East Africa: Refugee Crisis

Lord Judd Excerpts

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Judd (Lab)]

My Lords, the situation is appalling, the suffering is acute and the courage and resilience of thousands of people is amazing. I am glad that the noble Lord has been able to reassure the House that our humanitarian commitment is firm. However, would he agree that this situation is, sadly, a symptom of what lies ahead in the world, and that crises of this kind will recur, with inevitable pressures on Europe? Is not this the very time we should be working flat out with our international partners, not least in Europe, to think about the strategies we must develop to meet the crises that lie ahead?

[Lord Bates]

The noble Lord speaks with great authority and understanding of these issues and I totally agree with him. We need to look at the underlying causes. This is sometimes portrayed in the media as a climate issue which has caused suffering to the people of this region. However, it is a manmade crisis, which needs a manmade solution. This means people putting their civilian populations first and protecting them, and the international community needs to come forward—as it did through the G20—with radical plans to bolster job creation, economic growth and security in that region so that there is the potential for peace in the future.