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Commonwealth

rose to call attention to the United Kingdom’s relations with the Commonwealth; and to move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I am delighted to be able to open this important debate. I and many other noble Lords are strong supporters of the Commonwealth. We have today a very impressive list of speakers from all sides of the House, and I am particularly grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, the Leader of the House, for agreeing to wind up the debate. Given her knowledge and long experience of overseas affairs, particularly of international development, your Lordships will benefit greatly from her contribution. Many noble Lords will have visited many countries in the Commonwealth. Some will, like myself, have family ties in those countries or have had ministerial responsibilities there, so this debate augers well for contributions based on experience. I hope that the conclusion of the debate will show that this House very strongly supports the Commonwealth and looks forward to it thriving in the future. This debate is particularly timely because next week in Malta there will be the biennial meeting of the Commonwealth heads of government (CHOGM). I hope very much that the comments made in the debate will be distilled by the noble Baroness and conveyed to colleagues who will be going to Malta. First, I wish to reinforce the obvious: the Commonwealth is a unique institution. The Statute of Westminster in 1931 established the Commonwealth, but it was directly after the war that it grew in size. Today it contains 53 member countries together with 11 territories. I wish to return briefly in a moment to the issue of the territories, which are often forgotten in debates on the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has 30 per cent of the world’s population, 40 per cent of the World Trade Organisation’s members and 25 per cent of world trade and investment. Why is the Commonwealth unique? It is unique because it contains both developed and developing countries and therefore is wholly unlike the European Union. The Commonwealth contains 13 of the fastest growing nations in the world and 14 of the poorest. So it has the complete gamut in terms of economic wealth and performance. It is bound by, by and large, a common language. English, if not the native language, is the first foreign language of preference. Although Her Majesty’s Government contribute some 30 per cent of the costs of the Commonwealth, we have one voice and all the other members are equal. That is certainly unlike the United Nations, which is a pyramidical structure dominated in its debates and decisions by the larger countries, and especially those on the Security Council. It is multi-faith—I shall return to that issue in due course—but, most importantly, it is built on democratic principles: parliamentary government, the rule of law and respect for all citizens, of whatever religion or race. There is the principle of tolerance and understanding of the points of view and beliefs of every citizen in the Commonwealth. No other world grouping of nations comes close to the Commonwealth. One sometimes thinks great nations such as the United States and our neighbours in the European Union envy the United Kingdom’s position in the Commonwealth and the influence that it can bring to bear. However, this nation is in danger of missing a great opportunity to continue to champion the Commonwealth. There is a generation gap in understanding of the Commonwealth. How many of our children and grandchildren have the same interest in approach to our knowledge of the Commonwealth as the over-60s? I cast my eye around your Lordships’ Chamber and believe that most, if not all, of us have been brought up with the Commonwealth. That does not go for the generations behind us. Indeed, my children’s generation often connect the Commonwealth more with cricket than with issues of parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. So we have a duty—this House has a duty—to champion the Commonwealth. What can we do, what should we do to nurture and support the future of the Commonwealth? I commend to your Lordships the 2005 report by the Commonwealth Secretariat as a starting point. It is an excellent report and describes the broad range of initiatives, many of which have been championed and, indeed, initiated by Her Majesty’s Government, that are being pursued at present. In the time available to me, I want to cover three aspects mentioned in the report that should be developed further and make some suggestions about them. The first aspect is upholding democracy, the rule of law and the equal treatment of citizens. The Commonwealth has taken a tough stance in the past and expelled or suspended members that are clearly not adhering to those principles—South Africa, on the issue of apartheid, Nigeria and Pakistan. All three of those countries have since rejoined the Commonwealth. Zimbabwe was suspended and later withdrew from the Commonwealth. Pressure has been brought to bear in the past and I hope that Her Majesty’s Government will pursue a resolute line on Zimbabwe on behalf of the whole of the Commonwealth. I know that some of my noble friends will pursue that issue with greater experience than I, but with equal force. We should not forget that one important method of pursuing the principles of parliamentary democracy and the rule of law is the quiet persuasion and diplomacy that goes on within the Commonwealth. That is unlike the United Nations, the European Union and other groupings of nations. The Prime Ministers and leaders of individual nations talk to each other, bring pressure to bear and resolve conflicts. That has been very successful in the past. I make one plea, and I know that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) shares this view. I pay tribute to the work that the CPA has done—not only the UK branch but the association throughout the Commonwealth. More parliamentary support from your Lordships is needed. Some of our delegations abroad need to be strengthened. Indeed, some visits have been cancelled in recent years. We should not forget our obligation as legislators, as parliamentarians, to support the CPA. I believe strongly in the secondment of some of our judges and barristers to courts within the Commonwealth where that is requested. I think especially of Sierra Leone, where I judge there to be a real requirement for support from some of our judges to go to sit in the courts of Sierra Leone, especially to help in the matter of corruption. There is a common fund for technical co-operation, run by the Commonwealth, which covers public administration. I should like to see greater use of that fund made in seconding some of our judges. A further initiative could be for Commonwealth citizens—young people graduating from United Kingdom universities, especially those from Africa and the Caribbean, particularly those who have studied law, history or politics—to offer to return to their native countries in the Commonwealth to help with the process of better governance. Sometimes, the elite who come to study in this country from the Commonwealth, although idealistic and anxious to provide for themselves and their families, have an obligation to provide for their country of birth and origin more advice and more effort. Within the ambit of funds presently available to the Commonwealth Secretariat, I would like to see the creation of Commonwealth fellows for graduates, perhaps trialled for just one year, the fortunate few returning to help the unfortunate many. Secondly, I wish to comment on economic issues. I point out the obvious when I say that there is a great heritage within the Commonwealth of common English based on English antecedence, common commercial law and common financial law. At CHOGM in Malta, I would like to see agreement to take to the World Trade Organisation, which will meet in Hong Kong in December, a very clear message that trade barriers must come down. I think that most of your Lordships believe in the principle of free trade. The real devil is in the detail: the transitional provisions to allow developing and developed countries to benefit from greater free trade. The United Kingdom has long, hard, practical experience in negotiating in such matters, and I hope that we will take a lead. Thirdly, I would like to see the private finance initiative—the principles that we have learnt and operated for the past decade in this country—transported to some countries in the Commonwealth, particularly as regards infrastructure. The very excellent report Business Environment Survey 2005, published by the Commonwealth Business Council, said that the private sector in this country viewed the lack of good infrastructure—I mean, principally roads—as a major impediment for investment in developing countries, particularly in Africa. I would like to see British construction companies using the PFI principle, building some of the roads using local labour and, rather like the Birmingham Northern Relief Road—one of the first toll roads to be built in this country for many years—for them to be repaid through government aid or through the revenues of the developing nations over perhaps 20 or 30 years. Good road transportation brings agricultural produce to the ports. It helps with education, health, security and, above all, employment of local labour. In northern Uganda and Sierra Leone there are great problems with young people who have been caught up in conflict, have no job and are waiting for some form of constructive employment. Unless individual nations do something quickly about their predicament, there will be future trouble. I know that my noble friend Lady Hooper, who wishes to contribute to this debate but may not be able to do so owing to other pressures, wanted to raise tertiary education for young people coming from Commonwealth territories. They have no tertiary education. I believe that my noble friend is right to argue for relief on tuition fees for people coming from those territories. Finally, the good education of youngsters in the Commonwealth, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean, leads to greater racial and religious understanding. I was interested that Kofi Annan was reported to have said in Tunis yesterday that he would like to see greater export of information technology, particularly computers, to some of the poorer countries. Nowadays young people learn by using the world wide web and communicate through the Internet. We are wasting a great opportunity in this country. How many noble Lords change their own laptops every two or three years, and even those in the Houses of Parliament? What happens to the second-hand computers? Nothing. We could export to the Commonwealth an enormous wealth of equipment at a much lower cost than that for new equipment. I congratulate the Council for Education in the Commonwealth on pioneering the idea, as well as on its work, particularly in Sierra Leone. I conclude by repeating that I am a strong supporter of the Commonwealth. It is a force for good. I have made some modest proposals for further improvement. I hope that the Minister will convey from this House to the meeting in Malta the strong support it maintains for the Commonwealth. Long may it thrive.