Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her Department's policy is on the provision of funding for education through religious organisations in Burma.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID Burma’s funding for education through religious organisations has the key policy objective of increasing the number and proportion of children who complete a quality basic education. The programme is delivered through the Myanmar Education Consortium which works with a range of Non-Governmental Organisations, including faith-based organisations, provided that i) the education services are available to members of different religious communities, ii) the project activities supported do not aim to proselytize or explicitly promote a particular religion, iii) where possible promote inter-communal peace and conflict resolution, and iv) do not engage in any action that could promote inter-communal tensions.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department has provided to the government of Burma on the drafting of legislative proposals in that country on education reform.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK Government has not provided any funding directly to the government of Burma in developing the National Education Law. DFID, together with other international development partners (donors, NGOs etc), has funded technical inputs to the Burmese Ministry of Education’s evidence-based review of the education sector. This review has informed the development of the National Education Law.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department provides to religious organisations in Burma for education programmes; and what conditions her Department places on such funding.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID supports the Myanmar Education Consortium (MEC) which has the key objective of increasing the number and proportion of children who complete a quality basic education. MEC works with a range of Non-Governmental Organisations, including faith-based organisations, provided that i) the education services are available to members of different religious communities, ii) the project activities supported by MEC do not aim to proselytize or explicitly promote a particular religion and iii) the organisations do not engage in any action that could promote inter-communal tensions and where possible promote inter-communal peace and conflict resolution.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has provided to support women's organisations in Burma who document the sexual violence by the Burmese Army and assist survivors.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Tackling violence against women is a high priority for the UK in Burma. In Kachin state, DFID is providing humanitarian assistance for over 40,000 internally displaced people, of whom 21,000 are female. This assistance includes shelter, food and in certain areas specific support for victims of conflict, including for women affected by sexual violence. In the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand we are providing support to victims of gender-based violence including outward referrals to specialist centres.
We have agreed to provide funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for two specialists to further strengthen the response to gender-based violence in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine and Kachin states. We continue to emphasise to the Burmese Government the need to protect all citizens and respect human rights, particularly for women, and the UK has agreed two new projects to tackle this problem in Burma, under the Foreign Secretary's Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.
In November DFID officials from the DFID Burma office met with the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) to discuss the UK’s work and listen to concerns raised by the WLB.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many buildings her Department sold in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID has not sold any properties from 2010 to date.