Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports of (a) forced abortions and (b) removal of wombs among Uyghur Muslim women.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Reports of suppression of birth rates add to our deep concern about the situation in Xinjiang. It is noteworthy that the Chinese authorities' own figures show a drastic decline in birth rates in Xinjiang. We have repeatedly condemned the egregious abuses of human rights perpetrated against Uyghurs in Xinjiang - including at the UN and directly with China.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is providing to migrant women who have experienced domestic abuse during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office has put in place a range of measures to support those affected by the covid-19 outbreak, and victims of domestic abuse are treated first and foremost as victims. That is why the Home Office launched the #YouAreNotAlone campaign to ensure that all victims of domestic abuse, regardless of immigration status, are aware that existing sources of support remain open to them, such as the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, which is staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by a dedicated team of experts.
The campaign has been backed by an additional £2 million in funding to support technological capability, such as online services, helplines and technology support. £12 million of this funding has already been allocated. The advice and information from the campaign has been made available in multiple languages to reach out to as many people as possible, including languages from Asia/South-East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The campaign has so far generated almost 250 million impressions.
In May, the Government announced £76 million of the £750 million package of support for charities would go towards groups supporting survivors of?domestic abuse, sexual violence and modern slavery?as well as to ensure that vulnerable children and young people continue to get the help they need.
MHCLG have so far awarded £8.76 million through the Domestic Abuse Covid-19 Emergency Support Fund. Over a third of successful applications include organisations providing specialist support services and safe accommodation for BME, LGBT and disabled survivors of domestic abuse. Moreover, £22 million of the £76 million support package is being distributed by the Ministry of Justice to 548 local domestic abuse and sexual violence charities in England and Wales.
The Home Office is providing £2 million in extraordinary funding for domestic abuse support services to support national charities who would not be eligible for the support that is being distributed by either the MHCLG or the MOJ. The Bid Prospectus made clear that charities who support victims of domestic abuse with no recourse to public funds were eligible to apply. Successful applicants include; Karma Nirvana, the Muslim Women’s Network, the Black Association of Women UK and Southall Black Sisters.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 January (HL158), whether they have made any recent estimate of the number of women and girls raped by Muslim men involved in grooming gangs since 1997.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Government does not hold data on the religious beliefs of perpetrators of rape and there is no data that delineates sexual offences which might be described as “grooming gang” offending from other forms of sexual offending.
The Government has estimated that there were approximately 6,850 victims of organised child sexual exploitation in the UK in 2015. This estimate includes all forms of child sexual exploitation and does not distinguish between rape and other sexual offences. It includes organised child sexual exploitation committed by groups and gangs within a range of contexts.
The Government is developing a first of its kind national Child Sexual Abuse Strategy which will set out our long-term ambition in tackling all forms of child sexual abuse.
Our new strategy, which will be published this year, will set out our whole system response to tackling child sexual abuse and how we will work across government, law enforcement, safeguarding partners and industry to root out offending, protect victims and help victims and survivors rebuild their lives. We will work tirelessly to end these heinous crimes; there will be no no-go areas
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) BAME, and (2) Muslim, women’s organisations are allocated enough funding to meet service demands.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government?continues to play a facilitative?role?in ensuring?Government?understands?the needs of BAME communities, including Muslim women, and the challenges they?may be currently?facing?in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is some evidence to suggest that BAME communities may be disproportionately affected by coronavirus.
There is a substantial package of targeted support for charities on the frontline of responding to COVID-19. The £750m DCMS-led funding package that the Government has announced will support organisations working with vulnerable groups impacted by COVID-19, including some in BAME communities.
Of this funding, £370m will support smaller, local charities working with vulnerable people. In England, this support will be provided through the National Lottery Community Fund. More details of the funding criteria and application process will be released in the coming days via the National Community Lottery Fund. £60m of the funding will be allocated through the Barnett formula so the devolved administrations are funded to provide similar support in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. DCMS always strives to engage with and represent all British people in its work, including those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
A further £360m will be distributed between Government departments to provide targeted support to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. This funding will not be allocated via an open bid but will be awarded in line with agreed departmental priorities, with the first £76m going towards supporting survivors of?domestic abuse, sexual violence, vulnerable children and their families and victims of modern slavery announced on 02 May.
As part of this, MHCLG launched a £10m ‘Domestic abuse safe accommodation: COVID-19 emergency support fund’ for charities providing safe accommodation for domestic abuse victims to bid directly into (attached) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-safe-accommodation-covid-19-emergency-support-fund). This includes charities that provide specialist services such as those dedicated to supporting BAME victims. The deadline for charities to put forward an application is Thursday 21 May.
Departments, including MHCLG, continue to work at pace to ensure this funding reaches the areas of greatest need as quickly as possible, with the aim for our key partners to receive money in the coming weeks.
In addition, for 2020/2021, MHCLG has launched a new competitive grant scheme, with a budget of up to £2m for established community organisations and charities to carry out projects that promote shared values and integration, whilst tackling the harmful behaviours which lead to religiously and racially motivated hate crime. We welcome proposals from projects supporting the BAME community and Muslim women.
The Home Offices’ Building a Stronger Britain Together programme is also continuing to support BAME communities and Muslim women’s organisations within its network. These civil society organisations work within communities to tackle all forms of extremism; support victims of extremism and hate crime, as well as challenging the divisive, extremist narratives targeting minority communities. Preparations for 2020/21 delivery of the BSBT programme are currently underway. The programme uses robust grant standards to ensure our funding delivers the greatest impact for these organisations in tackling extremism issues.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to legislate to ensure that women in Islamic faith marriages can seek redress through the courts in the event that the marriage breaks down.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The law has long made provision for couples, including Muslim couples, to marry in their place of worship in a way that gives them legal rights and protections. The Government shares the concern that some people may nonetheless marry in a way that does not, and without appreciating the consequences.
The independent Sharia review has recommended that it should be an offence for religious celebrants to carry out a ceremony that is outside the ambit of the Marriage Acts. Any legislative proposal, including such an offence, must be thoroughly assessed for its fairness to all religious groups and for how far it could achieve the change of practice intended. That is why it is with the greatest care that the Government is continuing the exploration of both limited reform and non-legislative options that it began in detail in the spring.
Separately from this exploration, the Law Commission began its weddings project in July last year. It will make recommendations for how the wider law on getting married in England and Wales can be systematically reformed in a way that is simple, fair and consistent.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of women and girls raped by Muslim men involved in grooming gangs since 1997.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has estimated that there were approximately 6,850 victims of organised child sexual exploitation in the UK in 2015. This estimate includes all forms of child sexual exploitation and does not distinguish between rape and other sexual offences. It includes organised child sexual exploitation committed by groups and gangs within a range of contexts.
In early 2020 the Government will publish a national strategy, the first of its kind, to tackle all forms of child sexual abuse.
Our new strategy will set out our whole system response to tackling child sexual abuse and how we will work across government, law enforcement, safeguarding partners and industry to root out offending, protect victims and help victims and survivors rebuild their lives. Their will be no no-go areas.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of hate crime committed against Muslim women on the wellbeing of the Muslim community.
Answered by Jake Berry
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many women have applied to become members of Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group (a) since it was first set up and (b) in the last 12 months.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The AMHWG was set up in 2012. In 2018 we launched the first open recruitment process to appoint members. During this process 24 women applied to be independent members. The Working Group is led by Ms Akeela Ahmed OBE, founder of a civil society platform dedicated to amplifying women’s voices, and we have appointed Ms Asma Ali, Data Protection Officer and Solicitor for the Police Service of Scotland. Ms Iman Abou Atta is an ex-officio member, as Director of Tell MAMA.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ruling by the Grand Committee of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Molla Sali v. Greece on the application of sharia law, issued on 19 December 2018; what plans, if any, they have to (1) provide support to women and girls in the UK who suffer as a result of the application of sharia law, and (2) ensure that relevant vulnerable people are made aware of their rights in relation to the application of sharia law within the UK judicial system.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Grand Chamber found that the difference of treatment suffered by the applicant, as a beneficiary of a will drawn up in accordance with the Greek Civil Code by a testator of Muslim faith, as compared to a beneficiary of a will drawn up in accordance with the Civil Code by a non-Muslim testator, had no objective and reasonable justification, contrary to the applicant’s rights under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights read in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. The Government’s initial assessment is that the judgment does not affect inheritance law in England and Wales. Inheritance law in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.
People may choose to abide by the interpretation and application of Sharia principles if they wish to do so, provided their actions do not conflict with the national law. All individuals retain the right to seek a remedy through the English and Welsh courts in the event of a dispute, and the law of England and Wales in relation to the inheritance of property prevails.
The independent Sharia review was published in February 2018. The Government’s commitments in response, including supporting awareness raising campaigns with voluntary organisations, can be found in the Integrated Communities Strategy green paper published in March 2018.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Anti-Defamation League, Teaching Hate and Violence: Problematic Passages from Saudi State Textbooks for the 2018–19 School Year, published on 20 November, and in particular the highlighting of school text books in Saudi Arabia that promote hatred against Jews, Christians, women, other Muslim sects and homosexual men; and what representations they are making to the government of Saudi Arabia about this issue.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights priority country, particularly because of the use of the death penalty, women's rights and restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion and belief. We raise our concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities using a range of ministerial and diplomatic channels of communication, including our Ambassador, the Embassy team and the European Union in Riyadh. A major component of Saudi Arabia’s V2030 is educational reform. As the Saudi Minister of Education recently commented this will take a number of years. In March we signed an MOU that will enable a partnership in developing educational curricula. Our bilateral relationship means we can engage constructively in a way that is sensitive to a country’s culture and history.