Debate on the Queen’s Speech – Foreign Affairs and Defence
[extracts relating to Zimbabwe]
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): It is a privilege to open this year’s foreign affairs and defence debate on the Gracious Speech, the first of this new Parliament and of this historic coalition Government. It is one of the strengths of this country that a strong thread of bipartisanship runs through large areas of foreign policy.
We remain acutely concerned about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, Sudan and the horn of Africa. The Government are fully committed to achieving, from 2013, the UN target of spending 0.7% of our gross national income on overseas aid. We will enshrine that commitment in law, as we believe that locking in our commitment is both morally right and in our national interest. That will place Britain in a position of clear international leadership and will encourage other countries to live up to their commitments. Value for money will be central to everything we do. So, the Department for International Development will be completely transparent about the cost and performance of British aid programmes, using independent evaluation and a focus on results to drive a step change in the effectiveness of Britain’s aid efforts.
David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab): Let me start by warmly congratulating the Foreign Secretary on his new responsibilities. He established himself in the last Parliament as the pre-eminent parliamentary debater of his generation, taking on those of us who were in government with determination, panache and, often, a great sense of humour. I assure him that he will need those skills again in this Parliament to take on all those in the Cabinet and on the Government Benches who hold diametrically opposed views to his on foreign policy issues. He has also performed the invaluable service of showing that a stint as Leader of the Opposition is merely a stepping stone to greater things, so I am grateful to him for that as well.
There is no mention in the coalition agreement of promoting human rights and equality around the world, so I was pleased by the right hon. Gentleman’s comments today in the House. However, I was concerned that although he rightly mentioned Burma, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, there was no mention of the situation in Sri Lanka, which is especially important in the light of the recent International Crisis Group report, which said that Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam repeatedly violated humanitarian law during the last five months of the conflict last year.
David Cairns (Inverclyde) (Lab): It is a tremendous honour to speak in a debate that has featured so many genuinely outstanding maiden speeches. They have caused me to recall my own puny affair with a growing sense of inferiority as the afternoon has proceeded
If I may borrow a phrase from Harold Macmillan and amend it, the wind of oppression is blowing through the African continent today, an oppression aimed largely at young gay men and women. It has become a much more pressing issue; and although it is not confined to Africa, it is in Africa that that dehumanising and brutal oppression is occurring on this very day.
We are aware of the notorious private Member’s Bill tabled in Uganda by David Bahati that proposes the death penalty for people who are HIV-positive and engaged in homosexual activity, life in prison for everyone else who engages in homosexual activity, and seven years in prison for people who counsel those who engage in homosexual activity. It is, as I said, a private Member’s Bill, and the Ugandan Government have distanced themselves from it. None the less, even without the Bill, it will be illegal to be gay in Uganda, and punishable by 14 years in prison. The President of Uganda has said that homosexuality is “alien”. In the last year for which figures are available, the United Kingdom Government gave 71 million in aid to Uganda.
In Malawi, in the past few days, two young men, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, have been sentenced to 14 years in prison for declaring publicly their love for one another. Passing sentence, the judge said that he would give them
“a scaring sentence, so that the public be protected from people like you; so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example.”
Action against gays in Malawi is on the increase, and the President of Malawi has done nothing but stoke such prejudice.
There is another, less well-known case in Malawi, the so-called poster boy case. Peter Sawali has been sentenced to community service for the crime of pasting up a poster saying “gay rights are human rights”. In the last year for which figures are available, the United Kingdom Government donated 77 million of aid to Malawi.
In Kenya, things are little better. Homosexuality is illegal, and punishable by up to 14 years in jail. In February this year, five people were arrested for planning a gay wedding north of Mombasa, and another man was handed over to the police by members of the public on suspicion of being gay. In the last year for which figures are available, the United Kingdom Government gave 103 million of aid to Kenya.
In Zimbabwe, almost nothing unites President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai except their competition to see who can demonise gay people the most. Just a few days ago, two members of the organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe were arrested. Their crime was to publish a letter written by Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, which was critical of Robert Mugabe. Today, those two people are in prison. In the last year for which figures are available, the UK Government gave 56 million in aid to Zimbabwe. Even in South Africa, the only country on the continent where gays have any legal rights at all, there has been an increase in so-called conversion rapes against young lesbian women in the townships. In the last year for which figures are available, the UK Government gave 40 million in aid to South Africa.
I know that the question of our attitude towards what may be regarded as social and sexual mores in other countries, and especially developing countries, is a complex one, and that it can often tie us in moral knots. We may personally deplore what is going on, but we may also be anxious to avoid the sort of moral neo-colonialism that seeks to impose our western liberal sexual values on other countries; after all, these countries suffered enough from our forebears, who told them in the Victorian age what sexual mores they should and should not follow.
To answer that complex question, we must go back to first principles. Why do we have an international aid policy in the first place? Why do we give money to such countries? We do not do so because one day we hope they will trade with us, which is our rationale for giving money to European countries. We may do so because it helps bolster our image on the international stage-a fact recognised by the new Prime Minister on entering office-but that is not the main reason. Rather, we have an international aid policy in the first place because it is an outward expression of our common humanity. It is an expression of the fact that those of us who have plenty are morally compelled and obliged to help those of our fellow men and women around the globe who do not; and it is in that expression of an indivisible common humanity that we can properly locate our abhorrence of the oppression and dehumanisation of gay men and lesbians in Zimbabwe today.
I do not want to use our aid budget as a football. I know this money is not going to the state; I know it is going on projects to combat deprivation, ill health and disease, and I do not want to diminish it in the least, but what do we do when our denunciations are ignored? What do we do when our entreaties are brushed aside, and when President Mugabe, whose country receives tens of millions of pounds in aid, can say that gays are worse than pigs and dogs? What do we do when this Parliament has within its grasp the ability to say to some of these countries, “We want to help and support you-it is a recognition of our common humanity that we do so-but we cannot go on signing cheques to countries that are brutally and viciously oppressing and suppressing the rights of others.”?
It is not only on the ground of sexuality that countries oppress rights. As we heard from the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Mr Donaldson), some countries oppress people on the ground of religion, which may be rooted in differences of creed or race. If our international aid budget is rooted in our humanity, it does not come value-free, and it does not come free from a sense that the humanity of everyone must be respected.
I have not even mentioned the utterly disastrous effect these policies in Africa are having on the rise in HIV and AIDS. If someone who thinks they might have HIV is told that to be homosexual is to be worse than a pig or a dog and is punishable by 14 years in prison, why would they come forward? What possible reason would they have to seek medical help and the method to prevent the spread of HIV? We are funding anti-HIV and AIDS programmes in countries with policies that do nothing to stop HIV and AIDS, and instead contribute to their spread.
This is a big job for the Government. I do not pretend it is the most important thing on the plate of incoming Ministers, but it is important to millions across Africa whose fundamental human right to be gay or lesbian is being brutally oppressed by regimes. I look to the Government to give a lead by setting out what positive action we can take when our denunciations are brushed aside and doing something about this appalling miscarriage of human rights.
House of Lords
Wednesday 26 May 2010
Debate on the Queen’s Speech – Foreign Affairs and Defence
[extracts relating to Zimbabwe]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My Lords, it is a privilege to open the days of debate ahead on the humble Address. I want to begin with some of my own tributes. My first tribute, echoing that of the Leader of the House yesterday, is to the outgoing Leader of the House, now the acting Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, the noble Baroness, Lady Royall of Blaisdon. I am thinking of my time on the Front Bench opposite, when she led your Lordships’ House through some intensely difficult moments with the greatest skill. We all owe her our thanks. We also extend our deep sympathies to her for her tragic loss.
I also salute the work of my predecessors in the role I am now fulfilling over the past years-it is been about nine years now-including the noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, who I am happy to see in her place and who was doing my job before; the noble Lord, Lord Malloch-Brown; and, particularly, the noble Baroness, Lady Symons of Vernham Dean. They all set very high standards which I shall be hard pressed to follow, but I will do my best.
As for hopes for recovery in long-suffering and misruled Zimbabwe, we will give all the support that we can to the reformers and encourage stronger help from Zimbabwe’s neighbours, particularly South Africa. Our priorities must also include UN reform, on which we back permanent seats for Japan, India, Germany and Brazil, as well as African representation. I add what I hope is obvious to your Lordships: in all our affairs, this Government will never condone torture, complicity in torture or rendition leading to torture.
I have spoken almost long enough. I see on the list of speakers today those who are in the front rank of authority on many of the issues that I have mentioned, such as the noble Lords, Lord Alton, Lord Anderson, Lord Hannay and Lord Owen, and the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, as well as many others, all of whom offer specialist wisdom by which we should be guided.
Rather than taking more of your Lordships’ time, I conclude by saying that today our distinctive positioning in this world of major and often brutal transition can and will define and unite us here at home. It can give us what we need, which is clear purpose and identity in this nation. Strength without is strength within. Security without is security within. The two cannot be separated.
The Prime Minister has established a National Security Council to bring together strategic decisions about foreign policy, security policy and development. This will be a powerful centre of decision-making. It has already met three times in the two weeks since the coalition Government were formed and will be a major means of involving domestic departments, which have an increasingly international aspect to their work, in the pursuit of our foreign policy objectives.
It is with this underpinning that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State is moving vigorously and swiftly to see that he and his department, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-I emphasise “Commonwealth”-work very closely with his colleagues at the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development to ensure the best possible co-ordination and deployment of all our overseas resources, diplomatic, military and developmental, to meet and serve the nation’s international priorities and worldwide interests and purposes effectively and efficiently. That is what this coalition intends and that is clearly what the country wants.
Lord St John of Bletso: My Lords, I will devote my remarks to current developments and challenges in southern Africa. While the gracious Speech made no mention of Africa, it did mention Her Majesty’s Government’s commitment to development aid. I wholeheartedly support the Government’s agenda for international development, as outlined in One World Conservatism. At a time of economic uncertainty, when budgets are tight, the focus on aid effectiveness and value for money becomes all the more critical. To this end, I welcome the establishment of the independent aid watchdog, which is an excellent move towards results-driven aid and a re-evaluation of where the money goes. I was also pleased to see a commitment to more involvement of the private sector, and to public/private partnerships, in an effort to achieve the millennium development goals. I firmly believe that aid should be linked with trade when considering the needs of Africa.
There have been many extremely encouraging developments in Africa over the past 20 years, from 1990 when there were only four elected democracies to the peak in 2005 when there were 24 elected democracies. That is all very encouraging but, in its quest for greater democratisation and economic growth, the continent is still dogged with the problems of corruption and a lack of transparency and accountability, as well as a lack of infrastructure and power shortages. Sadly, in some countries such as Zimbabwe, political hardliners are clearly more interested in their personal wealth and prosperity than in the interests of their people.
In just over two weeks’ time, South Africa will be hosting the World Cup. In the words of President Jacob Zuma:
“This is the single greatest opportunity we have ever had to showcase our diversity and potential to the world”.
I firmly believe that after years of doubt and criticism, the World Cup will confound the pessimists and be a resounding success. Preparations for the World Cup have not only taken the country’s infrastructure to new levels, with new airports, ports, roads and rail links, but have also provided a focus for social cohesion which could-I say “could”-and, I hope, will result in the social legacy that is the most important thing of all.
Thankfully, South Africa emerged from the credit crunch and global recession in considerably better shape than many of its trading partners in the G8 and avoided the worst effects of the economic contraction. However, while the country boasts many economic achievements, it desperately needs to tackle the deep-seated problems such as skills shortages, high unemployment and poverty. That is why I was very encouraged by the recent budget speech by the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, in which he focused on five priorities-healthcare, education, housing and rural development, tackling crime and, finally, promoting job creation in a sustainable way.
Inadequacies in the power supply in southern Africa will continue to be a serious constraint in the growth of business and inward investment into the region. Just as important as power supply are water management and distribution issues, which are also likely to become major constraints in the region.
Great strides have been achieved in southern Africa in tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Of course, South Africa has the worst statistics in the world when it comes to HIV. However, in my opinion not enough has been done to tackle the scourge of malaria in the region. I was, therefore, delighted to note that 500 million will be pledged every year to tackle malaria.
A lot was achieved by the recent state visit of Jacob Zuma here in March. This was all incorporated in the joint declaration on 4 March. One of the subjects-a point raised by the Minister-was the need for South Africa to play a more proactive role to complete the implementation of the global political agreement in Zimbabwe, paving the way for free and, one hopes, fair elections there.
Many would argue that Zimbabwe is in a state of stalemate. Although I have some reservations as to the road map and the timetable for full and fair elections in the country, over the past year the transitional Government have achieved some major breakthroughs. Following the implementation of the de-dollarisation of the currency in January last year, gone are the days of hyperinflation, where a 100-trillion dollar note was worth just 2.50. This has had a knock-on effect with an improvement in agricultural performance, a doubling of tobacco production and a mild economic recovery. Also, all the schools and hospitals have now reopened. Hospitals have far better access to clean water, and food is more readily accessible on supermarket shelves. However, the political hardliners-the likes of Patrick Chinamasa, the Justice Minister; Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Defence; Chiwenga, the Minister of Police; and of course Robert Mugabe-have clearly been stalling the process towards elections.
While talks have started on agreeing the constitution, progress has been extremely slow. Much needed inward investment has been stalled by political uncertainty and the recently introduced Act on indigenisation and the poor state of infrastructure-particularly the lack of power and the skills shortage, with more than a third of all Zimbabweans living out of the country-has certainly not helped the situation.
Following his recent state visit here, President Zuma visited Zimbabwe. It is encouraging that following that visit and the meetings with President Mugabe a human rights commission, a media commission and an electoral commission have been established, the membership of all three having been agreed by all three parties.
With ZANU-PF being in a state of disarray, with several factions being held together by Robert Mugabe, and with the President being 86 years old-many would say 86 years young-there is a real opportunity for a breakthrough. It is well known that Robert Mugabe had a major dislike for the Labour Government and he has made it clear that he would like to work with the Conservative Government. I hope that we can have a full debate on current developments in Zimbabwe in your Lordships’ House. On that note, I pay tribute to the contributions of the late Baroness Park and the late Lord Blaker, both of whom have made major contributions in your Lordships’ House and who are sorely missed. I join in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Howell, on his ministerial appointment. He certainly has deep knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in Zimbabwe.
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