Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current humanitarian and security situation in Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided on 9 March in response to Questions HL14828-30.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 9 March (HL14650), which British embassies currently fund projects supporting the work of the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK funds numerous projects in support of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) through our central programme and posts overseas, including a strong focus on our current PSVI focus countries - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, South Sudan, and Ukraine - and on current major conflicts in which conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) has become a significant issue. For example, in February, the Foreign Secretary announced £20 million of new UK funding to support survivors of CRSV in Sudan, to be delivered through the British Office Sudan.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the next annual Human Rights and Democracy Report.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the letter sent to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee on 6 March by the Minister for Multilateral and Human Rights, in response to her letter of 23 January on this issue, and I will arrange for a copy of his letter to be placed in the House of Lords library.
This Government remains firmly committed to the protection and promotion of human rights globally, and to reporting transparently on our actions. We are currently considering the most appropriate form of future reporting on our human rights work.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial and administrative support they provide to the UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls and to the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI); and what provision is made to ensure that British embassies and high commissions are able to fund projects supporting the work of both the Special Envoy for Women and Girls and the PM’s Special Representative for PSVI.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Foreign Secretary has been clear that we must renew global focus and ambition around women, peace and security, and put the rights of women and girls, including freedom from violence, at the heart of UK foreign policy.
We continue to work through the UK-founded International Alliance for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, of which the UK is vice-chair this year, to rally further support for tackling the silence and stigma faced by survivors of sexual violence, including the women and girls in Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar and elsewhere who have faced the use of rape as a weapon of war.
The roles of UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls and the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict are unremunerated.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 10 July 2025 (HL8885), what steps they have taken since July 2025 to demonstrate that they are "fully implementing" the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative strategy.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Foreign Secretary has been clear that we must renew global focus and ambition around women, peace and security, and put the rights of women and girls, including freedom from violence, at the heart of UK foreign policy.
We continue to work through the UK-founded International Alliance for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, of which the UK is vice-chair this year, to rally further support for tackling the silence and stigma faced by survivors of sexual violence, including the women and girls in Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar and elsewhere who have faced the use of rape as a weapon of war.
The roles of UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls and the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict are unremunerated.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress by Turkmenistan on climate change, education and gender equality since signing the Cooperation Programme on 23 April 2024.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
We recognise that progress takes time, but the UK continues to work with Turkmenistan on these issues, and regularly discusses them at official and ministerial levels, including at the UK - Central Asian Foreign Ministers' meeting in London, hosted by the Foreign Secretary in February.
We also work to support links with other UK experts in these areas. For example, on climate change, our Embassy in Ashgabat is facilitating an upcoming visit by UK Green Finance, and on education - with the Embassy's support - Nottingham Trent University, Norwich Institute of Language Education, the AQA, Pearson, and the British Council's AELLCA initiative have all signed new partnerships with Turkmenistan.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to update the text of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative strategy published on 28 November 2022; and if so, when and why they plan to do so.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government's determination to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains resolute. We are fully implementing the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy. In the last year alone, through PSVI, we have contributed to three landmark cases on CRSV as a crime against humanity and supported almost 60,000 survivors. At the same time, we are considering our future approach to PSVI to best harness the UK's development, defence, and diplomatic capabilities to tackle this appalling crime in a context of rising conflict and increasing prevalence of CRSV. We will continue to engage closely with survivors as we develop our future approach.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they have provided to the Kosovo Centre for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors in the financial years 2021–25 and what assistance they plan to provide during the financial year 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK has supported the work of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture victims (KRCT) to provide medical, gynaecological, psycho-rehabilitation services, as well as legal support and economic empowerment programmes to survivors since 2014. Since 2021 we have provided approximately £1 million with funding for this financial year currently standing at £57,000. This funding helps support KRCT's work to address stigma, enable survivors to speak out about their experiences and help others to seek the justice they deserve, and aims to remove the deadline for survivors to apply for status recognition.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they marked the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June; and what plans they have to promote the introduction of international controls on weapons and equipment that could be used for torture, including at this year’s UN General Assembly.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government remains committed to preventing torture and tackling impunity for those who torture others. It is essential for safeguarding our security and integral to a fair legal system and the rule of law.
At the UN General Assembly, we will continue to work with allies to encourage all states to uphold their international human rights obligations. As a member of the Global Alliance on Torture Free Trade, the UK supports the initiative to stop the trade of goods used for capital punishment and torture. Goods are subject to export restrictions if they can be used for torture, capital punishment, or cruel and inhuman treatment. Export licence applications are considered against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. The Government will not grant a licence for items where we determine there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate internal repression.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce in-donor refugee costs charged to the Overseas Development Assistance budget.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Home Secretary is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and reform the asylum accommodation system to end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review (SR) period to ensure more of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget is spent on our development priorities overseas. The aid spent in the UK on refugee and asylum costs fell by a third last year and the Home Office is working to bring it down further.
In addition to this, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) budgets will no longer be exposed to the volatility of GNI fluctuations or ODA spending by other departments, including changes in asylum costs, providing greater predictability in our budgets.