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Human Rights

I agree absolutely. Last year, I was a rapporteur of a joint conference of the International Labour Organisation and the Human Rights Council in Geneva which made the point that all countries should be signatories of exactly that convention. I endorse the hon. Gentleman's point and believe that Britain should be a signatory. It gives me no pleasure that there are people, even in this city, almost within sight of this building, who lead a twilight existence because they have no papers. I am one of many colleagues who support the Migrants into Citizens campaign to bring about legal justice for such people. There is a fourth world of 200 million people who move around because of disasters in their own societies, who contribute greatly to the living standards of the rest of us, but who are denied access to rights, benefits and justice. I hope that greater attention will be given to that in future years. We have discussed a number of countries. No one Member is able to refer to every country mentioned in the debate or report. However, I emphasise the points made by the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley) concerning Israel and Palestine and the treatment of people in Gaza. The Free Gaza movement emphasises that the encirclement of Gaza is dreadful, that the living standards of people in Gaza are dreadful, and that the lack of food, clean water, energy supplies, medicine and the right to travel to gain medical assistance is appalling. Those things are entirely politically counter-productive. If people are encircled like that and denied access to the benefits of society—if young people, particularly young men, are forced to lead their lives vicariously through computer screens, looking at the rest of the world that they can never travel to or see—it is small wonder that they end up holding views that nobody would want, like or agree with. The need for justice for the Palestinian people must be recognised. That in itself would bring about a move towards security. Building security walls and erecting barbed wire entanglements and encirclements, taking water supplies, and denying people the right to travel, to free movement around their own society, and to access to particular roads is not a recipe for anything other than a fractured, dangerous and violent situation. That is the situation now. I hope that we will be firm with Israel on its policies. I do not support or condone violence by anybody. That includes rocket attacks, attacks by F-16 jets and so on. I want to see peace and justice in the region and believe that that can come about only through a recognition of the rights and needs of the Palestinian people. I am interested and pleased that the Foreign Affairs Committee went there, looked into those issues and made clear statements concerning Gaza in its report. I commend it for that. Like many colleagues, I have the pleasure of representing an inner-city constituency. There is a large Somali community there. The human rights of Somali people are raised in the report. It states:"““We conclude that the FCO's report fails to pay sufficient attention to the severe human rights crisis in Somalia. We are particularly concerned by the absence of any mention of alleged abuses carried out by Ethiopian troops””." I was pleased that in introducing the report, the Committee Chairman referred to that point. The situation in Somalia is disastrous. There is no effective national Government. To some extent, there are effective regional governments in Somaliland and to a lesser extent in the Puntland. There is no overarching Government who can effectively control the whole of Somalia. I suspect that there is still a presence of Ethiopian troops. Nobody can receive a full education, have access to health care or have any of the other things that we would want. Another issue is the pirate ships off the coast of Somalia. It is a condemnation of the world's media that it takes the hi-jacking of an oil tanker to draw attention to the situation in Somalia. The war that has been going on all these years and the massive killings have received hardly any attention. It says something about the values of the western media that they are more concerned about an oil tanker than the rights of so many people. I understand that more emphasis will be placed on the situation in Somalia in the 2009 report. I hope that that is the case. Lastly, as I said in an intervention on the Committee Chairman, there is no mention of the Congo in the report. I am pleased that there will be a report on it next year. The situation in eastern Congo must be a priority within the theme of the rights of women and children. I have visited the Congo on a number of occasions and in April I visited the refugee camps in Goma. I met women who were victims of war, and of rape and sexual violence being used as weapons of war. There is a Department for International Development programme in the Congo and a Foreign Office representative in Goma who is trying to bring about a political peace process. We are giving as much support as possible to women's organisations in the Congo. Something that cheered me up—if anything can cheer one up in eastern Congo—was a women's demonstration that took place in Goma a few weeks ago against the way in which the militias, the army and others act with impunity in their treatment of women. I urge the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Foreign Office to do everything that they can to promote a political peace process and to support the UN in trying to give the hope of peace and justice to the people of eastern Congo. The Committee Chairman rightly mentioned that this year is the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights. That is a remarkable document. The work and negotiations of Eleanor Roosevelt in bringing it about were very important. I have sat through many debates in many places in which that document has been condemned as a western instrument which fails to take account of cultural values around the world. Those who drew it up tried to take account of a wide variety of cultural differences and thought hard about that issue. I understand the view of some that it puts far too much emphasis on individual rights, individual liberties and individual justice. I would not argue that point, but that we often fail to pay attention to the other side of the document, which speaks of economic rights, rights of social justice, education, housing and the right to work. The declaration makes it clear that we must be prepared to ensure that human rights defenders around the world are protected. If they cannot be protected, how can the human rights of those who are suffering be protected? We must therefore support improved human rights courts and regional human rights facilities, such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Above all, we must show that we are serious about defending the human rights of people around the world by being prepared to condemn, without fear or favour, what goes on in particular countries. I agree with the Committee Chairman, the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling and others about Saudi Arabia. Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, although they are recognised, are not discussed in enormous detail, I suspect because Saudi Arabia has a vast amount of oil and buys vast amounts of arms from this country. That, quite simply, is what the equation is about. If we believe in universal human rights and justice, they should apply all over the world. It is up to us to ensure that our foreign policies reflect that. We should recognise and celebrate that 60 years on, that seminal document written by Eleanor Roosevelt along with many others is well worth defending. Think of its successes. It has helped to save the lives of an awful lot of people who otherwise would have been killed by oppressive regimes.