Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action the Department of International Development is taking to (1) protect girls from trafficking and exploitation in crises, and (2) provide support for survivors of trafficking.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Since 2017 the UK Government has more than doubled UK Aid investment to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking to over £200 million. DFID programmes seek to tackle the root causes of modern slavery and human trafficking by addressing the permissive environments which allow slavery to exist and supporting the most vulnerable to escape slavery – particularly children, women and girls.
For example, we have reached over 380,000 women and girls through our flagship £10 million Work in Freedom Programme, which aims to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and the forced labour of women and girls in South Asia and Arab States.
DFID’s Strategic Vision on Gender Equality sets out our ambition to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls during emergencies, when the challenges and needs are particularly acute. We have increased our resources and expanded our programmes to tackle violence against women and girls in more than 30 countries.
Full details of current programmes can be found at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk.