Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports by UN experts on 19 February of “credible allegations of egregious human rights violations” against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank by Israel Defence Forces; and whether they have offered practical support for investigating these alleged crimes, and for caring for survivors and witnesses.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns human rights abuses and sexual violence unequivocally and without exception. As I [Lord Ahmad] said to the UN Security Council during the 11 March debate following the release of Special Representative Pramila Patten's report, it is vital that all reports of sexual violence are fully investigated to ensure justice for all victims and survivors and perpetrators are held to account.
The FCDO continues to closely monitor the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and stands ready to further utilise our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) expertise and tools to ensure victims and survivors of CRSV, both Israeli and Palestinian, receive the holistic and survivor-centred support they need.
Through our PSVI programmes and dedicated funding totalling £60 million since 2012, we are leading work internationally to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and strengthen justice and support for all survivors.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department is taking steps through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative to help support Ukrainian officials to investigate alleged acts of sexual violence by Russian forces since 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK is working with Ukrainian authorities to hold those responsible for gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, in Ukraine to account. The UK has committed up to £6.2 million to enhance Ukraine's domestic capacity for war crimes investigations and to help embed international guidelines and best practice into the work of Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators, including on survivor-centred approaches. This assistance has been largely delivered through projects via the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine, established with the US and EU, and deployments of UK experts, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Team of Experts.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what the total cost to the public purse was of hosting the Preventing Sexual Violence summit in November 2022 at the Elizabeth II centre.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) International Conference, hosted by the former Foreign Secretary and Lord Ahmad on 28-29 November 2022 was a key opportunity to turn the dial on the global response to conflict-related sexual violence. Over 1,000 delegates attended, including survivors, civil society, multilateral partners, and representatives from at least 57 countries. 53 countries endorsed the Political Declaration made at the conference, with 42 countries making concrete national commitments. The total cost of delivering this conference was approximately £4.2 million, which was under the original budget.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative Team of Experts have been deployed to Ethiopia since 2020; for what purposes; how long each deployment lasted; and what assessment they have made of the impact of its work.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), including through the PSVI Team of Experts. Since its launch, the UK has deployed experts over 90 times globally to enhance UK and international efforts.
From June to August 2021, an expert was deployed to Ethiopia to identify opportunities for scaling up the response to CRSV. We worked with partners to implement recommendations, including enhancing support for survivors, commissioning research into the dynamics of CRSV and deploying longer-term Gender expertise. From June to October 2022, another expert provided capacity-building training to civil society on CRSV. These deployments have provided the foundation for the UK's ongoing work on CRSV in country.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls in conflict zones.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As a global leader on action to address conflict-related sexual violence, the Government has committed £60m to our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative since launch in 2012. The Government has also sanctioned 13 perpetrators for conflict-related sexual violence since 2022. At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, the UK announced a further £2m funding to refugee and women-led organisations working to tackle Gender-Based Violence in crisis.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative has a three-year funding cycle.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy, launched in November 2022, is backed by £12.5 million of funding over three years (2022-25). More than £4 million was spent on PSVI in Financial Year 2022-23. The UK regularly uses our UN Security Council (UNSC) platform to call for an end to Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CSRV). In July, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, chaired an UNSC Open Debate on CRSV, where he drew attention to the implementation gap between international legal architecture on CRSV and realities on the ground.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much of the £12.5 million allocated to the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative in November 2022 has been spent; and if he will publish a breakdown by project of this spending.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy, launched in November 2022, is backed by £12.5 million of funding over three years (2022-25). More than £4 million was spent on PSVI in Financial Year 2022-23. The UK regularly uses our UN Security Council (UNSC) platform to call for an end to Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CSRV). In July, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, chaired an UNSC Open Debate on CRSV, where he drew attention to the implementation gap between international legal architecture on CRSV and realities on the ground.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when the UK last raised global responses to Conflict-related Sexual Violence in the UN Security Council.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy, launched in November 2022, is backed by £12.5 million of funding over three years (2022-25). More than £4 million was spent on PSVI in Financial Year 2022-23. The UK regularly uses our UN Security Council (UNSC) platform to call for an end to Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CSRV). In July, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, chaired an UNSC Open Debate on CRSV, where he drew attention to the implementation gap between international legal architecture on CRSV and realities on the ground.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many experts in preventing sexual violence in conflict have been deployed in the field under that Initiative since February 2021.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Team of Experts (ToE) is a group of independent experts deployed to support UK, international and local efforts to address Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV).
Since February 2021, there have been 13 PSVI ToE deployments. For example, in Ukraine, experts are assisting domestic investigations and prosecution of international crimes and supporting the development and implementation of a national CRSV Action Plan. Prior to the 2022 PSVI Conference, experts developed and delivered plans to meaningfully engage survivors. In Ethiopia, experts supported civil society capacity building to strengthen local responses to CRSV.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls in conflict zones.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Tackling gender-based violence (GBV) is a priority for the UK, including in conflict zones. We have committed £60 million to the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, including to the development of international guidance such as the Murad Code and support to survivors. At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, we pledged £2 million to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women to tackle violence in crisis situations, including conflict. In November we announced a new £15 million programme to prevent and respond to GBV in Somalia. We will continue to prioritise efforts to address the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls.