Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate progress in combatting female genital mutilation worldwide.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK is utilising our policy, programmatic and diplomatic levers to accelerate global efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Since 2019, the UK has funded Phase II of the Africa Led Movement (ALM) to end FGM programme in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Senegal. ALM is working with activists, communities and grassroots organisations to harness evidence-based solutions to take end-FGM efforts to scale. The UK also funds the UN Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM, to influence legislation, policy, and norm change efforts across 17 countries.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they provided to combatting female genital mutilation globally in each year from 2019 onwards.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since 2019, the UK has committed up to £35.5 million towards the Supporting the Africa-Led Movement to End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme. This includes funding to the UN Joint Programme for the Elimination of FGM. Since 2019 we have also funded £20 million towards the Sudan Free of FGM programme. The breakdown of these investments by year is in the table below. In addition, the FCDO funds several programmes on ending gender-based violence (GBV) that include FGM. In total FCDO spent £53.4 million on ending GBV in 2023, including FGM.
Year | Total |
2019 | £505, 242 |
2020 | £1,499,174 |
2021 | £4,371,113 |
2022 | £1,609,123 |
2023 | £6,703,605 |
2024 | £11, 655,218 |
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include a reference to Official Development Assistance support for sexual and reproductive health and rights to achieve gender equality in the National Statement at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025; and whether this reference will specify that this should be 10 per cent as recommended by the International Parliamentarian's Conference on the Implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK's National Statement at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will highlight our commitment to reaffirming the principles of the Beijing Declaration and putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. This will include our commitment to defending and promoting their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
The FCDO is committed to maintaining a strong portfolio of SRHR programming and spend. There are currently no plans to set spending targets on SRHR.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are their priorities for combating global activism against sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK government is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including safe abortion. In the face of increasing anti-SRHR activism we will harness UK political leadership and strategic funding to elevate the voices of those most marginalised in the global south, convene and coordinate likeminded and non-traditional partners and protect SRHR from rollback at both global and national levels.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as per Sustainable Development Goal target 5.6.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The White Paper on International Development reaffirmed the UK's commitment to deploy policy and investment to advance and strongly defend universal access to comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in line with Sustainable Development Goal target 5.6.
The UK Government is committed to driving progress and demonstrating leadership on SRHR globally as a major donor, through our diplomatic network and in collaboration with partners. For example, the UNFPA Supplies Partnership averted 8 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortion and 170,000 maternal and child deaths in 2022, with the UK as their largest donor. The Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Programme supported 9.5 million women to use modern methods of contraception and averted over 45,000 maternal deaths, 5 million unsafe abortions and over 16 million unintended pregnancies from the programme's inception to 2021. In May 2023, the UK joined other G7 leaders in re-asserting the critical role of comprehensive SRHR in our efforts to achieve gender equality, explicitly recognising the need for access to safe and legal abortion as well as post abortion care.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, ahead of the 30-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, what progress they have made since 1994 on sexual and reproductive health and rights in their international work.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK Government continues to use its diplomatic and development levers to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally and the recently released White Paper on International Development reaffirmed the UK's commitment to deploy policy and investment to advance and strongly defend universal access to comprehensive SRHR.
As the largest donor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Programme, the Partnership averted 8 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortion and 170,000 maternal and child deaths in 2022 alone. Since 2018, UK aid support to the Women's Integrated Sexual Health Programme has supported 9.5 million women to use modern methods of contraception and, in 2021, over 12,000 maternal deaths and 1.8 million unsafe abortions were averted.
This year, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights ranked the UK highest in the region (91.3 per cent) for our commitment to achieving SRHR for all, including our domestic laws and policies, and our overseas development assistance dedicated to progressing comprehensive SRHR for all.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will restore the four per cent of UK official development assistance for sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is central to achieving FCDO commitments in the International Development Strategy, our approach to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030 and the International Women and Girls Strategy.
The FCDO ensures the aid budget is directed towards our priorities, delivers value for the taxpayer and meets the UK Government's commitment to spend 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) until the fiscal situation allows a return to 0.7 per cent. The International Development Strategy, which includes comprehensive SRHR, will guide aid prioritisation decisions, alongside the International Women and Girls Strategy. We will update on planned allocations for this spending review period in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise (1) sexual and reproductive health, and (2) the rights of women and girls, in the allocation of official development assistance to developing countries.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR). We are committed to working with our partners to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on SRHR on the global stage and in our programmes. This includes the recent announcement that up to £200 million will be delivered towards the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Dividend programme focussed between 2024-29 on sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest rates of maternal mortality, neonatal deaths and unmet need for family planning in the world.
In March 2023, the FCDO published the UK's International Women and Girls Strategy which sets out our plan to promote and defend the rights of women and girls. In this, we committed to ensure that at least 80% of FCDO's bilateral aid programmes should have a focus on gender equality, using OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) markers, by 2030.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 7 March (HL5764), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), the FCDO's main vehicle for clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), has a long-standing commitment to funding demining in South Sudan. Between 2018 and 2022, GMAP provided funding for UK NGO the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to clear 1,829,632 square metres of land in South Sudan. GMAP signed a new contract with MAG for Financial Year 22/23, which, as of end December 2022, had cleared an additional 168,563 square metres of land there. We are currently negotiating with MAG a new contract for South Sudan to run from April 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is supporting efforts to clear landmines and other explosive hazards in Sudan through the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). Clearing contaminated land in regional areas across Sudan has provided safe access for humanitarian personnel and enabled civilians to access basic services, such as water supplies and healthcare.