Congo and Southern Kordofan – Questions in The House – July 2011

Posted by David Alton on July 22, 2011

Democratic Republic of Congo
Question Monday July 18th 2011.
2.47 pm
Asked By Lord Chidgey
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the preparations for the forthcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My Lords, we are closely following the DRC elections. Despite delays, there has been considerable progress. The election calendar has been published, the electoral law passed, and over 30 million Congolese have registered to vote. There have been reports of harassment of political activists and demonstrations in Kinshasa earlier this month led to violence. However, so far we have seen no sign of systematic attempts to undermine the process. The Department for International Development is providing significant support.
Lord Chidgey: I thank my noble friend for that response. Is he aware that, during a recent visit to the DRC, we found that CENI’s electoral calendar was unrealistic and unworkable? For example, in spite of a completion date for voter registration at the end of June, by July only four out of 11 provinces had been signed off. Is he also aware that, perhaps more worryingly, the most serious threat to forthcoming elections is the increase in LRA activities, with numbers back at 2008 levels; and that MONUSCO, with just 5 per cent of its peacekeepers active in the LRA-controlled areas, is deeply frustrated by the lack of resources to utilise the intelligence gathered for DDRRR purposes?
Lord Howell of Guildford: I was aware of my noble friend’s recent visit to the DRC and I appreciate his concerns about the timing of the election. We reckon that the independent national electoral commission, to which he referred, CENI, is going reasonably well with its operations. Of course the timetable is tight, but we think that it is just realistic and that it is managing to get wider participation and better registration than some feared earlier. The Lord’s Resistance Army is a plague, as it were, a trouble which affects both the DRC and other countries in the region. Our aim is to get the African Union to support and work with MONUSCO, the UN force, in meeting this continuing threat. I fully recognise that it is a problem but if we can get the African Union fully engaged, as we are trying to, we believe that we can create the conditions in which the problem can be addressed effectively.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, was right to direct the Minister towards the depredations of the Lord’s Resistance Army, in a country where, after all, between 5 million and 6 million people have died in the last 25 years, mainly as a result of marauding militias. Has the Minister seen the report in today’s Telegraph online about Makombo, where 321 civilians died and 250 were abducted at the end of last year, and where 26 died and 53 were abducted in another raid on 6 July? Given that in 2005 the International Criminal Court issued indictments against Joseph Kony,

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the leader of the LRA, and two of his lieutenants, why has MONUSCO been so inadequate in gathering the necessary intelligence to bring these people to justice?
Lord Howell of Guildford: The noble Lord is quite right to deplore the endless slaughter and activities which are associated with the Lord’s Resistance Army. It seems to be a negative force both in this country and in many others. As I said earlier to my noble friend, it is our aim to get the African Union to work very closely with MONUSCO, the second largest UN mission in existence, in meeting this problem. The noble Lord, Lord Alton, asked me why it has not been so effective so far; I cannot answer that precisely, but I can only say that we are working extremely hard with other countries, with the EU and with our colleagues and allies, to reinforce the determination of MONUSCO and the African Union to meet the problem. This is the way forward that we think will be most effective.

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South Sudan
Question Tuesday July 19th 2011.
2.43 pm
Asked By Lord Avebury
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current situation in Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces in the context of the Republic of South Sudan’s independence.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My Lords, we remain deeply concerned by the continuing violence and humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan. We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and full humanitarian access. We fully welcome the Framework Agreement on Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, signed in Addis Ababa under African Union auspices, as a step in the right direction, but this needs to be implemented and followed up. We also welcome the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1990 which, together with the signing of an Abyei interim agreement, paves the way for a swift withdrawal of Sudanese armed forces from Abyei and the deployment of Ethiopian peacekeeping troops under a UN mandate.
Lord Avebury: My Lords, my noble friend did not mention the UNMIS report, which has not been published, on the regime’s devastating attacks on the Nuba people in these three territories and, particularly, in South Kordofan where Ahmed Haroun, the governor after a disputed election, is wanted by the ICC for war crimes. Does my noble friend agree that the UN decision to send a mere 4,200 troops to Abyei and none to South Kordofan is woefully inadequate in the face of an incipient genocide of the Nuba people in the whole region? Will the UK remind the Security Council that the responsibility to protect applies in these territories to a far greater extent than it did in Libya?
Lord Howell of Guildford: My noble friend is right to point to the reports of atrocities. I think he is referring to the report initiated by the UN Mission in South Sudan and these regions, which makes very grim reading indeed. As far as we understand its contents, it is extremely worrying. In fact, my honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State, Mr Bellingham, who, incidentally, is in Sudan at this moment, was at the United Nations a few days ago and urged that the report should be put to the UN Security Council for full consideration. We are fully aware of that aspect of things. As to sending more troops, the problem at the moment is, as my noble friend knows, that the Khartoum Government are trying to veto any further extension of the UN troop mandate of the UNMIS mandate. That has to be overcome, and it is not easy for the United Nations to begin to meet the security needs through adequate troop provision by the UN over and above the Ethiopian mission I have already mentioned.
Baroness Cox: My Lords, when I was in Juba last week for the joyful celebrations of the independence of the peoples of the south, I had the opportunity to meet leaders from Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. They all expressed grave concern over President al-Bashir’s stated policy of turning the Republic of Sudan into an Arab Islamic state. What is Her Majesty’s Government’s assessment of al-Bashir’s policies with regard to the ethnic and religious minorities in those areas of the Republic of Sudan and, indeed, in all the Republic of Sudan?
Lord Howell of Guildford: The assessment we have is based on the wisdom and experience of the noble Baroness and on the visit of my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary to Juba 10 days ago for the independence celebrations. Our assessment is not at all encouraging. There is a clear attempt to use extremely violent methods and to carry them out in South Kordofan, the Blue Nile area and the Nuba mountains where some horrific things have gone on. This is not at all encouraging. President al-Bashir has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court. The pattern that has been pursued is a mixture. At least he did turn up at the celebrations in Juba, which was a positive act, and one hopes that more positive aspects will appear, but at the moment, there is not much sign of them.
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: I wish to return to the leaked UN documents. The report states that 73,000 people have been displaced and that 7,000 people who were not taken into the compound have disappeared. The situation has been described as resembling Srebrenica. There are aerial photographs of mass graves. So why has the UN remained silent about such disturbing evidence? As a member of the Security Council, what exactly is the United Kingdom doing when a sovereign Government in Khartoum are refusing to allow anyone to investigate what is happening and are continuing to obstruct essential humanitarian aid to the very needy people of South Kordofan?
Lord Howell of Guildford: The noble Baroness is right and reinforces what I was saying a moment ago. This report is extremely worrying and full of evidence of really serious atrocities. She has further elaborated and underlined that. The question is what the UN agencies, UNMIS itself and the reporting authorities are going to do about it. I have to tell the noble Baroness that as far as the British Government and my honourable friend Mr Bellingham, who was at the United Nations, are concerned, our urging has been that this report should go forward to the Security Council and be fully discussed in the light of the grim and terrible reports that it contains. That is the position so far. I cannot tell the noble Baroness exactly what is going to happen next or how it will be handled, but that is HMG’s position on the matter.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, on the UNMIS report which the noble Lord has referred to, and which I sent him a copy of yesterday, he will recall that two weeks ago I also sent him a report from Kadugli where UNMIS soldiers themselves were responsible for handing over people who were seeking refuge in the refugee camp there—“like lambs to the slaughter”, according to a witness. What does this tell us about the nature of peacekeeping in Southern Sudan and of the UNMIS force itself? Are we intending to refer these crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court, not least because of the thousands of people who are trapped in the Nuba mountains and experiencing daily aerial bombardment?
Lord Howell of Guildford: I can only repeat what I said earlier. The noble Lord very kindly sent me a copy of this report, as did a number of other people. As I have already said twice, it makes very grim reading. The noble Lord has rightly raised the quality and behaviour of existing UN troops a number of times. Of course we are worried that there was inadequate behaviour or that troops stood aside while people were dragged from their cars and shot, and so on. We have encouraged the Under-Secretary-General at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to examine these claims very carefully and to bear them very strongly in mind when and—I regret to say—if a new mandate can be agreed and established for UN forces after independence, the original UNMIS mandate having finished. This is a very serious issue and one which we are watching very closely indeed.

The Jeweller

Posted by David Alton on July 22, 2011

As a boy, growing up in Wadowice, Blessed John Paul II – Karol Wojtyla – wanted to be an actor and, as a teenager, he participated in the school theatre.
In 1938 on enrolling at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University he was able to study drama until the Nazis ended classes during the occupation of Poland in 1939.
Then, during the Second World War, with a former teacher, Mieczyslaw Kotlarczyk, he co-founded the Rhapsodic Theatre, an underground theatre group, which clandestinely performed nationalistic works and kept alive the Romantic tradition of live poetry.
After the war, and now a priest, Fr.Wojtyla continued to encourage the theatre group and he published critical appreciations of their performances. He also put pen to paper and among his dramas are “Our God’s Brother” and “The Jeweller’s Shop.” Throughout his life he had a love of theatre, music and the arts, once famously quipping: “ I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin.”
An adaptation of “The Jeweller’s Shop” – “The Jeweller” – was recently staged by the Ten Ten theatre company at London’s Leicester Square Theatre.
From his celestial vantage point I am sure John Paul would have given excellent reviews but, more importantly, his enthusiastic encouragement to this young Catholic theatre company, founded by Martin O’Brien and his sister, Clare, in 2006 – with behind the scenes full time voluntary help from their mother, Anna and a small team of professionals.
After watching “The Jeweller” – more of which in a moment – I met up with Martin and Clare. They explained why they had established Ten Ten – now a registered charity – and described their nationwide work, undertaken from their offices based in Our Lady’s Church in New Southgate, North London. The charity receives no core funding and is reliant on the revenues and donations earned or raised.
Ten Ten are currently working with over 65,000 school children, young people, and young offenders and are now one of the largest providers of external education and pastoral support in the UK’s Catholic schools.
Within the setting of drama their work raises the full gamut of social challenges – from knife crime to the traumas posed by collapsing family structures; from addiction to the sanctity and dignity of life itself.
In primary schools two of their actors run workshops and deliver two of their plays, along with 60 minute sessions for parents. David Quinn, RE Adviser to the Diocese of Nottingham, describes how the values taught in Nottingham’s schools are “made more meaningful to the children” through the performances and workshops and that “the quality and content is superb.”
Their work in secondary schools – which, through the lens of self worth and being made in God’s image, explores controversial contemporary themes – has been given equally strong approval.
Archbishop Patrick Kelly commented that their work touches on “issues which matter greatly to young people”. Nathan Brown, at the Benedictine Worth School remarked on the “myriad of complex issues which were handles with sensitivity without lecturing or castigating” believing that “the message conveyed will …last in our hearts for a very long time.” Ten Ten’s theology advisor, Fr. Stephen Wang, is currently writing a booklet for parents to keep enabling them to cultivate the seeds which may have been planted.
In addition to their work in schools Ten Ten have developed a one-day programme for Confirmation candidates and for retreats. They have also been running eight week-long workshops in Young Offender Institutions.
Barry and Margaret Mizen, the parents of Jimmy Mizen, the murdered school-boy, work with their Safer Streets team. As part of this work, Martin O’Brien wrote “Sam’s Story” – dramatising the way in which young people can be so easily drawn into a world of violence and crime – and Ten Ten have performed and developed this and work improvised by young offenders themselves.
But, in addition, during 2011 Ten Ten have undertaken a number of public performances. Earlier this year “Good Creatures” was commissioned by the Arts Council and in September they are planning a run of public performances of their children’s play, “Healthy Heart.”
Like the Christian theatre company – Saltmine – whose performance of C.S.Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” I saw earlier this year at the Burnley Mechanics Theatre (and voted a brilliant performance by my fourteen year old son, James), and who are currently performing “Pilgrims Progress” – Ten Ten know that there is a real appetite for good faith-based drama. That was why Leicester Square Theatre was full to see their contemporary re-imagining of Pope John Paul’s “The Jeweller’s Shop.”
“The Jeweller” tells the age old story of unfulfilled life, disappointed love, brokenness, human nature and the call of faith. In many respects, the original play – along with Wojtyla’s thesis “Love and Responsibility” – was the genesis of the ideas which shaped is later teaching and which would be described as “The Theology of the Body.” Central to his beliefs was an insistence on the dignity of the human person and their right to free will. He passionately believed that “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
Martin O’Brien sets his version of the play in the England of the last three decades. The London production was staged on a small budget, rehearsed in less than a week, and with sparse technical effects and a very basic set. Yet, the timeless themes speak above these limitations. Ten Ten make no secret of their hope that they will be able to bring the play to an established theatre, with high production values. And they believe there would be a significant potential audience interested to see this adaptation of John Paul’s play. The comedian, Frank Skinner, described “The Jeweller” as “deeply funny, gut-wrenchingly sad and thought provoking.”
But whether it is through drama, movies, or the whole array of modern means of communication, John Paul knew that the old story and the old truths had to be told in new ways: “The question confronting the Church today,” he said, “is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message.”
As Ten Ten are successfully demonstrating, drama and the theatre can be brilliantly deployed in giving that message new appeal.
www.tententheatre.co.uk office@tententheatre.co.uk 0845 388 3162

Sterilisation, the Death of Women, and UK Taxpayer Funding

Posted by David Alton on July 22, 2011

More than 20 women died in Peru during a period when the British Government provided more than £7.5 million to assist Peru with population and health measures. The British Government say it would not be “possible to disaggregate these figures further without incurring disproportionate cost.” The women who died during these programmes are sadly not in a position to argue but it can be surmised that they would regard the loss of their lives as a price too high. Whether it is coercion through the one child policy in China, gendercide in India, or death through forcible sterilisation in Peru, it amounts to the same thing – a gross violation of human rights and a subsequent callous indifference by the population control lobby. The failure of successive British governments to ensure that its funding is not used in the pursuit of these policies brings great shame on the United Kingdom.

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Peru: Question July 6th 2011

Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what reports they have received about a sterilisation programme in Peru and about the number of women who have allegedly died as a consequence of the programme; and what representations they have made since May 2010 to the Government of Peru regarding the programme.
• Hansard source (Citation: HL Deb, 6 July 2011, c82W)

Lord Howell of Guildford (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Conservative)
The Peruvian Government commission set up to investigate the programme concluded in 2002 that the responsible parties should be brought to justice and the victims be compensated. Investigations carried out by the commission and independent human rights groups suggest at least 20 women died as a direct result of the programme.
Former President Alberto Fujimori’s programme of mass sterilisation was carried out in Peru from 1996 to 1998. We have received no new reports and have made no new representations on the subject to the Government of Peru during the period in question.

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Peru

Question July 20th 2011

Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial assistance they provided to population control programmes operating in Peru between 1996 and 1998.[HL11063]
Baroness Verma: The Department for International Development’s (DfID) total gross public expenditure for Peru in the years 1996-97 and 1997-98 were £3,537,000 and £4,097,000 respectively. Total DfID spending, across all countries on health and population, was £116.11 million in 1996-97 and £117.44 million in 1997-98.
It is not possible to disaggregate these figures further without incurring disproportionate cost.