Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Lord Glenarthur Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Glenarthur]

My Lords, my noble friend Lady Hooper has done the House and the Commonwealth a great service by initiating this debate. I recall that a few years ago, when in opposition, my noble friend Lord Howell of Guildford expressed concern during the debate on the Queen's Speech that the Government of the day had failed to make any reference to the Commonwealth when they prepared that speech. In my intervention on one aspect to do with the Pacific, where so many island states are staunch members of the Commonwealth, I very much echoed his remarks, as did others. Therefore, I look forward to hearing from my noble friend when he winds up about the current Government’s attitude towards and support for the Commonwealth, its members and its associated institutions.

I will turn to the South Pacific in a moment, but will begin with a more general observation. Sadly, we seem to read less and less about the influence and role of the Commonwealth. There was a time 10 or 20 years ago when barely a day went by without the comments of the Secretary-General or another influential member of the secretariat on matters relating to international issues involving the Commonwealth, or on more wide-ranging matters, being drawn to our attention by the media. Perhaps I read the wrong journals and am ill informed: or is it simply that the press and broadcast media feel that the Commonwealth has less relevance and do not report it? Or is the Commonwealth secretariat less forceful in expressing and publicising its views?

For the past 25 or so years, I have taken a close interest in the South Pacific. I was first involved as a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister in the late 1980s, when my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon was Foreign Secretary. I have been fortunate to travel there fairly regularly ever since. As members of the Commonwealth, Australia and New Zealand are naturally the major players in the region. Both countries do much to exert influence to ensure that the region remains stable and to enhance prosperity. The Commonwealth itself has a role to play throughout the region. Since the 1980s some of the reasons for a measure of disquiet in the region have diminished. The French are no longer testing nuclear weapons there; the United States is not destroying chemical weapons at Johnston Atoll. I recall both these issues being raised regularly at international or regional conferences which I attended. The UK naturally had to speak up for its wider interests, which did not always sit harmoniously with others in the Commonwealth, but it always struck me that somehow the fact that we were also members of the club that is the Commonwealth, if I may characterise it that way, made the Commonwealth something of a bridge between regional concerns and a wider international perspective.

However, now other issues have arisen which bear close examination. The influence of China throughout the South Pacific, often courting the island states with economic inducements, is no doubt welcome in many ways to those who need support, but one is bound to ask whether, in the international arena, its influence and aspirations are wholly benign or of self interest. The Japanese fishing industry, literally hoovering up the ocean with its long-line and other techniques of fishing—let alone its abhorrent whaling practices—stands, in time, seriously to damage the ability of the island states to sustain their own fishing industries. Of course, climate change and changes in sea levels are a major worry. I was very pleased to read on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s website that prosperity and resilience in the region was a key theme of the secretary-general’s address to the 42nd Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland yesterday.

There is also the matter of the internal politics of some of the island states and here I should like to dwell a little on Fiji, as did the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths of Burry Port. I visited Fiji last year for the second or third time. No more loyal member of the Commonwealth did there used to be than Fiji. Going back to colonial days, the people of Fiji venerated Queen Victoria and their links to the United Kingdom. The Rabuka coup of 1987 put paid, at least temporarily, to Fiji’s active participation in the Commonwealth. Now, 25 or so years later, following a third coup some years ago which removed democratic government from Fiji, Fiji remains politically isolated. I feel, as does the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, that the Commonwealth has a major role to play in pressing for a return to democracy in Fiji and I hope that elections certainly will be held in 2014.

How different Fiji is from its neighbour, Tonga, another country I know well. How stark it is that Fiji, which has strong familial ties with Tonga, should have moved in one direction and Tonga in precisely the opposite direction. One of the first and very farsighted acts of the King of Tonga when he acceded to the throne was to promise change to Tonga’s constitution so as to give up many of his residual powers as an absolute monarch and bestow genuine democracy and a constitutional monarchy upon his people. The success of these changes, which took effect in November last year, are immensely encouraging. Tonga is a loyal member of the Commonwealth with strong residual links to the United Kingdom and it plays its part on the international stage too. For example, Tonga even has a large contingent of its defence force currently serving in Afghanistan.

In a nutshell, the Commonwealth is a force for good in the Pacific, as it is elsewhere. It deserves wider recognition, but to gain that, its secretariat must be encouraged to become much more forceful, more outspoken in its utterances and press harder on its publicity while it is active on the world stage. Sometimes individual members may be uncomfortable with that, and unanimity of approach is difficult to achieve, but surely it is an aspiration worth encouraging and working towards.