Monday
Meeting with Anatol Liabedzka, chairman of the United Civil Party of Belarus and head of the National United Democratic Forces, a coalition of 20 political parties which support democracy.
President Lukaschenko has changed his rhetoric since Putin became president of Russia, no longer favouring anschluss. He is still quite popular in spite of his authoritarian rule, but since the beginning of 2007 when the Russians stopped subsidising oil and gas supplied to Belarus, the cost of living and unemployment have risen.
Among political prisoners are Alyaksandr Kazulin, serving five and a half years after an unfair trial; Zmitser Dashkevich, imprisoned for 18 years for belonging to an unregistered organisation, and Andrej Klimov, who has been imprisoned three times. There will be elections in the autumn of 2008 and without freedom of expression they will be meaningless.
The government produce half a million copies of their official daily paper. The opposition paper Freedom of Belarus, has to be printed abroad, and they can only afford 50,000 copies. There is an opposition website, hosted in Germany. He didn’t think the audiences for BBC World Service or Radio Free Europe in Belarus were very large, or that they were reaching people who needed to be convinced of the merits of democracy. (I since asked them, and the BBC say they have an audience of 67,000 for the Russian, 5,000 English service; RFE say they reach 1% of the population, about 100,000)
Because of low wages and rising costs, there is large scale emigration, with 600,000 in Russia alone. Officially there is no unemployment. The average pay in Minsk is the equivalent of $450 a month, and the rent of a one-room flat is $250.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunch with Tameem Ebrahim at which we discussed citizenship problems, mostly relating to Hong Kong. We have dealt with British National (Overseas) citizens of Indian origin, but there are remaining problems with the Nepalese. But in both cases, where a person was documented by the state concerned, notwithstanding that under the law of Nepal or India a person can’t be a citizen of another country and Indian or Nepalese as the case may be, the British are demanding a certificate that the document was issued in error.
PM, first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Intergovernmental Organisations, chairman Clive Soley. Terms of reference are to consider how international issues are addressed through our membership of intergovernmental organisations other than the EU, and how our membership contributes to the achievement of specific UJ policy objectives. This is a very wide field, and the Committee will have to confine its inquiries to particular objectives, still to be decided.
Tuesday
Meeting on the Chittagong Hill Tracts. There are good prospects for revival of the international Chittagong Hill Tracts, which did good work in the 90s. The problems still remain: militarization of the CHT; continued dilution of the indigenous people by internal migration of Bengali settlers; failure to implement the 1997 CHT Peace Accords, and human rights violations which are largely unreported in the outside world.
Wednesday
Question on the Rights of the Child. The Government say they need a reservation to make it possible to remove failed child asylum seekers, but other European countries manage without a reservation. Ministers claimed in the Borders Bill that full compliance would create a new avenue of appeal against refusal, but they are wrong; the Convention wouldn’t create any new appeal rights, but could only give applicants additional arguments they could deploy in existing appeals. If this is the fear, the Convention should at least be extended to all other functions of the Borders and Immigration Agency other than the implementation of decisions to grant, refuse or vary leave to remain in the UK.
The Minister who replied, Christine Crawley, didn’t answer these points, and I shall have to write to her.
After questions I met a party of MA students from City University, showed them round the Palace of Westminster, and gave them a thumbnail sketch of the work of the House.
Then to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, for a multi-faith event there to mark Prisons Week. Ironically, because of the endemic shortage of staff, none of the prisoners were able to attend, but there were representatives of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism. The Address was given by the Ven Ajahn Khemadhammo Mahathera, Spiritual Head of the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Angulimala, He said that when he had started work in the prisons, an event of this kind would have been unthinkable. With Burmese monks at the ceremony, he pointed out that recently, monks had taken to the streets there armed only with the Buddha’s words of lovingkindness, even in the face of oppression. Religion gave us a standard: how to live without anger but with friendship to all. If we took this example out into society, just imagine how the world would be transformed. The Prison Service Chaplaincy was to be praised for bringing all the faiths together, and with that peace and harmony we could end violence, anger and hatred.
Thursday
Meeting with NGOs to discuss the Climate Change Bill. It was difficult to see how it could be applied to development issues, the remit being entirely concerned with the UK’s attainment of emission reduction targets.
Then to Cambridge, where I spoke to the University LibDems on foreign affairs generally, and conflict resolution in particular.
Friday
The House didn’t sit today, but I chaired a meeting of the Traveller Law Reform Unit Advisory Committee. The Committee discussed the recent judgement of the European Human Rights Court in the case of DH & others v Czech Republic [57325/00], in which it was decided that the authorities had acted unlawfully in segregating Roma children into special schools, and whether this had any bearing on the exclusion of Gypsy and Traveller children from schools in England and Wales. It was acknowledged, however, that the Department for Children, Schools and Families was very supportive. The Committee discussed the extension of Mobile Homes Act security of tenure to Gypsies and Travellers in the Housing and Regeneration Bill; the need for research on evictions, and on existing local authority sites that were unsuitable because of their proximity to rubbish tips, motorways, sewage works etc.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
BL reception
Taken at the reception in the Lord Speaker's River Room to launch the British Library's digital exhibition in the Lords Library - with David Jones, our former Librarian, Parthe Ward our senior Librarian, Sir Colim Lucas, Chairman of the British Library, and Peter Davis, our Deputy Librarian.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Snakes and Ladders
A major disaster today, when Windows XP on the main computer in my office at home packed up and was incapable of being restored. I had to reinstall XP which took ages, and wiped out the G drive with all my data on it. The most recent backup was several weeks old so I lost quite a number of files, as well as wasting several hours reinstalling drivers, getting the printer to work etc.
I have been appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee on Intergovernmental Organisations, a new Select Committee which starts work on Monday, with consideration of subjects for the first inquiry. The idea is to see how the UK addresses issues of international policy through our membership of international organisations (other than the EU). The Liaison Committee recommended that this Committee be established in pursuance of suggestions by Lord (Clive) Soley that the Committee should evaluate the contribution our membership makes to the achievement of specific UK policy objectives such as the prevention of human trafficking or limiting global warming.
I have been appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee on Intergovernmental Organisations, a new Select Committee which starts work on Monday, with consideration of subjects for the first inquiry. The idea is to see how the UK addresses issues of international policy through our membership of international organisations (other than the EU). The Liaison Committee recommended that this Committee be established in pursuance of suggestions by Lord (Clive) Soley that the Committee should evaluate the contribution our membership makes to the achievement of specific UK policy objectives such as the prevention of human trafficking or limiting global warming.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Diary
I’ve not been lazy since the last time I posted, just busy. Here’s a brief diary:
Wednesday November 7
Queen’s Speech debate on foreign affairs and defence, was to have opened for the Government by Lord Drayson, but he cried off just beforehand to start a new career in motor-racing. You couldn’t invent it, and it will be interesting to know what the real reasons were. Baroness (Anne) Taylor said it gave her great pleasure, and not a little surprise, to be taking his place. There were 44 speakers, who were invited to restrict themselves to 8 minutes, and in that time I touched on the crisis in Pakistan, and the forgotten agenda of Mr Blair’s Commission for Africa. I welcomed the belated addition of access to reproductive and sexual health services, including contraceptive advice and services, to the millennium development goals. Most speakers ignored the advice on timing and we finished at 10.53.
Thursday November 8
Meeting with Dr Orin Levine, Executive Director of PneumoADIP, to discuss the work of the All-Party Group on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention. Meeting with Frank Soodeen of Alcohol Concern, to discuss a survey we are planning on how Primary Care Trusts are spending the money they had from the Government to combat alcohol harm. It wasn’t ring fenced, and some may have used the money to reduce their deficits. Lunch with Frank Russell to discuss an ambitious scheme for regional centres of educational excellence in Africa. Afternoon, meeting with Raja Devasish Roy to discuss the current situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government, which holds office until the elections at the end of 2008, is also responsible for the CHT, and I had attended an off the record presentation he gave at the International Institute for Strategic Studies the previous Monday
Friday November 9
To Oxford, to chair a meeting of the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund Trustees. The fund, in memory of my father, promotes engineering and management education at Balliol College and Oxford University. This year is the 50th anniversary of our engineering scholarships, and the centenary of the Engineering School. (And its 62 years since I went to Balliol to read engineering)
Sunday November 11
To the Dutch Church, at Austin Friars in the City, where English Voices and the Steinitz Bach Players were playing Bach’s cantata We must pass through great affliction to enter God’s Kingdom. I said to the Minister after the service that the words reminded me, as a Buddhist, of the First Noble Truth: that ‘dukkha’ or unsatisfactoriness is an inevitable quality of human life, and though one may be lucky enough to have moments of pure joy – as in listening to the duet in this cantata – they don’t last long.
Monday November 12
All-Party Burma Group to hear from Bo Kyi about political prisoners, and Charm Tang of the Shan Women’s Network. Among others, Buddhist monks have been killed, hundreds arrested, and monasteries closed down, particularly appalling for a people who have always respected and loved the Sangha. At lunchtime, to the Department for Children, Schools and Families for a meeting between the Minister, Lord Adonis, and officers of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers (ACERT), of which I’m President.
I was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace for people concerned with the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, but was held up dealing with an urgent immigration case. Hope it wasn’t lèse majesté
Tuesday November 13
Morning, at a Royal College of Physicians conference on reducing the harm caused by alcohol. The conference charter demanded that the price of alcohol should be increased; that there should be enough treatment and help available for those who need it; there should be better regulation of the drinks industry, sensible proposals the Government will ignore. At question time I intervened on the subject of West Papua, which was occupied by Indonesia after a bogus ‘Act of Free Choice’. PM, meeting with Dan Tyler of SaferWorld to discuss their report on the impact on Africa of the international arms trade. Evening, Barbara Stapleton arrived from Afghanistan. We discussed her report on the Provincial Reconstruction Team strategy, which isn’t working.
Wednesday November 14
Armed with SaferWorld’s advice, I chipped in on a question about the proposed arms trade treaty. This evening I hosted a reception for the British Library in the Lord Speaker’s magnificent River Room. The BL have organised an exhibition in our Library of some of their digitisation projects, including the whole of the 19th century provincial press and treasures of early English literature. Evening, preparing for tomorrow’s debate introduced by Lord (Clive) Soley on ‘the case for liberal intervention’. Don’t recognise the term? Read the dabate!
Thursday November 15
Was to have had lunch with the Principal Jim Power and Vice Principal Innes van Nostrand of my old school Upper Canada College, but Ckive’s debate started earlier than expected, and I only had five minutes for a brief chat with them, before settling them in the gallery to listen to part of the debate. Tea with Dr Michele Sciurbs, Honorary Consul of Sao Tome E Principe in Rome, who was preparing the ground for a visit by two of their Ministers.
Friday November 16
To the Royal Geographical Society, for the launch of the UK National Committee for the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, and discussion meeting. Atmospheric temperature increase is a fact, and it’s a dangerous mistake to consider only scenarios limited to 2C maximum rise. Climate change is almost certainly anthropogenic, and we need to integrate the social sciences into the review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unfortunately I was the only politician at the meeting, and there appeared to be no officials there either; yet most of what I heard was of direct concern to policy makers.
Wednesday November 7
Queen’s Speech debate on foreign affairs and defence, was to have opened for the Government by Lord Drayson, but he cried off just beforehand to start a new career in motor-racing. You couldn’t invent it, and it will be interesting to know what the real reasons were. Baroness (Anne) Taylor said it gave her great pleasure, and not a little surprise, to be taking his place. There were 44 speakers, who were invited to restrict themselves to 8 minutes, and in that time I touched on the crisis in Pakistan, and the forgotten agenda of Mr Blair’s Commission for Africa. I welcomed the belated addition of access to reproductive and sexual health services, including contraceptive advice and services, to the millennium development goals. Most speakers ignored the advice on timing and we finished at 10.53.
Thursday November 8
Meeting with Dr Orin Levine, Executive Director of PneumoADIP, to discuss the work of the All-Party Group on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention. Meeting with Frank Soodeen of Alcohol Concern, to discuss a survey we are planning on how Primary Care Trusts are spending the money they had from the Government to combat alcohol harm. It wasn’t ring fenced, and some may have used the money to reduce their deficits. Lunch with Frank Russell to discuss an ambitious scheme for regional centres of educational excellence in Africa. Afternoon, meeting with Raja Devasish Roy to discuss the current situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government, which holds office until the elections at the end of 2008, is also responsible for the CHT, and I had attended an off the record presentation he gave at the International Institute for Strategic Studies the previous Monday
Friday November 9
To Oxford, to chair a meeting of the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund Trustees. The fund, in memory of my father, promotes engineering and management education at Balliol College and Oxford University. This year is the 50th anniversary of our engineering scholarships, and the centenary of the Engineering School. (And its 62 years since I went to Balliol to read engineering)
Sunday November 11
To the Dutch Church, at Austin Friars in the City, where English Voices and the Steinitz Bach Players were playing Bach’s cantata We must pass through great affliction to enter God’s Kingdom. I said to the Minister after the service that the words reminded me, as a Buddhist, of the First Noble Truth: that ‘dukkha’ or unsatisfactoriness is an inevitable quality of human life, and though one may be lucky enough to have moments of pure joy – as in listening to the duet in this cantata – they don’t last long.
Monday November 12
All-Party Burma Group to hear from Bo Kyi about political prisoners, and Charm Tang of the Shan Women’s Network. Among others, Buddhist monks have been killed, hundreds arrested, and monasteries closed down, particularly appalling for a people who have always respected and loved the Sangha. At lunchtime, to the Department for Children, Schools and Families for a meeting between the Minister, Lord Adonis, and officers of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers (ACERT), of which I’m President.
I was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace for people concerned with the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, but was held up dealing with an urgent immigration case. Hope it wasn’t lèse majesté
Tuesday November 13
Morning, at a Royal College of Physicians conference on reducing the harm caused by alcohol. The conference charter demanded that the price of alcohol should be increased; that there should be enough treatment and help available for those who need it; there should be better regulation of the drinks industry, sensible proposals the Government will ignore. At question time I intervened on the subject of West Papua, which was occupied by Indonesia after a bogus ‘Act of Free Choice’. PM, meeting with Dan Tyler of SaferWorld to discuss their report on the impact on Africa of the international arms trade. Evening, Barbara Stapleton arrived from Afghanistan. We discussed her report on the Provincial Reconstruction Team strategy, which isn’t working.
Wednesday November 14
Armed with SaferWorld’s advice, I chipped in on a question about the proposed arms trade treaty. This evening I hosted a reception for the British Library in the Lord Speaker’s magnificent River Room. The BL have organised an exhibition in our Library of some of their digitisation projects, including the whole of the 19th century provincial press and treasures of early English literature. Evening, preparing for tomorrow’s debate introduced by Lord (Clive) Soley on ‘the case for liberal intervention’. Don’t recognise the term? Read the dabate!
Thursday November 15
Was to have had lunch with the Principal Jim Power and Vice Principal Innes van Nostrand of my old school Upper Canada College, but Ckive’s debate started earlier than expected, and I only had five minutes for a brief chat with them, before settling them in the gallery to listen to part of the debate. Tea with Dr Michele Sciurbs, Honorary Consul of Sao Tome E Principe in Rome, who was preparing the ground for a visit by two of their Ministers.
Friday November 16
To the Royal Geographical Society, for the launch of the UK National Committee for the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, and discussion meeting. Atmospheric temperature increase is a fact, and it’s a dangerous mistake to consider only scenarios limited to 2C maximum rise. Climate change is almost certainly anthropogenic, and we need to integrate the social sciences into the review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unfortunately I was the only politician at the meeting, and there appeared to be no officials there either; yet most of what I heard was of direct concern to policy makers.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Meeting with ASEAN MPs this morning
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFo7pT1T2O4
A useful and positive discussion with MPs from ASEAN countries on what we can do together to promote the cause of freedom in Burma.
A useful and positive discussion with MPs from ASEAN countries on what we can do together to promote the cause of freedom in Burma.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Short week
Yesterday the Parliament was prorogued, ie ended, and the new Session will be opened by the Queen on November 6. I have never attended the State Opening in the 45 years I've been in Parliament, because I don't see Parliament as being about dressing up in funny clothes like something out of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera.
The prorogation ceremony I don't object to so much, because only the Lord Speaker, the Leader of the House, the Leaders of the three parties and the Leader of the Crossbenchers have to put on robes. The men also have to wear ridiculous Napoleonic headgear, which they doff three times to the Commons at the bar, while the two women just bow. The names of the few Acts which haven't already been given Royal Assent are read out in turn, and after each the Clerk says 'La Reine le Veult'. Finally, the Leader reads out a Queen's Speech on prorogation, listing all the wonderful things done by 'my Government' during the past Session.
The extra day's sitting, at which no other business is transacted, probably costs £50,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I chaired a meeting to discuss the research findings of Dr Jo Richardson of de Montfort University on site provision for Gypsies and Travellers, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation [www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/2142.asp]. Other speakers were Cllr Richard Bennett, chair of the LGA Gypsy Traveller Task Group and Janie Codona, a former Commissioner of the CRE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday I asked a supplementary question on the trials of the four LRA leaders in Uganda, and the scientific evidence on global warming and the floods in Uganda (and other parts of east and central Africa) www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/71029-0002.htm
The prorogation ceremony I don't object to so much, because only the Lord Speaker, the Leader of the House, the Leaders of the three parties and the Leader of the Crossbenchers have to put on robes. The men also have to wear ridiculous Napoleonic headgear, which they doff three times to the Commons at the bar, while the two women just bow. The names of the few Acts which haven't already been given Royal Assent are read out in turn, and after each the Clerk says 'La Reine le Veult'. Finally, the Leader reads out a Queen's Speech on prorogation, listing all the wonderful things done by 'my Government' during the past Session.
The extra day's sitting, at which no other business is transacted, probably costs £50,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I chaired a meeting to discuss the research findings of Dr Jo Richardson of de Montfort University on site provision for Gypsies and Travellers, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation [www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/2142.asp]. Other speakers were Cllr Richard Bennett, chair of the LGA Gypsy Traveller Task Group and Janie Codona, a former Commissioner of the CRE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday I asked a supplementary question on the trials of the four LRA leaders in Uganda, and the scientific evidence on global warming and the floods in Uganda (and other parts of east and central Africa) www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/71029-0002.htm
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Trafalgar Square rally
Speaking at a rally in Trafalgar Square yesterday on human rights violations in China and the Olympic Games. I said that foreign visitors who attend the Games might take copies of the Mandarin translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with them, to give to Chinese sports fans, officials and other people they meet there. (www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/chn.pdf)
The Olympic Charter's objective is to establish a peaceful society based on human dignity, but Chinese officials have said they will 'crack down severely on troublemakers' in advance of the 2008 Games.
There are still more executions in China than the rest of the world put together.
In Tibet, the police beat up schoolchildren for drawing political graffiti and murder people fleeing across the border into Nepal. The hysterical reaction to the Dalai Lama's reception by President Bush shows what they think of the human dignity of the Tibetans.
The arrests, tortures, killings and vilification of peaceful members of the Falun Gong is another brazen violation of the Olympic Charter.
Abroad, China encourages brutal dictators and props them up with arms. In Burnma, they sustain the incongruously named State Peace and Development Council, which kills and injures monks, imprisons democrats, and wages war against its ethnic minorities.
In Zimbbwe, they befriend the appalling Mugabe, who drove 700,000 people out of their homes, eradicated the free press, rewarded a few cronies while making the rest of the population destitute, and drove two million people into exile.
In Sudan, with their ally General Beshir, they have blocked UN measures to stop the genocide in Darfur, and to prevent it from spreading into Chad and the Central African Republic.
Some people hoped that awarding the Olympic Games to China would give them an incentive to improve their human rights record, and there's just a chance that it may. Let all sports fans and other tourists visiting China engage with the Chinese people in their struggle for human dignity, and for the rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration.
The Olympic Charter's objective is to establish a peaceful society based on human dignity, but Chinese officials have said they will 'crack down severely on troublemakers' in advance of the 2008 Games.
There are still more executions in China than the rest of the world put together.
In Tibet, the police beat up schoolchildren for drawing political graffiti and murder people fleeing across the border into Nepal. The hysterical reaction to the Dalai Lama's reception by President Bush shows what they think of the human dignity of the Tibetans.
The arrests, tortures, killings and vilification of peaceful members of the Falun Gong is another brazen violation of the Olympic Charter.
Abroad, China encourages brutal dictators and props them up with arms. In Burnma, they sustain the incongruously named State Peace and Development Council, which kills and injures monks, imprisons democrats, and wages war against its ethnic minorities.
In Zimbbwe, they befriend the appalling Mugabe, who drove 700,000 people out of their homes, eradicated the free press, rewarded a few cronies while making the rest of the population destitute, and drove two million people into exile.
In Sudan, with their ally General Beshir, they have blocked UN measures to stop the genocide in Darfur, and to prevent it from spreading into Chad and the Central African Republic.
Some people hoped that awarding the Olympic Games to China would give them an incentive to improve their human rights record, and there's just a chance that it may. Let all sports fans and other tourists visiting China engage with the Chinese people in their struggle for human dignity, and for the rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration.
Friday, October 26, 2007
My week at Westminster
Tuesday October 23
UK Borders Bill Third Reading www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/71023-0002.htm
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/71023-0006.htm
Wednesday October 24
Thursday October 25
Lords Hansard text for 25 Oct 200725 Oct 2007 (pt 0002)
Female Genital Mutilation
Lords Hansard text for 25 Oct 200725 Oct 2007 (pt 0001)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
JW in his room
This was taken just after midnight yesterday evening.
I won 2-1 at ping-pong yesterday, making the grand total 75-74 to me.
I won 2-1 at ping-pong yesterday, making the grand total 75-74 to me.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
My week in the Lords
Question, Speaker's Conference and Voting Systems 15 Oct 2007 : Column 528
Debate, Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy: 18 Oct 2007 : Column 799
Plus written questions I don't usually bother to record, but for this week:
Government: Ministerial Responsibilities
Lords Hansard text for 18 Oct 200718 Oct 2007 (pt 0001)
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government: How much time elapsed between the announcement of the recent ministerial changes and publication by the Cabinet Office of the list of ministerial responsibilities; .....
British Citizenship
Lords Hansard text for 18 Oct 200718 Oct 2007 (pt 0001)
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will exercise the power granted in Section 27(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 to give effect to the commitment made by Home Office Minister Lady Young to Lord Avebury during the passage of the Hong Kong Bill in 1985 that no former Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizen or any child born after 1 July 1997 to such person... .....
British Citizenship
Lords Hansard text for 18 Oct 200718 Oct 2007 (pt 0001)
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will exercise the power granted in Section 27(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 to remedy any anomalies created by Section 2(2) of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 which render a newborn infant stateless, where save for the provision of Section 2(2) of the 1990 Act, the infant would have become a... .....
Justice: Ecclesiastical Courts
Lords Hansard text for 17 Oct 200717 Oct 2007 (pt 0001)
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government: How many (a) charges, and (b) convictions there have been for offences under the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 in each of the years 1997 to 2006 inclusive. .....
Friday, October 19, 2007
Somaliland
Will the UK help to develop a comprehensive media law in Somaliland? A 3-4 year project costing £700k has been put to the FCO and DfID, as Yusuf Gabobe told me this morning. I will see whether the Somaliland Parliamentary Group can do anything to help this valuable initiative. Somaliland is one of the most democratic countries in Africa, but it needs a lot of help with drafting laws, and freedom of expression needs to be underpinned. Gabobe himself, publisher of the independent Somali-language daily Haatuf, was released after nearly three months in prison on March 20 this year.
Speech at the Baha'i Centre, on receiving the Blomfield Award
My father had a friend called Noel Mobbs, who was given a knighthood just after the last war for his support of boys’ clubs. At a lunch in his honour he was describing the scene when he went to
. “The King said to me: ‘Mobbs, for what you’ve done you deserve a peerage’ and I said to him ‘that’s up to you your Majesty’.
Let me say without qualification that there’s no honour I would sooner have received that the Blomfield award, established in memory of Sara Louisa Ryan, Lady Blomfield, one of the most remarkable women born in the second half of the 19th century. Its difficult for us to imagine the enormous wall of prejudice and discrimination that women of that era had to surmount if they were to do anything at all outside the domestic sphere. Barred from the universities and the professions, business and Parliament, and treated as the chattels of their husbands in English law, it’s a miracle that a few women did get to play a role in public life. Lady Blomfield’s contribution spanned among other causes the women’s suffrage movement, the liberation of
And that brings me to the second reason why I am proud to be the recipient of this award. I have long been an admirer of the Baha’is, and of the principles that guide them. Tomorrow I’m initiating a debate in the Lords on the Government’s revised alcohol harm reduction strategy. The Government always preface their statements on alcohol harm by pointing out that 90% of the adult population drink alcohol, most of them sensibly. But millions of people – men, women and children – are drinking hazardous or harmful amounts, and there is never any attempt to highlight the 10% who don’t drink, like the Baha’is. I intend to emphasise that an alcohol-free lifestyle can be exciting and fulfilling.
The Baha’is. Work hard for the equality of women, human rights and particularly the rights of children, religious freedom and the promotion of international cooperation through the United Nations, in which they continue to play an important role as they did in the
When I first entered the Commons 45 years ago, I wanted to make some contribution to human rights, and joined the Parliamentary Civil Liberties Group, which was concerned with domestic human rights here in the
If you look at the volume of human rights-related questions and debates in both Houses over a number of years, you will see a huge increase. That may be partly to do with the proliferation of human rights NGOs, but it is actually a two-way process. The NGOs need to have organised all-party groups of MPs with whom they can interact, and apart from the PHRG itself, there has been a great expansion of thematic and country-related All-Party Groups in recent years – subjects ranging from AIDS to zoos, and countries from
Oddly enough, there isn’t a Group in Parliament or an NGO covering religious freedom in general. Often there are lessons to be learned from comparisons between the kinds of religious persecution that occur in different countries. The recent atrocities committed against the Buddhist monks in
Yesterday Ming Campbell said it was time for him to leave the stage, though it seemed to me he was shoved off it by ageist scribblers and cartoonists in the media. Ming has as sharp an intellect as ever, and I hope there will be other important roles for him to play. People are living longer nowadays and there in no reason to retire either from the stage or politics when you still have something to offer. I remember running into Manny Shinwell in the peers’ entrance when he was 100 and mentioning an article about him in that morning’s Express. He asked me eagerly ‘What did it say’ I said the gist was that he was the oldest peer ever to have spoken in the House ‘Is that all they could find to say about me?’ was his dismissive comment..
Well, I don’t expect to break that record, but my ambition is to carry on, as Lady Blomfield did, as long as my health lasts, and nothing could have made that intention firmer than receiving the Lady Blomfield award.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Yes, I know its getting on for a month since I posted anything on the blog. But Maurice and Olivia were here until October 5, to our great joy and satisfaction, and since they left I've been rather busy with backlogs of letters and emails, together with the return of Parliament. Last week I had two days on UK Borders Bill which involved a lot of preparation, and fielding questions on Burma and Zimbabwe. Borders didn't finish in the two days allotted (not my fault, I'm not long-winded) so we have extra time next Tuesday. Wednesday I am to receive the Blomfield Award at the Baha'i Centre, and Thursday I'm initiating a debate on the Government's revised alcohol harm reduction strategy, which is not going to make much of a dent in the problem.
The one concession we have had on Borders was that children born abroad of women who married foreigners are to be treated the same as if the father were British and the mother foreign. Up to now there has been a cut-off date of February 7, 1961, and when we first raised the matter 5 years ago Ministers told us there had to be a cut-off oint and 'we can only go so far in righting the wrongs of history' We have now asked the Government whether putting this particular wrong right will enable the UK to withdraw its reservation on nationality to th Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
I almost forgot that in the few games of ping-pong since Maurice and Olivia left, the scores (me first) have been 1-0, 0-2 and 2-1, so the total is now 73 all.
The one concession we have had on Borders was that children born abroad of women who married foreigners are to be treated the same as if the father were British and the mother foreign. Up to now there has been a cut-off date of February 7, 1961, and when we first raised the matter 5 years ago Ministers told us there had to be a cut-off oint and 'we can only go so far in righting the wrongs of history' We have now asked the Government whether putting this particular wrong right will enable the UK to withdraw its reservation on nationality to th Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
I almost forgot that in the few games of ping-pong since Maurice and Olivia left, the scores (me first) have been 1-0, 0-2 and 2-1, so the total is now 73 all.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Sierra Leone election result
National Electoral Commission (NEC)
15 Industrial Estates,
Statement from NEC Chairperson
NEC Statement to the Media - 17 September 2007
At our last briefing, we informed the media and the public that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) would undertake a series of investigations and recounts in order to finalize the results of the presidential election run-off. We are happy to report today that the Commission undertook the field work during the period established and is ready today to present its findings. We at NEC are satisfied with the verification process which was undertaken, and are very confident that the official results we are about to announce are indeed those recorded in the polling stations and accurately reflect the will of the voters.
Nevertheless, it is with regret that we report that, despite all the measures taken to hinder electoral malpractices, there were instances where malpractice and fraud were attempted. The system we have instituted at NEC makes it difficult for fraud to be successfully undertaken, but it cannot completely stop those who are intent on manipulating the results from actually trying. This is the reason why NEC needed to be careful with the tallying of results. We are pleased that we have been able to detect malpractices and have taken appropriate remedial action to limit the influence which such acts would otherwise have.
For example, during the verification process we discovered counterfeit results forms which were sent to NEC from polling stations throughout the country. It was not difficult to detect them as they contained a spelling mistake in the title, the word ‘form’ was spelled ‘from’. Three such cases were identified at polling centres 07131 in Port Loko, 11153 in Moyamba and 13056 in Western Rural. The Commission responded by recovering the original forms issued to the stations that contained the true and accurate results. These were then entered into the tally.
There were also attempts at ballot stuffing and ballot-box swapping, but they were detected thanks to the measures put in place and the investigations conducted. Additionally, through the recounting process undertaken with party agents and observers, we were able to either confirm results or uncover various anomalies which were then addressed to accurately reflect the poll.
As reported earlier, the Commission noted polling station results with turn-outs of over 100%. It is impossible for voter turnout in excess of 100% to have taken place without fraud or illegal action. The Commission has been left with no option but to invalidate all results from polling stations reporting over 100% turnout. In all, 477 stations across the country have thus been invalidated, as follows: Kailahun: 90, Kenema: 65, Kono: 9, Bombali: 17, Kambia: 8, Koinadugu: 12, Port Loko: 2, Tonkolili: 6,
Bo: 123, Bonthe: 2, Moyamba: 24, Pujehun: 113, Western Rural: 1 and Western Urban: 5.
It is extremely regrettable to have to invalidate even a single polling station, and it is a decision that the NEC did not take lightly. However, the responsibility for the act of invalidation falls on those who are responsible for the malpractices, it is they who should be held accountable for disenfranchising voters, as there were legitimate votes cast in these polling stations.
There is one important element to highlight: international election standards say that the invalidation of votes does not require a repeat of the polling exercise if the act of invalidation does not affect the outcome of the poll. The National Electoral Commission can confirm that in the case of 8 September poll these invalidations have NOT affected the outcome of the election.
NEC will continue to collaborate with the law enforcement agencies in the investigations of all electoral malpractices reported.
There is a very important message arising from these elections: there is no longer a place for fraud and malpractice in the
The results
- 5,679 polling station results were entered into the results database, representing 100% of all polling stations across the country, excluding those that were invalidated.
- The average national turnout is 68.09%.
- The total number of valid votes cast is 1,740,058.
- There are 43,793 invalid votes, representing 2.45% of total votes cast.
- The general summary of the results, as well as the detailed results, by station and by centre, will be posted on the NEC website: www.necsierraleone.org.
The presidential run-off results by districts:
| | Koroma – APC | Berewa – SLPP |
| Kailahun | 11,631 | 111,695 |
| Kenema | 32,666 | 160,699 |
| Kono | 52,908 | 74,458 |
| Bombali | 125,419 | 14,095 |
| Kambia | 61,250 | 14,449 |
| Koinadugu | 42,178 | 23,130 |
| Port Loko | 132,287 | 17,789 |
| Tonkolili | 101,296 | 12,958 |
| Bo | 37,006 | 105,459 |
| Bonthe | 20,018 | 28,313 |
| Moyamba | 26,485 | 49,886 |
| Pujehun | 2,875 | 38,107 |
| WA Rural | 55,332 | 22,842 |
| WA Urban | 249,056 | 115,771 |
| National results | 950,407 | 789,651 |
In exercise of the powers conferred on the Returning Officer by section 37 of the Electoral Laws Act, 2002, I hereby certify that 950,407 valid votes were cast in favour of the candidate Ernest Bai Koroma at that election:
AND Ernest Bai Koroma therefore received the highest number of valid votes cast in the election:
Ernest Bai Koroma has been duly elected President of the
Any citizen of
Christiana Thorpe, Chairperson, National Electoral Commission
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Maurice and Olivia
Maurice and Olivia arrived at Heathrow this morning at 07.10 after a 27-hour journay from Auckland, and after a cup of tea at Flodden Road Maurice went to play tennis with Anna, Andrew and JW. He and Anna drew 4-4 against Andrew and JW.
Olivia had a bit of sleep, then played ping-pong this afternoon. They held out for dinner and finally retired at about 21.00.
Yesterday JW and I drew 1-1, today I beat him in the only game we played. So the score is 70 all.
Olivia had a bit of sleep, then played ping-pong this afternoon. They held out for dinner and finally retired at about 21.00.
Yesterday JW and I drew 1-1, today I beat him in the only game we played. So the score is 70 all.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Non-persons!
Yesterday's meeting with three members of the Kuwaiti Bidoon Committee. I can only publish a photograph with one of them, as the other two have relatives in Kuwait who they think might be victimised if they were recognised. I blurred the faces using Photoshop, but they were still unhappy about being on the blog at all.
Its almost unbelievable that a rich state denies 100,000 people all the normal rights of citizenship such as access to health, education and every other public service.
UNHCR has been given a mandate to work with governments to prevent statelessness from occurring, to resolve those cases that do occur and to protect the rights of Stateless persons. But according to the UN Committee for Refugees and Immigrants World Refugee Survey 2004, 'there are 120,000 stateless persons known as Bidoon... in Kuwait, denied the rights and benefits that Kuwaiti citizens enjoy'. This report says:
'During 2003, Kuwait made limited progress in addressing the long-standing issue of the stateless Bidoon. The government relaxed the 2,000-person annual cap to permit 5,500 Bidoon from three special categories (sons of female citizens married to Bidoon, those whose male relatives are citizens, and wives of citizens) to apply for citizenship. In another positive step, the government naturalized 1,600 Bidoon. Although the law allows the change of status for up to 2,000 Bidoon each year, Kuwait lowered the cap to only 600 persons in 2002'.
'The Ministry of Defense also approved citizenship for some 400 Bidoon who fought against Iraq during the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, shelving another proposal to naturalize posthumously those whose remains had been identified. If approved, naturalization of Bidoon killed in action would allow surviving family members to become Kuwaiti citizens'.
Its time this problem was dealt with firmly, and we will see what can be done to speed up the process of getting the Bidoons recognised as citizens.
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JW defeated me 3-0 again today making it 69-68 to him
Its almost unbelievable that a rich state denies 100,000 people all the normal rights of citizenship such as access to health, education and every other public service.
UNHCR has been given a mandate to work with governments to prevent statelessness from occurring, to resolve those cases that do occur and to protect the rights of Stateless persons. But according to the UN Committee for Refugees and Immigrants World Refugee Survey 2004, 'there are 120,000 stateless persons known as Bidoon... in Kuwait, denied the rights and benefits that Kuwaiti citizens enjoy'. This report says:
'During 2003, Kuwait made limited progress in addressing the long-standing issue of the stateless Bidoon. The government relaxed the 2,000-person annual cap to permit 5,500 Bidoon from three special categories (sons of female citizens married to Bidoon, those whose male relatives are citizens, and wives of citizens) to apply for citizenship. In another positive step, the government naturalized 1,600 Bidoon. Although the law allows the change of status for up to 2,000 Bidoon each year, Kuwait lowered the cap to only 600 persons in 2002'.
'The Ministry of Defense also approved citizenship for some 400 Bidoon who fought against Iraq during the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, shelving another proposal to naturalize posthumously those whose remains had been identified. If approved, naturalization of Bidoon killed in action would allow surviving family members to become Kuwaiti citizens'.
Its time this problem was dealt with firmly, and we will see what can be done to speed up the process of getting the Bidoons recognised as citizens.
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JW defeated me 3-0 again today making it 69-68 to him
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