Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding available for the UN Trust Fund for victims of sexual violence; and for what reason the UK has not contributed to that fund.

​As I said in answer to the Rt Hon Emily Thornberry MP on 9 November, the UN does not have a specific trust fund for victims of sexual violence. However, In March 2016, the UN Secretary-General established the UN’s Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, to provide greater support to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN and related personnel. We are studying this Fund’s effectiveness and whether it provides adequate support for victims of sexual violence before taking a decision on whether to contribute. The UK is committed to ending sexual exploitation and abuse by those who are entrusted with protecting some of the most vulnerable people in the world. That is why we have committed around $3m to supporting the UN’s work on this issue since 2016, and wholeheartedly support the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to tackle this issue robustly. The UK’s Safeguarding conference in October was an important milestone in advancing the international effort to eradicate sexual exploitation and abuse within the international development sector.