Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
What proportion of her Department's aid spending is committed to tackling religious persecution.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID does not disaggregate specific information on aid spending committed to tackling religious persecution, however, we are firmly committed to protecting ethnic and religious minorities, and we raise the issue with partner countries. The UK promotes and protects the right to freedom of religion or belief internationally, regionally and bilaterally.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment has been made of the trend in the humanitarian situation in Rakhine State; and what steps she is taking to support refugees fleeing violence in that area.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have no access to northern Rakhine State so cannot accurately predict humanitarian needs; triangulating numerous sources of information we assess that needs are likely to be acute for the entire population, both ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya. In addition to the 480,000 Rohingya now displaced into Bangladesh, the Government of Burma has stated it estimates a further 27,000 ethnic Rakhine are also internally displaced within Rakhine State. The UK has repeatedly called on the Burmese authorities to end violence, facilitate full humanitarian access to all communities in Rakhine State, encourage return and implement the recommendations of the August 2017 Rakhine Advisory commission report. The UK is providing an additional £30 million to meet the urgent needs in both Bangladesh and Burma of those affected by the violence.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Yemen is one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world. According to the UN, almost 21 million people (over 75% of the population) are in need of humanitarian aid, with nearly 10 million in need of immediate help to save or sustain life. Yemen is also facing the world’s worst cholera outbreak with over 624,000 suspected cholera cases recorded since April and more than 2,000 deaths.
In response, the UK has increased our funding for Yemen to £139 million for 2017-18. This includes support for cholera prevention; the provision of medical supplies and treatment for those affected; as well as life-saving interventions including nutrition support to 1.7 million people and clean water and sanitation for 1.2 million people.
On the 11th August, the Secretary of State for International Development announced that we are targeting £8 million of our support to UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration on activities specifically to address cholera. The funding will be used to provide medical supplies to half a million people, give safe access to chlorinated water to 300,000 people, and rehabilitate medical facilities used by 250,000 people.
This is a significant increase from previous years, and makes us the second-largest contributor to the UN’s 2017 Yemen Appeal and the third-largest humanitarian donor overall. At the same time the UK continues to play a leading role in lobbying for a political solution to the conflict, as well as pressing others in the international community to step up and provide co-ordinated humanitarian support.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the provision of medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter for internally displaced people and children in Yemen.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has more than doubled its humanitarian support over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16. We have so far helped more than 1.3 million Yemenis who have been affected by the conflict with food assistance, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter, as well as supporting refugees and migrants in Yemen. We work through International Non-Governmental Organisations and United Nations agencies to deliver this assistance, ensuring the response is targeted towards the most vulnerable.
This funding includes support to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide over 750,000 Internally Displaced People and people affected by the conflict with access to a safe water supply and critical hygiene items. The UK has also provided funds to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF and Save the Children to raise awareness of child rights, to monitor and support displaced children and to provide children with food, nutritional support, water and sanitation.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of humanitarian conditions inside the town of Daraya in Syria.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The United Nations has been unable to deliver assistance to the 4,000 people besieged by the Syrian Regime in Darayya since November 2012, despite repeated requests for permission. The UN report that humanitarian conditions there are dire, with reports of severe shortages of food, clean water, medicines, electricity and basic commodities. The United Nations stands ready to deliver assistance to Darayaa as soon as access is granted by the Syrian regime.
Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. We have given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to these areas and are pushing for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach places in Syria through the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian taskforce and our position in the UN Security Council.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the £32 million of aid pledged by the UK at the Cairo Donor Conference in 2014 to cover disposal of unexploded ordnance, rubble clearing and reconstructive surgery has been disbursed to date; and how much more such aid is planned to be sent in future.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK pledged £20 million in early recovery assistance at the Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo last year. We have disbursed all of this pledge and will disburse further funds for Gaza throughout the financial year.