Extracts from Parliamentary Proceedings - Oct 26
Friday, 27 October 2017 07:44
Extract from Lords debate on Burma: Rohingya The Minister of
State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates)
(Con):...We are targeting the needs of vulnerable women and
children, and my noble friend Lady Helic reminded us of the
importance of us doing that. Emergency nutrition support will reach
21,000 pregnant and lactating women and more than 60,000 children
under five. UK-funded women’s centres and health clinics will
support survivors of gender-based violence and...Request free trial
Extract from Lords debate
on Burma: Rohingya
The Minister of State, Department for International
Development (Lord Bates) (Con):...We are targeting the
needs of vulnerable women and children, and my noble friend Lady
Helic reminded us of the importance of us doing that. Emergency
nutrition support will reach 21,000 pregnant and lactating women
and more than 60,000 children under five. UK-funded women’s centres
and health clinics will support survivors of gender-based violence
and provide medical help for more than 50,000 pregnant women to
give birth safely. The UK has provided £1 million to the Red Cross
in Burma, which is currently the only aid organisation able to
provide humanitarian support in Rakhine. I cannot at this stage
answer the pertinent question of my noble friend Lady Berridge
about the composition of those who are delivering the humanitarian
aid, but I undertake to make investigations and come back to her.
Our diplomatic efforts have been focused on directing international
attention on to the Burmese security forces. We have raised Burma
three times at the UN Security Council and convened an
international meeting in New York with Kofi Annan, the chair of the
Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. The role of neighbouring
countries is vital. We are talking to China
and India—which have very important roles to
play in the region—and other regional states to encourage them to
play their full part in resolving the crisis...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
Extracts from Commons
debate on Global LGBT Rights
(Reigate)
(Con):...Headline atrocities have brought us here
today: the dreadful scale of arrests in Azerbaijan and Egypt, and
direct state repression. The number of people affected by direct
oppression runs into many hundreds of thousands. There are people
who are in relationships that they do not want to be in, people who
have experienced “corrective rape”, and people who are in forced
marriages. There are millions of people—probably between 50 million
and 100 million in India—who, because of the laws of their
countries, are simply not able to be themselves...
(Brighton, Kemptown)
(Lab/Co-op):...We cannot just be bystanders. We must
be clear that we have a moral duty to speak out for human rights
and against human rights abuses. Why are there laws against LGBT
people in so many countries? Why is there section 377
of India’s penal code? Why are there sections
76 and 77 of Jamaica’s Offences Against the Person Act 1861? The
date might give us a clue. Why is there section 377A of Singapore’s
penal code—the exact same number as the similar section
of India’s penal code? Why? Because, of
course, those laws were imposed by British colonial rule and
imperialism...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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