Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) locate and (b) free enslaved Yazidi (i) women and (ii) children.

The UK continues to take a survivor-centred approach to support individuals who have experienced or are at risk of conflict related sexual violence, modern slavery and human trafficking.

Our development programming has bolstered the authorities' and civil society's capacity to advance transitional justice and to provide protection services.

For example, UK funding through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to the Government of Iraq's General Directorate of Survivors' Affairs (£340,000 between 2022-2025) has strengthened the Directorate's ability to implement the Yazidi Survivors' Law and has enabled a referral mechanism, alongside civil society, for survivors to access reparations as well as mental health and psycho-social support. In addition, the UK's Building Peace and Security in Iraq programme continues to facilitate the return and reintegration of internally displaced persons, including Yazidis.

Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad and our Consulate General in Erbil also regularly meet with The Free Yezidi Foundation.