International Citizenship

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 23 October 2019.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 2:09, 23 October 2019

(Translated)

Thank you. My supplementary question is slightly different to the one that I had originally intended to ask. I'm pleased to see the Minister for international relations by your side. The original question emerged from a meeting that we had of the cross-party group that I chair, Wales International, where we were discussing the draft international strategy produced by Government. And the question was: in the context of Brexit and that discussion, how can we sell the international strategy to those people who, perhaps, don’t want to work internationally? That question still stands, but what I want to pursue instead—and I changed the emphasis because of what we’ve heard today, that appalling news about 39 people who were found dead in a lorry container that had passed through Holyhead. Some of the comments that I’ve read about the incident are appalling. They characterise the lack of tolerance that has been part of the public discourse over the past few years.

So, how can we ensure that the kind of citizenship education that is presented in Welsh schools does far more to teach people about Wales’s place in the world, its relationship with the rest of the world, and how people interact with each other, so that people don’t feel that it is acceptable to go on social media and make public statements that are quite, quite appalling about events such as the one we’ve heard about today?