Israel

Lord Bates Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Dykes for securing this timely debate and also for the way in which he has presented it. I believe that the only hope for the development of civilisation is to advance towards a society of states under a rules-based international order. The argument is that there is a community or society beyond the nation state of which we are all part and being part of that club comes with international rights and responsibilities.

The alternative to a rules-based international order is anarchy in which the powerful do as they will while the weak suffer as they must. That is the completely opposite end of the spectrum from which I am sure we all entered politics. We wanted justice to trump power and protect freedom and if anything have a bias to the weak and the oppressed. This too was the desire which led to the creation of the United Nations out of the carnage of World War II. Article 1 of the UN Charter says:

“To bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes”.

Why is that relevant to this debate? Well it is relevant because we have voluntarily agreed along with 191 other nations to work for peace within a framework of law and non-violence. Why is that especially relevant to Israel? The state of Israel exists in international law only because the United Nations Special Committee of Palestine in 1947 proposed that it should be along with an Arab state of Palestine and because United Nations Resolution 181 said it existed in international law.

I would argue therefore that there is a special reason for the state of Israel to look benevolently upon the United Nations institution for it, more than any other nation or institution, has realised the aspirations of a Jewish national homeland and enshrined that in law. It therefore requires it to comply with its requests expressed through resolutions and work with the United Nations despite its manifold imperfections to bring about the creation of a viable Palestinian state as equal partners in an international society of nation states.

Human Rights

Lord Bates Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I, too, pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for giving us the opportunity for this debate. He is a rare champion for human rights, on which he has been consistent and persistent. In the role that he performs in this House, he is remarkably similar to Gary Streeter, my honourable friend in another place, who was the first chairman of the Conservative Human Rights Commission, set up in 2005 by William Hague. He, too, speaks up on these matters and has been a quiet and persistent voice representing the conscience of the Conservative Party and Parliament more widely. The commission’s work is to be approved and built on.

As the noble Lord, Lord Alton, said, it is no surprise that the Foreign Secretary should, as William Wilberforce’s biographer, find inspiration in Wilberforce—I know that my right honourable friend was moved by researching his life. My right honourable friend had the vision to ask what Britain can do that is similarly ambitious. He arrived at the area of human rights, about which he feels deeply passionate. When we as parliamentarians talk about the effect of Wilberforce, I am always mindful of the story that, although after many attempts he got the abolition of slavery through this House, it required policing by the Royal Navy to uphold the legislation. I think I am right in saying that that is still the most costly campaign that the Royal Navy has ever undertaken. Upholding the law is critical to our declarations of human rights, which are otherwise mere aspiration—there is no rigour to them.

It was not by accident, perhaps, that the Foreign Secretary should choose Lincoln’s Inn as the place in which to espouse his vision of a new impetus in the push for human rights. He said:

“The law is central to our values and is also the product of the same steady process of accumulation. The principles of due process and of no punishment without the law are both found in Magna Carta. The law is the ultimate guarantor of the rights of individuals”.

That is a powerful point. We need a degree of humility here. If we want to espouse human rights, we also have to be prepared to subjugate ourselves to the law, particularly the international law set up and articulated in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. We have to say that we are subject to that law. We have to behave accordingly and respect those institutions. If not, you end up with a kind of Melian dialogue in which, as has been said, the great powers do as they will and the weak suffer as they must. That is no fair world, whatever the aspirations. We all have to be subject to the law. Following the law and institutions is critical in this.

I illustrate that by talking about an opportunity that is coming up, although it may seem tangential to this debate. I have been rattling on—without a great deal of support from my own side, it has to be said—about the campaign for the Olympic Truce. Why do I mention the Olympic Truce? I do so because it is backed by a United Nations resolution, which says that during the period of the Olympic Games, in London in 2012, all member states will take initiatives to pursue peace and reconciliation. The resolution is signed by all 193 member states, but there is no record of any Government or signatory taking any initiative for peace and reconciliation during any Olympic Games.

I know that there is a technical argument about General Assembly resolutions and Chapter VII United Nations Security Council resolutions but, be that as it may, my view is that the United Nations is our only hope for a rules-based international system. Therefore, we should take it seriously. When this Government, as the Government of the host nation, propose the resolution to the United Nations that we will pursue initiatives for peace and reconciliation, it behoves us to take that seriously. When we start taking seriously what we say in such fora, the message goes out and adds weight to the other excellent things that we are doing in the field of human rights and about which we have been talking.

Diplomacy

Lord Bates Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

My Lords, it is a privilege to speak in this debate. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, on securing it and on the way in which he has introduced it. He has certainly made the case for an active and well resourced diplomacy.

Had the great minds who organise the sequence of speakers known something of the content of the contributions, mine would probably have come a little further down the list as it is more esoteric in nature and focuses particularly on an instrument called the Olympic Truce. The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, will be familiar with the subject as we had a debate on it in this House on 11 October. I want to place it in the context of public diplomacy and the comments about soft power.

In a speech in the Foreign Office on 1 July setting out the new direction of foreign policy under the coalition Government, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary said that the coalition Government’s goal was to,

“deliver a distinctive British foreign policy that extends our global reach and influence”.

That is absolutely right. Influence matters in the modern world, as the ability for nation states to act alone is severely constrained in the modern era—and many of us would say rightly so. Modern diplomacy, like politics, is now the art of persuasion, and as in any exercise in persuasion, reputation is vital, hence the unarguable importance to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to British diplomacy of the BBC World Service, the British Council, the Chevening and Marshall scholarships and Wilton Park. They set the mood music around which the negotiations, discussions and diplomacy are conducted.

There has been some discussion about whether it was right to separate DfID from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as the valued work that DfID does around the world is phenomenal. I am immensely proud to be a member of the coalition Government who will increase overseas aid to the 0.7 per cent figure to which we have aspired for so long. We should be very proud of that.

The Olympic Games are referred to on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website under the heading “Public diplomacy”. It states that it is:

“A once in a generation opportunity”,

and that:

“As 2012 approaches, the London Olympic Games will focus the world’s attention on Britain. The Games offer unique stimulus to invite people from around the globe to re-examine their views about the UK.

The FCO and our Public Diplomacy Partners view this as a remarkable opportunity to demonstrate the open, connected, dynamic and creative country that is Britain today”.

Nobody would argue with that. It is absolutely right that the eyes of the world are on London. The success that the Olympic Games are having is amazing. The stadium will be finished a year in advance. The velodrome, one of the largest facilities, will be opened in a few months. When the Chinese were doing that sort of thing for the Beijing Games, we all stood in awe; when the British do it, somehow we do not take the same pride, but it is a tremendous tribute to the reputations of the people who have worked on the Games and the leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Coe.

The Olympic Truce is a convention stretching from the original Games which says that, during the period of the Games themselves, the member states will,

“take the initiative to abide by the Truce, individually and collectively, and … pursue … the peaceful settlement of all international conflicts”.

That truce is moved in the United Nations General Assembly by the host nation, so it will be moved by the Government at the 65th session of the United Nations, next year. Her Majesty’s Government, like any previous Government in this country, have no intention whatsoever to take any initiative for peace or reconciliation during the Games at all. For not doing so, Britain will not be regarded as a pariah state because none of the other 191 countries that signs up to the Olympic Truce at the UN General Assembly, saying that they will pursue initiatives for peace and reconciliation during the Games, will do anything either.

I am trying to make the case for this being a great opportunity for British diplomacy. It can show us at our best. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something worth while. The United Nations truce will be the only element of the Olympic Games that falls directly within the bailiwick of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It is therefore astounding that there is no mention of it on the website. Yesterday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Select Committee in the other place had a hearing on public diplomacy at the London 2012 Games. During that, Jeremy Browne, the Minister, gave evidence for an hour but did not mention the truce once. In advance of that meeting, there was a 50-point statement as to what the Foreign Office would do on public diplomacy surrounding the Olympic Games, but it made no mention of the Olympic Truce.

I urge my noble friend to consider the Olympic Truce and give it its right place so that it can be an important element of how Britain is seen around the world, and in promoting good around the world.

Maldives

Lord Bates Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The noble Baroness is correct that the Sri Lankan Minister has been there and played an important part, as has the US ambassador. I am not sure about EU representation at the moment, but it obviously has an interest. We are working with all our partners in a proper concern to see that this republic prospers, without in any way interfering, as was suggested in an earlier question.

[Lord Bates]

Does my noble friend agree that representations to the Government of the Maldives would be a lot easier to make if the diplomatic representation was present there rather than in Sri Lanka?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

That is certainly true, but there have to be constraints on our resources. The high commission in Colombo is very active and a British official is now in the Maldives and about to attend a major climate conference in the coming week.

Korean Peninsula: “Cheonan”

Lord Bates Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

My noble friend is absolutely right that, if we can persuade the Chinese that their troublesome and awkward neighbour could be just as damaging to them as to the rest of us, we will be making progress. We are talking to them at a number of levels and we may make progress. However, at the moment, the Chinese are reluctant to pin blame. That is the problem.

[Lord Bates]

I, too, welcome my noble friend to his duties, to which he brings enormous expertise. As well as ensuring that there is a suitably robust international response to the specific instance that we are talking about, will he ensure that some progress is made on the lingering injustice of the artificial division of the Korean peninsula along the 38th parallel? Will he ensure that the pledge that was made in Cairo nearly seven years ago to try to bring about an independent, demilitarised, democratic and free united Korean people is also progressed as a way of reducing tension?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

That would, in theory, be the ideal. It is basically up to the nation states involved: North Korea and South Korea. In practice, there are, to put it mildly, a few difficulties.