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Human Rights Annual Report 2005

Thank you, Mr. Hancock. First, I offer to do an audit of today’s debate and to send a detailed note, for distribution to all concerned, including the Select Committee Chairman, my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes), on any points to which I do not respond. Seven or eight different issues have been raised in respect of Africa, all of which are important in two respects: first, the difficulties in each of the specific areas and, secondly, the fact that things are moving in some of those areas as we speak: for example, in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Perhaps it would be more helpful if instead of responding piecemeal I sent a memorandum to the Select Committee to give a general update of the work in and around my portfolio on Africa. Obviously, I shall also send a copy to you, Mr. Hancock. My speech will have two parts. First, I shall respond to the report and, in doing so, pick up on some of the issues that have been raised today. Then I will answer some of the specific questions that hon. Members asked in their contributions. I thank you, Mr. Hancock, and the Liaison Committee for organising today’s debate, and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee for the dialogue—and it was a dialogue—with ministerial colleagues and staff at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The annual report on human rights will continue to improve and to demonstrate our continuing commitment to promoting human rights overseas. I have not taken personally the comments about my role as Minister with responsibility for trade and investment in the FCO, because in the end managing a portfolio involves a judgment. Today’s debate has been a humbling experience because across the party divide there is not only a common interest in human rights but a commonality of knowledge about individual countries and specific issues, which are complex and difficult for the international community. Individual countries and groups of countries do not always take the same view as we do on issues. None the less, we must have a constructive relationship and dialogue with them to influence policy, sometimes in the short term but sometimes over a longer period. The corporate knowledge that I have heard today has been humbling to me as a new Minister, and I mean that genuinely. I give a commitment to the House that what I heard today will in fact strengthen my role and the way in which it has been constructed. Frankly, one cannot have a dialogue on human rights unless there are other aspects about which a country is prepared to talk, whether they be joint interests or their own interests. Nor can one have a discussion or debate that is limited to sustainable development, trade agreements such as the Doha round or global warming, because if they go wrong or do not operate effectively, there is an impact on human rights, whether in the region or in the individual country. As a Minister, having the capacity to operate across those disciplines is more helpful than the Select Committee seemed to think. It is also true, if hon. Members do not mind my saying so, that it is the role of all Ministers, whichever Department they work in, to raise the issue of human rights when they visit other countries. It should not simply be an issue for a foreign affairs or trade Minister. Every Minister should be aware of and responsible for human rights, as should parliamentary Back-Bench groups. We all have a responsibility, but particularly those of us in Government. I give a commitment that as part of my role I will ensure that all my ministerial colleagues receive a briefing about the issues in the country or countries that they visit. I shall ask them to raise those issues and report back. It is clear to me that Parliament, non-governmental organisations and civil society in general play an essential role in alerting the Government to human rights concerns and in advising us on how to respond. Having only recently taken on this portfolio, I am particularly keen to build on my knowledge of the organisations that operate in these sectors. As hon. Members may know, the FCO has six advisory panels on anti-torture, the death penalty, child rights, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the rule of law. I would like to tap into their knowledge and expertise to greater effect. For example, I would like to have an expert briefing session with some of the panel members before making official visits to countries where human rights is a concern. That means that, before I go in a few weeks’ time to China, for example, I will meet with NGOs about concerns. Our discussion will influence the structure and nature of the discussions that I will have with colleagues in China, or whatever country I visit. It is important that I involve people in advance of visits and utilise their knowledge and experience to help me to raise human rights issues during the visits that I make. I also want to upgrade some of those groups, for example, the advisory panel on child rights, which are very important. Like the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley), I worked many years ago on child abuse issues. He chaired the all-party group on child abduction very effectively, and it influenced and changed the culture and policy of the FCO at the time. That is why child abduction from the United Kingdom has fallen to almost nil. We can have an influence on policy and on the culture by engaging and involving NGOs and Members of Parliament, whether individually or collectively in groups, and I want to ensure that that is a regular feature of my work and activity in this role.