Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to eliminate (a) violence against and (b)(i) the exploitation and (ii) abuse of children.

The UK Government is committed to protecting vulnerable children through our programmes and our international leadership. The UK is a founding Board member of, and the largest donor to, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (End Violence) which is driving the international movement to deliver Sustainable Development Goal 16.2. Through FCDO's Ending Violence, Abuse and Exploitation of Children programme, we provide £10 million to End Violence, including to deliver the Safe to Learn initiative to end violence in schools, and £10 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, and exploitation of children on the move in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Sudan. FCDO also supports a range of child protection programmes and interventions in developing countries, embedded across our development and humanitarian programming.

The UK is a global leader in efforts to eliminate Child, Early and Forced Marriage, including as part of our work to deliver the Prime Minister's commitment to champion 12 years of quality education for girls. We will continue to promote the need for progress on a wide range of issues that hold girls back from accessing a quality education and achieving their potential. This must include global efforts to end child marriage and all forms of violence against girls and women.