Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead

The Rt Hon Mark Field MP, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, has raised our concerns with the Bangladeshi and Burmese foreign ministers following their Governments’ announcement on the 30 October that the repatriation of over 2,000 refugees to Rakhine State would start in mid-November.

We have stated publicly that we agree with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that the conditions for safe and dignified returns do not yet exist. UNHCR continue to engage closely with the Rohingya community in Bangladesh to understand their views about returning to Rakhine.

With support from the UK, UN agencies, the Red Cross and NGOs on the ground are working tirelessly on measures to improve conditions in the camps and to prepare for extreme weather. The UK has led the way so far in terms of the scale and speed of our response to the crisis, pledging £129m in humanitarian support. As part of our response we are taking a wide range of measures to improve flood and cyclone preparedness, including improved shelters, water and sanitation, vaccination campaigns and prepositioning of emergency supplies.

The latest estimate from the UN is that there are 1.1 million acutely malnourished children in South Sudan. There are 586,600 children under 18 who have fled to Uganda and many of these will have been malnourished when they arrived. The UK is leading the international response to the crisis in South Sudan, and this year will feed 500,000 people and, with other donors, provide lifesaving nutritional support for 100,000 children and mothers, and over 1.8 million health consultations to children under five.

We remain deeply concerned about the global humanitarian situation. We are continuing to step up our support to provide lifesaving treatment for acute malnutrition, food, water and emergency healthcare to those affected. In Somalia for example our assistance will provide emergency food assistance for up to 1 million people, life-saving nutritional support to more than 600,000 starving children and pregnant and nursing women and safe drinking water for 1 million people. We have also issued an urgent call to action to the international community to do more.

The UK is extremely concerned to hear of reports from Save the Children that they have experienced delays to delivery of shipments into Hodeidah port, significantly impacting delivery of aid to vulnerable Yemenis.

The UK continues to lobby all parties to the conflict to facilitate commercial and humanitarian access. We are supporting the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, which facilitates the flow of commercial items into Yemen through effectively verifying and where necessary inspecting ships, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Humanitarian Air Service to improve access for humanitarian agencies.

The statement by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and others highlights the need to respond urgently to the food security crisis and prevent loss of life. In February, the Secretary of State issued a call to the international community to step up their response to the risk of famine in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. The UK has led by example, providing lifesaving nutrition support to 889,000 women and children and food or food vouchers to 462,000 people in 2016/17 so far. We are planning a significant contribution to Yemen in 2017/18.

We are deeply concerned by the UN Secretary General’s statement warning that there is a credible risk of four famines in 2017: South Sudan (where famine has already been declared), Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia. The UK was the first major donor to raise the alarm bell and respond. We have issued an urgent call to action to the international community to step up their response; provided lifesaving treatment for acute malnutrition, food, water and emergency healthcare; and are working closely with other donors and partners to ensure a more efficient and effective response to the crises.

There have been no significant restrictions on providing humanitarian assistance to Rohingya in camps in Rakhine State. These are outside the area affected by security operations since October 2016. Malnutrition rates in camps remain poor by international standards, with 8.6% of people suffering acute malnutrition according to the most recent survey. This is comparable to other areas in Burma. Mortality data is not systematically collected by international agencies providing support to the camps.

Government authorities have not permitted humanitarian needs assessments for Rohingya people across all of the areas affected by security operations. We are, therefore, not in a position to provide an accurate answer to the question.

The full implications of the reinstated and expanded Mexico City policy are not yet clear but we are closely following developments. DFID will consider the implications with our offices, with UK civil society and with donors.

We noted the open letter from a number of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in December 2016, and share the concern over access for humanitarian assistance. DFID and Foreign Office officials have been in close contact with UN agencies monitoring humanitarian access.

The UK Government has repeatedly urged the Government of Burma to allow full unrestricted humanitarian access. The Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson MP, the Minister of State Rory Stewart MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Alok Sharma MP and the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Baroness Anelay have all raised the issue personally with Burmese ministers in recent meetings in Burma or London. DFID and Foreign Office officials have visited Northern Rakhine together with international counterparts and lobbied Burmese Ministers on this issue. The UK also discussed the issue at the UN Security Council on 17 November, where we raised our concerns about the lack of humanitarian access. The Government of Burma has committed to restoring humanitarian access and we are pressing for, and stand ready to support, the delivery of this commitment.

Humanitarian access to northern townships of Rakhine State has partially improved but remains a serious concern. Access to many areas did improve in December and January and some humanitarian assistance was able to resume. However, the most affected areas remain without substantive humanitarian access and restrictions continue to be imposed in all areas. The ability of affected people to travel in order to access assistance also remains limited. We continue to monitor this closely and continue to raise the issue of humanitarian access with authorities at local, state and national level.

The UK Government is deeply concerned by the situation in Rakhine and by the conflict in Kachin and Northern Shan. We continue together with other countries and the UN to urge the Government of Burma to allow immediate unrestricted access for humanitarian aid. The Government of Burma has now committed to restoring humanitarian access. We are pressing for and stand ready to support the delivery of this commitment. In practice, worrying restrictions on humanitarian assistance remain in parts of Kachin, Northern Shan and Rakhine.

The UN is already undertaking substantial advocacy efforts on Burma both within Burma and internationally. The UN Secretary General visited Burma and raised humanitarian issues with Aung San Suu Kyi in August 2016. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien raised issues of humanitarian access with Aung San Suu Kyi during his October 2016 visit to Burma. We do not presently propose to urge the UN Secretary-General to meet again with Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UK Government is deeply concerned by the situation in Rakhine and by the restrictions on access for humanitarian aid. Our partners report that they have been unable to treat some 6,400 malnourished children and pregnant women who were suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition in Maungdaw district prior to the attacks on 9 October. The majority of the Rohingya population have not had access to healthcare for seven weeks. The UK Government has repeatedly urged the Government of Burma to allow immediate resumption of humanitarian access. The Government of Burma has now committed to restoring humanitarian access and we will continue to monitor and support the delivery of this commitment. The UK has long been one of the biggest bilateral humanitarian donors to Burma and to Rakhine, including for treatment of child malnutrition in Maungdaw district. Since 2012, we have committed over £23 million in humanitarian assistance, including water, sanitation and nutrition for over 126,000 people. We continue to fund humanitarian assistance to Rohingya people in camps elsewhere in Rakhine State. Some partners funded by the UK Government have been able to provide nutrition assistance to very small numbers in areas affected by the current crisis. We stand ready to provide further assistance as soon as access restrictions are removed.

The Government remains deeply concerned by the current situation in Rakhine and the persecution of the Muslim minority Rohingya community. The UK Government has repeatedly engaged the Government of Burma to urge a restrained security response, an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses, and for the immediate resumption of access for humanitarian aid. The Minister of State Rory Stewart raised the issue personally with Burmese ministers in recent meetings in Burma and the UK.

The Government of Burma has now committed to restoring humanitarian access and investigating allegations of human rights abuses. We will continue to monitor and support the delivery of these commitments. The UK Government has also called on the Government of Bangladesh not to return the people seeking refuge back into danger and we continue to offer support through our work with IOM and the World Food Programme. The UK is the largest provider of food aid to the 34,000 Rohingya refugees already living in official camps in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh we are also increasing access to nutrition, health and education services for refugees living in makeshift settlements and the host communities that support them.

The UK closed its China bilateral country aid programme in March 2011. Since 2011 DFID has retained a team in Beijing to work with China on a global development partnership. The partnership focuses on China’s development impact in developing countries in Asia and Africa, and global issues, such as international public health. As China is not the primary beneficiary of this assistance the China Global Partnership Programme is not classified as aid to China.

UK bilateral aid spending benefitting China is set out in the National Statistics publication Statistics on International Development (SIDS). The table below shows the latest published data. The UK Government spends Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in China to maximise UK-China trade and promote shared prosperity. This includes the cross-Whitehall Prosperity Fund which provided UK expertise and financing to 400 projects from 2011 to 2016 and the Newton Fund which funds UK-China research and innovation on global issues.

UK Bilateral and Imputed Multilateral ODA to China £,000 (SIDS 2016)

* repayments on loans made by the Commonwealth Development Corporation count as negatives for net ODA.

At the Conservative Party Conference the Secretary of State for International Development made clear the principles under which she will lead the Department for International Development (DFID). She made clear that her priority is to provide people with an opportunity to make the most of their talents and fulfil their potential. She stated that the UK should be proud of the support given to changing lives and creating opportunities in countries that are less fortunate than the UK and that her mandate was to challenge, change and reform the global aid system so that it delivers more for those it is meant to help - the world’s poorest.

These are aims which DFID will continue to partner with UK NGOs to deliver.

Global progress, which began prior to 2015, continues to be made on ending preventable newborn and child deaths, with significant support from the UK government. It is too early to quantify how much progress has been made since September 2015.

To accelerate progress and help to meet the Sustainable Development Goal targets the UK government supported the development of, and signed a commitment to, the updated Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent Health.

We continue to invest in improving health systems in our focal countries to ensure that mothers and newborns can receive better quality care at birth, so improving their chances of survival. We also invest in care for children under the age of 5, for example through the prevention and treatment of malaria and other childhood diseases.

The UK directly supports a number of bilateral education programmes for refugees providing indirect support through multilateral contributions to organisations such as UNHCR. Specifically on the Syria crisis, in 2015/16 UK Aid, as part of the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLGI), has provided nearly 392,000 children in Syria and the wider region with formal education and nearly 95,000 with non-formal education. Additional psychological support has been provided to nearly 199,000 children, and 350,000 text books to children in Lebanon, nearly 100,000 of which are Syrian refugees.

The UK has been instrumental in creating a new global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises – called ‘Education Cannot Wait’ – which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in May this year. This fund will support displaced children to access quality education, as part of its wider mandate to improve education in emergency and crises affected countries. The UK pledged £30million for two years to the fund, as the largest founding donor, which will contribute towards the fund reaching 4.5 million children in its first two years. The UK also supports research on refugee education, education in emergencies and through a new partnership with the World Bank on their Global Program on Forced Displacement.

DFID funds significant food assistance for internally displaced people in Burma through a number of partners. We do not fund the World Food Programme (WFP) for such assistance, but we are informed of their programming decisions. DFID officials visit Rakhine and Kachin regularly to listen to affected communities. We ensure that WFP is made aware of any concerns raised about their assistance. DFID will monitor the impact of recent changes.

According to UN OCHA Rakhine is one of the least developed areas in Burma and has the highest poverty rate in the country. Inter-communal violence in 2012 led to the displacement of approximately 145,000 people and as of June 2016 some 120,000 internally displaced people remain in 39 camps or camp-like settings across Rakhine State. Prolonged displacement and ongoing movement restrictions constrain access to essential services like formal education, healthcare and livelihoods, and continue to cause increased vulnerability and a high level of dependency on humanitarian aid. Despite positive progress on establishing the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Commission, there has not yet been an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Rakhine. DFID and UK Government officials continue to keep close track of the humanitarian situation in Rakhine and visit the region frequently. DFID Ministers raised the plight of the Rakhine and the rights of the Muslim community in meeting with the Burmese government on the most recent visit.

The UK is the second largest aid donor in South Sudan and leads the £200 million, five year, multi-donor Health Pooled Fund which provides primary health services, including mental health care, to over 8million people in eight states across South Sudan. The fund also supports the South Sudan Healthcare system to deliver lifesaving care, ranging from Primary Health Units in more remote areas to State Hospitals. Patients with serious illnesses, including mental health cases, are referred to the nearest centre able to provide care for them.

The UK leads the £200 million, five year, multi-donor Health Pooled Fund which provides comprehensive health care for pregnant women, including skilled care during labour and delivery, in eight of the ten states in South Sudan. Over the last three years this programme has enabled 493,316 pregnant women to receive anti-natal care services.

The European Development Fund (EDF) provides development assistance in accordance with the Cotonou Agreement. The 11^th EDF resources are implemented in compliance with the principals of sound financial management and transparency. Every year the accounts of the EDF are scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) who perform rigorous annual audits on the EU’s finances. The ECA also review specific programmes and projects for effectiveness and impact.

DFID regularly reviews the work of its partners, including the EU, to ensure that aid is being spent efficiently and appropriately.

We welcome the commitments made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Girl Summit last year and in New York in September to end marriage under the age 15 by 2021 and under 18 by 2041. We expect the age of marriage to be maintained at 18.

Alongside other Donor Partners and NGOs we continue to discuss with the Government of Bangladesh our concerns regarding the legislation, including the possibility of an exception clause that might allow marriage below 18 in certain circumstances, with the aim of ensuring that the public commitments at the UK Girl Summit are maintained. Meanwhile, we are working with other parts of HMG and donor partners to press for improved implementation of policies that protect and promote the status of women and girls. Activities to tackle inequality and promote empowerment are embedded across all of our wider programmes.

At the heart of the UK’s strategy in Bangladesh is the recognition that empowering girls and women is the key to reducing poverty and driving sustainable economic growth. Combined with an improved enabling environment which makes girls and women feel secure at home or at work, this allows women to reach their full potential, resulting in job creation and higher incomes for women, as well as improved access to more efficiently produced goods and services.

UK aid funds the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) which we work in partnership with to promote the rights of women and children in the religious legal system in Bangladesh. For example, since 2009, MJF have advocated for the enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act, which was passed in 2012, and further strengthening of the law which would give the wife rights over her husband’s property and thus impact her economic situation. MJF and its partners are also working at a local level to mobilise communities to make use of the law.

The UK Government along with other donors, discusses issues such as safe drinking water with members of the Government of Bangladesh. Water quality testing, which focussed upon arsenic, has been a major part of DFID’s support for ensuring access to clean arsenic free water in rural Bangladesh. DFID has also supported arsenic testing by assisting the Government of Bangladesh to establish a national water-point database. The UK works with the Government of Bangladesh to use the database to identify water points which exceed the arsenic national standard can be identified and corrective necessary action taken.

DFID has also delivered large scale results on water, sanitation and hygiene education through our strategic partnership with BRAC. This has given 699,000 people access to clean drinking water, including in arsenic prone areas, through deep tube wells, piped water supply systems and pond sand filters to over the last 5 years.

The UK Government’s work around conditions in the leather industry in Bangladesh focuses on the issue of child labour. We support efforts in this particular area through the Manusher Johnno Foundation (MJF). MJF have campaigned successfully to include “Leather Works” on the Government of Bangladesh’s list of hazardous works for children. As a consequence, employers in the leather industry are now bound by a Code of Conduct which is aligned with the domestic Labour Law and National Child Labour Elimination Policy.

Migration within and from Africa is a major development issue. It needs to be addressed in part by tackling instability and the root causes of migration. At the Valletta Summit the European Union agreed a new €1.8 billion Trust Fund focussing on four main areas linked to development priorities identified by the host governments in Africa: i) promoting greater economic and employment opportunities; ii) strengthening resilience of communities and in particular the most vulnerable, as well as refugees and displaced people iii) improved migration management in countries of origin and transit; and, iv) improved governance and conflict prevention, and reduction of forced displacement and irregular migration.

The Trust Fund is composed of three windows, one for the Horn of Africa, one for the Sahel and one for North Africa. The proposed work of the Trust Fund complements DFID’s own approach in these regions. The UK is represented by DFID on each of the EU Trust Fund window’s Operating Committees and on the overall board of the Trust Fund. DFID, the FCO and Home Office officials work as one team to coordinate engagement with EU Trust Fund. The UK is playing a full role in shaping the Trust Fund’s strategy and we work hard to ensure that the funding is well spent and that proposed projects deliver maximum value for money.

Whilst exact displacement figures from Jebel Marra are difficult to establish due to access restrictions and challenges with registration, we regard the UN figure of approximately 130,000 people displaced as the best possible estimate. This is of course deeply troubling, and we have raised our concerns with the Government of Sudan. We continue to press both bilaterally and at the UN Security Council for full humanitarian access to be granted to the affected areas.

Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. The UK has given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to these areas and are pushing for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach places in Syria through the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian taskforce and our position in the UN Security Council.

The United Nations has been unable to deliver assistance to the 4,000 people besieged by the Syrian Regime in Daraya since November 2012, despite repeated requests for permission. The UN report that humanitarian conditions there are dire and it stands ready to deliver assistance as soon as access is granted by the Syrian regime. The UN has not ruled out air drops to locations in Syria, but aid delivered by road, by UN agencies and by others who know the situation on the ground, and who can ensure it gets to those who need it most, remains the best way of getting help through. Daraya is only a few minutes’ drive from UN warehouses in Damascus.

The World Bank Gender Policy sets out how Bank staff should assess the gender dimensions of development in their work and is an important part of Bank’s commitment to drive progress on gender equality. The Inspection Panel assesses compliance with Bank policy including not only the Gender Policy but also with the Environmental and Social Safeguards, which includes requirements for a social assessment that may cover gender.

The UK was a leading voice in the Global Goals for Sustainable Development negotiations and insisted that that that these goals must start by empowering girls and women, and tackling discrimination. A key priority was to ensure a strong and explicit commitment to gender equality through a standalone goal, and further gender mainstreaming throughout the framework. These were both successfully included in the final set of global goals.

The UK has continually championed the inclusion of a global goal on gender and the inclusion of a target on ending harmful practices with indicators on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM). With others, we resisted a proposed qualifier which would have restricted the measurement of FGM to ‘relevant countries only’. We anticipate this indicator will remain, and apply to all countries, when the report and indicators are approved by the UN Statistical commission in mid-March.

As one of just a few donors to have met the 0.7% commitment, the credibility of the Official Development Assistance system is of great importance to the UK. The government is working closely with other countries to modernise the definition of Official Development Assistance at the OECD Development Assistance Committee, to ensure it reflects the breadth of the new international development agenda set by the new Global Goals for Sustainable Development and fully incentivises other countries to meet these goals.