Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) the US and (b) Turkey about including and strengthening (i) protection of civilians and (ii) gender equality training within training given to the Somali army.

The UK is a major security partner of Somalia, working with the US, Turkey and others to counter al-Shabaab, build the capacity of Somali forces and support the transition to Somali-led security. The protection of civilians and gender equality are central to our security engagement and interventions, including through engagement with the Government in Somalia, and mandating pre-deployment gender equality training for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia and Somali security forces personnel. The UK also advocates that military planning for security operations against Al-Shabaab should minimise humanitarian impacts and that all security actors should respect International Humanitarian Law, including the protection of civilians. This approach aligns with the recently published UK humanitarian framework.