Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the gov.uk News story, The conflict is causing untold suffering and must end – Minister for Africa's statement following visit to Ethiopia, published on 20 January 2022, what steps she is taking to ensure that support for (a) health and education and (b) gender-based violence is able to reach every part of Ethiopia.

On 21 January I announced £14.5 million of new funding to the crisis in Ethiopia, of which £5 million is for health and education services for people affected by the conflict throughout the country.

As the conflict continues children, especially girls, are at increased risk of gender-based violence, child marriage, and sexual exploitation and abuse. We have deployed a Gender Based Violence and Gender Adviser to enhance the integration of gender into humanitarian and human rights initiatives. We are working with partners throughout Ethiopia to implement recommendations from the scoping mission by the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative UK Team of Experts in June 2021, including: programming to work with women's rights-focused organisations to enhance support services to survivors of violence and new research into the drivers and dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence. We will continue to identify options for addressing the immediate needs of survivors, preventing further sexual violence and delivering justice and accountability.

We continue to call for respect for international humanitarian law and for an end to targeting of civilians, the cessation of the use of sexual violence within the conflict, as well as unfettered humanitarian access to all areas of the country for humanitarians to deliver lifesaving aid.