Asked by: Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterparts in the Lebanese government on the removal of restrictions placed on Syrian refugees seeking to enter Lebanon.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
I discussed the issue of Syrian refugees with the Lebanese Prime Minister and the Speaker for Parliament when I visited Lebanon in December. I paid tribute to Lebanon’s generosity as they host nearly 1.2 million registered refugees and made clear that the UK’s support, which is now around £160 million since the start of the Syria crisis, will continue. Following the announcement of new border regulations by the Lebanese authorities, our Ambassador in Lebanon alongside EU partners, reiterated to the Lebanese Prime Minister the international community’s concern that the new border regulations should adequately provide for the most vulnerable humanitarian cases.
Asked by: Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the outcomes were of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Answered by Mark Simmonds
The Global Summit had two primary objectives: to agree practical action to tackle impunity for the use of rape as a weapon of war, and to begin to change global attitudes to these crimes. The Summit set in motion a series of unprecedented practical steps and commitments. In addition, it significantly raised the profile of this issue and placed it firmly on the international policy agenda.
During the Summit we launched the first ever International Protocol on how to document and investigate sexual violence in conflict as a means of overcoming one of the key barriers to prosecutions of these crimes and announced an ambitious plan to implement the Protocol. The Foreign Secretary announced £6 million in new UK funding to support survivors of rape, and the United States, Bahrain, Australia, Japan and others including European partners also made new pledges. The African Union announced a pilot project in the Central African Republic to respond to the urgent needs of victims of sexual violence, supported by the UK and Japan. In addition the Somali government launched a new action plan, supported by the UN and the international community, for addressing sexual violence, which has blighted the lives of thousands there.
Within the Summit we convened a special meeting on security in Nigeria, where violence against women and girls is a particular concern among the wider impact of Boko Haram. We agreed that a Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit should be made operational immediately. The countries of the region also agreed rapidly to implement joint or coordinated patrols along their borders and Cameroon committed to add a battalion to that regional task force. The UK, US and France pledged to support of these regional efforts. We announced a separate package of support for Nigeria including: increased tactical training for the Nigerian army, assistance to regional security and intelligence cooperation, and a joint UK/US educational programme to educate an additional one million children in Nigeria. All the parties present also agreed on the need for UN sanctions against Boko Haram’s leadership and Ansaru, another dangerous terrorist organisation. Both were listed by the UN Security Council’s Al Qaida Sanctions Committee on 26 June.
Finally, states and delegates at the Summit joined together to sign a Statement of Action, uniting governments, UN Agencies, civil society, experts and survivors with a shared determination to tackle these issues.
Asked by: Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of public footfall at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Answered by Mark Simmonds
One of the principal aims of the Global Summit was to invite members of the public to take part in the Summit and to transform awareness of a taboo and often poorly understood subject. We estimate that several thousand members of the public attended the Fringe events each day.
Asked by: Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many fringe events were held during the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Simmonds
I refer my honourable Friend the member for North East Bedfordshire to the Foreign Secretary's statement to the House on 16 June 2014 on the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. There were 175 fringe events during the Summit, which included panel discussions and debates, theatre and performance, marketplace with products made by survivors, gallery, silent cinema, exhibitions. We estimate that several thousand members of the public attended the fringe each day. In addition, our Embassies and High Commissions overseas held a global fringe and hosted events for each of the 84 hours of the Summit. These events challenged perceptions and encouraged policy and decision makers and the general public to engage with a subject that for too long has remained hidden.
Asked by: Alistair Burt (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) Government Ministers, (b) non-governmental organisations and civil society groups and (c) survivors attended the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Simmonds
I refer my honourable Friend the member for North East Bedfordshire to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary to this House on 16 June 2014 on the outcomes of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. 79 Ministers and 129 country delegations were accredited for Summit, plus 950 experts from civil society, non-governmental organisations, academia, health practitioners, military and policy. Many more members of the public attended the Fringe. The FCO supported participation of the 300 grass roots and civil society activists from conflict affected countries, many of whom had direct experience of sexual violence in conflict. Other organisations who attended also had survivors as part of their delegations. Together we discussed practical action to tackle impunity for the use of sexual violence as a tactic of conflict and continued the long process of changing global attitudes to these crimes.