Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Select Committee on International Development.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

As the world becomes more dangerous and more uncertain, we need to tackle the root causes of security threats to the UK, namely poverty and instability overseas. I therefore find it very concerning that spending allocations for the conflict, stability and security fund show huge reductions to aid programmes around the world for this financial year: a 63% drop in funding in the middle east and north Africa, for example, and a 53% reduction in the western Balkans. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s cuts throughout overseas development are compromising UK security and global stability? What will the Government do to address that?

[James Cleverly]

We have spoken at length in this House about the economic impact that the country and indeed the world have felt from covid, which has forced us temporarily to reduce our expenditure on official development assistance. We have had confirmation that we will return to 0.7%. With respect to the historical reductions in key areas such as humanitarian aid and women and girls, we will ensure that that money is returned to the budgets, as the Foreign Secretary has made clear. The process for future budget allocations has not concluded; until it has, any talk about figures can only be speculative on the hon. Lady’s part.

Throwline Stations

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Monday 24th January 2022 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, as always, Ms Ghani. I thank the Petitions Committee for selecting the topic and my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher), for leading the debate.

It is truly heartbreaking to hear about Mark, who lost his life at just 18. I give my thanks and condolences to his family and friends. I also thank Leeanne for setting the petition up, so that others have a chance to speak and hopefully not go through the horror that she went through. It is deeply upsetting, and it makes me angry that, had basic safety equipment been available, his life may have been saved. What makes it even worse for me is that Mark’s story is not an isolated incident.

According to the National Water Safety Forum, 242 accidental deaths took place in water in 2020. The debate provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on all of those tragedies and what more might have been done to prevent them. In May 2021, my constituent, Sam Haycock, tragically drowned in a local reservoir. Sam was just 16 years old. He was a talented judo competitor, who competed at a European level, and he really had a promising future ahead of him. Throwlines were available at the reservoir, and Sam’s friends tried desperately to save his life, but with the throwlines having been padlocked to prevent vandalism, his friends were unable to access them in time. Procedures should not hamper access to protective life-saving equipment, given that the difference between life and death is a matter of seconds, but unfortunately they do.

I want to paint you a picture. Just try to imagine that your friend is drowning and you are panicking. First, you have to locate the throwline. Then you have to call the emergency services to get an access code. Then you have to give them the access code. You have to remember the reference number that they give back to you, memorise the code and enter it—all the while, you can hear your friend crying for help. It is clear that this is about not just providing the equipment, but ensuring that it is easily locatable and accessible.

We must also confront the real reason why the throwline that might have saved Sam’s life was behind a padlock. Mindless vandals who damage or steal life-saving equipment are placing lives at risk, and we must ensure that the law acts as a sufficient deterrent. Since Sam’s death, his parents, Simon and Gaynor, have been campaigning for Sam’s law, which would do just that.

I worked with colleagues in the other place to table an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that would create a specific offence of destroying or damaging life-saving equipment, including lifebelts, lifejackets and defibrillators. The amendment was debated in Committee and on Report but, regrettably, was not pushed to a vote. Speaking for the Government on Report, Lord Wolfson argued that the amendment was not needed because endangering a life through intentional or reckless damage to property is already an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. That may be the case, but it is clearly not enough, and more needs to be done to prevent this sort of vandalism.

Several examples show clearly that existing legislation is failing to provide sufficient protection for life-saving equipment. After life-saving equipment was damaged at Salford Quays just days after being installed, Salford City Council was forced to resort to a public spaces protection order to deter vandalism. In Uckfield in Sussex, a defibrillator was rendered useless by vandals. Each act of vandalism on life-saving equipment could ultimately lead to a death, and the law needs to reflect that. Lord Wolfson acknowledged that

“if the law is not enough of a deterrent, we must focus on those responsible for water safety, health and safety, and law enforcement to come together to find out what is not working and identify workable solutions that might include sign-posting more clearly on the equipment the consequences of damaging that equipment.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 12 January 2022; Vol. 817, c. 1123-1124.]

That is a welcome commitment—but with lives at stake, it must have real urgency. I urge the Minister to bring forward a strategy that will ensure easy access to life-saving equipment, strengthen public information about water safety, and ensure that punishments for damaging or destroying that equipment recognise the devastating consequences to which that can lead.

If we are to save lives, we need to take action now. We need provisions that require local authorities, private landowners or whoever is responsible for a body of water not just to provide and signpost lifebelts and throwlines, but to ensure that they are properly maintained. There must be more education for all about the dangers of open water swimming, particularly in schools. Sadly, many of those who die in open water are children, who must be taught about water safety from the earliest age. We can prevent other families from suffering as Mark Allen and Sam Haycock’s families have, but it will take urgent and consistent action from the Government to ensure that our legal framework, infrastructure and education are up to the task.

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[The Minister for Levelling Up Communities (Kemi Badenoch)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Ghani. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher) for securing today’s important debate. I offer my condolences, and those of the whole Government, to Leeanne Bartley, who is with us today. There is nothing more horrific than losing a child. It is something that we all pray that we never see. I pay tribute to her for her tireless campaigning since her son’s tragic death in 2018. It is impossible not to be moved by this tragedy. It is heartbreaking to hear that Mark Allen drowned after jumping into a freezing reservoir on a hot day and that there were no throwlines in sight, and to hear similar stories of Sam, Lucas and so many of our young constituents.

It is also heartbreaking to learn that a similar tragedy apparently also took place the same year at another reservoir not a mile away. Dwayne Thompson, I am told, drowned aged just 20 after encountering similar freezing temperatures at Audenshaw reservoir, so there is clearly a problem that needs looking at. Leeanne Bartley, Amanda and Stephen Thompson, and Kirsty Furze have all shown tremendous courage, channelling their grief and using a platform that no parent should ever wish to have to press for change. The fact that Mrs Bartley’s petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures and is being debated in the House is testament to her efforts not being in vain. United Utilities, which owns both reservoirs, has installed new throwlines at both sites, as has been discussed, and these throwlines may one day be the difference between life and death for somebody else.

However, I acknowledge the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley and others that these things seem to occur only after the tragedy. I was struck by his point that it is not just about having the equipment, because what screams safe to us may scream unsafe to safety professionals. The company is now running hard-hitting campaigns targeted at teenagers, using TV, print and online media, to warn about the dangers of swimming in reservoirs and highlight the risks, as well as collaborating with the fire service.

I will answer a few of the questions raised in the debate, and then talk about what we are doing to protect people and ensure they are able to enjoy the waterways safely.

Many Members asked what the Government are doing on this issue, and I assure them that we are committed to protecting people in the weeks and months ahead. It was interesting to me that this issue does not sit within one Department. I am responding from a local government perspective but, as others have mentioned, the Department for Education is involved, as is the Cabinet Office, in terms of convening. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has a role for some waterways, and even the Department for Work and Pensions is involved, because it runs the Health and Safety Executive. When many Departments are looking at something, it is often not that straightforward to get a co-ordinated response, which is why we tend to answer questions specifically on the particular issues afforded in our remit.

The Cabinet Office is currently reviewing coastal water safety. We will explore with all our partners across central and local government what more can be done to raise awareness of water safety, and to increase the provision of throwlines and other vital lifesaving equipment near open bodies of water.

Members asked what landowners can do. Providing them with information is clearly required, and that means ensuring that businesses, landowners and councils are conducting up-to-date and thorough risk assessments. The Local Government Association’s water safety toolkit is an invaluable resource for councils in those cases where the local authority has a role. I am committed to working more closely with the LGA on ensuring that that is being properly publicised and used by local authorities across the country. People need to know about water safety, and we need to do more to publicise that.

Many Members asked about mandatory legislation. That is not where we would start. It may or may not be the answer, but we need to look at the various issues first.

The hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) raised an important point about throwlines being present but not usable, and a lot of work needs to be done to discover the right way to resolve those issues.

My hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Natalie Elphicke) raised issues about compulsory lifejackets and better education. That does not fall within the remit of my Department, but I know that officials will have taken that point away.

We also heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Clwyd (Dr Davies) and from the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman). Despite my Department covering only England, we need to ensure we have whole country coverage and work together with the devolved Administrations to provide a comprehensive view. I look forward to working with colleagues from across the House on this issue.

There are 40,000 lakes in this country and no matter where anyone is in the UK, they are no further than 70 miles from the coast. Between 2019 and 2020, searches for “wild swimming” increased by 94%. The pandemic has increased the number of people wild swimming. We do not want to discourage people from wild swimming as full-water immersion boosts the immune system, reduces inflammation and has many other health benefits, but we need to ensure people understand the risks involved, especially as more people carry out the activity.

In the past few years we have enjoyed very hot weather, but our waterways remain cold. They remain northern European, even if the weather is becoming Mediterranean. That is one reason why we must ensure people know the risks of wild swimming are just as real as the benefits.

The tragic deaths of Mark, Dwayne and other young people we have mentioned should have been unique accidents, but they were not. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones) stated, in 2020 alone there were 254 accidental drownings and 631 water-related fatalities in the UK. Combined with the surge in interest in wild swimming, this tragic loss of life highlights and reinforces the responsibility of landowners, whether they are local or not, to properly assess the safety requirements of bodies of water on their land. The Government’s No. 1 priority is to keep people safe, and we expect landowners to act in the same way.

[Sarah Champion]

First, I thank the Minister because she was clearly listening intently to my speech and to the whole debate. One thing that contributed to the death of Sam was that the equipment was overgrown—most of the places where we put throwlines are in areas of dense vegetation. I have a two-part question, thinking about how local authorities assess, and ensure the maintenance of, life-saving equipment for dangerous situations. We have identified that open bodies of water are dangerous, so could the Government say that there have to be so many throwlines for however many metres of waterfront, but also ensure that local authorities go in and make sure regular checks are being done? In the case I mentioned, that meant vegetation being cut down; in others, it may be that the equipment deteriorates in bright sunlight. Doing those things would ensure that, if the equipment is needed, people can access it and it is fit for purpose.

[Kemi Badenoch]

That is a really good point. It is exactly the kind of thing that I would expect the Local Government Association’s water safety toolkit to contain. If it does not, it is probably worth us mentioning it to the LGA when we next meet. I will ask officials to take that point away.

I was going to talk about the 30 different navigation authorities that manage regulated inland waterways, but I will mention just two: the Environment Agency and the Canal & River Trust, which some Members might have heard of. The Canal & River Trust is a charity that owns about 2,000 miles of inland waterway, and the Environment Agency is an arm’s length body of DEFRA that manages 630 miles of waterway. Both bodies are responsible for ensuring that waters are safe, and they have to undertake public safety assessments to work out where public rescue equipment such as throwlines should be on the waterways, so some work is done on that. Those bodies know waterways back to front and know the best places to install throwlines—the busiest locations, particularly where there have been previous safety incidents, or places of high risk, such as waterside parks. Those organisations run proactive public safety campaigns to raise awareness of the risks.

It is clear that we need to keep redoubling efforts to make as safe as possible the unregulated inland waterways and bodies of water that are not covered by charities and arm’s length bodies. The responsibility for providing water safety equipment rests with those organisations but in larger urban areas it rests with local authorities. Local authorities tend to work with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Royal Life Saving Society UK and the National Water Safety Forum, which have been mentioned. Those groups do a great job of warning people, through campaigns, of the dangers of getting into cold water, which can lead to panic, water inhalation and, in serious cases, cardiac arrest.

We all know that the best rules and guidance are redundant if people do not know how to swim to begin with. My hon. Friends the Members for Don Valley and for Southport (Damien Moore) and the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) were right to draw attention to the critical role of education in all this, and I will speak a bit about what people are being educated on. It goes without saying that swimming is a truly vital life skill, and that is why swimming and water safety form compulsory parts of the physical education curriculum at key stages 1 and 2. As part of the curriculum, pupils are taught to swim at least 25 metres competently and confidently using a range of strokes, and to perform safe self-rescue.

As part of our efforts to help children to catch up on learning and activity lost as a consequence of the pandemic, DFE organised for sports facilities at 101 schools to reopen their pools or extend their swimming offer in the last academic year. DFE has also been working closely with Swim England, the Royal Life Saving Society UK and Oak National Academy to support pupils in returning safely to swimming and to promote water safety education. DFE Ministers were very keen that I mention those points so that people would know what they are doing.

Although education has an important role to play, and the bodies I have mentioned continue to undertake proper risk assessments and put safety mitigations in place, there are other practical steps that each of us should keep in mind when we want to enjoy our waterways, and I will state them for the record as a reminder.

As part of her campaign, Mrs Bartley has really pressed home the importance of talking to children about cold water shock and the dangers of open water. She is absolutely right to stress that it takes a whole different set of skills to swim in open water than in a swimming pool, so what we are doing in schools is critical, but it is not all that needs to be done. The National Water Safety Forum advises swimmers to wear wetsuits and allow their bodies to acclimatise to the change in temperature, instead of jumping straight in. Another essential factor that people should consider before they go swimming in open water is the location, because the safest places to swim will always be supervised beaches with lifeguards and outdoor pools. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution also recommends that people check the weather forecast and sea conditions before a swim on the coast so that they can avoid the potential danger of getting caught in a strong comment.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) spoke very eloquently and with much expertise—far more than me—about these issues. Safety in the water is about not just safety equipment but understanding and being aware of the danger. United Utilities, which owns the reservoir where the tragic death of Mark Allen occurred, has now made sure that its signs make clear the risk to life. On its website, it has set out guides for parents, highlighting how a cold shock can affect even proficient swimmers. The advice of the RNLI is:

“If in doubt, don’t go out.”

[Sarah Champion]

I wonder whether the Minister is able to comment on something or pass it to her colleagues in Education. When I was at school, we had swimming lessons. I hated them and they worked, because I have never been near water again, so they have kept me safe. I went to a local authority school, and many local authority pools have now been shut down and many schools are now academies. Is it compulsory or recommended in education that children, particularly primary school children, still have swimming lessons? If not, is it something that the Minister could raise with her colleagues?

[Kemi Badenoch]

Yes, it is part of the key stage curriculum, but I will get DFE Ministers to write more comprehensively to the hon. Lady on this issue. I would not want to say something that is inaccurate, because it is not in my portfolio.

Ethiopia: Humanitarian and Political Situation

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Bone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) on securing this debate and on all the work that he does through the APPG. His commitment to the region, his passion and his understanding have been demonstrated by not only his speech but the work that he does throughout this place. I commend him for it. It is also a pleasure to speak after the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who has always been a champion for the most vulnerable on this planet—it is a pleasure to speak in his wake.

A peaceful resolution to the conflict seems no closer now than it did when we last met here in November, or when the International Development Committee carried out its inquiry and report in the spring of last year. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating, particularly for women and girls, as the use of sexual violence by all sides is becoming systematic. That is what I want to focus my short speech on today.

Over 2,200 cases of sexual violence were reported to authorities in just the first six months after the conflict began. The real numbers are obviously far higher. To get some sense of the scale, consider that visits to health centres following sexual assault have quadrupled since the beginning of the conflict. Half of the reported cases were gang rapes, and some health centres reported that 90% of victims were underage—remember, that is just the reported cases. The UN estimates that a third of incidents against civilians have involved sexual violence, and it will only get worse as hunger spreads, with women and girls being bartered for food—women-led households are acutely vulnerable. With the UN reporting that it will have no more cereal and cooking oil for Tigray after this week, the prospects for women and girls are looking increasingly bleak. The collapse of the healthcare system, with only a third of health centres in Tigray open and just 6% of them with obstetrics facilities, means there is no support in place for women and survivors. That means women and girls dying as a result of injuries from attacks and risky pregnancies amid the crisis of malnutrition and potential famine.

All forces must immediately condemn and explicitly prohibit the use of sexual violence by their troops and allow for the independent investigation of all reports. The UN Secretary General special taskforce must be allowed to investigate. The special rapporteur on sexual violence in conflict should be permitted to visit refugee camps to interview survivors and record abuses as per Security Council resolution 1888. The recently appointed Human Rights Council expert panel must prioritise work on sexual violence. The humanitarian blockades must end, with aid convoys urgently being allowed unfettered access, if we are to avert famine and protect women and girls from the prospect of further sexual violence.

The Foreign Secretary has long declared that ending sexual violence in war is a key priority. We all welcome the forthcoming global summit on sexual violence later this year. However, women and girls across Ethiopia need support now. UK leadership on this issue is vital if the summit is to have any credibility. I welcome that this Government have sent out one expert on preventing sexual violence, but given the scale of what is going on, one expert is not enough.

We need to see this Government shift to a focus on preventing atrocity. As the hon. Member for Strangford said, we need to be there on the ground, ensuring that the data is gathered so that, hopefully, we can see those criminals brought to justice in the international courts. More important than that, we need to be doing more on prevention. I know that hon. Members will share my frustration that all we have been able to do with the scraps of genuine information that we have is sit and watch and shout to try and prevent this awful hell on earth as it unfolds in front of us.

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[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Mr Bone.

I thank the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) for securing a debate on this crisis and for his powerful candour about the situation as a long-standing friend of Ethiopia. I agree with him that it is disappointing that the issue has not received more attention in the House. I have raised it nearly 50 times since the start of the crisis, through questions and in debates, alongside many other Members. However, it has not received the attention it deserves, either in this country or globally, not least given the level of atrocities, suffering and chaos, and the wider implications for the region and the world. The crisis is very much human-made, just as we saw in the 1980s, and that gives it particular tragedy.

We have heard some powerful and shocking testimony today, from a range of Members, who all made powerful points. I hope that the Minister will give us far greater assurance than previously about the priority that the UK Government give to the crisis and about how we work with others in the international community, in particular given our role as a P5 member and on the UN Human Rights Council, and not least because of our particular historical development and trading relationships with Ethiopia.

I hope that the Minister will start his response by giving us an update on diplomatic efforts to secure a peaceful settlement, which is crucial. That point has been made multiple times in the debate—securing a ceasefire is key to achieving progress. We saw some steps over the Christmas period, but they appear to be limited and have not been matched by changes on the ground.

It is deeply depressing to be here again, nearly 14 months since the conflict started. The humanitarian situation has steadily but surely deteriorated, with thousands of deaths and millions suffering, in particular in Tigray but also in neighbouring regions, such as Afar, Amhara and beyond. Civilians have faced indiscriminate large-scale massacres, arbitrary arrest, false disappearances, looting and violence. They have been denied the rights to food, shelter, healthcare and education, and we have heard about despicable sexual violence and rape targeting women and girls. There is clear evidence of crimes against humanity and of war crimes.

Since we last discussed the issue, the crisis has worsened for many people across Tigray and those other regions. The UN has warned that its food distribution operations are on the verge of grinding to a halt. In recent days, too, we have seen allegations that the Ethiopian air force hit displaced civilians with air raids. It is not known how those attacks were carried out, but we know that they occurred. In just the past few weeks, it is believed that more than 100 have been killed and nearly 100 injured.

On 5 January, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that three refugees, including children, were killed by airstrikes in the Mai Aini refugee camp. Five days later, a similar attack occurred on Mai Tsebri. I do not understand how such attacks can be taking place when humanitarian facilities and internally displaced person locations are designated and known to those involved in the conflict. An attack on an IDP camp in Dedebit resulted in the massacre of 59 and the wounding of 27 others. That camp was situated around a school and many of the victims were children. What assessment has been made of those shocking incidents?

We have also seen Abiy Ahmed’s Government revoke the rights of key humanitarian NGOs, expel seven senior UN staff and block vital aid to areas faced with famine. Evidence has emerged of senior political and military figures using very inflammatory and inciting language. The hon. Member for Tewkesbury referenced Rwanda and other past tragedies; such language has all the sinister hallmarks of encouraging ethnic violence, at worst. We know where that leads, as we saw tragically in Rwanda and Bosnia.

I note the rare rebuke issued last week by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. That is not a normal step for it to take, but it underlines the seriousness of the situation. Will the Minister tell us what concerns we have expressed directly to the Ethiopian Government in recent weeks, in particular about action against humanitarians and the language used by some figures? I encourage our Government to work with the utmost urgency towards finding a ceasefire between all the parties to the conflict, so that the humanitarian response can operate fully.

The humanitarian situation has worsened in every way: 9.4 million people are in need across the key regions, up from 8.1 million just before the House adjourned for the western Christmas, and an increase of 2.47 million on just four months ago. That is a drastic increase in a very short period, and it is now thought that 90% of Tigrayans are in need of assistance.

I was shocked to read in a report by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs that 283 severely malnourished children under five stopped receiving life-saving treatment in one area. OCHA warned that unless fuel enters Tigray as soon as possible, nutrition interventions will cease fully. Michael Dunford, the WFP’s regional director for eastern Africa, who has already been quoted, said:

“We’re now having to choose who goes hungry to prevent another from starving”.

What awful choices to have to make.

Malnutrition interventions are needed for an estimated 1.6 million children under five years old and pregnant and lactating women in Tigray, an estimated 1.4 million in Amhara, and an estimated 80,000 in Afar. Those are shocking figures. We are talking about women and children who are directly at risk of death if we do not intervene in the weeks ahead. Even with intervention, developmental complications as a result of malnutrition at that crucial stage of life and development risk leaving lifelong scars, as we saw in previous tragedies and conflicts in Ethiopia.

We have all heard the estimate that more than 10,000 rapes were committed earlier this year. Shockingly, the clinical management of rape is still massively lacking in Ethiopia, where only 30% of the very few clinics able to offer care to victims of such sexual violence are open. Plan International says that across the key regions there are only five one-stop centres for rape survivors to receive support. Will the Minister tell us what the preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative has reported on the situation and what actions we are taking to support women and girls who have been affected in that horrific way?

Humanitarian organisations need a massive boost in funding to deliver emergency aid. The UN estimates that it needs an additional $1.2 billion in funding for response in northern Ethiopia. The WFP has warned that, notwithstanding the access issues, it is set to run out of food and nutritious supplies across Ethiopia in February because of

“an unprecedented lack of funding.”

In debates on the situation in Ethiopia, I have repeatedly asked Ministers a question that they have yet to answer. There have been individual announcements about UK support to the region, which are of course welcome, but what I and others want to know is whether total UK Government support will go up or down this year. That is the crucial question. When the need is so great, support should be increasing, not reducing. The Government have cut the development budget—I have opposed those cuts on many occasions—but surely, when the need is so great and we see such suffering, our total support should be increasing. We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul by taking from one part of the country to give to another. This crisis affects many people in many regions, and failing to do our fair share and work with other donors to plug the gaps would be a huge dereliction of our moral duty.

[Sarah Champion]

It is more than just the right and moral thing to do. I cannot understand why the Government have cut funding to a key strategic region—it is the keystone for all the states around it—by 60%. This is not only about that state’s security; it about ours too. It is illogical that, at a time of such instability around the world, we are cutting support to our friends and allies and to key countries.

[Stephen Doughty]

I absolutely agree with the Chair of the International Development Committee. The Government’s decisions are absolutely baffling, not least because of the implications for countries in the region, many of which are also fragile; there is the situation in Sudan and in South Sudan, and last night we were debating Somaliland. How would those countries cope with a large influx of people crossing their borders? We have also discussed Somalia at great length. The Government’s perverse decision has much wider implications beyond this conflict and the people of Ethiopia and Tigray.

Evidence suggests that no aid convoys have reached Tigray since mid-December, and 80% of essential medication is no longer available there. Humanitarian groups are running out of fuel, and say that they may have to cease supply of some of the key international development programme camps completely as a result of fuel shortages. The region is also running out of key medical supplies, including insulin. Diabetics are just a matter of weeks away from facing agonising death if supplies are not replenished. The Ayder Hospital in Mek’ele—the largest in the region—has enough left to hold out for no more than one week.

Will the Minister tell us what conversations have been had with the parties to the conflict to secure and maintain urgent humanitarian access? What other methods are being considered? Have airdrops and other ways of getting resources into the country been considered, for example?

As many Members rightly said, we also want the UN and independent bodies to carry out an internationally recognised investigation into the atrocities—especially those committed against civilians in Ethiopia—so that the people responsible face justice. We must use our powers under the Magnitsky sanctions regime to sanction individuals who are already known to be committing atrocities. The US, for example, has already sanctioned many high-ranking individuals in the Eritrean Government, including the Eritrean defence forces chief and four others, in connection with the crisis in Ethiopia. It has also placed arms embargoes on Ethiopia, while the UK has lagged behind our allies in applying sanctions. I call on the Government to consider urgently working to bring forward measures against those found to have been involved in atrocities, particularly given that London is a key site for individuals who may wish to leave Ethiopia and Eritrea.

I commend the BBC World Service’s investigation programme, “Africa Eye”, for the incredible work that it does. Its investigation into the massacre of unarmed men in April last year exposed just one of many atrocities. As I and a number of other Members said in the debate on the BBC the other day, I find it perverse that the Culture Secretary has been making some quite demeaning attacks on the BBC when services such as the BBC World Service, which rely on the licence fee, are exposing such atrocities to help us to bring people to justice, as they have done in the past.

Can the Minister also tell me what engagement the Government have had in urging other countries, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, to stop providing drones, other weapons and military support, which are fuelling the conflict and potentially being used against civilians? What is his position on calls for a wider arms embargo?

This situation is truly horrific for the people of Ethiopia and the people of Tigray in particular, and it has much wider regional consequences. We have already heard about the historical consequences of ignoring what is happening in Ethiopia, whether in the 1980s or the pre-world war two era. It is not some far-flung land that we can ignore. We have huge historical, trading and development responsibilities and links, we have a key role as one of the key players in the international community, and we should take leadership on this issue. I hope that the Minister will be able to answer many of the questions that we have raised today.

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[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. I honestly do not know the answer, but I assume that, if we are able to, we will be using every conversation that we have to raise those concerns. This is the first opportunity I have had to debate with the right hon. Gentleman. His presentation was salient and sensible; I very much appreciated the points he made in his speech. I know he is very committed to this issue and led a debate on it last November, which I read with great interest. I promise him I have taken all his points very seriously indeed.

As the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) mentioned, on 8 January an airstrike near a camp for internally displaced persons in Tigray reportedly killed 56 people. It goes without saying that we believe that all sides of the conflict must respect international human rights and humanitarian law, and prioritise the protection of civilians—a point that we have made repeatedly. I am quite certain that the Minister for Africa will reinforce that point during her visit to the region in the coming days.

We also reiterate our call for Eritrea to withdraw its forces from Ethiopia immediately. They are a source of instability, a threat to Ethiopia’s territorial integrity and a barrier to achieving the lasting peace that everyone here has talked about, which we all want to see, and which I am absolutely sure the people on the ground want to see.

Right now, 7 million people in Tigray and the neighbouring regions need humanitarian assistance. At least 400,000 people are living in famine-like conditions, more than in the rest of the world combined. The risk of widespread loss of life is high, with young children, as many hon. Members have pointed out, likely to bear the brunt.

The response to the humanitarian crisis continues to be hampered by the lack of security. Shockingly, 24 humanitarian workers have been killed in Tigray since the start of the conflict, including staff working on UK-funded programmes. It is right that we take a moment to remember them and honour the sacrifice they made in support of the innocent victims of this conflict. Tragically, humanitarian access to Tigray has been at a standstill since 14 December and hospitals in the region report that they are out of medicine. I repeat the Government’s call to all sides to provide unfettered humanitarian access.

Let me be clear. There is no military solution to the situation in Ethiopia. It is a man-made crisis, caused by human actions and human decisions. The UK Government have been clear from the outset that the fighting must end. All sides must put down their weapons. A political dialogue is the only route to a lasting peace, and with it the return of stability and prosperity to Ethiopia. We have made these points repeatedly to the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

The British Ambassador to Ethiopia reiterated those messages during meetings with the Ethiopian President on 12 November last year. He travelled to the capital of the Tigray region on 25 November to urge the TPLF to stop fighting and engage in peace talks. The Minister for Africa will use her visit to the region to discuss the potential path to peace with various counterparts. It is a principle of the African Union—which, let us not forget, is based in Addis Ababa—that African solutions should be found to African problems. It is absolutely right that African partners are taking the lead in ending this conflict.

[Sarah Champion]

In the last debate we had, in November, I was told that the African nations were not able to get access to gather data and to see exactly what was going on, to try to stabilise the area. Will the Minister be able to get back to see whether that is now happening, or whether there is more that the UK could do to facilitate that?

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I will write to her if I may. I will investigate and probably get the Minister for Africa to write to her with the answer to that question.

Afghanistan: Humanitarian Crisis

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

Between April and December 2021 we disbursed over £145 million, including £135 million of lifesaving humanitarian support inside the country and £10 million to neighbouring countries.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

The Taliban takeover caused an economic meltdown in Afghanistan. Banks ran short, millions lost work or went unpaid and the currency nosedived. Perversely, markets still have food, but the problem is there is no access to cash. People are starving, babies are malnourished, women are not allowed to work to feed their families and there is no money to heat homes. My Committee is clear: the Government must urgently fund emergency organisations such as the World Food Programme. Of the £286 million pledged, so far only £81 million has been disbursed. Can the Minister also update us on what steps are being taken to unfreeze assets and ensure that financial transactions linked to humanitarian aid are excluded from international sanctions, specifically including paying local aid workers? Then, can the Minister please monitor what the Taliban does with that?

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

We are fully committed to supporting High Representative Schmidt. At the NATO foreign ministerial meeting in Riga today, the Foreign Secretary will focus attention on Bosnia and Herzegovina and encourage greater engagement from the alliance to play an enhanced role. She will call on allies to contribute personnel to the NATO headquarters in Sarajevo and to support work to counter disinformation and strengthen defence reform. The UK will do its part.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

I am sure that all hon. Members present are deeply concerned about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina developing rapidly into conflict. What steps is the FCDO taking to assess the risk of atrocity in the region and take preventive action? What conversations has it had with civil societies of the Federation and Republika Srpska to encourage dialogue? How is the Foreign Secretary using her development programmes in the western Balkans, alongside diplomatic and security levers, to address the drivers of conflict?

[Vicky Ford]

As I said earlier, the political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is serious, which is precisely why the Foreign Secretary will raise it today. We are working hard to prevent it from becoming a security crisis, but the risk of miscalculation or exploitation remains. The hon. Lady asked about UK aid. Our embassy in Sarajevo supports a range of programmes that promote stability, security and prosperity, and targets programmes in support of civil society and media freedom.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that international trade is a force for good and a force for peace. “When goods cross borders, soldiers do not”—I paraphrase, but I am sure that every Member of the House is familiar with that. Ultimately, we all have an interest in the economic stability and prosperity of the region. The belief that there is a failure in the economic opportunities for people in the region is a big driving force for the actions of Republika Srpska. To directly answer his question, I will continue to push for increased trade with the western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina, because it is to the benefit of both us and them that it continues.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

I was in Bosnia a few weeks ago with the all-party parliamentary group for the armed forces. I was genuinely shocked that the segregation of communities felt worse than in the ’80s, with some schools even teaching that the genocide of Bosnian Muslims did not exist. Can the Minister explain why we seem to be shifting our development money away from stability? Can he tell us what he is doing to safeguard the investment that we have already made in that country for peaceful dialogue and tolerance? Will he consider embedding atrocity prevention in all our embassies to prevent this situation from happening in other countries?

[James Cleverly]

The hon. Lady, as always, puts forward thoughtful ideas. I will pay close attention to her final point. It is essential that we never allow the genocide that happened to be forgotten. We must ensure through our diplomatic work that it is not expunged from the curriculum for young people in the country. We will seek to work with our international friends and partners to prevent the situation from slipping into conflict, but if we are successful, we will still have to go further and ensure that our diplomatic efforts are focused on bringing communities together. I recognise that money plays a part, but in this context I think that our diplomatic heft is probably of greater impact than our official development assistance contributions.

Ethiopia, Sudan and Tigray: Humanitarian Situation

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship again today, Ms Bardell.

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) not only on securing the debate and his kind words to the Select Committee, but on the fact that he will not let this go. We need to keep raising the atrocities happening in the region, particularly in Tigray, again and again, because too often the news just moves on while the people stay and the desperation gets worse. I thank him personally for calling the debate.

A peaceful resolution of the conflict seems far off, with fighting intensifying and a state of emergency declared overnight. As my right hon. Friend said, the Select Committee has been monitoring with increasing concern the deteriorating situation in the region and the escalation of humanitarian needs as a direct consequence. Earlier this year the International Development Committee published a report on the situation in Tigray, which included moving evidence from agencies working in the region to address the increasingly complex humanitarian situation. We heard shocking reports of the impact of the conflict, including killings, the systematic use of sexual violence and the use of hunger as a weapon of war. In our report, my Committee urged the Government to use the combination of the UK’s diplomatic clout and development funding to seek a peaceful political resolution to the conflict, and to ensure that aid reaches communities in the region that are in such desperate need for it.

I was pleased to receive the Government’s constructive response to the report, which set out the FCDO’s commitment to working with regional partners in seeking an end to the conflict and focusing on getting humanitarian supplies to Tigray. It is with great sadness that I note that the scale of the challenge in Tigray seems greater than ever. Alongside a deteriorating military situation, the humanitarian crisis is becoming acute and the consequences of inaction increasingly catastrophic.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

A constituent of mine has been unable to contact her family since the beginning of the conflict. Their stories are terrifying and upsetting. Does the hon. Lady agree that the Government should outline not only how they will provide aid to the people there, but how to communicate with relatives living in the country?

[Sarah Champion]

I completely agree. Many of us, if not all, have constituents with family members over there, and hearing their stories makes it so real and such a live issue for us all; one cannot fail to be moved. Trying to get reliable information is one of the big problems we have had all the way through this conflict.

The UN estimates that at least 5.2 million people need emergency food assistance, with almost half a million people in Tigray living in famine-like conditions. The UN reports indicate that just 1% of those in need of food are being reached, with only half of those receiving more than two food items a week. The UN says that an alarming number of children are suffering with severe acute malnutrition, with numbers increasing by the day, because just a fraction of the humanitarian aid needed in Tigray is reaching that region. Fuel shortages and limits on access to cash have forced a reduction of what remains of humanitarian assistance, with barely $800,000 of the $6.5 million needed per week getting through. Ongoing restrictions on entering the region and an escalation of fighting means that trucks simply cannot get in. Each day, Tigray alone needs around 100 trucks of fuel, food and other supplies, but since 18 October not a single truck has entered. The UN Humanitarian Air Service has been suspended. The situation in Amhara grows more alarming by the day due to the large-scale displacement of people, with reports that electricity and communication lines have been cut.

The international community and Ministers must press the Ethiopian Government and regional partners to ensure that humanitarian agencies have unimpeded access to Tigray despite the current state of emergency. The longer the delivery of aid is obstructed, the deeper and more complex this humanitarian emergency will be to solve. Communities will continue to be decimated by war and hunger will spread. This shows why the Foreign Office must have a robust approach to atrocity prevention. Embassy staff must be empowered to raise concerns about the likelihood of a situation deteriorating and trained appropriately so that they can recognise red flags and escalate concerns before a situation falls into complete disarray. That is why my Committee called on the FCDO to embed an atrocity prevention strategy in its updated country strategy for Ethiopia and neighbouring states.

Our report found:

“A failure to adequately resource the response to this crisis increases the risk of a ripple effect of instability throughout the region.”

The Government identified the east of Africa as a priority region for UK aid spending but cut aid to the region by almost 50%. Aid to Ethiopia has been slashed from £240 million to £107 million, and aid to Sudan and South Sudan is set to be halved. That is having a real impact. Failure to support communities in the region, combined with the lack of an inclusive political settlement, is compromising hard-won gains in security, stability and prosperity in Ethiopia. We are seeing the impact of that failure, with refugees fleeing to Sudan, itself in the grip of a military coup. The Government are right that the east of Africa should be a priority, but it is time they backed their words with action and engagement. We must step up, mobilise and work with partners in the region to meet the humanitarian needs of communities and prevent the further spread of instability. If we fail to act now, we will count the costs for years to come.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Vicky Ford)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Bardell. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) on securing this important debate, and I thank all hon. Members for their contributions.

The situation in Ethiopia is truly dire. It is worsening and very fast moving. In recent days, we have seen a further expansion of the conflict to the town of Dessie and beyond, and states of emergency have been called, first, in the Amhara region and, yesterday, nationwide. The provisions of those measures are deeply concerning; increased military powers place restrictions on gatherings and call for civilians to bear arms. We updated our travel advice last week, and again last night. We are reviewing this continually; British nationals in Ethiopia should check the gov.uk website to make sure that they have the most current advice.

We should remember that this has been going on for a very long time. We are at the first anniversary of the start of this conflict. Right now, 7 million people in Tigray and the neighbouring regions need humanitarian assistance—the highest number of people in catastrophic food conditions since the 2011 famine in Somalia. The risk of widespread loss of life is high. Furthermore, humanitarian operations in Tigray are effectively suspended; no food or cash has been able to enter Tigray since 18 October. There have been no fuel deliveries since the beginning of August. There are currently 369 trucks trying to get aid, including medicines, into Tigray. On top of this, Government of Ethiopia airstrikes over the last three weeks are reported to have killed more than 20 civilians, including six children, and injured more than 70. This appalling ongoing situation is causing acute human suffering.

Before the violence had even started, Ethiopia was already suffering from the impacts of climate change and ecological issues—the issues we are discussing in Glasgow this week, and I just got back overnight. We should be focusing our attention right now on combatting these long-term climate impacts and on how we can use our £2.7 billion adaptation budget—about half of which will go into Africa—to help countries such as Ethiopia. Instead, we are seeing increased conflict, which is simply compounding human suffering. Today, children in Tigray are dying from malnourishment.

The response to the humanitarian crisis continues to be hampered, not only by the intolerable blockade, which in itself is intolerable. At the end of September seven key UN officials were expelled, and in October an airstrike took place while a UN humanitarian air service flight was in the air, putting humanitarian workers in grave risk. That should never have happened. Shockingly, 23 humanitarian workers have been killed in Tigray this year, including staff working on UK-funded programmes. The UN and NGOs are now withdrawing their staff from the region.

In seeking this debate, hon. Members are right also to consider the impact of what is happening in Sudan, which is facing significant internal challenges. I visited Sudan two weeks ago and I met representatives from many different parts of the Government, but also from civil society, including women activists, entrepreneurs and community leaders. I saw at first hand how the UK school feeding programme is enabling children, and especially girls, to attend school. That was before the coup. As I made it clear to the House on the day of the coup d’état in Sudan, the UK strongly condemns the arrest of civilian members of Sudan’s transitional Government by the military.

The hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O'Hara) asked what we were doing with international partners. With them we are absolutely continuing to maintain public, international pressure on the military to restore the democratic transition. I personally commended the African Union’s leadership in its decision at a joint AU-UN Security Council meeting on 28 October to suspend Sudan from all activities. Together with partners we are also seeking a special session of the UN Human Rights Council as soon as possible to discuss the situation and maintain pressure to return Sudan to the democratic transition. Its people demand it. Furthermore, as part of our engagement with Gulf countries we are looking to release a statement with partners shortly. Our position is very clear; we continue to call for the military to release all unlawfully detained civilians and fully restore the civilian-led Government. Violence against civilian protestors must stop.

The right hon. Member for Islington North suggested that 60,000 Ethiopians have fled from conflict in Ethiopia to Sudan. It is actually more than 80,000. Refugee camps are struggling to absorb so many people. I also want to make it clear that the crisis in Ethiopia is man-made. It has been caused by human actions and decisions. There is no military solution. We have consistently called on all the warring parties to end hostilities and seek a political dialogue and a peaceful solution. We have made these points repeatedly to the Ethiopian Government and the Tigrayan authorities. We have also called for Eritrean troops to withdraw. When I became the Minister for Africa, I prioritised meeting the Ethiopian ambassador as my first meeting with a London-based ambassador. During the meeting, I pressed the need for urgent humanitarian access and an end to hostilities. The British ambassador in Ethiopia saw the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister last week and reiterated that call.

The UK has been very active on the world stage. We led the call for the first Security Council discussion on the conflict in November last year, and we have kept a spotlight on this at the UN. There have been six closed meetings and two open meetings of the Council to date. The Government have also called for consistent action at the Human Rights Council. In October, the UK led a joint statement signed by 43 partners, calling on the Ethiopian Government to reverse their decision to expel seven senior UN officials.

My hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) pressed the need for the Ethiopian situation to have focus at the highest levels, and I reassure him that that is happening. The Foreign Secretary joined her international counterparts, including Secretary of State Blinken, in conversation with AU special envoy Obasanjo on 12 October. I also discussed the situation with Kenyan counterparts, including President Kenyatta, yesterday at COP and with a number of African leaders during my two days in Glasgow. It is a principle of the African Union, which is based in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, that African solutions should be found to African problems. It is, of course, right that African partners are taking the lead on trying to find an end to the conflict, but I want to be utterly clear that the UK is working to fully support them in their efforts.

The right hon. Member for Islington North mentioned arms sales. I reassure him that there are no exports of arms from the UK on available records. The UK Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the consolidated EU and national export licensing criteria, which have respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Arms for the conflict are sadly likely to come through formal arms sales and some smuggling routes. We are concerned about reports of arms arriving in Ethiopia and continue to push all international partners to call for an end to the conflict and support the peace effort.

The Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), asked about atrocity prevention. The FCDO is committed to atrocity prevention in all contexts. FCDO staff can draw on the expertise of a new FCDO conflict centre, which was announced in the integrated review in March. We are in the process of fully establishing that centre. It will draw on expertise from across Government and beyond to develop and lead the strategic conflict agenda, harnessing the breadth of conflict and stability capabilities and working with partners to increase our impact. It will work on thematic issues, including preventing sexual violence in conflict, sanctions, women, peace and security, girls’ education, children in armed conflict, and freedom of religion or belief.

[Sarah Champion]

Will the Minister give way?

[Vicky Ford]

I will not take interventions until I clear a few more important lines.

The hon. Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady) mentioned our commitment to long-term projects in Africa. This week, right at the outset of COP26, the UK demonstrated our long-term commitment to the continent. We have mobilised international support and finance from donor countries to protect the Congo basin. I remind the hon. Member that many parts of the Congo basin have long suffered from conflict. We are committing new funding to support African countries in rolling out critical projects to adapt to climate change, and in partnership with South Africa, the USA, the EU, Germany and France we announced the ambitious Just Energy Transaction, which is mobilising $8.5 billion to support decarbonisation efforts in South Africa—a big project for South Africa’s stability and the future of our planet.

The hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill) mentioned prioritising humanitarian aid. As a result of last week’s Budget, we were pleased to announce that we will be increasing our funding for our highest priorities, including using more bilateral investment. That means spending aid money directly on our priorities, including lifesaving humanitarian aid, and especially prioritising the UK’s world-class organisations and our own frontline work. That is absolutely a focus for the Foreign Secretary.

On 16 October, the Foreign Secretary and I announced a further £29 million of humanitarian aid for northern Ethiopia, taking our commitment to more than £76 million. The UK is the second-largest donor there, and our finances provided water, healthcare and nutrition to hundreds of thousands of people facing famine. It is truly heartbreaking to see the continuation of this terrible conflict, which is also pulling resources away from the long-term development areas that Ethiopia had started to make such impressive progress in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Tuesday 26th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

Child marriage is an abhorrent practice wherever it is found, and I urge the House to support the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Mrs Latham) in her Bill to ban it in this country. I welcome the Foreign Secretary to her place, and particularly the fact that she has kept the women and girls brief. Will she explain why, in her first week in the job, she signed off £183 million in cuts to education for women and girls, when such funding is one of the key drivers to prevent child marriage?

[James Cleverly]

I assure the Chair of the International Development Committee, and the whole House, that my right hon. Friend, the Department, and the wider Government take the rights of women around the world incredibly seriously. Education for girls remains a priority for the Prime Minister, and we will continue to advocate for that internationally, and fight for that as a priority within Government.

Yemen: Humanitarian Situation

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2021 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa (James Cleverly)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Miller. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Gill Furniss) for securing this important debate. The situation in Yemen is beyond despair. As the hon. Lady rightly said, it remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with two thirds of Yemenis—more than 20 million people—requiring some form of humanitarian assistance.

The crisis results from a perfect storm of poverty, war and economic collapse, and has been exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic. It is clear that any sustainable solution can only really begin when the conflict comes to an end. The hon. Lady says that it is not the first time I have said that, but it is true none the less. That is why the UK Government are working and have worked with countries in the region and the wider international community to bring about peace, as well as playing our part in directly addressing the humanitarian suffering. Today, in response to the various questions, I will give an overview of the work we have done and are doing.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Gill Furniss) for securing this debate, but like all of us, I wish we did not have to be here. Can the Minister give us more information, because unless there is a political solution, this will be going on for another seven years? It seems that there is a real unwillingness on the part of the main players to come round the table. Can he give us any hope that the UK and UN interventions will make that meeting happen, so that we can negotiate peace in the near future?

[James Cleverly]

I know that the hon. Lady and other Members in the Chamber and elsewhere take a very close interest in this issue. She and I have discussed it both formally and informally. I wish that I could give her the certainty that she asks for. The sad truth of the matter is that at this point, I am not able to do so. However, we will continue to work with partners in the region, including those who are directly involved in the conflict, and indeed, when the opportunity arises, directly with representatives of the Houthis themselves. That channel has been denied to us recently, but we will nevertheless continue to work with anyone and everyone we feel can help to bring about peace in Yemen, so that the real work of rebuilding the country and its society can start in earnest.

In terms of humanitarian support, the UK Government have been one of the largest donors since the crisis began, having contributed more than £1 billion in aid. We pledged £87 million this year and have already distributed 85% of it. While I am conscious that our contribution this year is smaller than in previous years, for reasons the House is very familiar with, the importance of the timely distribution of our aid cannot be overstated. Despite financial pressures at home, we remain of the largest donors to the UN appeal.

Our funding this year will provide at least 1.6 million people with access to clean drinking water. It will support 400 clinics to offer primary healthcare and it will feed 240,000 of the most vulnerable Yemenis every month. We are working with partners to ensure that priority is given to those suffering the most from food insecurity, to marginalised communities and vulnerable displaced people, and to those living in conflict-affected areas.

Sadly yet predictably, the conflict has been particularly hard on women and girls. Reports of gender-based violence have risen significantly since the conflict began. That is totally unacceptable, and it is why we are co-hosting the international gender co-ordination group with the Netherlands later this month to boost international efforts to tackle gender-based violence. To improve the life chances of newborns and young mothers, we have funded UNICEF to provide over 2 million pregnant women and new mothers with nutrition counselling and education since 2018, and we expect to support more women with reproductive health services over the next year. Since 2018, we have helped 85,000 women receive trained medical support during childbirth, and we expect to support 50,000 more by March 2022.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Cleverly]

To answer the second question first, I speak with Martin quite regularly. I cannot remember the precise date on which I last spoke to him, but he and I have an excellent working relationship, and we speak quite regularly.

With regard to accountability, we take the prevention of aid diversion incredibly seriously. We probably have one of the most robust donor frameworks, and we always ensure that where possible, we minimise aid diversion, because we know—particularly in areas of conflict—that diverted aid can go to reinforce the conflict, rather than to humanitarian aid. Work is ongoing in this area, as it is in all others.

[Sarah Champion]

I am sure the Minister is aware that Martin Griffiths is no longer the UN penholder, but he is, of course, the co-ordinator for UN humanitarian relief. Will the Minister detail whether he has had a meeting or conversation with Hans Grundberg, who is the new UN penholder?

[James Cleverly]

As I say, Martin’s role has changed, but he is still an influential player. I spoke with Hans shortly after his appointment.

To further expand on the point that the right hon. Member for Walsall South made, to ensure that humanitarian spending is effective, we channel our support through organisations with a strong record of delivery and fund the independent monitoring of our own programmes. Ministers and officials co-ordinate closely with other donors, the UN and non-governmental organisations to maximise the effectiveness of the global response and improve access to, and conditions in, Yemen. For example, in August, I had discussions with David Gressly, the UN resident humanitarian co-ordinator for Yemen, and I stressed that UK aid must not be diverted from those in need. At the UN General Assembly, the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Amanda Milling) recently urged parties to allow humanitarian access across the country in accordance with the principles of international law.

Aid alone, however, will not solve the crisis facing Yemen and Yemenis. We are working with the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through the economic quad to help support the stabilisation of Yemen’s economic crisis, as well as through the joint economic programmes of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the United States Agency for International Development. We are providing technical support to the Central Bank of Yemen on foreign exchange and reserve management, as well as technical advice to the Yemeni Prime Minister’s executive bureau to deliver much-needed economic reform. We are also working closely with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to provide development finance that can help alleviate Yemen’s hard currency crisis, which is driving depreciation of the Yemeni rial in Government-held areas.

The hon. Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), my former opposite number, has mentioned the Safer oil tanker and the environmental impacts, as well as the catastrophic economic impacts, that it has created. She is right to highlight it; she is wrong to say that the UK is not doing enough. If I remember rightly, she wrote to me in September 2020, exactly two months after I raised this issue, so I can assure her that the Government and I are very alive to it. Indeed, I brought it up when I had a face-to-face meeting with a representative of the Houthis during my trip to Oman in October 2020, highlighting the importance of allowing access to that ship and for repairs or transfers to take place.

Tigray

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Geraint Davies (in the Chair)]

Good morning and welcome. Bore da. Before we begin, I encourage Members to wear masks when they are not speaking, in line with the current Government guidance and what the House of Commons Commission has prescribed. Please would Members also give each other and members of staff space when seated and when entering and leaving the room? Members should send speaking notes by email to [e-mail]. Similarly, officials should communicate electronically with Ministers. Without further ado, it is my great pleasure to invite Sarah Champion to move the motion.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the humanitarian situation in Tigray.

As ever, it is a pleasure, Mr Davies, to serve under your chairmanship, and also to see so many Members here, which shows the significance of not just the debate but what is happening in Ethiopia at the moment.

The situation in Tigray is truly horrific. This could be a debate about conflict prevention, regional stability or foreign policy in the horn of Africa, but it is the dreadful humanitarian situation and the terrible conditions the people in Tigray are having to endure that must be our focus today. That dire situation motivated the International Development Committee, which I chair, to produce a short report. I am grateful to the Government for their response to the report, and I look forward to hearing more from the Minister shortly.

Let us be clear: it is conflict that has driven a worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray. Against a backdrop of deteriorating political relationships between the regional Government in Tigray and the federal Government in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian national defence force started security operations in Tigray in November 2020. The Tigray regional security forces have fought against it, retaking the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle in June. Local militia and unidentified troops are involved. Eritrean troops are fighting in Tigray and are alleged to have committed human rights violations and abuses.

I do not want to dwell too long on the causes and the nature of the conflict, save to note two things. It is clear that there have been abuses by all parties to the conflict and that all parties are using propaganda and misinformation to advance their cause. All the time, it is the people who suffer—people whose lives were already difficult; people whose livelihoods were under threat from climate change and the worst desert locust infestation for decades; people who were already hosting populations displaced by previous conflicts in the region.

I would like to set out briefly some of the key humanitarian challenges, before going on to talk about some of the grave violations of human rights that have been reported. I want to focus on women and girls because, like in so many other conflicts and crises around the world, women and girls are disproportionately impacted. We must find a way to end the heartbreaking and unimaginable horrors that some women and girls have had to endure and continue to face in the form of gender-based violence and sexual violence.

The first issue that arises in conflict is the risk of injury or death. People fearing for their lives and those of their families flee areas of conflict. An estimated 2.1 million people have been displaced by the conflict. In Tigray, many people have fled rural areas, and thousands of displaced people are being hosted in communities in large urban areas. These communities are themselves already stressed by the effects of conflict, shortages of food and water, and a lack of access to essential services. People are not always safe once they have fled. The unpredictable nature of conflict means that fighting often erupts unexpectedly. People have to flee fighting more than once. The effect on their lives and livelihoods is devastating, sowing the seeds of problems that will endure for years.

Access is another major problem. The conflict has prevented humanitarian agencies from reaching people in need. They have been unable to access areas to deliver vital supplies, while the lack of access has also made it much more difficult to assess need. The latest situation report from the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that no trucks have entered Tigray since 20 August. Since 15 July, only 321 trucks with humanitarian supplies have entered the region, providing only a fraction of the assistance needed by the 5.2 million people in need. The reality is that 100 trucks a day are required to meet the demand.

It is true that there have been some improvements in access, and at the time we were preparing our report it looked like agreements had been secured, but the situation is not yet good enough to meet the needs of the people affected by the fighting. Parts of Tigray remain problematic to this day, with fighting still disrupting access routes and belligerents on all sides failing to recognise permissions granted to humanitarian agencies. I pay tribute to the extraordinary work the humanitarian agencies are doing in the face of terrible difficulties and huge personal risks. Tragically, some humanitarian workers have been killed. Worse, it seems that they have been deliberately murdered.

Thousands of people in Tigray have not had the access they need to food and water. Over 400,000 people are suffering catastrophic levels of hunger and more than 4 million—around 70% of the population—are experiencing high levels of food insecurity. Combatants have blocked food aid from reaching its destination, it has been looted by soldiers and there are reports of food silos being contaminated.

Beyond these immediate life-sustaining needs, the conflict has brought about a collapse of essential services. Communication was cut off in the early part of the conflict, there have been power shortages, markets have closed, the internet is down making bank transfers extremely difficult, banking has been disrupted and essential services have collapsed, but to talk simply of a collapse of essential services would be to hide the shocking and awful truth that schools, hospitals and the means of production have all been deliberately and systematically targeted, vandalised and destroyed. Where schools have not been vandalised, they have been occupied either by the combatants or by displaced people seeking some kind of refuge.

With markets closed and limited access for food deliveries, finding adequate nutrition is a real problem. An estimated 45,000 children under five are suffering from malnutrition, while health centres are reportedly running out of stocks. It gets worse because farmers, where their farms and machinery have not been vandalised, are unable to plant crops. Only 25% to 50% of cereal production will be available this year. Soldiers are reported to have beaten people they have seen ploughing fields, and harvests have been destroyed and livestock looted, all in a part of the world that was already severely stressed by changes in climate and the effect of desert locusts. There is a real prospect of famine and the creation of yet another cycle of aid dependency, in a part of the world that has suffered so much in the past and that had hoped to leave this sort of problem behind it.

Then we turn to the atrocities: the mass killings and the chilling sexual violence. We know there have been massacres, including the cliff-top killing of 25 to 35 civilians near Mahbere Dego, the killing of 160 people in Bora village in southern Tigray and the massacre of 100 people in Aksum in November by Eritrean soldiers. We know there have been extra-judicial killings. In March, Médecins sans Frontières staff witnessed young men being pulled off buses and killed.

We know that women and girls have been raped. In February, a young mother was abducted and over 11 days repeatedly raped by 23 soldiers, who at the end of her ordeal forced a rock and nails into her vagina. Twelve women, five of whom were pregnant, were raped in front of family members, including their children. We know that some women have been held captive and repeatedly raped by soldiers and militias.

Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, acknowledged this after a Reuters investigation found that women and girls as young as eight were being targeted. It is brutal, dehumanising treatment. That the perpetrators cause these terrible acts to be witnessed by family members suggests they intend the effect to be terrorising, and clearly points towards the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Since February, 1,228 cases of sexual and gender-based violence have been reported, yet we know that for every rape and sexual violence case that is reported, there are many more that are not. The UN Population Fund estimates that there might be 22,500 survivors of sexual violence who will seek clinical care this year. Let me note at this point that the UK Government have slashed funding to UNFPA by an astonishing 85%. I dread to think of the impact this will have on women and girls in humanitarian crises like that in Tigray.

We know a lot about what the survivors of atrocities and sexual violence need to recover. Sadly, we also know that with much of the healthcare system in Tigray in tatters, there is little prospect of the survivors getting the support they need. The stories emerging via these organisations are horrifying. Many of the survivors will go on to suffer long-term debilitating physical and mental trauma. It may well be years before health systems are recovered to the point where women and girls will be able to get the support that they need.

It is important that the world bears witness to what is happening in Tigray, and the international system must do all that it can to bring the perpetrators to justice. I commend the work being done by the UN and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to investigate. I ask the Minister to try to allow access to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. At the moment, it is suffering difficulties trying to get in and carry out its investigation. It is vital that evidence of human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties in Tigray is secured and investigated properly. It is important for the victims that that happens. It is important as a warning to others.

In the Select Committee’s report, we said that

“the situation in Tigray is an early test of the UK’s commitment to the principles and approach of the UK as a ‘force for good’ as set out in the Government’s Integrated Review.”

It still is. We recognised the Tigray crisis as

“a test of the FCDO’s desire to combine ‘diplomacy and development’ and to establish an integrated approach to conflict and instability. Failing this early test could damage the credibility of the UK’s new strategy.”

My Committee welcomes the Government’s response and their acceptance of the key points that we made about ending conflict and preventing it from spreading, ensuring that humanitarian needs are met, finding a sustainable political solution and supporting a process for reconciliation. I welcome the work of Nick Dyer, the UK special envoy for famine prevention and humanitarian affairs, and the support that the Government have provided to humanitarian agencies working in Tigray, but let us be clear that the biggest challenge in UK development policy is that the cuts to overseas development assistance are likely remain for the remainder of this Parliament and very much longer. The tests that the Government have set for the return to 0.7% are, potentially, impossibly hard to meet.

The Government’s response claims that

“HMG has been at the forefront of the international response throughout the conflict”.

UNOCHA reckons that the current gap in funding for the situation in Tigray is $170 million. There is a very real risk that the Government’s wholly unnecessary cuts to ODA will undermine our response.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for securing the debate and for her comprehensive description of both the scale and the brutality of the conflict, but one issue that she has not referred to is the potential use of chemical weapons by the Ethiopian forces, on which I tabled a written question to the Minister in June. I understood from the response that the Government were seeking to verify the truth of those allegations, but is my hon. Friend also concerned about those reports, and does she agree that they should be part of the issues that the Government are seeking to address?

[Sarah Champion]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He is absolutely right. The problem that we have is the verification. I saw the pictures of the chemical attack. I have no doubt from seeing those pictures that that is what happened, but unless we are able to get people on the ground to capture that data and are then able to verify it, it is incredibly difficult to encourage the Government and the international community to take a more robust response. That is why it is so important that we, as parliamentarians, keep raising the issue of access to gather data and to get the evidence to hold people to account, and keep it on our Government’s agenda-.

I have several questions that I hope the Minister will be able to address. First, how will the cuts in the UK’s ODA affect Ethiopia and in particular the humanitarian situation in Tigray, and what does being

“at the forefront of the international response”

mean for the UK’s response to the current shortfall in funding? Secondly, what steps will the Government take to put pressure on belligerents to end the fighting, and will the Minister also press the UN to act on the issues of rape and hunger being used as weapons of war? Thirdly, will he update the House on the deployment in Tigray of experts from the preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative, and what assessment have the Government made of the impact of aid cuts to programmes such as the United Nations Population Fund on supporting survivors of sexual violence in the long term?

Fourthly, what steps has the Minister taken since the Government’s response was issued in July to prioritise Tigray, and what recent discussions has he had with aid agencies, the UN and other actors in the region? Fifthly, has the delivery of aid improved significantly since the Government published their response to our report, and what are the next steps if the delivery of aid is to be further improved? Sixthly, what steps is the Minister taking to put pressure on the Ethiopian Government and regional authorities to improve access and communications? Seventhly, how concerned is he about the safety of humanitarian workers in Tigray, and what can be done to better protect them?

Finally, what is the Minister’s latest assessment of the conflict spreading in Ethiopia, and what impact is the fighting in Amhara, Oromia and other parts of Ethiopia having on the work of the UK Government in Tigray? Will people displaced by those conflicts depend on the same pot of money as the people in Tigray?

The last month has been dramatic and traumatic in equal measure, but with attention focused on Afghanistan it is easy for the crisis in Tigray to slip from our collective consciousness. Even without Afghanistan, Haiti may have pushed Tigray off the news cycle, and we hear precious little day to day about what is happening in Ethiopia. The reports are there if we look for them but, as a real crisis, it does not get the level of attention it should. It is clear that the violence in Ethiopia has spread, and the risks we identified of conflict spreading further are still very real.

In closing, let me just say this: we must not lose sight of the situation in Tigray. The level of human suffering and the risk of conflict spreading demand it.

[Geraint Davies (in the Chair)]

I thank the Chair of the International Development Committee. We have nine speakers, which, according to my mathematics, means that they have about four and a half minutes each. I invite Andrew Mitchell to speak first.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Champion]

The director of Oxfam in Ethiopia yesterday raised the fact that because the internet is down—deliberately—it was almost impossible to get money transfers, which deeply hampers its process. May I echo his plea for the Minister to try to get at least a window of the internet up so that money transfers can occur?

[James Duddridge]

I will investigate the specific issue of internationals working together to make sure that money comes through. I am in touch with Ethiopian Ministers, including the Finance Minister, and I will raise that issue with him. That is a slightly separate problem from the one that we are discussing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Champion]

I thank every Member who has spoken, for both the tone and the content. I thank the Minister, who I know is deeply committed to this area. The problem is that this is not going to go away. It is important for us all to keep it on the agenda of the Minister and of the international community. The risks we have highlighted are dire. I cannot see an easy way for them to be resolved without international intervention, to get all the parties round the table and discuss a long-term solution. The threats to the broader region are profound.

I would like to raise one thing with the Minister that came up in the debate: atrocity prevention. It was the one thing in the Committee’s report that the Government pushed back on. I would like to request a meeting with the Minister to discuss that.

[James Duddridge]

I agree. I note the work that has been done on that, but there is still more to be done, and a more nuanced solution. I will arrange a meeting with officials to work out a better way forward following the Committee’s report.

[Sarah Champion]

Thank you.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the humanitarian situation in Tigray.