Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what processes his Department has put in place to support the (a) promotion of human rights and (b) prevention of atrocities in Sudan.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK government is deeply concerned by the use of violence by the Sudanese military under the command of the Transitional Military Council against peaceful protestors and the human rights violations and abuses surrounding the disruption of the protest site on 3 June. On 6 June, the Minister for Africa summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express our grave concerns at the use of all forms of violence, including sexual violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. The UK strongly supports calls for an independent international inquiry into the events of 3-4 June so those responsible can be held to account. We also continue to emphasise the importance of accountability for the human rights abuses committed by Sudan’s former regime.
The UK is committed to supporting international community efforts to bring peace to Sudan’s conflict areas, where there have been widespread atrocities in the past. We hold the pen on the mandate for the United Nations/African Union hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and provide support to community-based peacebuilding programmes in Sudan’s conflict areas. The humanitarian situation in Sudan is increasingly fragile and access is threatened by violent attacks on aid workers, facilities and supplies. The UK is working closely with our partners across the United Nations and international NGOs to continue to provide life-saving support to those affected and to pressure the authorities in Sudan to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance her Department plans to allocate to South Sudan in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Department for International Development has allocated £164.6m of Official Development Assistance for direct expenditure in South Sudan in the 2018-19 financial year. Funding has yet to be allocated for the 2019-20 financial year.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on allocating additional resources to disaster preparedness and resilience; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID is committed to taking early action to help the most vulnerable prepare for shocks and access support when disaster strikes. Investing in building the resilience of countries, communities, and people can save lives, protect livelihoods, safeguard development gains, and help UK aid money go further.
DFID’s flagship £140 million “Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters” programme is directly supporting 5 million people across the Sahel, East Africa and South Asia.
DFID has also mainstreamed resilience across its work. This means that supporting countries and communities to better prepare for disasters is at the core of all our development and humanitarian programmes. DFID’s new £15 million “Maintaining Essential Services After Natural Disasters” programme is an example of how we are building the evidence base so that our programmes can assist Governments and communities to better manage shocks and to cope with crises.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to programmes to improve the disaster resilience of local communities; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID is committed to taking early action to help the most vulnerable prepare for shocks and access support when disaster strikes. Investing in building the resilience of countries, communities, and people can save lives, protect livelihoods, safeguard development gains, and help UK aid money go further.
DFID’s flagship £140 million “Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters” programme is directly supporting 5 million people across the Sahel, East Africa and South Asia.
DFID has also mainstreamed resilience across its work. This means that supporting countries and communities to better prepare for disasters is at the core of all our development and humanitarian programmes. DFID’s new £15 million “Maintaining Essential Services After Natural Disasters” programme is an example of how we are building the evidence base so that our programmes can assist Governments and communities to better manage shocks and to cope with crises.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to help tackle bias in schools in Pakistan among children from all faith groups which has led in some cases to false blasphemy accusations.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The majority of DFID’s investment in education in Pakistan is undertaken in partnership with the provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These investments have supported nearly 10 million children of all faiths in primary and nearly 6 million in secondary schools. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa DFID is also supporting provincial governments to train teachers, revise textbooks and curricula to improve content that promotes positive attitudes towards religious and other minorities.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on assisting the Federal Government of Pakistan with drafting a new educational curriculum to ensure the removal of biased content and derogatory language toward religious minorities.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Under Article Eighteen of the Constitution of Pakistan responsibility for curriculum has been devolved to provincial governments. DFID Pakistan’s education programmes are at the provincial level in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. These two programmes are working in partnership with these provincial governments to redesign curricula to improve quality, relevance and inclusion. It is the responsibility of the provincial government curriculum boards to approve curricula.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the statement of 7 December 2017 by the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, what steps she is taking to prepare for famine in South Sudan in March this year.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The South Sudanese people are experiencing food insecurity at unprecedented levels, and there is a real risk of another famine in parts of the country this year.
The UK’s Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience in South Sudan programme is getting lifesaving food, water, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan. Our programmes are designed to respond flexibly to the most urgent needs, and we regularly monitor and review them to make sure we target the most vulnerable. With the international community and our implementing partners, the UK helped to alleviate the famine declared in parts of South Sudan in February 2017.
This year, UK Aid is working with partners like the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Humanitarian Air Service to get food and nutrition supplies to key locations across the country – by truck, helicopter or barge. So far this year, the WFP has dispatched almost 20,000 metric tonnes of food to vulnerable communities, as well as prepositioning supplies to meet future anticipated needs.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government's priorities are for the Fourth Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour in Buenos Aires, 14 to 16 November 2017.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government welcomes the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour and Forced Labour, hosted by the Government of Argentina, as a key opportunity to drive international efforts towards ending modern slavery and the worst forms of child labour and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Building on the success of the Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking launched by the Prime Minister at this year’s UN General Assembly, the UK will use the Conference to push for increased international cooperation on this issue. The Government will aim to demonstrate UK leadership, and to work with partners to identify practical solutions ahead of key international events next year, including the End Violence Against Children Solutions Summit, and the G7 and G20 leaders’ meetings.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to contribute towards and participate in the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations programme after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Rory Stewart
There will be no decisions on the future distribution of UK aid and future UK/EU policy until the Government’s negotiations on exiting the EU have concluded. On 12 September the Government published a Future Partnership Paper setting out how we might work with the EU on security, foreign policy and development after we have left the EU. We look forward to discussing our future partnership when the European Council is ready.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of church-based initiatives in Lebanon in supporting Syrian refugees.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN co-ordinates the activities of humanitarian actors in Lebanon, including faith-based organisations, in support of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, which is a strategic and operational framework agreed by the Government of Lebanon. We encourage all organisations, including church-based initiatives, to ensure any support they provide is coordinated through these appropriate frameworks to ensure the most vulnerable receive the support they need.