§ 14. Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy)In pursuing an ethical foreign policy what regard Her Majesty's Government have to a country's internal human rights record; and if he will make a statement. [108544]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Hain)We consistently promote British interests and pursue British values in our foreign policy by supporting democracy and human rights wherever we can and however we can.
§ Mr. LlwydI thank the Minister for that reply, but in the light of the Government's ethical foreign policy, why are they so supportive of Turkey, given its disgraceful human rights record in relation to the Kurdish people? Why is it thought ethical and proper that the British taxpayer should stump up £220 million to sponsor the Ilisu dam project? Is that ethical and proper when 20,000 to 60,000 Kurds will be displaced by that awful state?
§ Mr. HainWe have not made any decision on the Ilisu dam project. We have consistently raised human rights 766 matters with Turkey and, indeed, securing advances on human rights is one of the conditions it has to meet as a basis for admission to the European Union.
§ Angela Smith (Basildon)Although I accept my hon. Friend's comments that we need to have good relations with other countries to promote human rights, will he consider one country with which we have a special relationship—the United States? It is still that country's practice to keep minors on death row until they are old enough to be executed. Can he assure me that he will make strong representations to representatives of the US Government about that?
§ Mr. HainUnlike the previous Government, we have played a leading role in opposing the death penalty wherever it is used, and we will continue to do so in the various international forums in which we have an opportunity to raise the matter. I answer my hon. Friend's question in that context.
§ Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire)What is ethical about selling jet parts to Zimbabwe so that President Mugabe can bomb the Congo for private gain?
§ Mr. HainI find questions like that very interesting from the party which sold arms to Iraq, as the Scott report exposed, and whose Ministers misled the House over the matter. As I said earlier, we were fulfilling a contractual obligation on Hawk jets sold by a Conservative Government, including two Hawk jets operating in the Congo and a few spares for them. We have also made it clear that we have tightened our policy on arms exports to such countries as Zimbabwe which are involved in the Congo conflict—a policy that the Conservative Government never got anywhere near adopting—and we deserve praise and credit for that.
§ Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West)Does my hon. Friend agree that there are circumstances in which constructive engagement can encourage a country that has a poor record on human rights to improve that record? Does he agree that an example of that is Iran, where Britain's funding, bilaterally and through the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, for Iran's drug control agencies has helped to show the benefits of engagement with the west and has strengthened the more progressive forces in Iran, which is especially important given the upcoming election there?
§ Mr. HainYes. There is no point in having a detailed dialogue with some countries—for example, Burma, Iraq and the Yugoslav Republic—because there is no opportunity to do so. As my hon. Friend pointed out, we have recently had critical dialogue with Iran about, for example, the Jewish detainees and other issues. It is because we have supported the reform programme of President Khatami that we have had an audience on those issues and have been able to put our points of view. We have seen some results from that, and critical dialogue is a policy that we have successfully adopted and will continue to use with many countries with which we do not agree about every aspect of their government, policies or constitution.