Commonwealth Summit: Freedom of Religion or Belief

Lord Howell of Guildford Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

We foster positive engagement with India, and it is right that we do so. Our diasporas here in the UK reflect the strength of our relationship with India. On the specific point about human rights, I assure the noble Lord that, while we prioritise, for example, 30 priority countries in the human rights report, that in no way reflects the fact that we raise these issues with other countries in the world. Whether with India or with other parts of the Commonwealth, we will continue to raise the issue of human rights.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interests, and I congratulate the Minister on the role he played in the success of the Commonwealth summit last week. Would he accept that, in addition to a number of government initiatives that were announced in the communiqué, the real force and value of the Commonwealth network nowadays lies increasingly in civil society and the private sector, and the massive and growing data connectivity between the younger generation throughout the whole 53 members of the Commonwealth? The future value of the Commonwealth network lies in those areas and in the huge and new consumer markets of Asia and Africa.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I agree with my noble friend, and as I am sure everyone saw, we put the issue of young people at the heart of the Commonwealth summit last week, as well as the issue of civil society. We had record numbers of civil society organisations—representative of all aspects of civil society, whether on issues such as youth or LGBT issues or religious freedom—represented across the four fora. That underlines our commitment as a Government and as chair-in-office for two years, to take forward the very priorities my noble friend put forward.