Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure women from caste communities are taken into account in the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 National Action Plan.

The Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) is focused on ending impunity for crimes of sexual violence committed in conflict and the provision of greater support to the survivors of these crimes. Where caste based sexual violence and so-called punishment rape are used in conflict they fall within the overarching objectives of the Initiative.

The UK’s National Action Plan (NAP) on implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 reaffirms and strengthens the Government’s ambition to pursue visible change for women and girls affected by conflict. The 2014-2017 NAP promotes the participation of women, from all backgrounds, in decision-making processes related to the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.

PSVI and the NAP are complemented by wider government activity on tackling violence against women and girls, underpinned by the cross-government action plan, ‘A Call to End Violence against Women and Girls’, which sets out the Government’s programme of domestic and international work in this area. This includes working though our network of embassies overseas and with non-governmental organisations to address the full range of violations of women’s rights, including sexual and other forms of violence committed against them