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Street Children (Congo)

The example that my hon. Friend provides is extremely distressing. She and I have discussed it before, and it is the most extreme and unbelievable form of child abuse. Other donors and NGOs that specialise in human rights and issues affecting children have a part to play. UNICEF, for example, is helping the DRC Government to implement the UN convention on the rights of the child. NGOs, several of which have been mentioned in the debate, undertake vital work to help children. The hon. Member for Richmond Park made an important point about the sexual exploitation of boys, which people do not talk about. There has been debate in some quarters about whether we should make parts of our aid programme conditional on progress. It has been acknowledged, however, that we give very little aid through the DRC Government. We must ensure that we adopt the right approach, because if we were to remove aid because of DRC Government failings and a lack of governance, we would not help the people about whom we are concerned. The real issue, which has come across forcefully in all the speeches, is that the primary responsibility for addressing the problem must rest with the DRC Government and people. It is about political structures that work and that are accountable—a point that my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North made. We need a society in which the DRC Government start to take responsibility for the most vulnerable citizens. There is no want of legislation in the DRC. The point has been made that much legislation is in place, and that includes the UN convention on the rights of the child, which was ratified in 1990—16 years ago. However, there is no action to do something about it and enforce it, which is in part a question of capacity. The graphic description from the hon. Member for Gainsborough of the permanent secretary’s office, with nothing in it apart from his own skill, makes the point. There is a lack of resources and of will, but there is corruption. I assure hon. Members that we will keep up the political pressure on the Congolese Government in every way we can. We are in contact with President Kabila’s ambassador for children and the Ministry of Social Affairs, and I shall consider the point that the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness raised about the place of children in the poverty reduction strategy paper. We have heard that children being abused in the name of exorcism is not a part of the Congolese tradition but a result of the dislocation of that society. As part of our presidency of the EU last year, we pushed for the Congolese authorities to do something about it, but no one has been prosecuted. The law and evidence exists, but the law must be enforced. The Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Metropolitan police are also putting in place measures to prevent Congolese pastors who abuse children from coming to Britain from the DRC. That is one thing that we can do. I urge all hon. Members present and the organisations listening to the debate to provide us with the evidence. If they give us the evidence, including any evidence of politicians who have engaged in such activity, we can take action. I am grateful to hon. Members and to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway for raising the issue. We have heard just how important what happens in the DRC is, above all to the people who live there, and just how important good governance is to solving those problems. I assure the Chamber that we will continue to support the people of Congo—and the politicians, if they rise to their responsibility—to try to make a difference for them, and for the children in particular. They have suffered much too much for far too long.