Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action the Department of International Development is taking to (1) protect girls from trafficking and exploitation in crises, and (2) provide support for survivors of trafficking.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Since 2017 the UK Government has more than doubled UK Aid investment to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking to over £200 million. DFID programmes seek to tackle the root causes of modern slavery and human trafficking by addressing the permissive environments which allow slavery to exist and supporting the most vulnerable to escape slavery – particularly children, women and girls.
For example, we have reached over 380,000 women and girls through our flagship £10 million Work in Freedom Programme, which aims to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and the forced labour of women and girls in South Asia and Arab States.
DFID’s Strategic Vision on Gender Equality sets out our ambition to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls during emergencies, when the challenges and needs are particularly acute. We have increased our resources and expanded our programmes to tackle violence against women and girls in more than 30 countries.
Full details of current programmes can be found at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much UK Official Development Assistance expenditure will be invested in development and humanitarian support in Iraq; and through which organisations that support will be directed.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID has committed £252.5 million in humanitarian support to Iraq since 2014, providing a vital lifeline to millions with shelter, medical care and clean water. The largest recipient of UK aid has been UN OCHA's Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund (IHF), which distributes funding to downstream partners in line with the Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan 2019.
The UK has committed over £103 million towards stabilisation in Iraq since 2015, through the Conflict Security and Stabilisation Fund. The largest recipient of this funding is the UNDP’s Funding Facility for Stabilisation (FFS), which helps stabilise areas liberated from Daesh by repairing infrastructure and reopening vital facilities such as hospitals and schools.
This year, £16 million has also been allocated from DFID's ODA budget to the Iraq Reform and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF), run by the World Bank. The IRRF will support Government of Iraq-led reconstruction efforts through the provision of technical assistance, and support the implementation of longer-term economic reform and development.
Plans for Official Development Aid expenditure in Iraq in the 2019/20 financial year are still to be confirmed.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much financial support, if any, they plan to provide for psychological services to those members of the Yazidi community captured by ISIS and now returned to Iraq.
Answered by Lord Bates
UK humanitarian support is distributed on the basis of need, to ensure civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion or ethnicity. However, we remain concerned about appalling crimes committed against minorities in Syria and Iraq, including the Yezidi community. We expect our partners, including the UN and NGOs which implement our aid programmes, to ensure they are doing all they can to support the most vulnerable people, including those who have suffered religious persecution.
In Iraq, UK aid is primarily delivered through UN OCHA's Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund (IHF), to which the UK was the largest donor in 2018. The IHF is the main international humanitarian mechanism in Iraq and health - including psychosocial support - is its largest component. Work to provide healthcare services to 1.2 million more people this year, including Yezidis, has already begun. UK aid has also enabled the UN Trust Fund to support the Free Yezidi Foundation which runs a centre in Northern Iraq providing access to a psychologist and a trauma programme for women and children who have suffered under Daesh. The UK is providing £75,000 in support to the SEED Foundation which delivers gender-focused mental health and psycho-social support training in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This work will benefit women from many communities across the Kurdistan Region, including Yezidis.
In Syria, UK aid has provided more than £40 million this financial year to support the most vulnerable people in areas liberated from Daesh. Across Northeast Syria, this includes mental health support, child protection and education, support to demining and assisting survivors of Gender-Based Violence.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much financial support, if any, they plan to provide for psychological services to those members of the Yazidi community captured by ISIS and now located in Syria.
Answered by Lord Bates
UK humanitarian support is distributed on the basis of need, to ensure civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion or ethnicity. However, we remain concerned about appalling crimes committed against minorities in Syria and Iraq, including the Yezidi community. We expect our partners, including the UN and NGOs which implement our aid programmes, to ensure they are doing all they can to support the most vulnerable people, including those who have suffered religious persecution.
In Iraq, UK aid is primarily delivered through UN OCHA's Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund (IHF), to which the UK was the largest donor in 2018. The IHF is the main international humanitarian mechanism in Iraq and health - including psychosocial support - is its largest component. Work to provide healthcare services to 1.2 million more people this year, including Yezidis, has already begun. UK aid has also enabled the UN Trust Fund to support the Free Yezidi Foundation which runs a centre in Northern Iraq providing access to a psychologist and a trauma programme for women and children who have suffered under Daesh. The UK is providing £75,000 in support to the SEED Foundation which delivers gender-focused mental health and psycho-social support training in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This work will benefit women from many communities across the Kurdistan Region, including Yezidis.
In Syria, UK aid has provided more than £40 million this financial year to support the most vulnerable people in areas liberated from Daesh. Across Northeast Syria, this includes mental health support, child protection and education, support to demining and assisting survivors of Gender-Based Violence.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much UK Official Development Assistance expenditure will be invested in development and humanitarian support in Syria; and through which organisations that support will be directed.
Answered by Lord Bates
As one of the largest donors to the crisis since 2011, the UK remains at the forefront of the humanitarian response in Syria. Our support is focused on providing humanitarian assistance to those in most acute need. To date, we have pledged over £2.8 billion of Official Development Assistance to the Syria crisis – our largest response to a single humanitarian crisis – to alleviate the extreme suffering inside Syria and provide vital support to refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries. This includes our recent pledge at the third annual “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region Conference”, where we committed to provide at least £400 million towards the Syria crisis in 2019.
UK funding is currently implemented through 16 agencies, including the UN, international NGOs and some private sector companies, which deliver much needed food, clean water, shelter and healthcare. For security reasons, we do not publicly disclose the identity of our partners operating in Syria.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the outcome of the United Nations World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul in May.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The World Humanitarian Summit was a success with widespread agreement that the humanitarian system needs to reform and an emerging consensus on the way forward, in particular a renewed commitment to compliance with International Humanitarian Law. Improving the architecture to tackle forced displacement and migration was a major theme running throughout the Summit as was the need to ensure the most vulnerable are not left behind.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies will meet the objectives set by the Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no-one behind, and will focus on the most marginalised children, including girls, minority communities and children with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK is committed to all children benefitting from a quality education by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 and over-arching principle to leave no-one behind. For these reasons, the UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait.
A key focus for Education Cannot Wait will be on ensuring that marginalised children and young people are able to access a quality education. This includes refugees and internally displaced children, as well as children facing barriers to their education because of their gender, disability or other factors. This focus is reflected in the Fund’s indicative headline results, which commits to providing “Inclusive education [that] reaches the most marginalised children and young people in crises” with a target of “100% of supported education opportunities demonstrate increase in education for girls, disabled and those in remote locations”.
The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this commitment is fully reflected in its final design and results frameworks.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to become a founding donor of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit, and how much they intend to donate in 2016.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch event at the World Humanitarian Summit.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who will represent them Government at the World Humanitarian Summit in May.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Decisions on who will be in the delegation will be taken nearer the time.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for the World Humanitarian Summit in May.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK has four objectives for the Summit. Most importantly we want to see a renewed commitment to the protection of civilians in conflict, but also smarter financing, a new approach to building resilience to natural hazards before they take place, and a stronger focus on protecting and empowering women and girls.