Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Preventing Sexual Violence (PSVI) summit earlier this year, what strategies they have to support women's groups which are working with victims and survivors of rape and sexual violence.

The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict held in June 2014 set in motion a series of practical steps and commitments which all focus on ensuring that survivors of sexual violence in conflict can access justice and receive the long-term support that they require. This includes providing support for women’s groups who work with survivors.

In support of this the British Government announced £6m of new UK funding for survivors. Of this, £5m came from the Department for International Development (DfID) in the form of £4.25m to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, administered by UN Women, and £750,000 to the International Organisation from Migration. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced £1m for the International Criminal Court’s Trust Fund for Victims, as well as £400,000 for the UN’s survivor support programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the next few months we intend to work with local and international partners to implement the International Protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict, launched at the Global Summit, in both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.