South America: Women's Rights

(asked on 22nd March 2021) - View Source

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 regional partners in south America on women's rights.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 25th March 2021

We remain committed to delivering a broad human rights agenda across Latin America, and this includes our work on promoting gender equality by tackling violence against women and girls. The UK is committed to advancing gender equality, women's rights, and girl's rights. We are taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by 2021, including through the UK's Presidency of the G7, co-hosting the Global Partnership for Education replenishment, and COP26. On 13 October 2020, Lord Ahmad, Minister with responsibility for Human Rights and the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, undertook a virtual visit to Colombia, where he discussed a range of human rights issues, including women and young girls in indigenous communities.

This year, the UK will co-lead (with Uruguay, Iceland, and Kenya) the new global Action Coalition on Gender Based Violence as part of the Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women, and co-hosted by the Governments of Mexico and France in March and June 2021. The Action Coalition also seeks to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach in developing evidence-based approaches to preventing all forms of Gender Based Violence. We have supported projects in South America, including in Colombia to prevent violence against women through art, empowering women, and creating meeting spaces.

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