Did you mean war speaker:Baroness Verma?
Baroness Verma: ...UK. The Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Modi, refers to the diaspora as the living bridge between the UK and India. Families like mine, which have been present in the UK since before World War II, have remained connected with family and friends in India. I believe that this huge resource has been underused in connectivity and in gaining a wider understanding of the different...
Baroness Verma: ...on her wonderful maiden speech today, and my Front-Bench colleagues on the way they have introduced this debate. I will focus on—and make a plea to my Front Bench that in bringing these Bills forward they look at—knife crime. I had a failed attempt to bring a Private Member’s Bill to look at knife crime monitoring; it did not get into the ballot. I hope that I can use these Bills to...
Baroness Verma: Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. The UK has given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to these areas and are pushing for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach...
Baroness Verma: ..., Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is an outrageous, unacceptable and illegal mechanism to use starvation as a weapon of war. That is why the UK will continue to call on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria. Right now, aid delivered by...
Baroness Verma: ...appalling. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. We are deeply concerned about the 4.6 million people who live in hard to reach areas, including almost 486,700 who live under siege conditions. We have given support to the UN and international...
Baroness Verma: ...way to ensure that the aid gets through to the people who most require it. But we do not rule anything out. We have to keep everything under check, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, will be aware from when she did my job in government. However, what is really important is to recognise that we cannot allow starvation to be used as a weapon. We must press hard those who have influence...
Baroness Verma: ...law. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is brutal, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. In London, world leaders demanded an end to these abuses, including the illegal use of siege and obstruction of humanitarian aid. Our London conference raised the resourcing for life-saving...
Baroness Verma: ...the late Baroness Park of Monmouth. She was a fabulous woman. It was only when I came to this House that I learnt of the huge work that she had done during those very difficult years during World War 2. The Special Operations Executive employed or controlled just over 13,000 people during the Second World War, about 3,200 of whom were women, and it operated in several countries. France was...
Baroness Verma: ...We are increasing our efforts to tackle poverty in a number of conflict-affected and fragile states. Helping to address conflicts in the developing world, and fighting poverty among those caught in wars and violence, must be central to our aid policy if we are to help end global poverty. Nine of the 10 poorest countries in the world are fragile states. In Africa, more than two-thirds of...
Baroness Verma: ...a range of activities including flights for the repatriation of poor economic migrants fleeing Libya; tents and blankets for people in need, and ICRC medical teams and medical supplies to assist war wounded. Across the region, the UK's immediate priorities remain the welfare of British nationals, as well as the need to support dialogue and political reform. We continue to press governments...
Baroness Verma: .... However, as this debate has so effectively highlighted, while we focus on helping women and girls abroad, we must not take our eyes off the ball at home. Many noble Lords have also put forward their concerns about the degree to which we will be able to make genuine progress for women in these challenging financial times. I do not believe in sugar-coating the situation we are in. We...
Baroness Verma: My noble friend is absolutely right about the work that DfID has done to try to reduce the suffering caused by landmines and the explosive remnants of war. As I have said several times over, we are coming towards the end of our reviews. These really can give us a greater focus on where our aid will go. However, healthcare and education are key to supporting the work that we do.
Baroness Verma: ...examples of good practice through, for example, annual reviews and project evaluations, which are used to inform programme design and policy. This includes lessons on conflict prevention, post-war rehabilitation, demilitarisation, justice and arms control in which local communities are involved. For example, a recent review of community policing in Sudan produced valuable lessons in these...
Baroness Verma: ...on dress and behaviour applied by both Shia and Sunni militants. Sadly, they live in fear of their husbands and other male relatives. Women's rights have been undermined by the country's post-war constitution, which has taken power from the family courts and given it to the clerics. Women are threatened with death unless they wear the full abbaya, the black all-encompassing veil; yet,...
Baroness Verma: ...should always lie with the people who are affected by the aftermath of such destructive conflicts. Why is the amount of money promised per head for Afghanistan lower than for other recent post-war countries? Too little is being done to increase the capacity of the Afghan Government to be able to run things efficiently themselves. Findings from groups such as the British and Irish Agencies...