Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of Official Development Assistance will be allocated to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK government is committed to advancing and defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights and will continue to be a progressive voice on this issue.
Decisions on how UK aid is spent in the future will be for the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to make, informed by the outcomes of the Integrated Review.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which Official Development Assistance programmes are targeted at supporting women and girls; and which Department those programmes are run by.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK’s Gender Equality Act 2014 (an amendment to 2002 International Development Act, IDA), legally requires all overseas development funding to meaningfully consider the impact of how it will contribute to reducing gender inequality.
All ODA spend reported to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is screened against the gender equality policy marker and marked as ‘principal’ or ‘significant.’ This is a measurement of the proportion of aid that supports gender equality and women’s empowerment.
HMG’s spend on bilateral allocable activities targeting gender equality is made publicly available through the OECD statistics portal. For example, in 2018 £4.9 billion of HMG’s total bilateral spend was marked principal or significant (53%.) These are the latest figures available.
In order to ensure that our ODA spend is transparent, we publish details of international development programmes led by DFID, other government departments and partners on DevTracker.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether improving gender equality will be a priority for the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Promoting gender equality and women’s rights are a core part of this government’s mission. We will continue to champion gender equality in international development because that’s the only way we will create a fairer, safer and more prosperous world, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The FCO and DFID already work closely together and share objectives on gender equality. The Prime Minister has been clear that girls’ education is a key priority for this government.
The UK International Development Act (Gender Equality) 2014 makes a consideration of gender equality in all UK Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) a legal requirement. The Act puts our commitment to gender equality within ODA spend on a statutory footing and ensures that gender equality remains at the heart of our work.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2020 to Question 41953 on Overseas Aid: Females, whether the (a) Strategic Vision and (b) implementation plan have been amended as a result of that NAO report to enable (i) overall progress and (ii) value for money to be better assessed.
Answered by Wendy Morton
As acknowledged by the NAO, DFID’s Strategic Vision for Gender Equality is ambitious, wide-ranging and well-researched. The review also set out that our partners would value a long-term, high-level plan that includes the key milestones for DFID’s actions on gender equality between now and 2030.
We are continually challenging ourselves on how we can increase our impact and deliver even better value for money for the UK taxpayer. We will therefore take forward this recommendation on this important agenda by consulting on and publishing a high-level plan in early 2021. It is critical that we understand the emerging challenges that COVID-19 poses for women and girls globally, across all areas of our Strategic Vision, and address this in the design of the plan.
The plan will set out measurable milestones that can be tracked. We will also ensure that it is flexible enough to accommodate new priorities, challenges and opportunities at the global and country level.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2020 to Question 38888 on Bangladesh: Migrant Camps, what recent representations he has made to his Bangladeshi counterpart on changes to the telecommunications restrictions in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK continues to raise this issue with the Government of Bangladesh and has requested full lifting of the telecommunications restrictions. The Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad, has been raising the issue of internet access in the Cox's Bazar Rohingya refugee camps with the Government of Bangladesh, including with the Bangladeshi High Commissioner in London.? The British High Commissioner in Dhaka has raised the issue on multiple occasions, including with the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the recommendations on page 13 of the report entitled, The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, published in May 2020; and if she will hold discussions with (a) the Government of Bangladesh and (b) NGOs on improving the site-management of refugee camps.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The International Rescue Committee’s report clearly highlights that despite the tireless efforts of the Government of Bangladesh and international response to scale up humanitarian assistance, women and girls continue to live with the threat of gender-based violence (GBV). We share the report’s assessment that these risks are likely to be compounded by the spread of COVID-19 and steps taken to mitigate the virus. GBV remains a major concern that requires a multi-pronged approach. This is reflected in the priorities and funding appeal of the UN-led Joint Response Plan 2020, and the complementary COVID-19 response planning.
DFID regularly engages with the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, humanitarian NGO partners and the Site Management and Development sector group to discuss how site management can be improved. This includes supporting decision-making based on community feedback and particularly the views of women and girls. This has included spotting and rectifying problems such as non-functional street lights. DFID has funded the installation of more than 29,500 street lights in the camps and host communities since 2017. Protection focal points are also embedded in the Site Management and Development sector to ensure protection issues such as GBV are taken into account.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of public-private sector partnerships for improving gender equality in developing countries.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Working with the private sector can crowd additional finance to benefit women and girls including through more productive jobs. DFID’s Work and Opportunities for Women is advising British multinational companies to secure better paid and secure work for 400,000 women in global supply chains. Our co-financing of the G20 Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative will help reach 115,000 women entrepreneurs in developing countries and mobilise additional public and private sector resources of $2.6 billion. CDC has co-led a collective commitment by the G7 Development Finance Institutions to mobilise $3 billion of public and private investments advancing gender equality in developing countries.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional funding her Department has allocated to programmes in Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh to (a) support the covid-19 response and (b) maintain and expand gender-based violence services in response to the prevalence of that violence in those camps.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK has provided an initial £11 million to support COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities. This has been allocated to existing UN and Non-Governmental Organisation UK partners. It is also maintaining essential humanitarian services in the camps, such as shelter, food, registration and civil documentation, healthcare, water and sanitation, and hygiene.
Part of this funding is focused on ensuring critical gender-based violence and child protection services keep operating for all those who need them. For example, the UK has provided additional funding to UNFPA for gender-based violence (GBV) services, including activities disseminating anti-GBV messaging and anti-GBV role modelling activities with adolescent boys and girls.
The Rohingya Refugee response in Cox’s Bazar district has been reduced to only critical services since 8 April. While women and girls’ safe spaces are not functioning as normal (to prevent the spread of the virus), all protection services including GBV services have continued throughout. DFID officials are collaborating with UN agencies on the provision and continuity of GBV services. UN agencies have worked closely with the Bangladesh government to prepare and respond to COVID-19 in the refugee camps and ensure vital and lifesaving operations are not jeopardised.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has made to UN agencies and the Government of Bangladesh to ensure that gender-based violence (GBV) services are designated as essential in order to allow for continuity of GBV service provision in Cox’s Bazar during the covid-19 response.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK has provided an initial £11 million to support COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities. This has been allocated to existing UN and Non-Governmental Organisation UK partners. It is also maintaining essential humanitarian services in the camps, such as shelter, food, registration and civil documentation, healthcare, water and sanitation, and hygiene.
Part of this funding is focused on ensuring critical gender-based violence and child protection services keep operating for all those who need them. For example, the UK has provided additional funding to UNFPA for gender-based violence (GBV) services, including activities disseminating anti-GBV messaging and anti-GBV role modelling activities with adolescent boys and girls.
The Rohingya Refugee response in Cox’s Bazar district has been reduced to only critical services since 8 April. While women and girls’ safe spaces are not functioning as normal (to prevent the spread of the virus), all protection services including GBV services have continued throughout. DFID officials are collaborating with UN agencies on the provision and continuity of GBV services. UN agencies have worked closely with the Bangladesh government to prepare and respond to COVID-19 in the refugee camps and ensure vital and lifesaving operations are not jeopardised.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the level of gender-based violence in Cox’s Bazar (a) before and (b) during the covid-19 pandemic; and what plans her Department has to maintain and expand provision of services to tackle gender-based violence in response to the recent International Rescue Committee research indicating at least one in four women and girls they screen have experienced GBV.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Gender-based violence (GBV) continues to be a constant threat in refugee camps, especially to women and girls. The scale of GBV in the Rohingya camps is too high, though still not fully known. As GBV is generally underreported due to stigma and fear, the recorded cases are likely to represent only a small fraction of the overall number. However, an information management system is ensuring vital data is collected and analysed from recorded cases.
We agree with the International Rescue Committee that the international community need to expand GBV programming to address unmet needs, including prevention activities; and that these needs are likely to be exacerbated by COVID-19. The UK is the second largest donor to the Rohingya response, contributing £256 million to-date, and we play a leadership role in ensuring anti-GBV efforts are prioritised. DFID has continuously supported efforts to reduce GBV in Rohingya and also in host communities. UK aid-supported GBV activities are being implemented across 34 camps, in 35 women friendly spaces/integrated women centres, and have helped more than 12,000 individuals receive GBV case management support since 2017.
The UK has provided £11 million to support COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities. Part of this funding is focused on ensuring critical gender-based violence and child protection services keep operating for all those who need them. For example, the UK has provided an additional £400,000 to UNFPA for GBV services, including disseminating anti-GBV messaging and anti-GBV activities with adolescent boys and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic.