Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to improve economic opportunities and reduce poverty in Iraq.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Since 2014 DFID has provided £229.5 million in humanitarian assistance to help reduce poverty in Iraq, including by providing food assistance to over a quarter million people, emergency cash transfers to over 110,000 people and safe drinking water, toilet and shower facilities to more than 800,000 people. We have provided technical assistance through the World Bank to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to create a new welfare database and to pilot conditional cash transfers to improve access to health and education. We have also funded the UNDP managed Funding Facility for Stabilisation to support light infrastructure reconstruction and job and livelihoods creation in areas liberated from Daesh. Furthermore we provided a loan guarantee unlocking over $370 million of World Bank lending to the Government of Iraq, which has contributed to immediate economic stability while supporting reforms delivering more sustainable economic development.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department provides to Iraqi and Syrian refugees wishing to return home.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK promotes the safe, voluntary and dignified return home of refugees and IDPs. DFID is supporting the rehabilitation of priority infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and water treatment plants in areas liberated from Daesh in Iraq, and facilitating planning for regional returns in the major refugee hosting countries neighbouring Syria.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department is giving to provide accommodation to replace homes that have been destroyed in Iraq.
Answered by Alistair Burt
UK support is helping to make areas affected by conflict safe, repair basic infrastructure and rebuild homes so that families who have been displaced by violence can return home safely and restart their lives.
The UK provides funding to repair housing damaged during the conflict in Iraq through the UN’s Fund for Stabilization (FFS) mechanism. As well as focussing on housing, the FFS funds projects to rehabilitate critical infrastructure, restore basic services such as water and electricity and provide livelihood opportunities in recently liberated areas. The UK has provided £5.68 million to the FFS so far this year; this includes the £1.68 million announced by my department in September which has been specifically earmarked for the repair of over 1,000 homes in West Mosul.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to assist vulnerable Syrian minorities register with the UNHCR who have not done so due to fear of persecution.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
At the "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference on 4 February more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict. This is the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees. Any person claiming refugee status is able to avail themselves of UNHCR’s global protection mandate where UNHCR has a presence. They can directly approach UNHCR and register with them, or be referred to UNHCR by a third organisation, or UNHCR can ask them to register. The UK has allocated £115 million to UNHCR’s operations in Syria and the surrounding region, of which a proportion is used for registration.
Over time, many previously unregistered refugees have sought UNHCR’s assistance and protection services as their resources have dwindled and coping mechanisms become stretched. Some minority groups may not see a need to register either due to their own resources or due to reliance on community/social networks.
DFID continues to work with the UN and the international community to ensure all minorities’ rights are protected and our aid reaches those in greatest need.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what humanitarian aid is being provided to civilians in Ukraine caught up in the conflict in that country.
Answered by Justine Greening
In response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine the UK Government has so far committed £16.4 million of bilateral humanitarian support in Ukraine. In addition, the UK’s share of multilateral contributions through the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) and the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) stands at £4.35 million.