The Work of the Committee in 2008-09 - Foreign Affairs Committee Contents


2  Scrutiny of foreign policy

7. The Committee has continued to conduct in-depth scrutiny of threats to global security, the United Kingdom's foreign policy response to those threats, and the United Kingdom's strategic international priorities. In January 2007 we announced that our future work on these subjects would be conducted as part of an overall inquiry entitled 'Global Security', which would be pursued through a series of exercises, scrutinising the work and effectiveness of the FCO in a specific region of the world or by focusing on a specific theme or subject. We have subsequently produced four reports under the overarching 'Global Security' inquiry title, on the Middle East and Russia in Session 2006-07, and on Iran and Japan and Korea in Session 2007-08. In 2008-09 we published three further reports under the 'Global Security' inquiry title, on Non-Proliferation, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan and Pakistan. We also launched our inquiry into Global Security: UK-US Relations.

8. In addition to our work on global security, we have continued our monitoring of other consistently important areas of policy. Under our overarching Developments in the European Union inquiry title, we have taken oral evidence from the Foreign Secretary in advance of each six-monthly European Council, and visited the country holding the EU Presidency in each six-monthly period, as well as visiting other EU states. Following our visit to Cyprus we reported to the House an anonymised summary of discussions during the visit. As in previous years, we have contributed to the work of the Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly the Quadripartite Committee) and jointly published a Report on the Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls. We deal in more detail with each of these aspects of our work in the following paragraphs.

Global Security: Non-Proliferation

9. Our fifth inquiry in the 'Global Security' series focussed on Non-Proliferation. Our Report, published in June 2009, provided an assessment of the current threat posed by nuclear, biological, chemical and conventional weapons and ballistic missiles, both from states and from terrorists, and current government policy to mitigate these threats.[2]

10. Our Report made a wide range of recommendations and identified specific issues to be considered during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 2010. We also called on all five of the recognised nuclear weapons states to commit to further progress on nuclear disarmament. We welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement that the new Trident submarines are to carry fewer missiles than the current boats, and we suggested that the Government should do more to highlight this and other nuclear disarmament steps which it has taken.[3] We also made recommendations in relation to the development of Ballistic Missile Defence in Europe,[4] and commented on biological and chemical weapons and conventional weapons.[5] In January 2009, we visited Geneva and Vienna in connection with this inquiry.

11. The Government published its response to our Report in August 2009, welcoming "the detailed work which the Committee has undertaken". It said it would "be working to build on the Committee's recommendations in our future policy formulation".[6]

Global Security: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

12. In the light of the conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, we decided to conduct a short follow-up inquiry to our major Report on Global Security: The Middle East, published in 2007.[7] We held three evidence sessions, with academics and analysts and then with the then FCO Minister of State Bill Rammell MP, and with Quartet Representative Rt Hon Tony Blair. In March 2009 we visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) in connection with our inquiry: the whole Committee met a range of Israeli and Palestinian interlocutors in Jerusalem, and three sub-groups visited, respectively, Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

13. In our subsequent Report, Global Security: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, published in July 2009, we broadly commended the Government's attempts to prevent and then halt the Gaza conflict, and its subsequent review of arms exports to Israel.[8] However, we expressed grave concerns about the alleged violations of international law committed by both sides in the conflict. We also expressed concern at Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian situation there; Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians; movement and access restrictions in the occupied West Bank; the widening political and institutional division between the West Bank and Gaza; and the continuing lack of a new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

14. We expressed our opposition to ongoing Israeli settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and reiterated the call made in our 2007 Report, for the Government to consider ways of engaging politically with moderate elements within Hamas as a way of encouraging it to meet the Quartet's stated conditions.[9] We welcomed the work on West Bank economic and institutional development which is being carried out by Quartet Representative Tony Blair. Finally, we considered the issue of the damage sustained during the conflict in Gaza by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the territory.

15. In its Response, the Government accepted many of our conclusions, but areas of difference, such as over UK engagement with Hamas, remain, and the Government was unable to report significant progress on several issues of concern to the Committee.[10] The Committee has continued both to monitor this, and to engage with the Government on several of the issues which we considered in our Report. We are planning a further follow-up visit to Israel and the OPTs in spring 2010, to monitor further developments in the Israeli/Palestinian peace process.

Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan

16. We conducted a major inquiry into Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan. As part of our inquiry we visited both countries in April 2009, holding a number of meetings in Islamabad, Kabul and Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province. The fact that our visit took place during the planning phase for the Afghan Presidential elections, and at the point when the Pakistani army began a series of offensives against militants in Pakistan's border areas, meant that we were able to glean a great deal of pertinent information for our subsequent Report which was published shortly before the Afghan presidential elections in August. [11]

17. Our wide-ranging Report achieved a great deal of attention in the media, coming as it did at a time when British troops were facing a particularly difficult and dangerous time in Helmand. Our conclusions and recommendations included the recommendation that the UK Government re-focus its wide-ranging objectives in Afghanistan and concentrate its limited resources on one priority, namely, security. We also concluded that the UK experienced "mission creep" from its initial goal of supporting the US in countering international terrorism, far into the realms of counter-insurgency, counter-narcotics, protection of human rights and state building. We concluded that there was an urgent need for better co-ordination of the international effort in Afghanistan and, on the issue of narcotics, we recommended that the lead international role on counter-narcotics should be transferred away from the UK.

18. In welcoming our Report, the Government said that "Afghanistan and Pakistan remain among the Government's top foreign policy priorities. These issues deserve the widest possible engagement, and the Committee's report adds much to the debate".[12]

Developments in the European Union

19. In 2001, we launched our over-arching inquiry Developments in the European Union. In 2008-09 we continued our longstanding practice of hearing evidence from the Foreign Secretary prior to the bi-annual meetings of the full European Council. We took oral evidence from Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Foreign Secretary, and Mr Matthew Rycroft, Director EU, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (on 10 December 2008 and 17 June 2009). We also took oral evidence from Baroness (Catherine) Ashton, European Trade Commissioner, on 11 March 2009. We published the transcripts of these sessions, which we regard as a useful exercise both in accountability and in the scrutiny of the Government's policy towards Europe.[13]

20. In July 2008, we visited Cyprus in order to assess the political developments which had taken place there since our previous visit in January 2007, in particular the imminent opening of direct talks between the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities for the first time since the failure of the Annan Plan in 2004. Following our 2007 visit to Cyprus (and Turkey) we reported to the House an anonymised summary of discussions during the visit. In the Report we commented that:

It is not our standard practice to produce a Report on the Committee's visits. The discussions we hold with senior figures in governments, parliaments, business and civil society are confidential, and we respect that confidentiality. On this occasion, however, we felt that it was important to acquaint the House with what we heard during the visit to Turkey and Cyprus, and to bring to wider attention a summary of the issues we discussed and the opinions we encountered.[14]

21. On the same basis we considered that it would be useful to publish a short digest of the views we canvassed during our 2008 visit. This was meant as an update of our previous Report, and a 'snapshot' of opinion on the island on the brink of what may be momentous changes.[15] We published our Report on the Committee's Visit to Cyprus in February 2009.

22. We have continued our practice of visiting the capital of the country which holds the EU Presidency in each six-month period, while taking the opportunity of combining this with visits to other EU states, particularly those which have recently acceded, or to countries which are applicants for accession. In January 2009, we visited Prague and Warsaw during the Czech Presidency of the EU, and held a series of meetings on NATO, the Lisbon Treaty and European Ballistic Missile Defence. In October 2009, a group of us visited Sweden and Estonia, while another group revisited the western Balkans: Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Sweden we considered the priorities of the Swedish Presidency, including EU enlargement and the Baltic Sea Strategy, and in Estonia we visited the NATO counter-cyber warfare centre. Our visit to the western Balkans enabled the visiting group to discuss with a range of interlocutors the impact of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008, Serbia's potential accession to the EU and the prospects for constitutional reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

23. The Chairman also attended the Conference of the G8 Foreign Affairs Committee Chairmen in May 2009; the Forum on the politics of economic crises in Bled, Slovenia, in August 2009; the EU Conference of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairmen in Visby, Sweden, in September 2009; and a meeting in Stockholm on the shaping of a parliamentary dimension to the EU's "Eastern Partnership" in October 2009.

Committees on Arms Export Controls

24. As in previous years, the Committee has played a full part, together with our colleagues from the Business, Innovation and Skills,[16] Defence and International Development Committees, in the work of the 'Committees on Arms Export Controls' (CAEC), formerly known as the 'Quadripartite Committee'. CAEC's main job is to review government policy on licensing arms exports and licensing decisions. Each year the Government produces an annual report on strategic export controls which CAEC scrutinises.

25. During 2008-09 CAEC took oral evidence from Ian Pearson MP, then Economic and Business Minister, BERR; Rt Hon Bill Rammell MP, the then Minister of State at the FCO; Amnesty UK; Oxfam GB; Saferworld and the Export Group for Aerospace Defence. In May 2009 it visited the Counter Proliferation Department of the FCO. CAEC also made a return visit to Kiev following a visit to Westminster in 2007 of a delegation of Ukrainian MPs from the Committee for National Security and Defence of the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) and local non-governmental organisation partners.

26. CAEC published its report, Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2009): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2007, Quarterly Reports for 2008, licensing policy and review of export control legislation, in August 2009.[17] The Report follows the pattern of those of earlier years: a review of the policy, enforcement and the annual and quarterly reports on strategic export controls published since CAEC's previous Report, combined with a detailed examination of aspects of export control which follow up the issues raised in previous Reports.[18]

27. CAEC's last Report included the conclusion that the two weeks it was given to comment on the draft Trade in Goods (Categories of Controlled Goods) Order was "wholly inadequate".[19] It recommended that, in future, the Government give interested parties at least two months to comment on drafts of the third tranche of secondary legislation. At the time of CAEC's last Report, the third tranche of legislation had not yet been finalised.[20] The Committees expressed their concern at the inadequate time given to us to properly scrutinise the legislation. They were extremely disappointed that the Government did not accept our previous recommendation, but instead merely committed to giving them one month only to consider the third Order. CAEC repeated its recommendation that, in future, the Government should ensure that interested parties have at least two months to comment on drafts of secondary legislation implementing the Government's conclusions on the outcome of its Review of Export Controls.

28. During the visit by CAEC to Kiev in May 2009, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs supplied it with a document which contained a list of UK-registered brokers to whom the Ukrainian State Service for Export Control had licensed the export of collectors' items (light arms) from the Soviet stockpile of weapons. CAEC was alarmed to see that the end users on the list included countries for which there are FCO policy restrictions on the export of strategic goods.[21] It was extremely concerned that the UK Embassy in Kiev, the Export Control Organisation and HM Revenue and Customs were all unaware of the existence of this list. CAEC subsequently recommended in its Report that the FCO should ensure that its embassies and diplomatic posts engage more effectively with the national export control organisations to obtain information on UK arms brokers licensed by overseas states. It further recommended that the Government should instigate an investigation into the list provided and confirm as soon as possible that the necessary licences had been obtained and no UK legislation had been breached.[22] CAEC will return to this issue in its next Report.

29. In its response to CAEC's Report, the Government accepted that it could give more consideration to the question of how to obtain the co-operation of foreign governments in ensuring that HMG can police the system effectively. The relevant departments are in discussion about how this can be achieved.[23] The Government also confirmed that the names on the list are currently being reviewed to establish whether the activity listed may have been licensable under UK legislation.[24]


2   Foreign Affairs Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2008-09, Global Security: Non-Proliferation, HC 222 Back

3   Foreign Affairs Committee, Global Security: Non-Proliferation, paras 114, 115, 121, 133 and 136 Back

4   Ibid., para 241 Back

5   Ibid., para 182 Back

6   Fourth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2008-09, Global Security: Non-Proliferation: Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Cm 7692. August 2009, para 6 Back

7   Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2006-07, Global Security: The Middle East, HC 363 Back

8   Foreign Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2008-09, Global Security: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, HC 261 Back

9   These are: a commitment to non-violence; recognition of Israel; and acceptance of previous agreements made by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. Back

10   Fifth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2008-09, Global Security: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Cm 7710, October 2009 Back

11   Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2008-09, Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan, HC 302 Back

12   Eighth Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2008-09, Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan: Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Cm 7702 Back

13   Oral evidence taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 December 2008, HC (2008-09) 79-i; 11 March 2009, HC (2008-09) 79-ii and 17 June 2009, HC (2008-09) 79-iii Back

14   Foreign Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, Visit to Turkey and Cyprus, HC 473, para 3 Back

15   Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report of Session 2008-09, Visit to Cyprus, HC 196, para 6 Back

16   The Business and Enterprise Committee was renamed the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on 1 October 2009. Back

17   Business and Enterprise, Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Development Committees, First Joint Report of Session 2008-09, Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2009): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2007, Quarterly Reports for 2008, licensing policy and review of export control legislation, HC 178 Back

18   Ibid., para 2 Back

19   Ibid., para 9 Back

20   Ibid., para 9 Back

21   Business and Enterprise, Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Development Committees, Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2009): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2007, Quarterly Reports for 2008, licensing policy and review of export control legislation. The Government's reply was published as Cm 7698 in October 2009. Back

22   Ibid., para 22 Back

23   First Joint Report of the Business and Enterprise, Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Development Committees , Session 2008-09, Strategic Export Control: Her Majesty's Government's Annual Report for 2007, Quarterly Reports for 2008, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny: Response of the Secretaries of State for Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, International Development and Business, Innovation and Skills, Cm 7698, October 2009, p 2 Back

24   Ibid., p 3 Back


 
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Prepared 4 December 2009