Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if she will raise with her Somali counterpart allegations of sexual exploitation and rape including against young children by African Union soldiers who were on peacekeeping duties during 2013.

I have raised these allegations with the African Union and the relevant troop contributing countries, who have undertaken to investigate them. We will continue to raise this and to monitor the outcome of their investigation.

I also welcome the African Union’s (AU) recent confirmation of its zero tolerance policy on misconduct and abuses in peace support operations, and commend the efforts made by the AU to improve its mechanisms for preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse.

The UK already supports pre-deployment training programmes for AMISOM on prevention of sexual violence, international human rights laws, and best practice in assisting women and children in the aftermath of violent conflict. It also provides support to the AU’s Gender Peace and Security Programme, which seeks to mainstream gender issues in all peace enforcement operations. The UK encourages the AU and countries contributing troops to AU peace support operations to continue efforts to strengthen these mechanisms.

The UK has also been working closely with the Federal Government of Somalia on sexual violence issues. At the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict held in June, the Federal Government of Somalia presented a three year action plan to combat sexual violence in Somalia. The UK is supporting implementation of this plan and hopes that AMISOM will be a key partner in this effort. Helping to tackle sexual abuse and violence remains a priority for the UK in its engagement on Somalia.