Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will include the vulnerabilities of women from religious minorities who are persecuted for gender and religion in her Department's March 2018 document entitled 2018 to 2030 Vision for Gender Equality.

The persecution of religious minorities and non-religious people is acute and increasing in many countries; for women these violations often include gender-based violence, forced marriage and endemic marginalisation.

DFID's Strategic Vision for Gender Equality calls for a step change in our support to the most excluded and vulnerable women and girls, particularly those facing multiple exclusions, on the basis of their disability, age, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexuality, location or other characteristic.

Our UK Aid Connect programme is providing £12 million over 4 years to support a consortium of organisations, including faith and human rights groups, to develop effective approaches to promote tolerance and freedom of belief, including gender equality. The programme will explore gender sensitive processes and segregated data for the monitoring of hate speech against religious minorities at local, national and global levels. The work will ensure the leadership involvement and visibility of women from minorities in coalitions.

The UK has also stepped up our advocacy on freedom of religion or belief, through our diplomatic network. We regularly raise individual cases bilaterally and highlight discriminatory legislation and practices in multilateral fora.