Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the scale of gender-based violence (GBV) in Cox’s Bazar (a) before and (b) during the covid-19 pandemic; and with reference to International Rescue Committee research indicating at least one in four women and girls that organisation screens have experienced GBV, what plans her Department has to help maintain and expand provision of GBV services.
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 we 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 camps 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.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the findings of the International Rescue Committee’s report entitled The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence amongst Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, and what steps she plans to take to ensure that funding for gender-based violence services is (a) maintained and (b) increased in Cox’s Bazar.
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 we 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 camps 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.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Government’s announcement of 2 June 2020 on a new £160 million humanitarian aid package for Yemen, what (a) public health expertise and (b) medical equipment the Government is planning to provide to the Yemen under that aid package to help tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis in that country; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the UN-backed International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen to deliver such resources.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
As part of our £160 million commitment in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year, the UK expects to provide over 700,000 medical consultations, train 12,000 healthcare workers to work safely in a COVID-19 environment and provide a much-needed boost to nearly 4,000 health centres to continue providing existing health services.
The UK also continues to engage closely the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), including through advice and support, to help them with their COVID-19 response in Yemen.
We are also working with the British NGO UK Med to explore the possibility of seconding medical experts to support the UN’s COVID-19 response.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of providing (a) financial assistance and (b) medical supplies to (i) the UN-backed International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen and (ii) UN-backed Yemeni-led frameworks established to support the WHO’s response to the covid-19 pandemic in Yemen.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK announced our new pledge of £160 million in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year at the Yemen Pledging Conference on 2 June.
As part of this commitment, the UK will support the UN’s plans to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in Yemen and expects to provide over 700,000 medical consultations, train 12,000 healthcare workers to work safely in a COVID-19 environment, and provide a much-needed boost to nearly 4,000 health centres to continue providing existing health services.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on the provision of additional funding to slow the spread of covid-19 in Yemen.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Over the last month the International Development Secretary and I have held several calls with our counterparts, including from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, to stress the importance of donors providing additional funds to the humanitarian response in Yemen.
UK officials have also held similar discussions with their counterparts around the world.
The UK announced our new pledge of £160 million in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year at the Yemen Pledging Conference on 2 June, taking our total commitment since the conflict began to £970 million.
We will continue to encourage further funding from other donors over the coming months.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is the Government's policy to support calls for research projects funded through the COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator to be subject to mandatory inclusion into the World Health Organisation COVID-19 Intellectual Property Pool.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK has welcomed the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator since its launch on 24 April 2020. We look forward to further engagement with this collaborative arrangement and continue to support the work done under the ACT Accelerator to develop new vaccines, treatments and tests, and to accelerate global access?to these essential health technologies for?everyone. We are engaging with our international partners on the best ways to support equitable and affordable access to new innovations, and the UK is committed to collaborating with public and private partners in the UK and internationally. This includes exploring voluntary arrangements and approaches such as non-exclusive voluntary licensing, which promote affordable access for all while also providing incentives to create new inventions. We believe that a voluntary approach to intellectual property has advantages over mandatory approaches, and creates a sounder basis for long-lasting, beneficial relationships, and incentives to create new innovations.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, following the World Health Assembly and pre-launch of the World Health Organisation (WHO) COVID-19 Intellectual Property Pool, whether the Government plans to support the WHO to establish an effective global pool of rights for Covid-19 health technologies.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK believes that a robust and fair intellectual property system is a key part of the innovation framework that allows economies to grow, while enabling society to benefit from knowledge and ideas. We have long supported affordable and equitable access to essential medicines, including in low and middle-income countries. We are committed to collaborating with public and private partners in the UK and internationally. This includes exploring voluntary arrangements and approaches that promote affordable access for all while also providing incentives to create new inventions, to accelerate development and equitable access in all countries and to ensure affordable health technologies for responding to COVID-19. There are a number of existing mechanisms that facilitate pooling and sharing intellectual property that could be expanded to cover COVID-19, such as the Medicines Patent Pool, which have the potential to provide a more efficient way forward than creating new mechanisms.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 proposal from the Government of Costa Rica for the World Health Organisation to create a global pool of rights in covid-19 related technologies for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of covid-19.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Proposals for the development of, and access to, new COVID-19 tools are currently being discussed, including at the World Health Assembly. The UK has long supported affordable and equitable access to essential medicines, vaccines and other health commodities in the UK and globally, and has worked with others to make that happen through global and national partnerships. We are committed to collaborating with public and private partners in the UK and internationally, including exploring existing voluntary arrangements, such as patent pools, to accelerate development.
The UK is also at the forefront of global efforts to ensure equitable access to potential COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests. We have committed over £313 million of UK aid to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Wellcome Therapeutics Accelerator and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. This funding, alongside our £1.65 billion pledge to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, will support the development, manufacture and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests for people in the Global South.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to use its position as co-host of the Coronavirus Global Response Summit to support legally binding arrangements with private and public partners to ensure that health technologies resulting from public investment are (a) priced fairly and affordably to healthcare payers and (b) free to the public at the point of care in all countries.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to ensure equitable access to potential COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests, and is funding key organisations central to the global response. We have committed over £313 million of UK aid to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Wellcome Therapeutics Accelerator and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. This, alongside our £1.65 billion pledge to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, will support the development, manufacture and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests for people in the Global South.
We are proud to have co-led the successful Coronavirus Global Response Initiative pledging event on 4 May, which raised 7.4 billion Euros. The Prime Minister took part by video message, reiterating his call at the G20 in March for leaders to collaborate to rapidly develop a vaccine, making it available to everyone who needs it. We are committed to continued collaboration with public and private partners in the UK and internationally to this end. The Foreign Secretary welcomed the Action for COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative to support international collaboration on development and global access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics at its launch on 24 April.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that critical services to prevent (a) maternal, (b) newborn and (c) child deaths in developing countries are maintained during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK government’s commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030 is more essential now than ever given the COVID-19 outbreak. DFID is stepping up efforts to ensure sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health services continue to be prioritised in our response to the pandemic, to stop mothers and babies dying unnecessarily.
We are funding and working with agencies such as the World Health Organisation, UN Population Fund, the Partnership for Maternal New-born and Child Health and the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to support governments to maintain health systems in affected countries, provide technical guidance and advocate for sustained reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health services. This includes filling essential supply chain gaps and supporting frontline health workers. The UK supported the GFF Investors Group last week in calling for strong, collective action to avoid a potential secondary health crisis from disruptions in health services from COVID-19.
The Global Vaccine Summit in June is also seeking to raise at least US $7.4 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance 2021 – 2025 strategy. The UK has committed £1.65 billion, the equivalent of £330 million per year, to support Gavi’s goal to immunise a further 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives.