Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations she has made to the Federal Government of Somalia on the treatment by (a) civil and (b) military judicial institutions of children who have been abused as soldiers by militant groups.

The UK supports child protection services in Somalia through partners such as UNICEF. In 2021, UK funding supported community-based awareness raising for approximately 30,000 people, to strengthen the protective environment for children and women. Through the British Embassy in Mogadishu, the UK has raised its concerns about the vulnerabilities of children in armed conflict in Somalia and, at the UNICEF-led Group of Friends of Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC) meeting in late 2021, underlined the need for a proactive approach towards protection. The UK has also engaged Somalia's Ministry of Education on policy and guidelines for implementation of Somalia's commitment to the Safe Schools Declaration. This policy will soon go to Parliament for ratification, and outlines actions to provide safe spaces where child victims of attacks on schools or recruitment by armed forces can receive legal, medical and psychological support.