Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate has he made of the total expected amount of the UK Official Development Assistance budget to be spent within the UK in the 2022-23 financial year; and what domestic projects this spending will fund.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The official source of information on Official Development Assistance (ODA) is the Statistics on International Development (SID) publication. ODA is measured on a calendar year basis. Provisional data on 2022 ODA, including in-donor expenditure, will be published in Provisional Statistics on International Development 2022 in Spring 2023. Finalised figures for 2022 will be published in Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2021 to Question 58899, on Tigray: Armed Conflict, what recommendations have been put forward following the scoping mission into gender-based violence in northern Ethiopia and the Tigray region.
Answered by Vicky Ford
In June we deployed an expert from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative UK Team of Experts to conduct an initial scoping mission to identify ways to enhance the response to gender-based violence in Tigray. Their recommendations are being taken forward by the FCDO. This includes the deployment of a Gender Based Violence and Gender Adviser, who is now in post and enhancing the integration of gender into humanitarian and human rights initiatives. Other recommendations being acted upon include: the provision of capacity building support to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission; a new project to work with women's rights-focused organisations to enhance support services to survivors of violence; new research into the drivers and dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence; and efforts to ensure strong collaboration with and UK leadership on all forms of gender based violence in the international community.
We are continuing to develop options to address the immediate needs of survivors, prevent further sexual violence and deliver justice and accountability.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 the £29 million of humanitarian aid allocated to people affected by the conflict in northern Ethiopia, announced on 15 October 2021, has been given to aid agencies working in Tigray and neighbouring regions.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The majority of the £29 million of humanitarian funding announced on 15 October has been allocated to needy communities in Tigray and neighbouring Afar and Amhara.
£18.4 million has been allocated to humanitarian projects in Tigray and the neighbouring regions, including health supplies, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection services. £9 million has been allocated to Ethiopia-wide humanitarian funding mechanisms (the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund) which distribute resources according to where the greatest needs are. We expect the majority of those funds will also reach Northern Ethiopia given the significant needs due to the conflict. The remaining £1.6 million has been used to provide additional staff for humanitarian agencies scaling up in Northern Ethiopia, including Gender-Based Violence specialists, and improve data and analysis on the humanitarian situation.
Overall, the UK has provided more than £76 million of funding to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict, making the UK the second largest donor.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Ethiopian counterpart on the need to ensure that all sides in the conflict in northern Ethiopia and the Tigray region commit to (a) allowing unfettered access to (i) international aid agencies and (ii) international observers and (b) restoring lost communications where they have been removed.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is at the forefront of international efforts to improve access for humanitarian agencies working in conflict affected regions of northern Ethiopia.
I have called on all parties in Ethiopia to urgently agree a ceasefire, allow humanitarian aid through, and restore communications and banking services. I spoke with Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Minister Redwan on 18 November, stressing the need for all parties to the conflict to engage in peace talks, lift the blockade on humanitarian aid into Tigray, and end ethnically targeted arrests. I spoke to the Ethiopian Minister of Justice Gedion on 6 December and pressed for an end to the fighting and for peace talks. I have continued to emphasise the need for a ceasefire through recent calls with my international counterparts, including Kenya and the African Union.
Since November 2020 The Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs has travelled to Tigray on several occasions to assess the humanitarian situation. The UK's Ambassador to Ethiopia travelled to Tigray last month. We continue to highlight the urgent need for unfettered access for humanitarians and the restoration of communication and banking services to all parties to the conflict.