Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 6 June (HL Deb col 1027), whether the new conflict and atrocity prevention hub has been established in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The FCDO has created a dedicated department for conflict and atrocity prevention within the Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation. The department houses the Mass Atrocity Prevention Hub which works to improve the UK's ability to prevent and respond to atrocities in conflict and non-conflict contexts. The department works closely with other Government departments, and draws on expertise from external partners, including other States and civil society organisations.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to make public records of gender programme spending by (1) the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, (2) the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and (3) the government as a whole.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In 2020 (the latest available year for Official Development Assistance (ODA) reporting), 6% of ODA funded Conflict Stability Security Fund (CSSF) programmes (£36 million) had gender as a main objective, while 65% (£348 million) of programmes had a significant gender component. Summaries of CSSF programmes are available online:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/conflict-stability-and-security-fund-programme-summaries
ODA reporting for 2021 is not yet available.
Spending for the current financial year will be announced, as usual, when the Written Ministerial Statement to accompany the CSSF Annual Report is laid before Parliament, later in the year. This ensures that Ministers retain sufficient in-year flexibility to pivot funding in delivery of the most pressing national security objectives.
At this stage we don't have further plans to make public our records of gender programme spending.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set up a dedicated budget for the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
HMG does not have a dedicated budget to support the National Action Plan (NAP). However, multiple cross government funds support Women Peace and Security objectives. Additionally, from April 2022 all Conflict, Stability and Security Fun (CSSF) projects will be assessed using a new Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Marker
In 2020 (the latest available year for ODA reporting), 6% of ODA funded CSSF programmes (£36 m) had gender as a main objective, while 65% (£348m) of programmes had a significant gender component.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the development of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan's (1) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning programme, and (2) tracking of WPS spend; and what is the deadline for its completion.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is currently developing its fifth Women, Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan (NAP), 2023-27 which will be finalised by the end of 2022.
The NAP will set out how we will put women and girls at the centre of our work on conflict and security. It will include a monitoring and evaluation framework that enables us to better understand the impact of UK Official Development Assistance and our foreign policy and diplomacy in fragile and conflict affected contexts.
HMG does not have a dedicated budget to support the NAP. However, multiple cross government funds support Women Peace and Security objectives. Additionally, from April 2022 all Conflict, Stability and Security Fun (CSSF) projects will be assessed using a new Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Marker.
In 2020 (the latest available year for ODA reporting), 6% of ODA funded CSSF programmes (£36 m) had gender as a main objective, while 65% (£348m) of programmes had a significant gender component.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Women, Peace and Security Ministerial Steering Board has met since May 2019; and when the board is next due to meet.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
At present, there is no Women, Peace and Security Ministerial Steering Board. However, the Government is considering the best way to strengthen governance and accountability as part of the development of the UK's fifth Women, Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan (NAP), 2023-27. Ministers have engaged regularly with civil society and experts as part of the NAP development process and are committed to continuing this engagement.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are currently funding women's groups inside Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK announced £286m of aid for Afghanistan this financial year. As the Foreign Secretary committed, at least 50% of those we reach with our aid should be women and girls.
We will support women's rights organisations as part of our Afghanistan Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programme. We are exploring further ways to support women's organisations through our humanitarian programming, and strongly support the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund's work in identifying ways to support NGOs in Afghanistan at scale. We will also continue to work with partners to ensure women continue to play an active role within humanitarian organisations funded by the FCDO.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 6 June (HL Deb col 1027), when the new conflict and atrocity prevention hub will be established; where it will be based; and what its remit will be.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The FCDO is creating a dedicated department for conflict prevention and conflict related atrocity prevention within the Office for Conflict, Mediation and Stabilisation. We anticipate that this process will be complete by the end of June, and staff will be based across FCDO's UK offices. The department will design and test a comprehensive approach to upstream conflict and atrocity prevention, while engaging globally with key bilateral partners and multilateral organisations to improve prevention efforts. A new early warning system will also be developed to better identify, understand and respond to conflict and atrocity risks. The department will be the secretariat of a cross-government mass atrocities prevention hub bringing together the expert elements of atrocity prevention that sit with other departments in the FCDO.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision by Myanmar’s courts to impose the death penalty on (1) Phyo Zeya Thaw, and (2) Ko Jimmy.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is deeply concerned by reports that the military have sentenced pro-democracy activists and leaders, including Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy, to death. Both Minister Milling, and the British Embassy in Yangon, have made it clear that the UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. On 8 December 2021 we secured a UN Security Council Resolution which called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained. We once again call on the military regime to respect human rights and the rule of law, and will continue to use all available fora to raise our concerns.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the human rights situation in Myanmar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Myanmar is a Human Rights Priority Country for the UK.
The February 2021 coup has exacerbated the already grave human rights situation. Security forces continued to commit atrocities throughout the country, with credible reports of torture, burning of villages, rape and sexual violence and mass killings. As of June 2022, over 690,000 people have been displaced by military operations, and 14.4 million people are now in humanitarian need. Over 10,000 people remain in arbitrary detention, and we are deeply concerned about reports that the military have sentenced pro-democracy activists and leaders to death. Identity and gender-based violence continue to be a huge problem across Myanmar. Freedom of expression and religious belief continue to be supressed.
We have raised these issues at the UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council and G7. The UK has also provided £500,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which collects and preserves evidence of human rights violations for future prosecution.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of chemical attacks in Northern Iraq; and what plans they have to ask the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate those attacks.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The United Kingdom opposes any use of chemical weapons. We are aware of claims that Turkey has used white phosphorus (WP) in northern Iraq. WP is not a chemical weapon. Any state using WP must comply with International Humanitarian Law and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.