in particular—do a tremendous job, and our commitment to them is steadfast. Our allocations will be announced in the …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"It is important that we keep this in a bit of perspective. The amount of money that would come as a consequence of the announcement that the US made is about 3% of the UN’s overall budget. We already fund some organisations in the UN that the US does not …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"As I have explained, we are not participants in all the organisations concerned, but we are of course strong supporters of the United Nations and of the Secretary-General and we take every opportunity to participate positively and constructively. We take our leadership role globally very seriously and we will continue …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"I think my relationship with my colleagues on this side of the House is pretty good, actually, so I am not overly worried about that. They will have their own views, too, by the way. It is not really for the United Kingdom to make a fuss with the United …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"There is a lot more involved in this than peacekeeping, but it is a very important element of what the United Nations and other multilateral organisations involve themselves in. The point about value and efficiency is critical. We are being quite forward-leaning, as they would say in the Foreign Office, …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"We are completely committed to the framework on climate change and to the Paris Agreement; that is not going to change. The best thing we can do is to be clear about our position and clear about what we see as the economic benefits of transition away from the use …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech
"I completely agree with the noble Lord and thank him for raising Sudan and what has happened in Darfur. I was encouraged to see the United States’ commitment to OCHA under the leadership of Tom Fletcher. I am meeting Tom tomorrow, and I will be discussing the very issues that …..." Baroness Chapman of Darlington - View Speech