I am concerned about the international Situation in...

I get many requests from constituents about a wide range of international issues, quite often as a result of a campaign from a lobby organisation like Amnesty International or from personal contacts and experience. I usually may have already taken up the issue with the Foreign Office, DiFD or Trade Minister or this may have already been done by other MPs.

I am unable to update this site with every enquiry I have so it may be worth searching the House of Commons/ Hansard site for details of the issue being raised in Parliament - often through a Written Parliamentary Question.

In the last year or so I have raised questions about Burma, Cambodia, UAE, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, about the 41 HIPC countries, about the Middle East, Sudan, China, Indonesia etc etc.

If I get the opportunity I will add brief details about some of the campaigns on this page.

Updated 21st August 2003

A number of countries have caused international interest in 2003 and involved constituents contacting me.

For example Uganda, North Korea, the Sudan, China, Chechyna, Vitenam, Burma, Zimbabwe, Gibralter, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, etc

I have written to the Foreign Secretary about most of these countries in the last 12 months.

Darfur

Andy Reed MP has urged the government to make greater international effort to secure the prevention of genocide in Darfur. The world will hang its head in shame if we fail to respond to the scale of this crisis he said. I believ we have tried but we must renew our efforts. After Rwanda we said we would never let it happen again and yet this scar on humanity continues. As I have visited the region I know these are not statistics - every story is somebodys family member and a human being. Too often we know so little in this country about the level of fear and suffering of others and ignore it or pretend it doesn't concern us. Now is the time to stop that attitude and do something.