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Baroness Cox is the Chief Executive of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, or HART, which seeks to help persecuted, suffering people in parts of the world unreached by other agencies such as the UN or the Red Cross. Over the years, Baroness Cox has travelled, often illegally and in danger, to Armenia, Burma, northern Nigeria, Sudan and North Korea, to offer practical help (she is a trained nurse), moral support and prayer to some of the estimated 250 million people who are persecuted for their faith.  Another ugly problem is slavery: “In the 21^st century, we should not have an estimated 27 million victims of various forms of slavery,” she said.  Here in the UK, her aim is to raise awareness of their plight and to lobby government to do all it can to effect change.

Baroness Cox used the words of St Francis of Assisi to illustrate her belief in the importance of actually going to places of human suffering: “Pity weeps and turns away. Compassion weeps and holds out a hand.”  A key aim of HART is to ask people directly what they need most, so that the aid they supply is as effective as it can be. It may be food, medicines, livestock; but whatever the practical need, the knowledge to the persecuted that someone in the world beyond knows and cares about them is of inestimable value, she said.

It was both humbling and inspiring to learn of some of the many individuals Baroness Cox has met, in hidden corners of the world rarely reported on: people whose faith withstands huge pain and loss, who travel vast distances with little or nothing just to stay alive, and who continue to praise God with conviction and joy. We are very grateful to Baroness Cox for her illuminating and moving talk, and her generosity in engaging with pupils’ questions at the end: they will surely take up the kind offer of tea in the House of Lords!