Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that its humanitarian programme is gender-responsive.

In 2013 the UK hosted the ‘Call to Action on Preventing Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies’ where we committed to improving our response to gendered violence in emergencies.

At the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the UK further committed to drive accountability for gender responsive humanitarian action, by supporting the US Real Time Accountability Partnership. This requires our humanitarian partners to make use of internationally agreed tools such as the ‘Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action’ in their programme design.

DFID recently announced a new Women and Girls Protection fund that aims to protect women and girls on the move in Libya and Europe. The fund will support over 68,000 vulnerable women protect themselves from trafficking, forced labour and sexual violence.