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The Conservative Opposition charge that the Commission is undemocratic. That hardly chimes with reality. Every proposal and amendment is closely examined by civil servants within the Commission and by Commissioners, most of whom have been politicians in their own countries. Some have served with enormous distinction. Moreover, a Commissioner will invariably be accessible to those with wide experience of the subject being considered-including Ministers and those accountable to them. Even then, a proposal as amended will again be scrutinised by the Commission, interested parties and the European Parliament. Few legislatures undertake that degree of oversight, and nothing has been said about that important point by the Conservative Opposition today or at any time. Is all this, therefore, to be lost sight of? How practicable is the approach of the Conservative Opposition? To believe that Britain can stand alone or select whatever it pleases is simply fanciful. As my noble friend Lady Kinnock put it in this debate:
"There is no future in diplomacy by tantrum".
That is highly amusing, but also deadly serious.
An enforceable agreement on climate change is possible at Copenhagen, but is regrettably unlikely. However, we should heed the advice of the vast majority of eminent scientists who advise us. If agreement at Copenhagen is elusive, we shall have to reach an accord at another venue in the very near future. There is no escape from that situation. If, by chance, the sceptics are right-which is improbable-what will have been lost? Lots of time and money. However, if they are wrong, which is more than a possibility, we risk much more-the future of our earth.
Other issues of magnitude were mentioned by my noble friend at the beginning of this debate: world poverty and disease, nuclear dangers and many others. She is right; we cannot tackle these alone. We need allies, particularly in the EU, but also beyond. Our opinion within the EU can help add weight to a successful outcome on many significant issues. But if we stand outside and simply complain or behave as a disgruntled observer, we will forfeit the influential situation that we should occupy-and which we are attempting to today.
2.45 pm
Lord Naseby: My Lords, I wish to speak exclusively on Sri Lanka, mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock. I have been involved in that country for 46 years and for the whole of my political life of 35 years. There has never been a period under both Labour and Conservative Governments when relationships were as difficult as they are. I wish to make an appeal for a new start and a completely new look at the relationship between our two countries.
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Some Members will have noted that at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony the eighth high commissioner to lay a wreath was from Sri Lanka, representing the eighth country in terms of losses in the Second World War-Ceylon as it was then. Not many Members of your Lordships' House will know that when the vote was taken in the United Nations criticising the United Kingdom over our relief of the Falklands, only nine countries voted for us. I had the privilege to speak to the then Sri Lankan President, JR Jayewardene, and make a personal appeal on behalf of the All-Party Group for Sri Lanka to support the United Kingdom. It was not just my words that led to that support, but perhaps they added a little bit. That country stuck its neck out in support of this country, against the wishes of much of Asia, because our friendship goes very deep.
There needs to be an understanding of the results of 25 years of terrorism in any country, particularly Sri Lanka. The last war took place when I was a small boy, and it lasted for only five, not 25, years. Specific challenges, particularly regarding the resettlement of refugees and building up that economy, need to be addressed. GSP Plus is a specific issue; it is an arrangement to allow apparel and other products from Sri Lanka to enter the EU at an advantage. Two days ago, a decision was taken in principle to remove it and, in effect, impose sanctions on Sri Lanka at this very difficult time. Many, not just me, will want to question why 200,000, mainly female, workers from the villages-a good proportion of whom are Tamils-should be thrown into unemployment, with another 1 million affected.
I wish to highlight certain points that I hope that the Government will take on board and reflect on. At the end of the recent war-a successful war in terms of Sri Lanka-284,000 refugees voluntarily went into refugee camps. They had been used as human shields. They had been pushed from the west of Sri Lanka to the far east. Many had been shot by the Tamil Tigers while trying to escape. The war finished towards the end of May. As of 9 November, when I received the latest figures, 126,000 people had been resettled in their homes and about 30,000 were with families and other relations. That leaves 147,000 people. They are leaving at a rate of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 a week. Sixty-eight UN and international NGOs have access to the remaining camps; 173 media personnel have been in and out of them. DfID has been there, along with representatives of the UN and, most importantly and recently, Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has a very close relationship with the Tamil communities in northern Sri Lanka. If anybody was going to be highly critical, it would be the MPs from Tamil Nadu: but they came voluntarily, their report was produced by them alone and it said that they were comfortable with what was being done and hugely encouraged by the rate at which people were being resettled.
There remains the challenge of 2.5 million landmines, but reasonable progress is being made. The UK, through HALO and others, has helped. However, we are not high in the league of help-providers despite our long historic relationship. Now there is a major programme of infrastructure building.
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As we look at our relationship with Sri Lanka, it is strange that, having sold guns to the Sri Lankan army, we did not supply ammunition-like the Belgians not supplying ammunition for our guns in the first Gulf War, in which my son served. Secondly, we did not support the application for an IMF loan. Of course it went through, because others recognised that if you are going to rebuild an economy you must have the help of the IMF. I do not take these things personally, but I have made recommendations to Her Majesty's Government after all the visits that I have made. Sadly, none of my recommendations has been accepted. We also had the difficult episode involving the special envoy. However, that is all in the past.
Now we turn to the current issue. The resettlement is going well; de-mining is going pretty well; but overhanging it all is the cloud of GSP Plus. Two days ago, a decision was made by the European Union Committee-not the Council of Ministers-that the removal of GSP Plus should proceed. In about two months, Her Majesty's Ministers will have to say whether that should continue. We in Parliament have just been visited by the Catholic Archbishop of Colombo, leading Buddhist religious leaders and leading Hindu and Muslim leaders. They left a memorandum with Her Majesty's Government, and with me. The final paragraph states:
"As responsible religious leaders, we are saddened by the fact that our European friends with whom Sri Lanka has always cherished such excellent and cordial bilateral relations, have given a larger than necessary sense of attention to certain groups with vested interests who are intent on destroying this country and pushing it once again into an abyss of political and economic confusion and chaos. Therefore, we appeal to our friends to stand by us at this hour and to help us guide our leaders and people towards a greater sense of spiritual and material progress. We appeal to you to help us in this matter and thank you for any consideration given to this very deserving request".
The removal of GSP Plus would-this is no exaggeration-throw out of work 200,000 mainly young, female workers in the countryside, rather than in Colombo, many of whom are Tamils, not to mention the other people involved in that trade, who probably number 1 million. If they are to be disadvantaged and thrown out of work, what is the purpose? How does that help bring together the communities in Sri Lanka? Others will say that there are still political problems; but the Government know as well as I do that elections are coming, and it is for the new Sri Lankan Government to settle the political dimensions.
There are encouraging signs for all of us who are in contact with Sri Lanka. The Tamil community and MPs are talking to the President, to the governing party and to opposition parties. There are seeds of hope, and a general election should resolve some issues. However, if the EU proceeds to remove GSP Plus, all Sri Lankans of any creed and in all elements of society will increasingly wonder whether they should not look to China, Iran and those parts of the world that have helped them to defeat the Tamil Tigers. I appeal to Her Majesty's Government to open a new chapter and to help Sri Lanka in its hour of need rather than kicking the people when they are down. They helped us at the time of the Falklands when we were down. Surely it is not too much for us to help them now.
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2.56 pm
Baroness Flather: My Lords, I was listening so carefully to the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, talking about Sri Lanka that I forgot that it was my turn to speak. Please forgive me.
I listened carefully to the opening speeches. There was little in them about development, although the subjects that we are discussing today are vast and, clearly, more important and pressing things were being spoken about. However, we heard that 10 million children die before they attain their sixth birthday. My figure is 9 million, although it is possible that it has gone up to 10 million, and it will keep going up. We heard that many millions of children do not go to school. It is important to speak about children, but we do not speak about their mothers and, if we do not speak about and help their mothers, the children will not achieve life and education.
There is an old and well known cliché that when you help a woman you help a family, but when you help a man you help one person. Unfortunately, in developing countries this is one of the truest clichés. Not only do you help the family when you help a woman, you help the whole community. If you help six women, they change a village. I have seen the results of helping women in poor countries and in villages. It is important for us now to start thinking about how change can be brought about. I believe that change can be brought about only by helping women to become part of the mainstream. In Africa and on the Indian subcontinent, women are not part of the mainstream; they are not perceived as wage earners and part of the workforce. In the Far Eastern countries that have made such huge economic strides, all the women are in the workforce. I have spoken to many people from Singapore and Malaysia. They say that having women in the workforce doubles it, so they can make much quicker economic gains. I am a firm believer in that.
Recently, the APPG on Population, Development and Reproductive Health launched a booklet called Euromapping. It is a useful little booklet that sets out which countries in Europe give how much aid and for what. I am pleased to say that we come out well. The noble Lord, Lord Howell, said-I think that I heard him right-that he was sorry that more money was being spent on aid than on the Foreign Office. However, that is one of the good things that we do and I hope that we will keep doing it even if there is a change of Government. It is very sad to think that it might change. Such aid is needed and is important.
Whatever aid is going to developing countries, aid from European Union countries is dropping per head of population. Very sadly, it has dropped by 5 per cent in the past year. There are 200 million women who cannot access family planning; tackling that is one of the most basic things that we can do to change women's lives. One woman dies from childbirth every minute of every day and each year more than 66,000 die from unsafe abortions. Thinking that we cannot do much about that should make us feel very contrite, but the fact is that we can. I quote the famous statement from Professor Fathalla:
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"Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat ... they are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving".
That is a very important statement for all of us who consider these issues.
I have just come back from Addis Ababa, where I attended an international parliamentarians' conference on population and development. When we produced the communiqué at the end, the Saudis and Sudanese made us take out the words "sexual" and "reproductive" from the phrases "women's sexual health" and "women's reproductive health". They would accept only the term "women's health". One wonders what would have happened if the rulers of the universe had to go through what women go through. Would they have said, "Take out the words 'sexual' and 'reproductive' from 'men's sexual and reproductive health'"? We have to think about what women aged between 15 and 45 go through in this world. If men had to put up with that, the situation would be very different.
Most of the parliamentarians also complained that the Catholic churches were a great hindrance to family planning, with some Latin American countries being very specific about the problems that they were facing. Yet the Pope goes to southern Africa and says, "Don't use condoms". We are not living in year zero; we are living in the 21st century. Perhaps we should ask our former Prime Minister, who is a very important man, to have a word with the Pope. This is just not on.
There is a lot of talk about climate change. In 1950, there were 2.6 billion people on this planet. Today, there are 6.8 billion and there are likely to be 3 billion more by 2050. If that does not cause climate change, I do not know what will. I think that it is a question not just of emissions but of people's bodies. Furthermore, with so many poor people in the world-we must remember that it always comes down to the poor countries-environmental degradation with the cutting down of trees and the use of wood for cooking goes on all the time. We cannot keep talking about climate change only in terms of emissions and saying, "You must do this and you must do that"; we have to think about helping certain countries to stop the increase in their populations. I am not talking about the way in which China has done it, although such a move would be good. We cannot do that, so we have to make family planning available to women and help them to learn how to use the system. That would make a difference for all of us.
In Addis Ababa, I also went to a hospital which deals with fistula. The cruelties perpetrated on women are unbelievable. I do not have time to tell the House about them and your Lordships would probably not want to hear about them as that might make them unhappy. A woman or girl may develop fistula if she cannot give birth and needs a caesarean or other help, but she then leaks urine and faeces and is thrown out. Some women just lie on the streets, as is certainly the case in northern Nigeria. However, this hospital takes everyone who comes to it; sometimes women walk for two or three days to get there.
It is time that we focused on women. In order for the MDGs to be successful, we have to focus on women. If we want the rate of climate change to slow
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3.05 pm
Lord Luce: My Lords, I am pleased that the Queen's Speech gave a special reference to the Commonwealth this year, its 60th anniversary. I wish to focus my remarks on the Commonwealth, although I shall end with something that I consider to be a grave shame and a blot on Britain's copybook-the treatment of the Chagos islanders.
The other day, someone who has had tremendous experience of the Commonwealth over the past 60 years said to me that we-not only as a Government but as a people-should see it as an opportunity. However, the sad thing about the Commonwealth is that we have not seen it as an opportunity; we have turned our backs on it and have been extremely unimaginative about it. The Commonwealth is a gathering of 53 countries with masses of different faiths-Muslims, Christians, Hindus and so on. It is made up of the rich and the poor, the developed and the less developed.
I am very glad that we are now carrying out a major review of what role we should play within the Commonwealth. That review is being led by the Royal Commonwealth Society, and I am pleased to learn that next week it will produce for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad its proposals on how we can revitalise the Commonwealth. It will focus on the principles of the Commonwealth and how we can promote its values; it will focus on the Commonwealth's priorities and how it can give added value to other institutions and organisations; and, finally, it will focus on the heart of the Commonwealth, which is the people in it, and how, for example, the younger generation's imagination can be sparked and how that generation can be encouraged to do business and develop its country and so on. I believe that the report will help to galvanise us into rethinking how we look at the Commonwealth.
As for the meeting next week, the Minister may want to say something at the end of the debate. In Trinidad, our priorities will obviously have to be on climate change in view of the forthcoming summit in Copenhagen, but we should remember that 50 per cent of the Commonwealth's population is under the age of 25. I hope that there will be a lot of emphasis on how we can engage the interest of youth in the Commonwealth.
The third matter on which I hope we shall spend our time-something on which the Commonwealth is strong-is governance issues. If we do not do that, no one else will. The Commonwealth is well equipped to deal with that, together with peace-building and reconstruction. The other area to which I hope we will give party next week is development aid and trade, and I am glad that my noble friend Lady Flather spoke strongly about it. At the same time, I hope that within the Commonwealth we can take a hard-headed view about aid criteria. In recent months, a number of books and studies have been produced by Africans, as well as Europeans, on the subject of development aid.
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I hope that it will also focus on an issue that has come up a lot today-China. On the one hand, one can only welcome the dramatic expansion of trade and investment by China in Africa, as it is good news, but, on the other, it is not good news if the issues of governance in those African countries are ignored. One only has to look at the Sudan to see how fuelling them with more revenue through the purchase of oil brings about the growth of militias and the dangers of civil war. One of the great strengths of the Commonwealth is to focus on those kinds of issues. It should embark on a dialogue with China to try to persuade it that it is important to recognise and have a framework of accountability in those matters.
In terms of development, I next want to comment on the diasporas, particularly the African diaspora. Since the Second World War, 20 million Africans have come to the western world. Living in the western world, they have developed great professional skills in a wide range of areas. Many of them are anxious to make a contribution of some sort to their countries of origin. There are diaspora groups in Britain, the United States and elsewhere who are becoming more and more sophisticated and concerned about what is going on in their countries of origin. Therefore, I am delighted that DfID is giving money to provide long-term support to those diasporas. I hope that the Commonwealth can play a part in this and I would like to see encouragement for those who want to return, even for a short time, to contribute to their countries of origin. That has nothing to do with the repatriation scheme but it would enable Africans to make a contribution to solving their own African problems. It is up to DfID to encourage them to return and to contribute for a time in whatever way they can. I am delighted that the Royal African Society is working strongly with DfID in that connection.
A year ago this week, I led a debate in the House on Commonwealth scholarships and the fellowship scheme. The decision had been made by the Foreign Office to end all Commonwealth scholarships to developed Commonwealth countries. The then Secretary of State for universities-they keep changing their titles and I have given up keeping track-intervened and said, "We will take over the support for scholarships for developed Commonwealth countries from the Foreign Office", and it is all credit to the department that it did. Subsequently, I have been very glad that the British Government have contributed as well to the new Commonwealth endowment scholarship scheme, although after 2011 that arrangement will end. Will the Government assure us that they plan for that scheme to continue indefinitely, so that the scholarships
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Lastly, we must do something about a shameful problem that has been on our shoulders in Britain for the past 40 years. In 1964, Harold Wilson's Government had an exchange of letters with the United States and a decision was taken to set up Diego Garcia. My quarrel is not with that decision at all; for all I know, the existence of Diego Garcia as a military base has made a major contribution to the security of the world. However, what brings shame on the reputation of this country is that 1,500 Chagos islanders, living in Diego Garcia, many of whose families had been there for more than one generation and some for three or four generations, were expelled from the Chagos archipelago. It was an absolute disgrace.
When, in 1982, as a Minister of State, I arrived in Mauritius to find a demonstration at the airport, I did not even know of the existence of these people. They were Chagos islanders who had been expelled and who were living in great poverty in the islands. I managed to get them £4 million, but I am ashamed to say that a condition of getting them that money was that they were asked to renounce their right of return. Events overtook us. The late Robin Cook restored their right to return, but that was then withdrawn by Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary and the islanders have now made an application to the European Court.
That is a blot on our copybook. It is a disgrace. There is now an all-party committee of 44 members. I very much hope that this Government will take on their shoulders the responsibility to restore the right of those people to return at the very least to the outer part of the Chagos Islands, which is a good 150 miles away from Diego Garcia and does not pose a security issue. I look to the Government to take a lead on that.
3.16 pm
Baroness Goudie: My Lords, I welcome the gracious Speech and the speeches of noble Lords across the House who spoke yesterday. I want to mention a few items today: the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill, Afghanistan, the international aid Bill and the G20. I declare an interest as patron of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and a member of the executive committee and board of Vital Voices Global Partnership.
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