Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) financial and (b) non-financial support her Department has provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to support women and girls in Yemen, in each year since 2016.

The conflict in Yemen has exacerbated the specific vulnerabilities faced by women and girls across the country, with the number of incidents of gender-based violence reportedly rising by more than 60% since the start of the conflict in 2015.

The UK continues to support women and girls through UN agencies which does not include the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at this time. Since 2017 we have supported 1,700 survivors of gender-based violence across Yemen as part of our £13 million funding to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Office for Migration, and as part of the UK’s more than £75 million in funding to UNICEF over the next three years, we expect to support 240,000 women each year with reproductive health services, including support during childbirth.

The UK is also providing £39 million from 2015 to 2020 to a UNICEF/UNFPA Global Programme taking action against Child Marriage in twelve priority countries, including Yemen. The programme has reached nearly 6,000 Yemen girls, providing important services such as psychosocial support.