Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total sum of (1) Official Development Assistance, and (2) technical or other assistance, to the African Union and its institutions in each of the last three years for which records exist; and what proportion of this assistance has been delivered (a) bilaterally through direct budgetary support, and (b) through programmatic support.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK and the African Union (AU) enjoy a strong relationship, collaborating effectively across a range shared priorities. Between April 2018 and September 2022, the UK has provided the AU with £31.88 million of Official Development Assistance (ODA), supporting the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area, elections monitoring, conflict mediation, the AU's Green Recovery Action Plan and other priority issues for both the UK and Africa. This ODA spend includes provision of technical assistance, £21.1 million of which has been provided directly to the AU, while the remainder has been channelled through third-party organisations with significant experience of working with the AU to address capacity and capability gaps.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level, focus, and impact of support provided to the African Union and its institutions by (1) the government of China, and (2) by the government of Russia.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The African Union (AU) maintains external partnerships with many organisations, regional bodies and countries:
(1) China is one of those countries. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) occurs every three years and China funded the construction of the AU's headquarters in Addis Ababa. The Chinese Foreign Minister visited Addis Ababa in January 2023 and was present at the opening of the new Chinese-built Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters.
(2) Russia has a lesser profile presence at the AU. The Russian Foreign Minister visited Addis Ababa in July 2022 but did not visit the AU headquarters.
The UK enjoys a strong relationship with the AU, collaborating effectively across a range of issues such as peace and security, climate change, global health and trade.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office minister last (1) visited the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, and (2) addressed the Pan-African Parliament in Pretoria; and on how many occasions in the last three years ministers have made such visits.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK enjoys a strong relationship with the African Union (AU), collaborating effectively across a range of shared priorities such as peace and security, climate change, women and girls, food security, health and trade. The UK maintains regular ministerial engagement with counterparts in the AU and its institutions. The former Minister for Development, Rt Hon. Vicky Ford MP, visited the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa most recently on 20 October 2022, where she met the AU's Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS). We look forward to more high-level engagement with the African Union in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they propose to address the issue of climate adaptation for African agriculture at COP27, in order to further the Global Action Agenda on Transforming Agricultural Innovation launched in November 2021.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK made climate change adaptation a priority of our COP Presidency. Africa is in the frontline of climate change, facing drought and extreme weather patterns, despite only contributing a mere 3 per cent of global emissions. The Global Action Agenda on Transformation in Agriculture launched at COP26 has informed the development of the Agriculture Breakthrough goal and a set of actions for endorsing countries set out in The Breakthrough Agenda Report 2022. A set of priority actions will be launched on Agriculture and Adaptation day at COP27. The Agriculture Breakthrough will advance climate adaptation and mitigation globally, including for Africa.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of acute food insecurity in Africa; and what steps they are taking to address it.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UN Humanitarian assessments indicate that over 140 million people are critically food insecure due to conflict, climate disasters and the Covid pandemic, made worse by the war in Ukraine.
The UK is a major humanitarian donor and we are pressing for an urgent collective response to current levels of acute food insecurity. This financial year we intend to provide approximately £156 million to address humanitarian requirements across East Africa. FCDO Ministers are also calling on multilateral institutions to do more. We continue to support the G7 Global Alliance on Food Security and the UN Global Crisis Response Group.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will address the impact of climate change on farmers in sub-Saharan African through the allocation of resources in their development programmes; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is addressing the impact of climate change on farmers in sub-Saharan Africa through a broad range of programmes. For example, the FCDO-funded African Food Trade and Resilience aims to facilitate food trade between surplus and deficit areas by supporting companies to develop farmer-support models that promote climate-friendly practices.
More broadly, the FCDO is supporting farmers to cope with climate change through our international climate finance, and in delivery of the UK's International Development Strategy commitment to prevent and anticipate shocks and build resilience in long running crises by tackling the underlying drivers of crises, instability, and food insecurity.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of state sponsored human rights abuses in the Cameroon after the reported shooting of a four year old girl by a gendarme in the Anglophone South-Western region of that country; and what discussions they have had the governments of (1) Cameroon, and (2) France, regarding this.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Following the shooting of the four-year old girl in Buea, the British High Commission in Yaoundé issued a statement condemning the act, welcomed an investigation by the Cameroon Ministry of Defence, and raised the incident directly with the Cameroonian Government. The UK works regularly with international partners, including France and the US, to raise the crisis in multilateral fora. At the UN Human Rights Council in March, we called for an end to violence and for impartial investigations to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses to account. The UK has also funded training to improve human rights reporting and better protect human rights defenders in Cameroon.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of funding for COVAX to enable the (1) purchase, and (2) distribution, of ancillary vaccination equipment; and what assessment have they made of its implications for the delivery of vaccination programmes in the developing world.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to help bring the acute phase of the pandemic to an end and strongly supports the COVAX Facility as a key multilateral mechanism to deliver this. The UK is one of the largest donors to COVAX's Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million, and will donate 100 million vaccine doses by mid-2022. This support has helped COVAX deliver over 1 billion vaccines worldwide so far.
The UK has worked closely with COVAX on its recently published investment opportunity, including its financing assessments for the purchase and distribution of ancillary vaccination equipment. There are many barriers to effective rollout and the UK and COVAX partners are working with countries to help health systems deliver vaccines. This includes engaging with communities and leaders to build trust, provide correct information, and encourage uptake.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the military takeover in Burkina Faso, and (2) the implications for combating Islamist militancy in the Sahel region.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is deeply concerned about the deteriorating security and political situation in Burkina Faso. As the Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean set out in her statement on 25 January 2022, the UK condemns the coup d'etat by military forces in Burkina Faso, and calls for the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all members of the civilian government who have been detained, including the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. It is vital that all parties remain calm and respect human rights, and for Burkina Faso to return to democratic civilian and constitutional rule without delay. We are monitoring the political and security situation closely, and are working with partners to encourage a swift, peaceful and constructive resolution to events. Dialogue between all parties is required to tackle insecurity across Burkina Faso, and respond to the needs of the Burkinabe people.
We are concerned about insecurity and the impact of Violent Extremist Organisations in the Sahel. Through our deployment to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), our deployment of Chinook helicopters to the French counter-terrorism mission Barkhane, and our programmatic support for stabilisation and conflict resolution, the UK is working to build long-term peace and stability in the Sahel.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of access to human rights in Congo-Brazzaville; and what representations they have made to the government of that country on human rights issues.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In partnership with the international community, the UK Government engages with the Government of the Republic of the Congo on a range of issues, including human rights. The UK does not have a resident Embassy in the Republic of the Congo but we monitor the political, economic, and social situation in that country through the British Embassy in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UK is firmly committed to promoting and defending human rights globally.