A speech delivered to the House of Lords on Thursday 17 October 2024
Watch the speech being given in parliament.
My Lords, I too am very grateful to Lord McConnell for securing this debate in advance of the Budget being delivered in a fortnight’s time. Undoubtedly that Budget will involve difficult decisions and sacrifices, and it is easy to lose sight of how very fortunate we are as a nation when compared with many others around the world.
As noble Lords have already mentioned, the UN has warned that progress towards the sustainable development goals has ground to a halt and in some cases been reversed. In particular, over the last year, the prospect of achieving the 16th sustainable development goal - peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development and access to justice for all - has seemed even further out of reach as war in the Middle East has become broader and deeper and multiple conflicts in Africa have also worsened.
With religious differences front and centre of the conflict in the Middle East, as with many others around the world, it may seem at first glance that religion is an obstacle to achieving the sustainable development goals. Indeed, I have been told this quite often by those who work in development and peacekeeping. But I would wish to argue that because of the potential for faith to divide, it is especially important for us to support the efforts of faith groups around the world who seek peace and reconciliation in order to see truly sustainable development.
There are examples of such initiatives all around the world, from Northern Ireland to Nigeria, advocating for peace, deescalating tensions and healing the wounds left by conflict so that communities can experience lasting peace.
The South Sudan Council of Churches has, for instance, played a crucial role in peacebuilding efforts since the outbreak of the civil war, serving as a mediator and brokering ceasefires and peace agreements, providing humanitarian aid, and leading reconciliation initiatives at both a high-level and at the grassroots.
In countries like Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, interfaith networks help foster understanding between different religious groups, bring people of different faiths together to work on common issues, and provide early warning systems to prevent conflicts spiralling out of control.
As anyone who has been involved in conflict resolution or reconciliation work will know, these efforts – as invaluable and precious as they are – are not always popular, and their fruits can be fragile. The new Government has outlined its commitment to ‘reconnecting Britain’; strengthening our reputation on the international stage and our moral leadership in humanitarian crises. So, as they develop their own foreign policy strategy - and I would be interested to hear what they are planning to take from the white paper published last year – I would urge the new Government to champion and invest in locally led interfaith and reconciliation programmes at home and abroad.
This is because, quite simply, Britain is connected: as we have so clearly seen this summer, our communities are not insulated from the impacts of conflict elsewhere in the world. So, promoting peace and reconciliation across religious difference in other countries can help make the UK a safer and more cohesive society. And supporting interfaith efforts here in Britain can, in turn, serve as a model and inspiration for others.
This, I know, is an ambitious project. But it is one which would be markedly more feasible with proper use of our Overseas Development Aid budget. Like many other noble Lords, I would like to see it restored to 0.7% of Gross National Income. The government has suggested it will do so when fiscal circumstances allow. That, I would argue, is to miss the point of setting the budget as a percentage of GNI, which means we spend more when our economy is doing better and less when it is under greater strain. Nevertheless, in the meantime, I would urge the government to commit to moving its spending on housing asylum-seekers and refugees from the Overseas Development Aid budget to the Home Office, and spending ODA where it is most needed and, as the name implies, overseas.
Conflict has the potential to reverse the progress made across all of the sustainable development goals so I would urge this government to be courageous in standing with and resourcing those seeking peace and reconciliation, even where it seems most hopeless.
+Martyn Leicester