Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will prioritise the children and armed conflict agenda within the Government’s updated approach to conflict.

In line with the commitments in the Integrated Review, the conflict centre in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is working with a range of partners to consider and further develop our approach to conflict. We are assessing evidence for what works and how to harness the full range of Her Majesty's Government (HMG) capabilities to increase our impact in preventing, managing and resolving conflict in priority regions. The UK is committed to protecting all children affected by armed conflict.

The UK prioritises efforts to protect children affected by armed conflict through our active membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) which leads the international response to violations committed against children in conflict. The Working Group focuses on responding to the UN Secretary General's CAAC annual report which lists governments and armed groups for committing grave violations against children. We further protect children in armed conflict through our extensive Girls' Education Campaign. The UK advocates for universalisation of the Safe Schools Declaration and by situating the Declaration within our Girls' Education Campaign, we are ensuring implementation is gender responsive; focusing on getting girls back into school and recognising they are impacted in unique ways by conflict and by pauses in their education.

We will set out more detail on the FCDO's approach to conflict in the New Year.