Commonwealth

Lord Scriven Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this timely and important debate on our future relationship and leadership role with the Commonwealth. As the Minister will be aware, and as noble Lords may be aware, the Foreign Office has five principles for its priorities for the Commonwealth. I hope all five will be promoted in our leadership role at the Heads of Government event that will take place in 2018.

The third of those priorities is “Promoting Human Rights, Democratic Values and the Rule of Law”. I want to highlight to noble Lords one area in that category:

“Promoting tolerance, respect, understanding, moderation and religious freedom for all Commonwealth Citizens regardless of race, gender, religion, physical ability or sexual orientation”.


It is important to raise that because while both trade and the structures of the Commonwealth are important, they are meaningless if the human rights of every single individual in the Commonwealth are not upheld. That must be a leadership role that we play. I understand that there is a very thin tightrope to walk in terms of not being seen as a western nation lecturing others where human rights may not be upheld. We must be supportive and encourage civil society, but at the same time show leadership and speak up when leadership is needed.

We talk about having shared values and beliefs, and working together across the Commonwealth on joint issues, and we sometimes we speak as though we in the Commonwealth are a homogeneous group, but clearly we are not. For example, would we in this House, or indeed most people in this country, say that gay people were disgusting? Would we say that homosexuality was unnatural and not a human right? Those are the words of certain Presidents in Commonwealth countries. Would we, as certain states in Nigeria do, have the death penalty for people who are gay? Would we want to see life imprisonment for people who are gay? Would we want to publicly name and shame people in the press for being gay, knowing that their lives, livelihoods and families were often at risk, purely because of the person they loved? I think the answer is no, and therefore we need to speak up—maybe a little louder than we do now, and maybe using our leadership role at this conference to ensure that these issues are central rather than seen to be muted.

I know the Minister has been superb on the issue of gay rights. There is no doubt about that at all, and all civil society organisations in the UK attest to that. However, maybe she is ahead of others in the Government, and we need to see the same leadership from everyone in the Government on this issue. I ask noble Lords to imagine that this was not about someone’s sexuality but that those same things were are being done because of the colour of someone’s skin, their gender or their disability. Not only would we be outraged, as many of us are with regard to sexuality, but I think we would be a little stronger in pushing members of the Commonwealth and the Government to uphold human rights.

I ask the Minister to ensure that these issues are central. You cannot have good relationships within a family unless everyone in that family is respected and treated equally. We must remind members of our family that they need to do more, not by lecturing but in a way that is supportive and brings in others. I will come back to that in a moment. I draw the House’s attention to the progressive words of the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, who spoke at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on Monday. He said:

“I want to single out respect for LGBTIQ persons. The lack of it in a remarkable number of our countries is, arguably, a considerable blot in our family of nations’ standing. I have had conversations and am aware that there are leaders who know things must change, but are wary of how society would react to their first move. To them I say that the Commonwealth will be with them to help them make the first bold steps. History, I am sure, will judge them positively when they do so”.


I thought it was particularly brave of that Prime Minister to raise such issues when it was difficult. I hope and ask that at every opportunity our Government, in the leadership role in 2018, raise with absolute clarity the issue of LGBTIQ persons in the Commonwealth in the way that he has done.

We in the Commonwealth are a family of nations. When families have disagreements, there are different ways of dealing with them. You could lecture, though that is not always necessarily the best role. You could put people on the naughty step, which is also not always the best way forward. You can debate and you can discuss, which I am asking the Minister to do, but maybe you could also bring in the extended family to help—in this case, the extended family are the activists and civil society who support LGBT individuals who are persecuted in areas across the Commonwealth—to ensure that our family becomes a progressive one, and that all people are seen as equal and respected within that family of nations.

I shall give the Minister some suggestions for how this could be done and will ask specifically whether the Government will agree to these kinds of issues. I particularly thank the Kaleidoscope Trust, which has briefed me very well. It is one of the civil society organisations here in the UK that works across the Commonwealth with civil society groups to promote the equality of lesbian, gay and transsexual citizens. As the Minister will be aware, the Kaleidoscope Trust and its partners in the Commonwealth Equality Network have a strategy to implement, between now and the 2018 Heads of Government Meeting, an action plan, which is kindly being funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, there is no funding to implement the action plan, so we may have a plan with very little action because the money is not there. Will the Government commit to fund the action plan that the CEN comes up with to ensure that the things that could happen to strengthen human rights across the Commonwealth can be implemented?

The CEN would also like the UK, potentially with other like-minded countries, to announce a ring-fenced funding stream to be held by the Commonwealth Secretariat to support the reform of outdated criminal laws—not just on sexuality, but any outdated criminal laws. I ask the Minister if the Government, in their leadership role, would also look at a ring-fenced fund to help to ensure that outdated laws are repealed and that, again, there is a fund to help civil society in that.

It would be helpful if the language that the CEN uses were to be included in the leaders’ communiqué. Language is very important. The very fact that these issues are being raised in a sovereign Parliament in the Commonwealth will give strength not only to those in civil society who are fighting for this but to individual people who feel worthless or as though they do not have a voice. That is why it is important that the language of the communiqué should reflect some of the language used by the CEN.

In some of the plenaries and side events during the event, some of the civil society forums on subjects such as business, people, women and youth, which have been identified, have an LGBT element. It is important that that is not sidelined and marginalised in the plenaries and the civil society organisations.

My time is nearly up. I finish by saying that history will judge this family of nations and the leadership role that we take not just by what we say and not just by how we trade, but by what we do to support all people within our family of nations to be equal. That is why I ask that priority be given to human rights, particularly to LGBT citizens, and that they are not secondary to a trading bloc.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Mobarik]

I apologise to the noble Lord if I have confused the two issues. I will certainly look at what he said on that issue and get back to him in due course.

Another way in which we are strengthening our ties with the Commonwealth is through our support for reform. We want to see the organisation delivering effectively for its members as well as demonstrating its value and relevance on the world stage. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, was mandated by Heads of Government to reform the Commonwealth Secretariat. We support her plans to modernise and revitalise the secretariat and to focus the Commonwealth on where it adds distinctive value. That means strengthening its relevance to members across different regions and its contribution to tackling global challenges.

The Commonwealth’s potential contribution to tackling these challenges could be immense. This is what we mean when we talk about the Commonwealth as a force for good. The global reach and extraordinary diversity of the Commonwealth mean that it has first-hand experience of most of the world’s greatest challenges, from poverty and violent extremism to conflict, corruption and climate change. All these issues matter to Commonwealth members, and they matter to the world. We want the Commonwealth to do more to use its influence, building consensus on important issues as it did on climate change prior to COP21.

In upholding the values of the Commonwealth charter, the Commonwealth plays an important role in strengthening governance, supporting development and building small states’ resilience to economic and environmental shocks. It also promotes co-operation on issues such as human rights and combating extremism. These are all areas in which the Commonwealth has valuable experience and expertise to share with the wider world.

The noble Lord, Lord Scriven, spoke of the importance of the work of the Kaleidoscope Trust in developing proposals to promote and protect LGBT rights at the Commonwealth summit. The Government greatly value the work of LGBT civil society organisations and our partnership with them to tackle discrimination and violence against LGBT people. We are aware that members of the Commonwealth Equality Network have drawn up a strategy setting out recommended tools and methods to engage LGBT civil society organisations ahead of the summit. We will consider how we can best support these endeavours. A number of noble Lords raised this issue and requested that we show leadership in this area. I absolutely agree with all noble Lords on that.

[Lord Scriven]

Very quickly, because I do not want to detain the House, if that is the case would the noble Baroness commit to meeting the Kaleidoscope Trust to see how they can take forward jointly the action plan it has come up with?

[Baroness Mobarik]

I have it on good authority that we are meeting a large number of civil society groups and we believe that the Kaleidoscope Trust is one of them. We believe the Commonwealth’s experience would be particularly relevant in promoting the golden thread of good governance, transparency and the rule of law, as set out in UN sustainable development goal 16.

My noble friend Lady Berridge asked about the involvement of the Commonwealth diaspora and parliamentarians in the forthcoming summit. In planning for the Commonwealth summit, we will engage with a full range of stakeholders, including the diaspora and parliamentarians. We value the work of CPA UK and CPA International. My noble friend Lady Anelay was pleased to recently meet both CPA UK chief executive Andrew Tuggey and CPA Secretary-General Akbar Khan. British high commissioners around our diplomatic network have regular discussions with parliamentarians and civil society across the Commonwealth, including in Kenya, Fiji and India.

My noble friend Lady Berridge rightly raised the role of religious leaders and the importance of advocating for human rights in the Commonwealth. The Government agree entirely and believe that good governance and respect for human rights are the foundation of the inclusive and sustainable development we all wish to see around the Commonwealth. Stronger trading relationships open up channels for engagement with partners. We will continue to use these opportunities to make this argument.

My noble friend also asked about support for the Commonwealth not appearing to be a UK-only project. Partnership and collaboration between all member states need to be at the heart of a successful Commonwealth. Every member has a different experience to offer and an equal voice in the Commonwealth family. As host of the next Commonwealth summit, it will of course be for us to work with the Commonwealth Secretariat to set the agenda and format but we will actively encourage all the other 51 member states to put forward their views and priorities as part of this. As part of this engagement, Tim Hitchens is meeting all high commissioners next week in smaller regional groupings to discuss the summit.

My noble friend Lord Goodlad asked about Zimbabwe pensions—we might have the right topic here. We frequently raise this issue with the Government of Zimbabwe. Last October, our ambassador in Harare secured written agreement from the Government of Zimbabwe that payments would resume when the economic situation allows. This issue will remain a key strand of the Government’s dialogue with the Government of Zimbabwe.

My noble friend Lord Popat asked about a Commonwealth bank. Commonwealth countries are already well served by the current set of multilateral development banks. We are currently developing policy options that will deliver for the collective interests of member states and achieve real impact across the Commonwealth. I reassure my noble friend that the Government are considering options for building inclusive prosperity across our family of nations.

To the noble Baroness, Lady Uddin, and the noble Lord, Lord Hussain, I say that the Government welcome the good offices of the Secretary-General in mediating on protracted conflicts. As my noble friend Lady Anelay said at the start of the debate, this year’s theme of a peacebuilding Commonwealth is an opportunity to look at what the Commonwealth can bring to bear in this area, through the sharing of experience and expertise.

My noble friend Lady Hooper spoke about the overseas territories. The UK is committed to strengthening the links between the overseas territories and the Commonwealth. Although the overseas territories are not able to attend CHOGMs and annual ministerial meetings in their own right, ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Summit we will consult them on the agenda and will ensure that their views and interests are taken into account in our policy planning.