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Category: Foreign Affairs

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Message to the Russian People

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Message to the Russian People

    The message to the Russian people made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 5 April 2022.

    The Russian people deserve the truth, you deserve the facts. [Spoken in Russian]

    The atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in Ukraine have horrified the world.

    Civilians massacred – shot dead with their hands tied.

    Women raped in front of their young children.

    Bodies crudely burned, dumped in mass graves, or just left lying in the street.

    The reports are so shocking, so sickening, it’s no wonder your government is seeking to hide them from you.

    Your president knows that if you could see what was happening, you would not support his war.

    He knows that these crimes betray the trust of every Russian mother who proudly waves goodbye to her son as he heads off to join the military.

    And he knows they are a stain on the honour of Russia itself.

    A stain that will only grow larger and more indelible every day this war continues.

    But don’t just take my word for it.

    All you need is VPN connection to access independent information from anywhere in the world.

    And when you find the truth, share it.

    Those responsible will be held to account.

    And history will remember who looked the other way.

    Your president stands accused of committing war crimes. [Spoken in Russian]

    But I cannot believe he’s acting in your name. [Spoken in Russian]

  • David Lammy – 2022 Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award Address

    David Lammy – 2022 Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award Address

    The speech made by David Lammy, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, in the United States on 31 March 2022.

    Thank you to the institute for Global Leadership and The Fletcher School at Tufts University for hosting me to speak about foreign policy at this extremely important moment.

    In the late 1990s I had my first taste of Massachusetts when I studied just a short bus ride away…

    …at Harvard Law School.

    It was an inspiring time.

    I will never forget my first big exposure to the American constitution.

    The first lesson I learned was that democracy as proclaimed by America’s founding fathers is…

    …always has been…

    …and always will be…

    …a work in progress.

    I also learned that the great story of the 20th century is one of how different groups…

    …the working class, people of colour, women, LGBT+…

    …fought hard to secure rights long denied their forebears.

    Back in the late 90s, so much was changing.

    We were living in the wake of two liberal revolutions.

    The first was social and cultural…

    …with its roots in the swinging 60s.

    The second was economic…

    …the free market revolution set alight by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

    The Soviet Union had collapsed not long before.

    Communism and autocracy had capitulated to capitalism and democracy.

    Francis Fukuyama suggested this marked the “end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution…

    …and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”

    Progressives were winning or about to win on both sides of the Atlantic.

    Bill Clinton was in the White House.

    Tony Blair had just won a Labour landslide in the UK.

    The march towards a 21st century future was filled with hope.

    But as we reached the global financial crisis of 2008…

    …that hope had started to evaporate.

    The twin liberal revolutions had come at a high price.

    Creating a hyper-individualistic culture…

    Where rights overtook responsibilities.

    Where we could reach billions of others instantly on our smartphones…

    …but had fewer meaningful connections.

    Where the rich got richer…

    …inequality accelerated.

    …and the pursuit of profit was prioritised over democratic values.

    The age of individualism was defined by another paradox.

    The more atomised we became…

    …the more we sought belonging in tribal identities.

    From the relatively benign…

    …to the outright destructive.

    Islamist Extremism.

    Far-Right terrorism.

    Organised crime gangs.

    Online, our opinions did not gain the nuance that results from sophisticated debate.

    We gained access to infinite amounts of information, but we lost the guardrails that sorted fact from fabrication.

    Algorithms designed by tech companies to grip eyeballs pushed many of us to new extremes.

    The common ground upon which democracies depend began to crumble.

    And malign actors…

    …including governments like Vladimir Putin’s…

    …turned to ethno-nationalist authoritarian politics…

    …and exploited online spaces to interfere in our democracies…

    …with disinformation and lies.

    Abroad, Putin took advantage of unsuccessful Western interventions…

    …the decline of American hegemony…

    …and a newly multi-polar world.

    He invaded and still occupies part of Georgia.

    He annexed Crimea.

    And sought to carve off parts of eastern Ukraine.

    He used the strength of his armed forces to prop up the monstrous Bashar Al Assad who used chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

    …and helped drive a refugee crisis that reached Europe…

    Which was seized upon by hard right populists to inflame new divisions between Us and Them.

    Meanwhile…

    …authoritarians and their acolytes…

    …from Nigel Farage, to Donald Trump, to Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen…

    …publicly expressed sympathies with Vladimir Putin…

    …as they rose to prominence in our own democracies.

    Parading their illiberalism as patriotism.

    Pretending to be protectors of their nations…

    …while attacking the values of freedom, equality and democracy that they were founded upon.

    At the same time, Putin saw we were in a cost-of-living crisis…

    …A climate crisis…

    …And a global pandemic.

    After years of sowing disunity in our democracies…

    …exploiting the vulnerabilities left by the two liberal revolutions…

    …it is no coincidence Putin saw this as our moment of maximum weakness…

    …and chose it as the moment to start his barbaric and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

    Under the fog of disorder, he thought he could act with impunity.

    But the strength and unity of the opposition Putin has faced shows he cannot.

    Remarkable and courageous defence of their homeland by the Ukrainian people.

    Tougher global sanctions than many thought possible.

    Unity within an EU previously considered fractured.

    A turning point in defence policy for Germany, Sweden, Finland and Poland.

    NATO with more focus than ever since the cold war.

    And 141 countries in the UN’s general assembly voting to condemn Putin’s war of aggression.

    Despite the strong reaction we have seen…

    …this is not a moment to be complacent.

    It is time for a radical re-think in foreign policy…

    …and a reboot of our diplomacy.

    Mistakes of the west

    Putin’s invasion is shocking.

    The images of tanks rolling across the borders of European nations reopens the deepest wounds of our continent’s history.

    Many have said the world changed on February 24th.

    It did.

    The horrific war in Ukraine is solely of Putin’s making…

    …but it also highlighted contradictions in the West’s relationship with Russia…

    …as well as flaws in our broader foreign policy assumptions.

    Many in Europe believed the era of wars between states was over.

    We reshaped our security, defence, intelligence and diplomacy to tackle different threats – allowing core capabilities to dwindle.

    Just months before Russia’s invasion, Boris Johnson said that the era of tank battles on European soil was over…

    …Now we see tanks rolling across frontiers in Europe.

    Borders changed by force.

    Nuclear threats issued.

    We must adjust our mindset and adapt our thinking.

    For too long, Western governments…

    …including Britain’s Conservatives…

    …believed they could ignore domestic policies which undermined our

    foreign policy.

    We tolerated dependence on Russian oil and gas…

    …funding Putin’s war chest…

    …regardless of his aggression and despite the urgent need to decarbonise.

    Dirty Russian money…

    …the loot of Putin’s dictatorship…

    …was embraced…

    From our football clubs to our politics…

    …Oligarchs and kleptocrats used Britain’s capital as both the hiding place and service industry for their ill-gotten gains.

    A spider’s web of dirty money spread across London.

    Fuelling crime on our streets.

    Making property unaffordable.

    Laundering reputations.

    Silencing critics.

    And sustaining Putin’s authoritarian regime.

    This disregard for the contradictions in our policy has been exposed by this crisis.

    We must end the hypocrisy.

    Too often we saw the world as we wanted it to be…

    …not as it was.

    Some believed Putin could be moderated and influenced by our engagement…

    What the Germans called

    …change through trade.

    We have repeatedly been overly optimistic, even naïve…

    …particularly when we stood to profit.

    Even when Putin broke international law…

    …and invaded his neighbours…

    …our responses were weak.

    The tame response to the seizure of Crimea in 2014 is one of the reasons we could not deter Putin this time around.

    We must finally be realistic about the worldview in the Kremlin.

    We’ve long known that Putin saw the collapse of the Soviet Union not as liberation but as humiliation…

    …A catastrophe with consequences he told us – time and again – that he wanted to reverse.

    Putin seeks a sphere of influence…

    …a reconstituted Russian empire…

    …whether we like it or not.

    Putin believes that domestic survival depends on total dominance of the political sphere…

    …the elimination of opponents…

    …and the fanning of bigotry, nationalism and nostalgia.

    He will ruthlessly pursue Russia’s interests as he sees them…

    …in zero-sum terms.

    And he has taken lessons from the Arab Spring.

    Seeing democratic revolutions as contagious.

    When he saw the 2014 democratic revolution in Ukraine, he feared that dangers of one in Russia as well.

    It is time to understand Putin on his own terms.

    But it is not only Britain’s Conservative government which made strategic mistakes on Russia.

    Trump’s disastrous spell in the White House…

    …Where he cosied up to dictators from Putin to Kim Jong Un…

    …while distancing the US from its traditional allies in the EU…

    …and institutions like NATO…

    …shows the danger of turning against the institutions the West has created.

    For too long parts of the left…

    …even some members of my own party…

    … falsely divided the world into two camps.

    America and the West on one side…

    …and their victims on the other.

    This has never been right…

    …but this view has now been exposed for all to see as a farce.

    The rising aggression of countries including Russia, China and Iran…

    …In particular Putin’s barbaric and illegal invasion of Ukraine…

    …are definitive proof the world’s wrongs do not all stem from western actions.

    We must confront our own historic mistakes…

    …but if we fail to see beyond them…

    …and falsely believe Western nations have nothing to contribute…

    …we miss the value of making common cause for people fighting for democracy around the world.

    And we forget the value of the international institutions that arose to protect us all.

    Lessons from the Cold War

    Many people have drawn historical analogies with our current situation.

    Some have suggested we are entering a new Cold War.

    The Cold War analogy has limitations.

    The world today is far more interdependent and economically interconnected than it was in the days of the Iron Curtain.

    Unlike China, Russia is not a serious economic competitor to the West.

    It does not represent a coherent ideology like Communism.

    It is a nuclear superpower but it is a middling and unbalanced economy in freefall…

    …with a leader clinging to a blood and soil nationalism of the past.

    But there are some reflections we can draw from the Cold War that may be useful for the months and years ahead.

    We need a patient, long-term strategy.

    To equip ourselves for the task of a sustained confrontation…

    …not just with Putin but with Putinism and its imitators.

    Dictatorships are no longer controlled by one bad actor in isolation.

    But by interlinked networks of illicit finance, security services and peddlers of misinformation.

    Not only inside one country, or even one region.

    But across the world.

    They aren’t unified by one particular political ideology.

    But the shared desire to hold power at any cost to their people – and enrich themselves.

    To counter this network of Putinists, we must show that we can ditch the short-termism.

    …On energy, on economics, on politics and on security…

    …that for too long has dogged our approach.

    The first step to signalling this change should be to ban all foreign campaign contributions from our politics…

    …saying a clear no to malign interference in our democracies.

    And we must properly regulate big tech…

    …so that it is forced to quickly remove disinformation campaigns…

    …or face punishing fines.

    We must also double down on unity.

    Our strength comes from our alliances…

    …rooted in common values…

    …not the transactional marriages of convenience or coercion, which characterise Russia’s alliances.

    We must capitalise on the united economic front that has been formed against Putin.

    In the Cold War, there were mechanisms like COCOM…

    …the Coordinating Committee for Common Export Controls…

    …to sustain common approaches to export controls.

    We should consider whether we need new structures to ensure the UK, US, Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada and others partners can maintain a common approach.

    And we should seek to build the widest possible diplomatic coalition in opposition to this war.

    This neo-imperialism is not just a challenge to the West.

    If one sovereign UN member-state can be carved up on a whim, all states are threatened.

    The Cold War also teaches us the imperative to manage the risks of escalation.

    Both lessons to learn and mistakes to avoid.

    Preventing a catastrophic conflict took strategy and resolve, diplomacy and deterrence.

    Even before this crisis we had already lost too much of the architecture of arms control built in the Cold War and post-Cold War period…

    …such as the INF and Open Skies Treaties.

    We should maximise pressure on Putin, and support the Ukrainians in their fight, including with arms…

    …but also keep open channels of communication, maintain military transparency and seek to avoid miscalculation.

    NATO was right to rule out a No-Fly Zone, which would bring Russia and NATO into direct conflict.

    But Russia must know our absolute commitment to the principle that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack…

    …each and every other member of the Alliance will respond.

    And we need to be ready for modern acts of aggression…

    …with accelerating and enhancing joint cyber defences among NATO member states.

    Finally the Cold War teaches us that we must remain open to the Russian people.

    Ordinary Russians did not start this war.

    Many have courageously protested against it.

    It takes real courage to challenge your government if you live in an authoritarian state.

    We must always distinguish between Putin and the Russian people.

    And reach as many as we can with objective news.

    Allies should coordinate to get credible information to the Russian public through whatever means available…

    … with direct financial and diplomatic support to civil society and independent journalism.

    We must think creatively about how to strengthen the voices of moderation and reform.

    And we must be a safe haven to Russians fleeing political persecution.

    Labour’s Foreign Policy

    Living in an age of authoritarians means re-assessing our strategic priorities.

    This must mark a turning point for Britain, and for our allies.

    After years of distraction and insularity, Britain can carve a new leading position on the world stage.

    First, we must strengthen our defences and lead the debate about the future of European security.

    Britain has left the EU. The task now is to make Brexit work. On both sides of the channel.

    It is time to leave behind the petty diplomatic spats with our neighbours pursued by this UK government…

    …designed only to serve short term domestic political interests.

    The British government must stop putting peace on the island of Ireland at risk…

    …with its reckless threats to the Good Friday Agreement.

    We need a government that can rebuild relations of trust and mutual respect with our closest neighbours on the continent…

    …based on our shared values and common interests.

    We need to end more than a decade of cuts to the army and rethink the assumptions in the Integrated Review.

    The Government has pursued an Indo-Pacific tilt…

    …but it must not do so at the cost of our commitments to European security.

    As war ravages parts of our continent…

    …we need to put past Brexit divisions behind us.

    Stop seeking rows with European partners…

    …and use this moment to explore new ways to rebuild relations with European allies through a new UK-EU security pact.

    Second, we must sprint towards decarbonisation and end our dependency on dirty fossil fuels.

    Much of the funding for Putin’s war machine has come from us and our partners…

    …running our industries…

    …heating our homes…

    ….and filling our cars with oil and gas from Russia…

    …$700m per day from Europe…

    We can revolutionise that if we have the will.

    The UK Government has said that the UK will end Russian oil imports to the UK by the end of 2022.

    We support this.

    But on its own this move will not shield us from rocketing energy prices.

    Our Prime Minister’s moves to fill the gap of Russian energy have so far been to look for new authoritarians from which to buy oil.

    Whether Iran, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere….

    Short-termist.

    Ill-judged.

    And not learning the lessons of Putin.

    Fossil fuels empower the worst sorts of dictators

    The only true form of energy independence is through clean energy.

    This is why a Labour government in Britain would quadruple investment in a Green recovery…

    …£225bn over the next 8 years.

    Third, we must finally end our role as a facilitator of illicit finance and cleanse our society from dirty money…

    …not just from Russia…

    …but from corrupt elites across the world who have used Britain and our overseas territories to hide their ill-gotten wealth under our noses.

    Fourth, we must restore our soft power

    Because it is not only tyrants’ actions we must change…

    …but the minds of their publics.

    The United States and the UK together do so much good through the development we lead across the world.

    But Britain has stepped back from its former leadership, cutting billions in aid, and mismanaging the merger of our development and foreign ministries, leaving them less than the sum of their parts.

    Facing the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War…

    …the importance of humanitarian aid and long-term development could not be greater.

    One of the UK’s greatest exports is the BBC World Service…

    …which plays a unique role…

    …both in delivering information to populations living in authoritarian regimes…

    …and embodying the free speech and independent media that are cornerstones of our democracies…

    …reaching nearly 400m people per week.

    In the first weeks of Putin’s invasion…

    …the BBC’s Russian language service audience tripled, and has now been subject to new restrictions in Russia.

    But the fact that just 13% of Russians see Russia as the aggressor in Putin’s illegal war shows the scale of the task.

    A Labour government would truly value the BBC World Service.

    …alongside a refreshed British Council

    And be a beacon for our values around the world.

    Conclusion

    I started this speech by saying my time in the US taught me the great story of the 20th century is one of how minority groups gained rights through liberal democracy.

    If this is true, the story of the 21st century is so far a story of the reverse.

    Every year freedom house releases a report of the state of global democracy.

    This year’s was titled: ‘The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule’

    These times are dark…

    …but they are not without promise.

    We should take encouragement from Vladimir Putin’s current failure to achieve his objectives in Ukraine.

    Russia’s huge, poorly organised army being out fought by Ukraine’s smaller but more skilful and determined troops…

    …Because unlike the Russians, they actually know what they’re fighting for.

    It’s the same thing that generations of British and American troops, diplomats, activists, and ordinary people have struggled for…

    …the hope that our democracies are supposed to represent.

    Ukraine’s formidable and courageous leader…

    …Volodymyr Zelenskyy…

    …has called upon our collective conscience…

    …he has shown what it means to fight for a democratic nation state.

    Using Ukraine’s heroics as inspiration…

    …Together Britain, the United States, the EU and the rest of our allies and partners around the world have the chance to move past the age of authoritarians.

    Reaffirming our commitment to the values we share…

    …freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

    Restoring the international institutions that spread them.

    And giving hope to our nations once again.

  • Liz Truss – 2022 Speech in Warsaw

    Liz Truss – 2022 Speech in Warsaw

    The speech made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 4 April 2022.

    Welcome to the British Embassy in Warsaw. It’s good to have the opportunity to hear from my friend and colleague Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister at what is an extremely difficult time.

    What we have seen on the streets of Irpin and Bucha are scenes that we will never forget. We have seen butchery, evidence of rape and sexual violence as well as the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

    We will ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice for these barbaric crimes. And together with our allies we will step up our efforts to stop Putin’s appalling war.

    Three weeks ago, the UK led 41 states to refer these atrocities to the International Criminal court. We are providing additional funding to the ICC.

    The UK military and police are providing technical assistance to the investigations. And the Metropolitan Police War Crimes unit have commenced the collection of evidence. We are working very closely with the Ukrainian government on this.

    We have appointed former ICC judge Sir Howard Morrison as an independent adviser to the Ukrainian prosecutor general.

    And today, I can announce that we are launching a £10 million civil society fund to support organisations in Ukraine, including those helping the victims of conflict-related sexual violence.

    We will not rest until these criminals have been brought to justice.

    We are clear that after these appalling crimes Russia has no place on the Human Rights Council.

    And it is the responsibility of the UK and our allies – and that is what Dmytro and I discussed today – to step up our support for our brave Ukrainian friends. That means more weapons and more sanctions. Putin must lose in Ukraine.

    Later this week, the G7 Foreign Ministers and the NATO Foreign Ministers will meet.

    We need to announce a tough new wave of sanctions. The reality is that money is still flowing from the West into Putin’s war machine, and that has to stop.

    In Brussels, I’ll be working with our partners to go further as has been advocated by Dmytro in banning Russian ships from our ports, in cracking down on Russian banks, in going after new industries filling Putin’s war chest like gold, and agreeing a clear timetable to eliminate our imports of Russian oil, gas and coal.

    We also need even more weapons of the type the Ukrainians are asking for.

    The UK is supplying more including next-generation light anti-tank weapons, Javelin Missiles and Starstreak anti-aircraft systems. And last week, we hosted a donor conference with our allies to secure more.

    The fact is that being tough is the only approach that will work. Putin has escalated this war.

    And this approach is vital to ensuring he loses in Ukraine, and that we see a full withdrawal of Russian troops and Ukraine’s hand is strengthened at the negotiating table.

    There should be no talk of removing sanctions whilst Putin’s troops are in Ukraine and the threat of Russian aggression looms over Europe.

    We need to see Putin withdraw his troops. We need to see Ukraine’s full territorial integrity restored. We need to see Russia’s ability for further aggression stopped. We need a plan to rebuild Ukraine. And we need to see justice done at the International Criminal Court.

    Dmytro – we salute your bravery and the bravery of the Ukrainian people.

    We are determined to help in whatever way we can. We will back you unwaveringly in your negotiations.

    And together, we will not rest until Putin fails and Ukraine prevails.

  • James Cleverly – 2022 Statement on the Ukraine Financial Guarantee

    James Cleverly – 2022 Statement on the Ukraine Financial Guarantee

    The statement made by James Cleverly, the Minister for Europe and North America, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    Today, I have laid a departmental minute which describes a liability the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is undertaking to support the economic stability of Ukraine after the Russian invasion in March 2022.

    It is normal practice, when a Government Department proposes to undertake a contingent liability in excess of £300,000 for which there is no specific statutory authority, for the Minister concerned to present a departmental minute to Parliament giving particulars of the liability created and explaining the circumstances.

    The FCDO will guarantee up to $450 million or EUR-equivalent (approximately €410 million or £344 million at the current exchange rate) of financing by the World Bank to the Government of Ukraine. It will enable $450 million of additional World Bank financing to the Government of Ukraine.

    It is normal that, any contingent liabilities should not be incurred until 14 sitting days after Parliament has been notified of the Government’s intention to incur a contingent liability but there is an exception in cases of special urgency, such as this.

    The next World Bank loan is planned for mid-April. We want our guarantee to be ready to increase the size of this loan and ensure resources reach the people of Ukraine as quickly as possible. We cannot wait for the House to return before creating this contingent liability.

    The exact length of the liability is dependent on the agreed loan by the World Bank but is expected to last up to 25 years. FCDO would only pay official development assistance if a default occurs as agreed with the World Bank. The departmental minute sets this out in detail.

    HM Treasury has approved the proposal in principle and the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee has been notified.

    I am placing today a copy of the departmental minute in the Library of the House.

  • Alyn Smith – 2022 Speech on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    Alyn Smith – 2022 Speech on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    The speech made by Alyn Smith, the SNP MP for Stirling, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    I warmly congratulate the hon. Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) on securing this urgent question on a very difficult but very important subject. It is vital that we take due note of what is going on in Ukraine. We can all agree that rape as a weapon of war is beyond despicable. I will focus my remarks on urging the Government to take action on only three points, because much has been said that I agree with.

    SNP Members have called for a specific atrocity prevention strategy. Work is under way across the FCDO on these issues, but we think that bringing that into a coherent atrocity prevention strategy would be helpful in not only holding the Government to account on what is being done, but urging more action on that.

    On accountability, I agree with the Government’s approach of supporting the ICC, rather than creating new structures. That is proportionate and the best way to do it. I was glad to hear about the funding, but as we have seen from Syria, we can have all the evidence that we like, but if there is not the political will to carry it through, we will not see the necessary accountability on the ground and the fear of justice to end the culture of impunity that we are hearing reports of from Ukraine. I urge the Government to do more on that and to publish as one document the efforts that are being made to help accountability mechanisms in Ukraine, because that would again help the coherence and strategy to be clear to us all.

    I echo the points about people trafficking and safeguarding, on which I know the Minister has been very active. However, perhaps we can have a specific statement on the risk of trafficking of vulnerable refugees and what the UK and other partners have done to help and assist. I am aware that the German police have been doing very useful work on that, but, sadly, a lot more work needs to be done.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2022 Speech on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    Stephen Doughty – 2022 Speech on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    The speech made by Stephen Doughty, the Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    I thank the hon. Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) for this hugely important urgent question and you, Mr Speaker, for granting it. As ever, Labour Members stand absolutely with the people of Ukraine, including all the women and girls of Ukraine who are suffering horrendously in this conflict started by Putin. This war of aggression has had a terrible toll on civilians across the country.

    We know that, throughout history, rape and sexual violence have been used by aggressors to punish, terrorise and destroy populations, from the rape of women during the 1937 Nanking occupation to the estimated 200,000 women subjected to rape during the fight for independence in Bangladesh. We have also seen victims of sexual violence in Bosnia and, more recently, as I have raised with the Minister, in Tigray and Myanmar. It is because of those heinous examples, and countless others, that rape and sexual violence have had to be explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions. As war ravages Europe once again, the grim reality is that we hear horrific reports of rape and sexual violence being used as weapons of war once more.

    This week, one Ukrainian woman told The Times that she was raped on multiple occasions by Russian soldiers in her family home after they murdered her husband and while her four-year-old son was in tears nearby. That is utterly horrific and heinous. As the hon. Member said, we have also heard direct testimonies in the House. We were told:

    “We have reports of women gang-raped. These women are usually the ones who are unable to get out. We are talking about senior citizens. Most of these women have either been executed after the crime of rape or they have taken their own lives.”

    Every part of the House will condemn those appalling crimes, but condemnation is not enough. We need accountability and justice must be done. Putin and his cronies, and all those breaking international laws of war in his name, must face the full force of the law for the crimes and atrocities that they are, no doubt, committing.

    The Minister made a number of important points, but will she set out clearly the steps that the Government are taking, crucially to gain the evidence to document these incidents? She mentioned the role of the Metropolitan police and other initiatives. What are we learning from past examples, particularly in the Balkans and elsewhere, about what we can do to ensure that evidence is collected and collated so that people can be brought to justice? How are we working with human rights organisations and others? What is her assessment of access for such organisations? Will she back Labour’s call for a special tribunal so that all war crimes, including the crime of aggression, can be prosecuted? Will she explain the detail of how humanitarian aid is being used in particular to support women in crossing the borders?

    We have heard concerning reports about cuts to health and conflict in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which are crucial areas that affect the situation for women and girls. Will she assure us that they will not take place? Labour will always support what it takes to protect victims of sexual violence in Britain and Ukraine and across the world.

  • Vicky Ford – 2022 Statement on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    Vicky Ford – 2022 Statement on Russian Armed Forces Raping Woman in Ukraine

    The statement made by Vicky Ford, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    On 24 February, Russia launched a premeditated and wholly unprovoked invasion into Ukraine. Since then, we have been horrified by reports of rape and sexual violence committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine. We have been clear that Russia’s barbaric acts must be investigated and those responsible held to account. Let us be clear: indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians amount to war crimes for which the Putin regime must be held accountable.

    That is why the Government worked with partners to refer the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court, to establish a commission of inquiry through the UN Human Rights Council with the support of Ukraine, and to establish an Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission of experts. We brought allies together to expedite an ICC investigation into the situation in Ukraine through state party referral. With 37 countries joining the UK, it was the largest referral in the ICC’s history. The international community is isolating Putin on the world stage.

    It is vital that the ICC is able to carry out that investigation, which is why the UK will provide military, policing and financial support to help to uncover evidence of such crimes and ultimately seek justice. On 24 March, we announced an additional £1 million of funding for the ICC to help to uncover evidence of war crimes and we are providing UK experts to support the investigation.

    Sadly, rape in war is not new. Before the war started in Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary committed the UK to do more to tackle sexual violence in conflict, including, but not limited to, its use as a method of warfare. We are working with countries and international partners to strengthen the international response. All options are on the table, including a new international convention that would help to hold perpetrators to account.

    The UK continues to act decisively with its allies to punish the Putin regime for its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, and we will do all we can to bring the perpetrators of war crimes, including sexual violence, to justice.

  • Liz Truss – 2022 Statement on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal

    Liz Truss – 2022 Statement on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal

    The statement made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons on 30 March 2022.

    British judges have played an important role in supporting the judiciary in Hong Kong for many years. Since 1997 judges from other common law jurisdictions, including the UK, have sat on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal as part of the continuing commitment to safeguarding the rule of law.

    However, since Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020, our assessment of the legal environment in Hong Kong has been increasingly finely balanced. China has continued to use the national security law and its related institutions to undermine the fundamental rights and freedoms promised in the joint declaration. As national security law cases proceed through the courts, we are seeing the implications of this sweeping legislation, including the chilling effect on freedom of expression, the stifling of opposition voices, and the criminalising of dissent.

    Given this concerning downward trajectory, the Foreign Secretary has agreed with the Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, and the President of the UK Supreme Court Lord Reed, that the political and legal situation in Hong Kong has reached the point at which it is no longer tenable for serving UK judges to participate on the Court of Final Appeal. As such Lord Reed and Lord Hodge submitted their resignations to the Hong Kong authorities today. We are grateful for their service, and that of their predecessors.

    The UK remains committed to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their rights and freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations.

  • Liz Truss – 2022 Comments on Visit to India

    Liz Truss – 2022 Comments on Visit to India

    The comments made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 31 March 2022.

    Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries.

    This matters even more in the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cyber security.

    India is an economic and tech powerhouse, the world’s largest democracy and a great friend of Britain, and I want to build an even closer relationship between our two nations.

  • Malcolm Harbour – 2006 Speech on the Services Directive

    Malcolm Harbour – 2006 Speech on the Services Directive

    The speech made by Malcolm Harbour, the then Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, on 15 February 2006.

    Mr President, it is more than two years since I started working on this directive and I have been convinced from the beginning that its objectives and the ambition to tackle the barriers to the internal market for services have been absolutely right. Why has it taken two years? We had it at the end of the last Parliament; we have seen some of the issues raised by the many speeches here today, which, in many cases, have vastly overplayed the problems but underplayed the opportunities.

    With some of the high-flown rhetoric we have heard today about issues like social dumping and so on, which I have never been in any way convinced would arise from this directive, it is most important that we do not forget the opportunities, so I shall talk a little about those tonight.

    Firstly, I particularly want to thank all the members of my group on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection who have worked so tirelessly with me to reshape this text. I calculate that three-quarters of all the amendments to the text that we will vote on on Thursday originated from our group. In particular, the whole idea of a central clause called ‘freedom to provide services’ was developed by us in the run-up to the committee vote. That will form the basis for the compromise that I want to commend to all my colleagues this afternoon. I also want to thank our colleagues in the ALDE and UEN Groups who helped us achieve a very important result in the committee back in November.

    This is one of the subjects to have attracted the most debate and argument over the last two years. This will be the final debate of this cycle, but I am sure we will have many more. At the heart of the debate has been Mrs Gebhardt, a very hardworking and determined rapporteur. I want to pay tribute to her and the very courteous and painstaking way in which she has led our work on a very complicated and difficult proposal.

    I said that I wanted to look at the impact of the directive as a whole, because we should be thinking particularly about small and medium-sized businesses, which are constantly frustrated at their inability to access the internal market at the moment. There is a whole range of provisions in this proposal – no less than 81 provisions on Member States – to deal with these sorts of barriers, because businesses want to be able to go into markets; they want to be able to start up without unnecessary and bureaucratic barriers; they want to be able to send their experts to other countries. But they also want to know that they will not be subject to disproportionate and unnecessary restrictions and that includes requiring them to comply with duplicate sets of rules and authorisations when they have already complied with them in their own country. I do not think that is reasonable. The European courts do not think that is reasonable and that is contained in this compromise. If that is the devastating country-of-origin principle, then what have we been arguing about all this time? It is there in the law of the Court of Justice. My reading of this compromise is that it is not in any way eroded and we must make sure that it is not eroded when we come to the vote.

    The role of the Commission has been mentioned. The Commissioner, has a crucial responsibility to take this forward. I do not want him just to produce a proposal based word for word on this text. We need to do more work on it, because it needs to deliver benefits for business, otherwise there is no point in having it at all. I think we can do that.

    I say in conclusion to Mr Bartenstein – and I am still wearing my Austrian tie, because I told him I would wear it for as long as we were in sight of a clear agreement – he can still get this on the table of the economic summit in March if he puts his mind to it.