---

Debate on the Address

My Lords, I shall take a slightly different approach from the one taken by almost anyone else this evening. Who am I to venture into the field of defence or detailed foreign policy? I can, however, look at Britain’s role in a very changed and different world from the one in which most of us grew up. Perhaps the Welsh are a race of dreamers; I, at least, am happy to count myself one of them. As a youngster, I used to wonder which nation could provide that moral and humanitarian lead that would open the door so that other nations could follow and build a new world in that way. Surely the opportunity was there for Gandhi in India, but of course that did not materialise. Then we had the state of Israel, whose people had been through such a terrible time in the Holocaust. Some 120 different nations were represented, and I thought that surely the lead could come from there. But it has not. We could look to the Scandinavian countries and to Canada, but why should we not look to the United Kingdom to be one nation that takes a lead and is a beacon of light in humanitarian and other matters? At the end of the First World War, David Lloyd George wanted a country fit for heroes to live in. Lord Soper, a Member of this House, went further. He said that he did not really want a country fit for heroes to live in; he wanted a world fit for children to live in. That is why I so welcome the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford; it shows what we could do. We could be a beacon of light, the hope and the model. Yet we seem reluctant to lead. We hesitate and we delay. Only a couple of weeks ago, the Joint Committee on Human Rights estimated that 4,000 women each year are trafficked into the United Kingdom for prostitution. This is one of the most serious human rights issues. Yet we in this Parliament have failed to sign the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. That is something that we could do and that the rest of world would realise that we had done. We could lead with these conventions and these protocols. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which addressed the involvement of children in armed conflict, was ratified in 2003, but, as our debates on the Armed Forces a week or so ago showed, we are still the only country in Europe to enlist youngsters as young as 16 and to allow them to enter fields of battle. On the rights of the child more widely, we were told in September 2000 that the Government were committed at the earliest opportunity to ratifying provisions in relation to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. That was six years ago, and there has been no such ratification. I could go on and on. I have a list of 300 treaties and conventions—on apartheid, racism in sport and migrant workers—that we have not ratified. They have not been fulfilled according to the commitment that we gave at the beginning. We want to gain the support of so many underprivileged and deprived people, but our reluctance can only breed suspicion and resentment. We are losing the battle for people’s hearts and minds because of our reluctance. There are things that we could do; we could sign and ratify these treaties and protocols. Last week, we were told that there are 30 terrorist cells ready to create great turmoil in the United Kingdom. They want to harm and destroy. Can we not take a positive attitude and encourage the formation not of 30 but of 30,000 groups of people of all faiths and backgrounds who are committed to being at peace and tolerant of each other to outweigh the influence of the terrorist cells? Could we not take that lead? I sometimes try to put myself in the shoes of an asylum seeker from, say, a distant land in the East who wants to go to a country that offers some opportunity. They might try to go to Europe, say the UK, and gather every penny that they can get. Their family supports them, and they land themselves perhaps in refrigerated van or some other sort of trap. For days or weeks, they cross country after country because there is hope. They want hope. Imagine the disappointment when they come to a country that says, ““Sorry. We used to welcome asylum seekers, and were ready to make the most of those who arrived here””. Take these figures. Her Majesty’s Government say that a family of four needs £279 a week to survive. That is the rate. Even UK people on benefits receive £197 a week, which is £82 short of that figure. Asylum seekers, however, receive £153 for a family of four. They are disadvantaged. People then say that they are scrounging and begging, but these people must live. The New Statesman gave me those figures only last week. A family from Malawi had young kids who were going to die anyway because they were suffering from AIDS. They were sent back to their own country. Surely we need a different approach, because those whose dignity and hope are undermined are easy recruits for those who thrive on the conviction that they are being ill treated. This is a recruiting ground. We need to give people not only material support, but so often emotional and psychological support. Many of us have grandchildren. The loveliest thing about having a grandchild is that you can cuddle them. You can share love and hope with that child. Surely by having a closed attitude and an unresponsive Government and people, we are making it difficult for those who only want to live with dignity in this life. The Statue of Liberty bears these words: "““Give me your tired, your poor,""Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,""The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,""Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,""I lift my lamp beside the golden door””." Cannot the UK be a country that can change attitudes and be a beacon of hope, not the darkness of rejection and despair?