Part of Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill – in the House of Commons at 3:45 pm on 10 June 2009.
Chris Bryant
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
3:45,
10 June 2009
I have not been to so many of the places to which my right hon. Friend refers; my own experience has been in places such as Bosnia, where the EU was doing its business of peace building. It is difficult to distinguish between peacekeeping and peace building, but after a while one realises that that is what one is definitely doing. Thus, processes such as going house to house to ensure that any rocket launchers left in people's garages are taken off them are all part of the process of peace building. Similarly, my right hon. Friend is right to say that people who want to prevent peace from taking hold may choose to interpret as part of the enemy anybody involved in a humanitarian effort and who is being protected by troops, but that does not mean that we should not ensure that they are afforded the protection that they need.
I wish to correct myself on one issue relating to something that Mr. Lidington said. The five countries where there are UN peace-building missions have signed, but I cannot be certain that they have ratified. It is difficult to tell whether or not that makes a material difference, but I shall write to him specifically on that point.
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