UK Parliament / Open data

Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill [Lords]

Debate on bills on Wednesday, 1 April 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Baroness Merron. The answering member was David Lidington.
Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill (HL). Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, on Report, Third reading and any other proceedings. Agreed to on division (452 votes to 16).

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

490 c924-85 

Session

2008-09

Department

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill (HL). Brought from the Lords. Explanatory Notes Bill 69-EN also published.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Bills
House of Commons
Deposited Paper DEP2009-1211
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Deposited papers
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

John Hayes | 490 c979 (Link to this contribution) It is my understanding that the emblems can be used alone or in combination, which could lead to an ...
John Hayes | 490 c977 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be unfair to point out not only that few Labour Members have...

Show all contributions (211)
Christopher Chope | 490 c977 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the Minister will respond to that question. When I examined the detail, it was apparent ...
Graham Stuart | 490 c978 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether my hon. Friend agrees that we must look for every opportunity to allow Labour Membe...
Christopher Chope | 490 c977-8 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that putting the truth on the record can ever be regarded as unfair. My hon. Friend h...
Speaker | 490 c978 (Link to this contribution) Order. We have probably dealt sufficiently with the question of attendance in the House. Perhaps the...
Baroness Merron | 490 c978-9 (Link to this contribution) We have had a comprehensive debate. We have heard immense support for the British Red Cross and the ...
Christopher Chope | 490 c978 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It is worth pointing out, however, that, by convention, a Second Rea...
Greg Knight | 490 c977 (Link to this contribution) One issue on which the Minister has given no answer to those Conservative Members who have raised it...
Baroness Merron | 490 c981 (Link to this contribution) It is tempting to answer, but I am afraid that I cannot. I will happily write to the right hon. Gent...
Baroness Merron | 490 c979-80 (Link to this contribution) I have a lot of respect for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its experience...
Greg Knight | 490 c980 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being very generous in giving way—I appreciate it—but will she tell the House whethe...
Speaker | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that the hon. Gentleman will understand that he would now be right to resist some int...
John Hayes | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) Thank for your instruction, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I hope that my hon. Friends will not attempt to dive...
John Hayes | 490 c972 (Link to this contribution) Having been slightly critical of my hon. Friend, although I have said that I am immensely fond of hi...
Michael Fabricant | 490 c972 (Link to this contribution) Is not the cross always represented with equi-length arms so as to distinguish it from the Christian...
John Hayes | 490 c972 (Link to this contribution) No, that is precisely the case. That reinforces the argument that I have made at considerable length...
John Hayes | 490 c971-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not going to give way again. We have had a good run on these issues, and I want to move to ...
Charles Walker | 490 c972 (Link to this contribution) I am greatly enjoying my hon. Friend's speech and I hope that he does not cut it short because I hav...
John Hayes | 490 c972-3 (Link to this contribution) Like all responsible Members, I would listen to the evidence. I would not have a preconceived view o...
Graham Stuart | 490 c973 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. He is aware—although some other hon. Friends are less so...
John Hayes | 490 c974 (Link to this contribution) I did mean to say that. I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has illustrated my very point: that I l...
Christopher Chope | 490 c975-7 (Link to this contribution) Mr. Deputy Speaker, that last result that you read out will be of great interest to people outside t...
John Hayes | 490 c973-4 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that my hon. Friend has not joined that army of guilt-ridden bourgeois liberals to wh...
Charles Walker | 490 c974 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way briefly?
John Hayes | 490 c974 (Link to this contribution) I will give way very briefly, because like an indulgent father, I seek to learn from and to teach my...
Charles Walker | 490 c974 (Link to this contribution) I only try to be helpful. In his last sentence, my hon. Friend talked about the red crescent, when I...
Simon Burns | 490 c969 (Link to this contribution) I seek a little clarification on two points. First, my understanding is that the symbol used by the ...
John Hayes | 490 c969 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The red cross was adopted not because of its connotation with any particula...
Angela Watkinson | 490 c968-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for allowing me to intervene; he is making a very powerful speech. Does he ag...
Charles Walker | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) I have the highest regard for my hon. Friend, but why will he not recognise in his argument that we ...
John Hayes | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) The times are complex for all of us, but particularly for my hon. Friend. I do not disregard his arg...
Lord Swire | 490 c969 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to be accused of being a liberal, but certainly not bourgeois. I largely agree with my ho...
John Hayes | 490 c969-70 (Link to this contribution) That is true. However, if we were to be cowed by everyone who took offence at the use of these symbo...
John Hayes | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) We had a brief debate about the occupied territories, and about the Golan heights, although I did no...
Michael Fabricant | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) I was here at the beginning of the debate, but was unfortunately called away. I saw some of it, howe...
Speaker | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am reluctant to intervene on the hon. Gentleman's preliminary remarks, but he is getting a ...
Charles Walker | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?
John Hayes | 490 c970 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way to my hon. Friend again because I fear that he is attempting to seduce me—orator...
John Hayes | 490 c970-1 (Link to this contribution) I must make progress. I will give way in a few moments' time, once I have dealt with the issue raise...
Lord Swire | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend indulge me and give way on that point?
John Hayes | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) Very briefly, but my hon. Friend is, I hate to say, becoming rather mischievous.
Lord Swire | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend. Does he not agree that if Israel wishes to be taken seri...
John Hayes | 490 c971 (Link to this contribution) I will not go down that road—
John Hayes | 490 c960-1 (Link to this contribution) That is true, and for that reason I draw to my right hon. Friend's attention the further provision i...
John Hayes | 490 c959-60 (Link to this contribution) That is indeed a problem. It was partly such arguments that stimulated the debate some 60 years ago,...
John Hayes | 490 c960 (Link to this contribution) I have just been thumbing my copy of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, following the first inspection...
Greg Knight | 490 c959 (Link to this contribution) In the case of a ship, which is by its very nature moving and may move from one arena to another, wh...
Baroness Merron | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) That certainly makes the case for supporting the Bill, for which I thank the hon. Gentleman.
John Hayes | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is most helpful of the Minister. Indeed, I have a further note to that effect. Arab states...
Baroness Merron | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) I hope that I can assist the hon. Gentleman by confirming that in 2006 the Israeli national society ...
John Hayes | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) That is indeed true, and as a brief examination of the minutes reveals, it was one of the arguments ...
Simon Burns | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made the point that the star of David is an integral part of Israel's flag and is...
Lord Swire | 490 c961 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for his blatant favouritism in giving way to me. What he says a...
John Hayes | 490 c962 (Link to this contribution) That is indeed so, but as my hon. Friend will know, Israel's Magen David Adom society uses the unrec...
John Hayes | 490 c961 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) is anxious to intervene, but I must make p...
Lord Swire | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) One solution that would do away with all these territorial problems—it would be wholly ridiculous an...
John Hayes | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) We have come to expect such inventiveness from my hon. Friend; we have not heard that argument thus ...
Charles Walker | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend cannot casually dismiss that excellent contribution without exploring it a little fur...
John Hayes | 490 c967 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to be unnecessarily contentious, but I dismiss the point for the reason that I offered...
John Hayes | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) That would take a mathematician of the skill of my hon. Friend to calculate and briefly inform the H...
John Hayes | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) To confusion and malevolence we may add, I suppose, mischievous use of symbols. It is entirely possi...
John Hayes | 490 c965 (Link to this contribution) It is not merely malevolence but confusion that we are dealing with. That is why I was attracted by ...
John Hayes | 490 c968 (Link to this contribution) When a right hon. Gentleman as eminent as my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Kn...
John Hayes | 490 c968 (Link to this contribution) That was the argument when the red crescent was adopted. In the 1870s, the Ottoman empire made preci...
Charles Walker | 490 c968 (Link to this contribution) If my argument lacks strength, I apologise, but the red crystal is being brought forward by the Red ...
Charles Walker | 490 c968 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is in robust form. The cross is perceived to have religious connotations. In a battle...
John Hayes | 490 c967-8 (Link to this contribution) I was going to say that perhaps I made myself unhelpfully unclear in my earlier argument. Perhaps, a...
Lord Swire | 490 c967 (Link to this contribution) I do not want my hon. Friend to read anything into this; I am not abandoning the idea that the Red C...
John Hayes | 490 c967 (Link to this contribution) That is a perfectly reasonable argument and it would, I suppose, be a way out of this mess. However,...
Charles Walker | 490 c967 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has slapped me in the face and laid down the gauntlet. Seriously, we must be pragmati...
John Hayes | 490 c963 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Part of the problem in modern representative democracy is the balance of power between Execu...
John Hayes | 490 c963-4 (Link to this contribution) I mistook my hon. Friend's inherent enthusiasm and energy for a desire to intervene. I am always hap...
Greg Knight | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, but I wish to express a different view from the one ...
John Hayes | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) Syria is important because we are debating the establishment of a new emblem. If that emblem is to h...
John Hayes | 490 c962-3 (Link to this contribution) There is a case for the Bill. I do not start from the presumption that it is implicitly unwelcome, b...
Charles Walker | 490 c963 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will recall that we have just served on a Public Bill Committee whose evidentiary sit...
John Hayes | 490 c963 (Link to this contribution) I am optimistic that we will hear more from Labour Members, as we must have detailed and thorough sc...
Lord Swire | 490 c965 (Link to this contribution) Talking of ancient lineages, we all know that ancient symbols can be hijacked by movements. I refer ...
John Hayes | 490 c965 (Link to this contribution) The swastika was hijacked, as my hon. Friend puts it, from the Greeks, was it not? It is a reference...
John Hayes | 490 c965 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend anticipates an aspect of the main part of my argument, which I will move on to when I...
Charles Walker | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has an enormous intellect, but is there not one slight flaw in his argument? We are n...
Christopher Chope | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) To what extent has my hon. Friend had regard, in making his argument, to the preamble to schedule 7 ...
John Hayes | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) That is a good point, and I now understand it. Perhaps my intellect is growing by the moment. It is ...
Charles Walker | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) Well, I repeat my point. We are here in support of the Red Cross, which wants to bring the red cryst...
John Hayes | 490 c964 (Link to this contribution) There are three things to note about that intervention. The first is that I do not have an enormous ...
Greg Knight | 490 c951-2 (Link to this contribution) I should like to start by thanking Mr. Speaker, who was in the Chair at the beginning of our proceed...
Adam Holloway | 490 c950-1 (Link to this contribution) Would they not? Forgive me; I could not establish that before the debate. I thank my hon. Friend for...
Lord Swire | 490 c950 (Link to this contribution) Other examples that my hon. Friend might cite are the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Worl...
Greg Knight | 490 c953 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very serious point at the end of his intervention—yes, indeed.
John Hayes | 490 c953 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that my right hon. Friend has given way, but I am surprised, given his encyclopaedic ...
Greg Knight | 490 c952-3 (Link to this contribution) Of course my hon. Friend, who is very experienced in the field of business, will know that not every...
Lord Swire | 490 c952 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is talking about the words, as opposed to the emblem, but they largely amount t...
David Davis | 490 c953-4 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend has raised an incredibly important and perceptive point, as this could lead to ...
Greg Knight | 490 c953 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right that it is woefully inadequate, and we need to hear some assuranc...
Christopher Chope | 490 c953 (Link to this contribution) Having regard to the previous short discussion, does my right hon. Friend accept my concern that wha...
Greg Knight | 490 c954 (Link to this contribution) As I expect from my right hon. Friend, that is a telling intervention, and I hope that when the Mini...
John Hayes | 490 c955 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to those outrages, but I hope he will consider a question ...
Lord Swire | 490 c954-5 (Link to this contribution) I do not intend to detain the House very long on what I think is a fairly uncontentious Bill. This i...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c956 (Link to this contribution) That suggests that had the marking been a crystal, it would not have made any difference at all.
Lord Swire | 490 c955-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made an extremely good point. I am not privy to information on why those convoys,...
Greg Knight | 490 c957 (Link to this contribution) Clause 1(5) refers to ““a design or wording””. I mentioned that when I spoke earlier.
Lord Swire | 490 c956-7 (Link to this contribution) No, it would not have made the slightest difference. I do not believe that even the most resilient c...
John Hayes | 490 c958-9 (Link to this contribution) This debate is about symbols, protocol and convention. In the end, it is about the meaning of all th...
Lord Swire | 490 c957 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and my right hon. Friend made an extremely good point. His quick trawl on the internet produ...
Jo Swinson | 490 c941 (Link to this contribution) I would certainly agree that sanctions have not been effective enough. Indeed, I was just about to s...
Lord Swire | 490 c940 (Link to this contribution) I agree with a lot of what the hon. Lady is saying. Does she think that, historically, sufficient sa...
Rob Marris | 490 c939 (Link to this contribution) Would not those protections extend to dissuading Israeli defence forces from murdering UK citizens w...
David Lidington | 490 c939 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes his point forcefully, and the Minister and Members will have heard what he ...
David Lidington | 490 c938-9 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not. The Bill gives particular protection to United Nations and associated personnel; other...
Simon Burns | 490 c940 (Link to this contribution) In what circumstances does the hon. Lady envisage the red crystal being used instead of the red cros...
Jo Swinson | 490 c940 (Link to this contribution) I understand that it has already been used in several war zones where it was felt that the red cross...
Jo Swinson | 490 c939-40 (Link to this contribution) I should like to add the Liberal Democrats' support for the Bill. I am pleased that the cross-party ...
John Hayes | 490 c944 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that I was not here at the outset of the debate, but I have thus far followed it with int...
Christopher Chope | 490 c941 (Link to this contribution) If a deterrent is to be effective, surely there has to be an effective sanction against non-complian...
Jo Swinson | 490 c941-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that getting agreement in international organisations is not easy—it is...
Charles Walker | 490 c942-3 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for calling me to speak, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am delighted to be here today, supporting...
Greg Knight | 490 c943 (Link to this contribution) Surely in the scenario that my hon. Friend paints, another symbol would be used. Does he not think t...
Charles Walker | 490 c943 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and that is why Parliament has such an important role...
Lord Swire | 490 c943 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is, of course, entirely right about the proliferation around the world of events at w...
Charles Walker | 490 c943-4 (Link to this contribution) The penalty sounds very small and out of date, but as my hon. Friend will know, we can have all the ...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c946-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. However, all that should not stop members of the ICRC making the sacrifice,...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c946 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend—I usually do; he is very wise—but, tragically, enforcement is not possib...
Simon Burns | 490 c946 (Link to this contribution) Is not it a sad fact of life that the legislation could include as harsh a punishment as one wanted,...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c946 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that there have been any prosecutions. The Government's efforts in the legislation en...
Lord Swire | 490 c946 (Link to this contribution) Let me repeat my earlier point. Although it is important that the international community comes down...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c944-6 (Link to this contribution) May I say how nice it is to see how many colleagues are present who also served on the Apprenticeshi...
Christopher Chope | 490 c946 (Link to this contribution) The ghastly list that my hon. Friend has read out will cause everybody much concern, but to what ext...
Charles Walker | 490 c944 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. How many more would have perished without the Red Cross, and how m...
Speaker | 490 c944 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have been pleased to hear the hon. Gentleman relating his remarks and concerns to the Bill,...
Simon Burns | 490 c949 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening carefully to my hon. Friend. Does he accept that if one were to have too many ...
Adam Holloway | 490 c949-50 (Link to this contribution) I am now concerned that the Whips Office is breaking into my hard drive, because the very next line ...
Charles Walker | 490 c950 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has raised some interesting points, particularly about how we should educate people a...
Adam Holloway | 490 c950 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend; I sincerely hope that that is the case. I think that everyone in the House w...
Lord Swire | 490 c948 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my slight concern that the new symbol could be mistaken for a military mar...
Adam Holloway | 490 c948-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an interesting point, which I shall come to a little later in my speech, but I...
John Hayes | 490 c949 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend might be understating the risk. It is true that part of that risk lies in confusion o...
Adam Holloway | 490 c949 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting point. Indeed, my very next line is about whether the essential quality is in...
Adam Holloway | 490 c948 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the Bill has two objectives: to amend the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 and to ame...
Greg Knight | 490 c928 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, who is being extremely generous in giving way. However, I return to t...
Baroness Merron | 490 c928-9 (Link to this contribution) To do full justice to that question, I shall deal with it in my closing remarks. The optional proto...
Christopher Fraser | 490 c929 (Link to this contribution) By passing the Bill, Britain will be setting an example for other nations. Does the Minister agree t...
Baroness Merron | 490 c929 (Link to this contribution) In a moment, but I want to continue explaining how we came to this point. As I said, the call by Ko...
Christopher Chope | 490 c929 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister tell us about enforcement? Even without the extension, can she assure the House tha...
Greg Knight | 490 c930 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister concludes, will she make reference to the European convention on human rights? I...
Baroness Merron | 490 c930 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right, and we will miss his presence in the Chamber later. The term ““peace bu...
Christopher Fraser | 490 c930 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way again. I am asking my questions in interventions rather than in ...
Greg Knight | 490 c932 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether my hon. Friend could help the House. Who will decide whether the cross or the cryst...
David Lidington | 490 c932 (Link to this contribution) No. That is a point that I want to come on to in a little while. My right hon. Friend asks a serious...
Baroness Merron | 490 c930 (Link to this contribution) I can assure the House that the Bill stands alone, and gives effect to the points that I have outlin...
David Lidington | 490 c930-2 (Link to this contribution) I very much welcome the Bill, which fills two gaps in the domestic application of international huma...
David Lidington | 490 c932-3 (Link to this contribution) There are two elements to my response to my hon. Friend's question. As I understand the Bill, the pr...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c932 (Link to this contribution) It is Bill, Mr. Speaker, but that is perfectly all right. My father would love to have been called. ...
David Lidington | 490 c933 (Link to this contribution) In any humanitarian operation, relief workers or troops escorting them are right to be alert to the ...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c933 (Link to this contribution) I am curious about what sort of threat might come from the air to the Israelis, in particular.
David Lidington | 490 c934 (Link to this contribution) It is for the Minister to give a detailed response to my hon. Friend's question. My understanding is...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c933 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making the point beautifully. That is why I turned up this afternoon. If the air p...
David Lidington | 490 c934 (Link to this contribution) A new symbol, agreement on which has allowed the vexed question of the position of the Israeli and P...
David Lidington | 490 c937-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks a perfectly serious question. I do not know the answer. I suspect that it is not...
Simon Burns | 490 c937 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend think that the problems he has highlighted in those examples arise from a drafti...
David Lidington | 490 c937 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes the good point that those are precisely the sort of issues that we ought ...
Greg Knight | 490 c937 (Link to this contribution) Surely my hon. Friend is highlighting a very good reason why the remaining stages of the Bill should...
David Lidington | 490 c934-7 (Link to this contribution) That is a complication, but it is a necessary one. The more I delve into the politics of the middle ...
Christopher Chope | 490 c934 (Link to this contribution) In that case, does my hon. Friend share my concern that the provision is an unnecessary complication...
David Lidington | 490 c938 (Link to this contribution) That is certainly the case. My hon. Friend and I have learned from our years in this place that one ...
Christopher Chope | 490 c938 (Link to this contribution) What troubles me about my hon. Friend's comments is that they might be interpreted as suggesting tha...
Simon Burns | 490 c938 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that however laudable it is to accept half a loaf rather than no loaf, it ...
Christopher Chope | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister help us on the use of the red lion and sun? In 1980, the Islamic Republic of Iran d...
Baroness Merron | 490 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) That is a matter on which the appropriate movement in-country will make a decision. As I will go on ...
Michael Fabricant | 490 c925 (Link to this contribution) In welcoming the work of the Red Cross, will the Minister include the work of the Red Crescent and t...
Baroness Merron | 490 c925 (Link to this contribution) No, I am assured that the current arrangements will stay, and I will, of course, explain our default...
Greg Knight | 490 c925 (Link to this contribution) Hon. Members on both sides of the House would want to associate ourselves with what the Minister has...
Baroness Merron | 490 c924-5 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman's point, but it is not within the scope of the Bill, for reasons tha...
Baroness Merron | 490 c928 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I cannot tell the House that at this stage, but I shall be glad to do so in my clos...
Bill Wiggin | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening carefully to the Minister, but she has not really answered the question about ...
John Bercow | 490 c928 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to the Minister for giving way. She is very reasonable, and is addressing th...
Baroness Merron | 490 c928 (Link to this contribution) I have been in discussions with the British Red Cross and I know how much support there is for this ...
Baroness Merron | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that there has been no indication that Iran would wish to revert to using those ...
Christopher Chope | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way again, because I do not think that she understood my po...
Baroness Merron | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not share that view. Indeed, let us remember that the impetus has come from the Internation...
Christopher Fraser | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister accept that using various symbols in different areas gives rise to the problem add...
Baroness Merron | 490 c927 (Link to this contribution) We are introducing clarity and reminding ourselves why we have international emblems. The three embl...
Greg Knight | 490 c924 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. This Bill seeks to amend the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, but the ...
Speaker | 490 c924 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that we can do that. I will instruct the officials to ensure that the Act is made ava...
Lembit Opik | 490 c924 (Link to this contribution) I am obviously minded to support the Bill. It is a question of process. Often the biggest frustratio...
Speaker | 490 c981 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby.
Michael Fabricant | 490 c972 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?
John Hayes | 490 c969 (Link to this contribution) As ever, my hon. Friend brings fresh insight to the debate. In that interesting intervention, she re...
Greg Knight | 490 c960 (Link to this contribution) Although it would not create a difficulty for a ship to fly the three flags at once, if the example ...
Baroness Merron | 490 c929 (Link to this contribution) That is an extremely important point, and the hon. Gentleman is quite right. The Bill is unlikely to...
John Bercow | 490 c926 (Link to this contribution) Who will determine the circumstances in which the red crystal, as distinct from either alternative, ...
Baroness Merron | 490 c925-6 (Link to this contribution) Of course, I am very happy to do so. Such work helps us all, of course, and we should be proud of a...
Baroness Merron | 490 c924 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Bill will give effect to two internatio...
Lord Swire | 490 c960 (Link to this contribution) Conversely, the wounded on board a hospital ship could come from a variety of religious backgrounds,...
Charles Walker | 490 c966 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend may be premature in bringing his opening remarks to a conclusion before he has addres...
Charles Walker | 490 c963 (Link to this contribution) My enthusiasm is purely for my hon. Friend's line of argument.
Greg Knight | 490 c965 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. His last point encapsulated the core of what I was s...
Charles Walker | 490 c944 (Link to this contribution) I shall be more charitable than my hon. Friend to the Government, because I think that there is a de...
Baroness Merron | 490 c929-30 (Link to this contribution) It is true that the protocol has to be applied through domestic criminal law, and that we are not ab...
Christopher Chope | 490 c934 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend moves on to that point, can he give me some assurance that the red shield of D...

Subjects

Armed forces
Armed conflict
Development aid
Humanitarian aid
Geneva Conventions
Health professions
Protection
Peacekeeping operations
Staff
Treaties
United Nations
Safety
Israel
Palestinians
Logos
Reconstruction
International Red Cross
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Red Crescent

Legislation

Geneva Conventions Act 1957
Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill (HL) 2008-09
United Nations Personnel Act 1997

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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