UN Relief Operations: Support (Hansard, 11 May 1993)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Henley)
My Lords, the establishment of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs headed by Jan Eliasson means that the United Nations is better equipped to provide relief than in the past. But demands for humanitarian relief grow, particularly in areas of civil strife, and it is vital that member states provide the resources necessary to enable the United Nations to meet those demands.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, does the Minister agree that recent events such as those in Bosnia, Cambodia, the Horn, Mozambique and Angola have well demonstrated that, despite the dedicated service of military and civilians, the UN is overstretched, underresourced and repeatedly asked too late by member governments to intervene on an improvised basis? What lead will the Government now give to seek to strengthen the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, improve the task-oriented work of the specialised agencies, ensure proper resources both of cash and kind and, above all, enhance the role of the Security Council in early warning, conflict resolution and pre-emptive diplomacy?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we are very anxious that full support should be given to the United Nations and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. Certainly, we shall do our bit, as we already have done, in helping the new department. I can confirm that it was under UK guidance, with our EC partners, that the Department of Humanitarian Affairs was established last April. We were the first to contribute to that department. We are certainly keen to see that Mr. Eliasson is given all the tangible support that he needs. We have made clear our willingness to help him in every possible way, even seconding a senior British diplomat to help the DHA with advice. We will continue to give support and offer appropriate advice.

§ Lord Bonham-Carter
My Lords, will the noble Lord be so good as to tell the House how many members of the United Nations have not yet paid their dues and whether the United States of America has yet paid its dues, since that is very relevant to the Answer to the Question?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I do not know how many have not yet paid their full dues in terms of what they pay directly to the United Nations. The DHA is funded separately from donations. I repeat that we were the first country to make any payments to it.

§ Lord Bonham-Carter
My Lords, will the Minister be so good as to let me know the situation by letter?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I shall certainly write to the noble Lord.

§ Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare
My Lords, taking up a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Judd, can the Minister confirm that we are among those countries that have responded yet again to the appeal for help in Kurdistan? If we talk about the role played by this country, can he give any idea of the role that other countries have played compared with Britain?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I do not want to go into the detail of all the varied programmes of humanitarian aid that the United Nations and the DHA support. Sadly, last year bilaterally we spent £163 million. As regards Northern Iraq, since 1989 we have donated in the order of £56 million. With regard to the new funds made available to the United Nations plan of action for Iraq, so far only 1.5 million dollars have come forward, but of that sum 1.4 million dollars were contributed by this country.

§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister will agree that there is enormous respect in this country for the way in which Her Majesty's forces serving in Bosnia have fulfilled their humanitarian task and will fulfil the future task in regard to protected areas. Have the Government yet given an answer to the Secretary General's proposals that the UK and other countries should earmark specific troops to be available on call when there is an urgent need, as now in Bosnia?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I cannot answer the noble Lord's specific question. We will certainly make troops available where we see a need so long as resources are available. I join the noble Lord in paying tribute to our own forces for everything that they have done and to the non-government organisations and the United Nations for all that they have done in the valuable work of saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the most appalling circumstances.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, does not the Minister agree that the Bosnian situation is only one example and that the United Nations must now concentrate on preventing or limiting those situations that result in humanitarian suffering if action is not taken swiftly enough?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we must certainly act as quickly as we can. In response to the question from the noble Lord on the Front Bench I said that we must respond to any reports of emergencies as they arise. Obviously, by the nature of the term "emergency", it is difficult to be able to predict exactly when an emergency is likely to arise. We should like to be in a position to respond as and when we can.

§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, the noble Lord said that forces will be made available so long as they are available. That was not quite the point being made by my noble friend. He was asking about the reply to the Secretary General, who was requesting that forces should be earmarked and therefore made available by 1178 a large number of countries. I do not believe the Minister replied to that point. Will he do so, or perhaps write?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, if the noble Lord listened to me, I did respond and said that I did not know the answer. However, I will write to the noble Lord. I said that we could only respond according to the availability of resources. There is always a maximum beyond which one cannot go. Her Majesty's Government will do all they can, as far as is possible.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, will the Government follow the example of the United States and France and establish a moratorium on the transfer of antipersonnel land mines which are causing such havoc in the wake of disasters from conflicts in many parts of the world? As a first step, will the Government agree to ratify the 1980 United Nations Convention on Inhumane Weapons and land mines protocol?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, with respect, that goes very wide of the Question on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that this exchange has demonstrated that the real issue is that, while dedicated service is being undertaken in response to needs which have overtaken the international community, there is a desperate need to develop a strategic role of the UN in pre-empting crises of this kind? As members of the Security Council, what are we to do about leading in that respect?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we were the ones, together with our European partners, who helped put together the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. We believe it can do a valuable job. There is much more it can do and more reforms that can take place. However, we believe it plays a vital role in co-ordinating all activities in relation to responses to disasters of the kind that we are discussing.