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Written Question
Mali: Religious Freedom
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of violence in central Mali on religious minority groups.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK is closely monitoring rising instability in Mali. There has been an increase in human rights abuses and violations, including on religious minority groups. The violence is sadly widespread but does not appear to be religiously motivated. Following the recent withdrawal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), it is essential that the authorities in Mali deliver on their commitment to a political transition, with free, fair, transparent and inclusive presidential elections. The UK is committed to working with our partners to support initiatives to protect human rights in Mali.


Written Question
Malnutrition: International Assistance
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Autumn Statement on his Department's ability to tackle malnutrition internationally.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK is committed to tackling malnutrition and improving health outcomes for women and girls. Prevention and treatment of malnutrition is vital for the FCDO's work on global health, humanitarian response and in support of the UK goals on girls' education. Spend will be focussed according to the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy, these include global health and ending the preventable deaths of women, babies and children. In due course, we intend to update planned ODA allocations and the spending commitments set out in the International Development Strategy.


Written Question
Nutrition: Development Aid
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government will begin disbursing the £1.5 billion Nutrition for Growth funding.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

FCDO has already begun to implement our 2021 Nutrition for Growth commitment to spend £1.5 billion between 2022 and 2030. Information about spending to tackle global malnutrition is published through the Statistics for International Development (SIDS) in the Autumn each year. We will continue to publish our spend information by project on DevTracker as always (updated monthly).  The FCDO has disbursed over £5 billion of ODA for nutrition between 2013 and 2020 and spent £530.2 million on nutrition specific programmes, just missing our 2020 target of £574.8 million.


Written Question
Gender Based Violence: Development Aid
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the proportion of the foreign aid budget allocated to programmes which prevent violence against women and girls.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has frequent discussions with the Minister for Development on the allocation of the foreign aid budget. The UK will focus spend according to the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy, which includes women and girls, while maximising the best value for money and our flexibility to respond to new or emerging priority issues. Last month, the UK hosted an international conference to drive urgent action to prevent sexual violence in conflict and announced £12.5 million new funding for this. We will be launching a new International Women and Girls Strategy in 2023.


Written Question
Development Aid: Females
Wednesday 7th December 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much and what proportion of his Department's foreign aid budget was used for programmes which prevent violence against women and girls in the 2022-23 financial year.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

Ending violence against women and girls remains a top priority for the Government. Spend for 2022-23 is not yet available, the FCDO's latest estimate of its overall ODA spending for 2022-23 is £7.548 million. In 2021, the UK spent £27.6 million on bilateral funding to end violence against women and girls. Multilateral spend for 2021 is not yet available.


Written Question
Development Aid: Polio
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will increase the Government’s pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK supports the work of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to which we have provided £1.38 billion since 1995. We remain proud of our contribution to polio eradication, which has seen polio cases reduced by over 99%. To date, more than 20 million people are walking who may otherwise have been paralysed due to polio. The UK will continue to be a supportive partner to the GPEI in the future to ensure every child everywhere is safe from this disease. In light of ongoing crises, we have temporarily paused some overseas aid spending, including to GPEI, as we review our allocations.


Written Question
Malawi: Polio
Tuesday 6th September 2022

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the extent of polio immunisation in Malawi.

Answered by Vicky Ford

I am delighted to say that since polio was detected in Malawi in February the government there has led an incredible vaccination campaign, reaching 3.5 million children and covering the full target population. I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to the government and health workers of Malawi for such an incredible achievement. I had the huge honour of meeting the Minister for Health when I visited in April. We discussed the UK’s support for the wider sector and the challenges it faces.


Written Question
Tunisia: Politics and Government
Friday 10th September 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of Tunisian President Saied’s (a) dismissal of the prime minister and (b) freezing of parliamentary activity.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK is closely monitoring the situation in Tunisia. We believe that the solution to Tunisia's challenges can only be achieved through the principles of democracy, transparency, human rights, and free speech. We call on all parties to uphold Tunisia's reputation as a tolerant and open society and to protect the democratic gains of the 2011 revolution.


Written Question
Ahnaf Jazeem
Wednesday 8th September 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Government of Sri Lanka on the ongoing detention of young poet and teacher, Ahnaf Jazeem.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The UK Government remains concerned at the ongoing detention of Ahnaf Jazeem under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). On 7 June, the UK's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and International Ambassador for Human Rights issued a joint statement with European partners calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to release Ahnaf Jazeem or uphold his right to a fair trial. We also highlighted our concerns in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 22 June, and have raised the case privately with the government of Sri Lanka. We continue to call on the government to replace the PTA with human rights compliant counter terrorism legislation.


Written Question
Sri Lanka: Human Rights
Wednesday 8th September 2021

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to UN Resolution 46/1, what steps he is taking to protect human rights in Sri Lanka.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The UK Government, alongside our partners in the Core Group on Sri Lanka, has led international efforts over many years to promote accountability, reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka, including at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). On 23 March the UNHRC adopted a new UK-led resolution, 46/1. This resolution provides a continued framework for international engagement on human rights in Sri Lanka, and highlights serious concerns about the situation, including those detailed in the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). It calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to make progress on accountability and human rights, and stresses the importance of a comprehensive accountability process for all violations and abuses committed in Sri Lanka.

The Minister of State for South Asia, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised the importance of accountability, justice and reconciliation on several occasions with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and the former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, most recently during calls on 10 May and 17 June respectively. We continue to engage with the government of Sri Lanka on these important issues.