Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill

Two organisations are supported by this Bill. I thank the International Committee of the Red Cross for its incredibly important work and for supporting me in the preparation of the Bill. I know how much time and consideration its London delegation has put in, and Eve La Haye in the ICRC legal team in Geneva has also been heavily involved. I thank all of them.

The unique international humanitarian mandate and mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross has been formally recognised by states in the Geneva convention and additional protocols. The Bill will accord it a status or treatment in the UK equivalent to that of an international organisation, with the relevant privileges and immunities. To date, more than 110 states have accorded the ICRC those relevant privileges and immunities, including all other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The content of the Bill, and the conferral of relevant privileges and immunity to the ICRC in the UK, is critical to enabling it to continue to operate in the UK in accordance with its international mandate, maintaining its strict adherence to the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence and its working method of confidentiality.

For more than two years, there has been intense work to get to this stage—it has been described as a labour of love. None of it could have been accomplished without the esteemed individuals and organisations that I mentioned. The perseverance from everyone is starting to be rewarded now, but there is much more to do. I welcome the fact that the Bill and the amendments debated and agreed to in Committee have received cross-party support, again demonstrating the high regard and esteem in which both the CPA and ICRC are held not only in this place but throughout the country and internationally.

Members of a number of overseas Parliaments in particular have reiterated how important the Bill is. We have listened and learned and gone forward with this historic legislation, which is now well on its way to putting in place such a fundamental change.

The Bill is integral to the CPA and the ICRC, as it provides the necessary powers for both organisations to be treated in a manner comparable with an international organisation, of which the United Kingdom, or His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, are a member. Each organisation has its own role and constitutional arrangements. That had to be—and is— reflected in the Bill. Under certain clauses, secondary legislation can put in place the privileges and immunities that each organisation will need.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association element of the Bill will be widely and warmly welcomed by our fellow parliamentarians throughout the Commonwealth. I recall that on my recent visit to Kenya, the Speaker of that Parliament reminded me how vital it is to the African region of the CPA to achieve this new status for the organisation. Parliamentarians from Africa have long championed the need for this legislation and made the point that they want to continue to be part of the CPA because of the important work that it does, but they increasingly struggle to justify spending their taxpayers’ money with the CPA configured as a UK charity: a status that I believe we have long outgrown. Concerns about the CPA’s status date back more than three decades. If that can now be resolved, I believe that will serve to strengthen and renew the CPA’s mission, unity and sense of purpose.

I attended the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Ghana last October, where I saw once again the strength of feeling across the CPA membership about the status of our organisation. Mr Speaker, last month you hosted Speakers and Presiding Officers from the Commonwealth in London for Commonwealth day, where you ensured that they were briefed about the progress that we are making on the Bill. The response was extremely warm and positive: a collective sigh of relief that this issue might be reaching a solution.

I am mindful, however, that the Bill will need to pass through the other place to become an Act, so may I say once again that, without this legislation, there is a strong possibility that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association would relocate its headquarters outside the UK? By enacting the Bill, the UK can not only keep the CPA here but demonstrate our commitment to the Commonwealth itself in this, its 75th year.

I am delighted that key amendments were passed in Committee, the first of which recognises the unique and sensitive role of the ICRC, including visiting prisoners all around the world to help ensure their safety. It allows for protected ICRC information to be exempt from disclosure requirements imposed by an order of court or tribunal proceedings, other than criminal proceedings. The amendment is designed to protect information that the ICRC provides in confidence to His Majesty’s Government from being used in UK civil proceedings. That is necessary, as the withholding of confidential information from public disclosure cannot otherwise be assured. That reflects the ICRC’s standard working method of confidentiality, which is designed to protect not only its staff but its operations in active conflict zones. That principle also underpins the ICRC’s ability to operate in dangerous locations on sensitive issues, engaging with both state and non-state actors. Disclosure of confidential ICRC information could damage its ability to perform its sensitive functions when negotiating with conflict parties, and it could put its staff and operations at risk. There is a real risk and concern about ICRC information being used in legal proceedings—over the past 15 years, the ICRC’s confidentiality has been challenged some 20 times in the UK.

I tabled in Committee a probing amendment on the involvement of individuals in drawing up secondary legislation. I did not press it to a vote, and I thank the Minister in Committee, the hon. Member for Aldershot (Leo Docherty), for his extremely reassuring response to the debate on it. The amendment sought to lay down a formal requirement on the Foreign Secretary to consult the chair of the UK branch and secretary-general of the CPA, and the president and director general of the ICRC, respectively, before finalising secondary legislation.

The Minister was able to confirm that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will consult all those parties ahead of secondary legislation being laid before the House, and will work closely with them to agree arrangements for the appropriate privileges and immunities for each organisation separately. That ensures that the Bill works exactly in the way that the relevant organisations need it to, and that the right individuals are consulted before secondary legislation is laid before the House and implemented.

The Bill demonstrates that the House of Commons values the Commonwealth, values the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, respects the importance of the ICRC and recognises that these organisations need to be recognised as international organisations. I thank colleagues for their support, and I wish my Bill well as it continues its journey to the other place, taken forward ably by my noble Friend Baroness D’Souza.

The Bill is about setting the CPA and the International Committee of the Red Cross on an equal footing with many other international organisations. We are, in essence, simply catching up, but nevertheless it is crucial to how we as a Parliament, UK Government and official Opposition work with Commonwealth nations. When doing those cross-examinations—I will put it like that —from member states, the key theme throughout has been that they would like the CPA International to remain in the UK. There has been no animosity about its remaining in London, but what they wanted was the status issue resolved. I recall an excellent conversation here with an Australian delegation, who talked about how they could help and work with the Government to try to ensure it was made very clear that member states across the world wanted the CPA International to remain in the UK.

This is a warmly welcomed Bill. It sends the right message, which is genuinely very important. When we head to Sydney later this year for the CPA International, we will now be able to say—all being well in the other place, of course, and I look forward to the Minister’s remarks—that we have delivered. I do think that is genuinely important. Finally, I pay tribute to you, Mr Speaker, because, as the right hon. Lady said, I feel that you have personally moved mountains on a lot of this work. It has been truly welcomed and valued by all of us in the CPA UK and by the CPA staff, both internationally and in the UK. I always warmly welcome your support.

Ultimately, if we are to grant international status to these two organisations, let us also ensure that we fully support them in their operations and in their aims, strengthening democracy and humanitarian aid.

The second organisation that the Bill focuses on, the International Committee of the Red Cross, does hugely important humanitarian work to protect victims of conflict and violence around the world. This week, the Prime Minister announced the Government’s commitment to increase spending on defence to 2.5%, which is incredibly welcome, particularly as it will be funded through much-needed efficiency savings in Whitehall rather than tax rises. It reflects the increasing threats we face from our adversaries globally in an increasingly insecure world.

The work of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is more important than ever. Conflicts have ignited around the world, whether following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, or the horrific turmoil in the middle east, in Gaza and Israel. In addition to Ukraine, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the ICRC has key operations in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, the Sahel, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In all such conflicts, innocent civilians are caught up in the violence and harmed by the results of war, and that is why the Bill is so essential.

Alongside the CPA, the Bill also seeks to recognise the ICRC properly as an international organisation. Under international law—through the Geneva convention—the ICRC already has a specific and unique humanitarian mandate to act in times of international conflict, and it has been given wider recognition internationally through the rights of a humanitarian initiative. More than 110 states around the world have already recognised the ICRC and given it equivalent status to an international organisation, so it is only right that the UK follows suit. That is particularly important as it would allow the ICRC to operate in the UK while preserving its core principles of neutrality and independence.

A number of amendments agreed in Committee further improve the quality of the Bill, particularly those on the importance of the confidentiality of the information that the ICRC provides to the Government and during legal proceedings. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke said, confidentiality is critical and remains a fundamental principle of the ICRC. Those changes are eminently sensible, given the sensitivities of the information that will often be dealt with in such circumstances. That is particularly important in protecting victims during conflicts and bringing justice through criminal prosecutions to those who commit such crimes.

I again congratulate my right hon. Friend and thank her for bringing forward the Bill. I wish it well on its continued passage through the other place.