House of Commons
Wednesday 7 June 2000
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
PRIVATE BUSINESS
City of London (Ward Elections) Bill (By Order.)
Order for further consideration, as amended, read.
To be further considered on Wednesday 14 June.
Railtrack (Waverley Station) Order Confirmation Bill
Read the Third time, and passed.
Oral Answers to Questions
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Secretary of State was asked--
Rwanda
1. Mr. Desmond Browne (Kilmarnock and Loudoun): When she last met British non-governmental organisations to discuss the situation in Rwanda; and if she will make a statement. [123169]
The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short): I met representatives of United Kingdom and Rwandan non-governmental organisations during my visit to Rwanda last month. Rwanda is a desperately poor country recovering from a terrible genocide in 1994, which the international community shamefully failed even to try to prevent. Progress since 1994 has been considerable. The UK is playing a major role in supporting the Government and people of Rwanda in trying to promote development and reconciliation.
Mr. Browne: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. I preface my supplementary question by observing that representatives of all the UK NGOs to whom I have spoken and who have a presence in Rwanda applaud the Government's decision on bilateral debt. That said, I recall that it was intended once that heavily indebted poor countries such as the very poor Rwanda would be fast-tracked for international debt relief. What has happened to that proposed action, and when can we expect debt decision day for Rwanda?
Clare Short: The importance of the decision was that Rwanda is a post-conflict country. Under previous arrangements, it would have required a much longer track
record of good economic management before it qualified for all sorts of International Monetary Fund and World Bank support, which would in turn have been required before HIPC relief could be achieved. Rwanda has been fast-tracked, and is now working on an interim poverty reduction strategy. I cannot remember the exact date, but that will be finalised in a matter of months, taking Rwanda to the point of beginning the debt relief process. I am pleased to say that it is doing well.
Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park): The Secretary of State will know that the United Nations has just produced a report tracking the progress of women since the Beijing conference five years ago. With that in mind, and given the experience that the Select Committee on International Development and I had in Rwanda of talking to women survivors of the genocide and hearing of their terrible suffering and problems, can she say what influence she has had on the Rwandan Government over how they deploy the survivors fund? Can she ensure that the benefit of that fund goes to the survivors of the genocide, and no one else?
Clare Short: Yes, indeed. When I went to Rwanda, I met one of the young women who runs the surviving widows organisation, which represents about 30,000 women. Many of those women have HIV because they were raped. Many were mutilated. Many have children. Many have memories of seeing all the members of their family slaughtered before their eyes. What they went through is unimaginable, and that is what reconciliation must deal with in Rwanda. We are providing support to the survivors fund, as well as to that organisation. I have not heard criticism of the use of the fund. The problem in Rwanda is with capacity; most educated people were slaughtered, so even when good will exists, often there is not the administrative capacity to follow through on policy. I share the hon. Lady's objectives, and we are doing all we can.
Mr. Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale, East): Given the progress made on conflict resolution in Rwanda, will the Secretary of State say why she believes Rwanda is engaged in conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
Clare Short: Rwanda has what I might call the best case for being involved in the DRC. Fighters there wish to return to Rwanda to complete the genocide. For Rwanda, to fight back means that the north of the country has been pacified, and things in Rwanda are better accordingly. The war is using resources, which obviously is not beneficial. We need implementation of the Lusaka peace accords, which Rwanda backs strongly. Rwanda needs peace in the DRC and security. The Ex-FAR and Interhamwe, who want to complete the genocide, must be disarmed so that low-level members may return to Rwanda and international criminals go to the international tribunal.
Education
2. Mr. Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam): If she will make a statement on the provision of education in countries involved in conflict. [123171]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. George Foulkes): Conflict seriously disrupts lives and livelihoods, and education is a major casualty. The needs of displaced children are particularly acute. While all possible effort must be made to provide education to displaced children, progress in meeting the target of universal primary education by 2015 will depend on the resolution of conflict and a return to a focus on development.
Mr. Burstow: Is education not part of the solution to the conflicts? Given that smart aid has proved effective at delivering humanitarian assistance in many countries, can the same approach not be used for development aid? Given that education is a key way to unlock potential and reduce conflict, how can it be right that countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan have had their budgets cut? Generation after generation of children have not had education. Surely the Government should do more through smart aid to get money to assist those children.
Mr. Foulkes: Of course education is part of the solution, and poverty eradication is the key to getting rid of some of the major causes of conflicts. However, it is very difficult to ensure that there is proper education, and to get children into schools, and schools running properly, where conflicts exist. Where conflicts are escalating, as they are in Ethiopia and Eritrea, it is doubly difficult to achieve those goals.
Ms Oona King (Bethnal Green and Bow): Does my hon. Friend agree that no Government who are committed to delivering universal primary education should be prevented from doing so because of a lack of resources? Will the Department for International Development be able to make progress on that issue at the United Nations millennium summit?
Mr. Foulkes: I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. In the past three years, the Department has spent £300 million--11 per cent. of our Budget--on education, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia. Nevertheless, I give my hon. Friend this pledge: we aim to do a great deal more.
Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield): Does the hon. Gentleman agree with me--[Hon. Members: "No!"]--that in areas of conflict, people lose their lives not only because of the conflict itself, but because of the disease that ravages such areas? What role does the Department have in providing education for young people--particularly in Africa, but, unfortunately, increasingly in south-east Asia, too--on the dangers of AIDS? Specifically, what is the Department doing to support the excellent work being done by the World Health Organisation?
Mr. Foulkes: Given the response that the hon. Gentleman received from my hon. Friends, I am a bit reluctant to agree with him. On this occasion, however, I agree with him 100 per cent; he is absolutely right. [Hon. Members: "No."] He cannot be wrong every time.
I had the privilege of visiting Mlazi township, in South Africa, to see for myself the work being done with peer education, which entails youngsters talking to other youngsters about what needs to be done to prevent
HIV-AIDS. Additionally, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the Prime Minister announced that we are spending £100 million to help to eradicate AIDS in Africa. Again, however, we plan to do a great deal more.Kosovo
3. Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Inverclyde): What financial support the European Union is providing for the administration of elections in Kosovo. [123172]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. George Foulkes): The European Commission has contributed 5 million euros to the combined civil registration and electoral enrolment exercise currently in progress in Kosovo. The United Kingdom share of that contribution is almost 1 million euros. We have also directly contributed £1.25 million.
Dr. Godman: I offer my compliments to my hon. Friend's officials who are administering aid programmes in Kosovo. Not long ago I was in Kosovo, and I saw that they are doing great work there. Given the turbulent conditions in Kosovo, it will be extremely difficult to administer fair municipal elections. Is there not a case for ensuring that some municipal seats are reserved for Serb candidates and other representatives of minority communities?
Mr. Foulkes: I am aware that my hon. Friend visited Kosovo with the Foreign Affairs Committee in March, when some of our officials were there on an assessment mission--which we are following up with a great deal more help to Kosovo. We are trying to encourage the Serbs to register and to participate, but so far, very few of them have registered. That is due in part to intimidation from Belgrade. We think that more has to be done to encourage Serbs to participate, and we are examining how, in terms of voter education, we can support them in doing so.
Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy): What action is the Department taking to ensure that there are enough international police officers in Kosovo to ensure that those elections will indeed be fair and free?
Mr. Foulkes: I understand that the Government have taken action by providing police officers from Northern Ireland. I am not sure of the exact details of the arrangement, but I undertake to reply in detail to the hon. Gentleman's question.
Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax): Given the recent increase in murders of members of minorities by the Kosovo Liberation Army, how can the Government guarantee anyone's safety? Is it not clear that Kosovo is now being run by a bunch of terrorists?
Mr. Foulkes: We cannot guarantee that. We do not have responsibility for it; the United Nations Mission in Kosovo has the responsibility. We do whatever we can to support UNMIK: we have made a substantial financial contribution and provided personnel support. I hope to be
able to visit Kosovo in July, and I undertake to look into any problems or issues raised by my hon. Friend or by any other hon. Member.
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham): We getting used to hearing the Government announce plans for new expenditure, only to find that they involve a re-announcement of the same money, but it is worrying when doubts are cast on this country's aid budget. Today, yet again, the Minister has said that this country will give a great deal more help to Kosovo. Will he answer the question raised in the Foreign Affairs Committee report on Kosovo, which was published today? Of the £100 million aid announced at the Brussels conference in March by his colleague the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), on stability pact financing, how much was new money and how much had already been announced? Is the Financial Times right to suggest that the Government are callously redirecting the Balkan aid programmes?
Mr. Foulkes: With respect, I did not announce any additional assistance. I dealt with the question of the registration of Serbs and with the issue raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon). The European Commission is spending 865 million euros. That has already been announced; I am merely repeating it. Bilateral assistance from European countries provides an almost equivalent sum. There are, of course, other calls on our budget--from Africa, south Asia and elsewhere. On other occasions, the hon. Lady has accused us of spending too much in Europe and not enough in Africa.
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