West Papua

Lord Bishop of Southwark Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, it is of course important that we are able to talk as we do with the Indonesian Government about ensuring that security has to be maintained. It is a fact that Indonesia faces the threats of terrorism and instability that are around the region, not just in Indonesia, so we have to respect the action it needs to take on that. What we do is work with the Indonesian Government to ensure that there is support for their work both in Indonesia and at international level. That work is done through the FCO but also more broadly in government.

[The Lord Bishop of Southwark]

My Lords, with West Papuans continuing to be arrested and imprisoned for peaceful actions such as—as has already been said—demonstrating and even handing out flyers, and after Steven Itlay, leading a prayer ceremony in West Papua on 5 April 2016 to pray for West Papua to be accepted as a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, was arrested and convicted of treason and spent seven months incarcerated, will the Minister reassure noble Lords that Her Majesty’s Government have specifically condemned these actions?

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, I ought to make it clear, against the background of the actions that the right reverend Prelate described, that we fully respect the integrity and sovereignty of Indonesia. In that particular case, arrests were made because of actions to propose that West Papua should be separated from Indonesia. We are concerned by reports of pre-emptive arrests of West Papuan people in various cities across Indonesia more recently, in December 2016 —as well as by the reports to which the right reverend Prelate referred of security forces harassing individuals with alleged links to separatist groups, particularly in advance of the West Papuan elections. However, we should note that, regardless of that, in the democracy that Indonesia now is, the recent elections in December passed off peacefully.

Bilateral Trade: United Kingdom and Africa

Lord Bishop of Southwark Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Southwark]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, for a debate so pertinent to the times in which we live. I, too, look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Oates. Although my knowledge of Africa at large is somewhat limited, I am a regular visitor to Zimbabwe, with my diocese having close links to four of its five Anglican dioceses: those of Central Zimbabwe, Manicaland, Matabeleland and Masvingo. The bishops, clergy and people of those places share a good deal of the reality of their lives and faith with me, and demonstrate remarkable resilience and strong hope in the face of adversity.

Zimbabwe has achieved a fragile economic stability through the abandonment of its currency in favour of internationally traded currencies—principally, the US dollar. This is undoubtedly of great significance for commerce and trade and there are goods in the shops, but most of the population are shut out from any prosperity springing from state and private investment. Unemployment is estimated to be well over 80% of the working-age population. Most people, in consequence, have few or no choices beyond the bartering of goods and subsistence farming—in other words, working directly to consume.

Thus, when referring to an entire continent and its welfare, a good deal is to be said for the place of particularity, politics and aid, on which Her Majesty’s Government have an impressive record. Much is changing, but in many places issues around governance, rule of law and infrastructure are key to any future improvement. The wisdom of a focus on trade is telling, but even then one should ask, “On what terms?”. Economic relationships are not always equally balanced.

I will cite one example: the tax treaty between Senegal and the United Kingdom. In the ActionAid briefing in September, the charity highlighted what it believed were the unfair provisions on Senegal that, it claims, are not typical of such tax treaties. We are told that the treaty provides that,

“activities associated with a building site in Senegal conducted by a British firm will not be taxable in Senegal”.

Similarly, ActionAid claims that,

“royalties paid to the UK for radio and TV programmes broadcast in Senegal”,

are not taxable. There are other examples. In many such scenarios, one should therefore ask: who benefits?

One might ask a further question: who lobbies? Who lobbies on such tax treaties that have a bearing on trade? So I ask the Minister: is it not time for the Department for International Development to work more proactively to discourage large UK companies from avoiding tax in developing African countries? This would accord to our international trading partners the same dignity and scrutiny that Her Majesty’s Government are promoting within our own national boundaries.