Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure that UK-funded mine action and demining programmes include (a) child-focused victim assistance, (b) access to prosthetics, (c) physical rehabilitation, (d) psychosocial support, and (e) education for children injured by explosive weapons.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's main humanitarian mine action programme, the Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), prioritises preventing casualties, increasing access to basic services, and improving livelihoods, including through targeted interventions that benefit children. Over half of GMAP's beneficiaries are children, which includes mine risk education to over 540,000 children since 2024. It does not provide direct victim assistance, as our assessment is that improving health systems through wider UK funded health programmes is a more effective and equitable way of helping all injured civilians. Where practicable, we do require GMAP's implementing partners to refer victims on for medical care and rehabilitation, and GMAP's work does enable access to medical support and facilities.