UK Aid to Afghanistan

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, I do not have details of upcoming conferences, but I will certainly put that question to my colleague, my noble friend Lord Ahmad, in whose portfolio that sits. It is of course the case that we work with friends and partners internationally on a continuous, routine basis to try to figure out the best approach to the problems in Afghanistan we are discussing, not least recent decisions by the Taliban to ban women taking part and working in NGOs and to prevent women and girls going to secondary school and university. All these issues are incredibly complicated and it is our view that no one donor country, or any country alone, can solve these problems. It is through these international partnerships that we have the most impact.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, I declare an interest in that I chair the UK board of the charity Search for Common Ground, which is providing support for women and NGOs in Afghanistan in increasingly difficult circumstances. UK support to the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which was the biggest part of UK support under the previous Government, is now delivered through the World Bank. Part of that work is for women’s economic empowerment, which is now impossible to deliver. What mechanisms are in place for reassurance that UK taxpayers’ money is not being provided through multilateral bodies which are directly or indirectly facilitating the Taliban in persecuting and repressing women?