Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to deal with the humanitarian situation in Rakhine, Kachin and Northern Shan States, Burma.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Rakhine, Kachin and Northern Shan. We continue to raise our concerns with both military and civilian Ministers in the Government of Burma as a matter of urgency.
The UK has long been one of the biggest humanitarian donors in Burma and in Rakhine State, providing over £23 million in humanitarian assistance in Rakhine since 2012. No financial aid is provided to the Government of Burma. The UK currently provides humanitarian support to around 100,000 people in the state including to people in internally displaced people camps outside of northern Rakhine and some limited support in northern Rakhine. The UK has provided over £18.1 million in essential humanitarian and health assistance in Kachin and Northern Shan states from 2012 until the end of last financial year, and will provide a further £5 million approximately this year.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle child trafficking in Nepal; what assessment she has made of (a) the role of Childreach's Taught Not Trafficked and (b) other preventative education programmes in such work; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Our Work in Freedom programme tackles human trafficking and promotes safe migration in Nepal and across the region, providing community training, support to victims in destinations and helping to improve laws and policies. In 2015, the programme reached more than 54,000 people in Nepal, including about 40,000 women and children through door to door visits.
Following the devastating earthquake last year, DFID Nepal supported work with the Nepal Police, Women and Children Service Directorate and Ministry of Women and Social Welfare to create women and children safe spaces, and stop trafficking of women and children. We also support wider work that contributes to helping children avoid the risk of being trafficked, including improving livelihoods, providing skills training and helping families to better withstand natural disasters.
DFID is not currently engaged in work directly with Childreach.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how aid disbursed by her Department's Palestinian Programme tackles anti-Israeli incitement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK deplores incitement on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We monitor any allegations of incitement closely and raise instances with both the Palestinian Authority and Government of Israel. Our financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding which reaffirms the PA’s commitment to non-violence and a negotiated solution to the conflict. We accompany our support for UNRWA with stringent attention to their neutrality and values of peace. UNRWA continues to implement a human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance policy, which applies to all its schools in its five fields of operation, supplementing the host country curriculums. We take allegations of incitement very seriously and raise them with UNRWA whenever appropriate.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Prime Minister's press release of 18 August 2014, what steps she is taking to assess the impact of her Department's policies on the family.
Answered by Grant Shapps
The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014 for domestic policies through the publication of guidance for officials – Family Test Guidance.
The objective of the Test is to introduce a family perspective to the policy-making process, specifically to make the potential impacts on family functioning and relationships explicit.
The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty internationally. In this respect the welfare of the world’s poorest – both individuals and families – are central to DFID’s work. DFID does not however have a leading responsibility for domestic policies and has not therefore made any assessments using the Family Test.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department is providing for internally displaced persons in Kachin State.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Some 100,000 people have been living in camps for displaced people for over three years since the fighting restarted between the Kachin Independence Army and Government forces.
Clashes and shelling in Kachin and Northern Shan have stepped up since early November. We are monitoring the situation carefully and have been in frequent contact with the UN and local organisations about the humanitarian implications of recent fighting. While there has been no significant new displacement or humanitarian needs in the last few months we will continue to monitor these issues closely.
Between 2012 and 2015 DFID has allocated over £17 million for humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Kachin and Northern Shan States in Burma affected by the violence. This aid is providing food security, sanitation and health in line with accepted humanitarian standards as well as to strengthening IDP communities’ capacity to manage health hazards and risks.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the humanitarian implications of the recent armed conflict in the Kachin State of Burma.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Some 100,000 people have been living in camps for displaced people for over three years since the fighting restarted between the Kachin Independence Army and Government forces.
Clashes and shelling in Kachin and Northern Shan have stepped up since early November. We are monitoring the situation carefully and have been in frequent contact with the UN and local organisations about the humanitarian implications of recent fighting. While there has been no significant new displacement or humanitarian needs in the last few months we will continue to monitor these issues closely.
Between 2012 and 2015 DFID has allocated over £17 million for humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Kachin and Northern Shan States in Burma affected by the violence. This aid is providing food security, sanitation and health in line with accepted humanitarian standards as well as to strengthening IDP communities’ capacity to manage health hazards and risks.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of reports of a food crisis in Chin State, Burma; and what food support her Department is providing in that region.
Answered by Alan Duncan
DFID has contributed to a food security programme in Chin State through the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund which is helping increase agricultural production through activities such as better quality seeds, and also helping farmers get their produce to markets.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make it her policy that UK public funds should not be used for the purposes of campaigning for more liberal abortion laws in another country.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
In many countries abortion may be permitted only on limited or highly restricted grounds. In these circumstances, we can consider support to increase awareness among policy-makers, legislators, national health authorities and health personnel of the circumstances under which abortion is allowed. We can also work to highlight the consequences arising from the complications of unsafe abortion, such as the burden of maternal ill-health and high health service costs.
In addition we can also consider support to locally-led efforts to enable legal and policy reform in circumstances where the existing law and policy are contributing to high maternal mortality and morbidity; and to regional or international initiatives that are working to prevent unsafe abortion.