Christmas Adjournment

In this important debate, I want to concentrate on the role of communities in international development programmes. My recent experience in that regard has had a profound effect on me and my constituents. In November 2003, I travelled to Sierra Leone as part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation, at the behest of Win Griffiths, who was then MP for Bridgend. He said that it was absolutely vital to have a woman in the delegation, because there had been so many problems with the development of women in Sierra Leone. At the time, I knew nothing about the country, but I agreed to go—probably one of the best decisions that I have ever made. Sierra Leone is the second most deprived country in the world, as became evident to us as soon as we arrived. Most of us are accustomed to airports that are well lit and reasonably equipped, so Lungi airport is quite an education. One is entirely focused on ensuring that one still has one’s bags on leaving, but that is understandable in a country where 90 per cent. unemployment means that everyone is seeking any opportunity to make money. Moreover, that figure hides the fact that nearly 100 per cent. of young people are unemployed, which may explain why the country found itself in the grip of a civil war, with rebels in control for 13 years. Many of those who fought in the war were child soldiers, who saw the war as a ready source of income. Who knows what any of us would do when there is no money to be had anywhere? Finally, Sierra Leone took advantage of its colonial past and called on the British Government to help bring that terrible war to an end. In this debate, much time has been spent talking about the British Army’s intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is present in at least 120 locations around the world and it undertakes all sorts of different roles. If I were able to take hon. Members to Sierra Leone today, everyone in that country would want to express their thanks, from the bottom of their hearts, for the work that the British Army did in bringing that terrible civil war to an end. They are immensely grateful, given the unique nature of the conflict that they endured. Apart from bringing the war to an end in 2002, the British Government set up a special court with the American Government. It is now taking testimony and has ordered the arrest of eight of the worst perpetrators of war crimes in Sierra Leone. Six of them are currently being held there. Hon. Members may be aware of an individual called Charles Taylor, a notorious man who perpetrated the most appalling abuses. He was given sanctuary in Nigeria, but when the new President was introduced in Liberia last year, her first request, much to her credit, was to ask Nigeria to return Charles Taylor to be tried in a special court. There was a small problem in Nigeria when he escaped, but he was captured on the border and subsequently brought back to Sierra Leone. When the helicopter carrying Charles Taylor was circling over Freetown, people were crying in the streets. The nature of the war crimes that Charles Taylor committed is unprecedented in the view of the advisers to the special court, who have knowledge of the trials in Nuremberg and elsewhere in Europe and in Rwanda. It goes beyond my imagination and the words that I possess to describe the type of torture that the people of Sierra Leone have been exposed to as a result of the fighting rebel factions. Taylor’s penchant was skinning people alive. He was not unique in that. There was much work done in amputating people’s limbs. The common question asked was, ““Do you want long trousers or short trousers. Would you like long sleeves or short sleeves?”” When we remember that most of the people involved in the war were children under 12, it is an horrific experience not just for them but for humanity that in this day and age such activity is still undertaken. So I found my visit to Sierra Leone debilitating. I understood quite well how little effort by our Army could bring about a revolutionary change in people’s lives. The country has been rescued from a terrible civil war, but it is now economically moribund. It was originally designated one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but with assistance from the British Government procedures are being put in place to allow the finances of the Sierra Leone Parliament to be more transparent. That is vital if the country is to benefit from third world debt relief. At present it is not the beneficiary of debt relief and it needs to be. It needs currency to develop its services and facilities for its people. As I said, Sierra Leone is economically almost moribund so it depends on aid agencies and Governments such as ours to intervene. However, we all know here that aid agencies and Governments come and go. As others have said today, the organisations that stay for ever are voluntary. They are groups of people who get together for common purpose and do not recognise political cycles or budgets. They do it because they believe that they have a role to play and they are passionate about the interest of a particular group. When I came back from Sierra Leone, I went to my constituency and asked whether it would be possible for us to twin with a town in Sierra Leone called Waterloo. I have a Waterloo in my constituency. The general consensus was yes; that we would like to do this. I took home films and photographs and everyone was moved by what they saw. I represent by and large an affluent constituency. When constituencies were giving in response to the tsunami, mine was one of the biggest providers per head in the country. I am immensely proud that I represent a Liverpool constituency, as we are known for our philanthropy and our charitable giving. It was no surprise to find that my constituents had given a great deal. Quite frankly, many of them want to give more than money, as they want to give of themselves, so how do we release the need to give? How do the Government harness that great desire to give of self? Most people know that money is transient, but friendships endure. Many of my constituents wanted to give of themselves, go to Sierra Leone and actually help. That sounds absolutely great in principle and we would all commend people who did that, but, in reality, it is immensely difficult, particularly in respect of countries like Sierra Leone that are either in a conflict or post-conflict. I am immensely proud of the people I represent because they had the courage to go to a country that had just come out of a civil war—some tanks were still running round the streets—and they felt that they had a role to play. Our first visit would not have been possible without the support of our high commission and the British Council. High commissions and the British Council in different countries do a great job generally, but they are not normally used to dealing with voluntary groups. They are more used to dealing with businesses and schools, but not with groups of people who want to come and do good. I shall expand on that comment later. Members of my community wanted to twin all our schools, all our churches and faith groups, our Scouts and Brownies and they wanted to send business people over to Sierra Leone. More importantly, they wanted to underpin the relationship with a 20-year commitment, as they wanted to tell the people of Sierra Leone that they would not be involved only for the short term. The Government have already agreed that they have to stay in Sierra Leone until 2012. Quite frankly, they need to be there. Anyone familiar with this particular region of west Africa will know that Sierra Leone is flanked by Liberia on one side, Côte d’Ivoire on the other and Guinea to the north—all very unstable countries, all at a tipping point almost all of the time. Getting one country stable and keeping it stable is therefore very important in that region. I am delighted that the Government have made it clear that they are going to stay there: they need to; if they withdraw, further problems will quickly arise in that area of the world. Following our first visit, I took with me four members of our community, who came back and made the commitments that I have just outlined to the House. We decided that we had to make all that a reality and we had to work with a number of agencies to deliver a programme of twinning. The British Council has a fantastic scheme for facilitating links between British schools and schools all over the world. If hon. Members are not aware of it, I encourage them to have a look at it and advertise it in their constituency’s schools. My constituency has a population of 99.8 per cent. white people. This scheme has meant that, for the first time, we have been able to partner with people from an entirely different culture, which is immensely important to us. It is a fantastic privilege for us to have developed an association with a country in another part of the world and to learn at first hand about that community’s experiences. The first programme of learning between our two schools will concentrate on conflict prevention. Conflict is an issue that many people in Liverpool will know intimately through relationships in Ireland, but they will find it immensely beneficial to have the opportunity to work with and learn from a country that is just coming out of a conflict process. The school twinning programme starts in great earnest next February when I take 10 teachers from my constituency on their first ever visit to Africa. They are going to Sierra Leone. I am very nervous about that because I just do not know how I will explain the absence of water in four-star hotels, or the absence of food or roads, or the sewage flowing through the streets, or the fact that the mortality rate of the under-fives is the highest in the world. It will be a great shock for them. However, they are trail-blazers for many other people in my community. Next year, we will take out a group of engineers, because the people of Waterloo in Sierra Leone have said that they want a library and my engineering colleagues have said, ““Yes, we’re interested in that. We will go and help build a library in Sierra Leone.”” We did not know when we agreed to do so that it would be the biggest library in Africa, but it will be and it will contain 100,000 books. The British Council was founded in a library and has proselytised on the use of libraries and the development of economic activity. When we asked the people of Waterloo in Sierra Leone what they wanted, they did not say, ““Clean water””—unfortunately for me, because I am an engineer, and clean water would be easy to deliver—they said, ““We would like a library.”” I find it remarkable that people with truly absolutely nothing at all could ask for a library. When we asked, ““Why a library and not clean water?”” they said, ““A generation of our children have never known school, and school is all. Education is all in allowing our country to come to the fore again.”” Getting the involvement of companies in such projects is also very difficult. Our Government could play quite a role in encouraging British companies to outreach into countries such as those in Africa. I have raised a tremendous amount of money for the library, but money will not build the library; intellectual capacity and experience will do so, and Sierra Leone is very short of that. I have approached many British companies to talk to them about where Africa fits into their corporate social responsibility programmes, and I have been told very clearly that Africa does not fit. There is no money in Africa, so it does not fit into the psyche of British companies. I find that deeply regrettable. I am very proud of the engineers who have agreed to help us with the library project, but there are very few of them, and they are all very young people under the age of 26. It is a credit to our young people that they want to be involved with that project, but they have not got access to the money or the technology to realise such projects in Africa. I said earlier that I want to touch briefly on developing the role of the British Council and of the high commission. It strikes me that the high commission is geared to deal with companies that want to carry out inward investment. It is looking for companies to invest in countries, or it is looking for export opportunities for companies that exist in-country. However, in developing countries, inward investment will not be on the agenda for many years, and it might not be on the agenda simply because there is no stability in the country that allows companies to have the confidence that, if they make an investment, it will be secure. In the absence of inward investment programmes because of the stability of the country, I ask that we consider finding ways to support the voluntary sector and its engagement in the development of the country. If we could replicate across the UK the work in which my very small community in Waterloo has been able to engage, we would change so many of Africa’s communities. If we were to convert their time, effort, knowledge and commitment into pounds, it would be worth an inordinate amount of money, and they need the high commission to help them to gain access to the very people whom they can help. That is also true of the British Council, which is offering huge opportunities to young people to leave a country and to take on an excellent education here. That is desperately required, because technical knowledge is almost negligible in some of those countries. However, I would like to see the remit of the British Council extended so that not only are people sent to our country, but people are brought from our country to other countries that desperately need expert support, because, although we may bring one person out, if we bring a lecturer from this country to another country, the number of people who can benefit is obviously far greater. Countries such as Sierra Leone have benefited enormously from our intervention, but they will slide again into civil war unless there is economic resurgence. Economic resurgence cannot happen when there is no technical capacity in place. We have to address issues about developing technical capacity in third world countries. I am quite sure that there is a body of people in this country, outwith Government, who would very much want to be part of that exercise if our Government were to facilitate that relationship.