Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Conference 2022, who his Department invited to that conference; and for reason parliamentary specialist staff were unable to attend that conference virtually or in person.

Representatives of nearly 100 countries were invited to this two-day conference in London to drive forward urgent action to tackle the scourge of sexual violence in conflict. We have sought to put survivors of this abhorrent crime at the centre of the global response. A wide range of survivors attended and participated actively. Invitees included government ministers, the United Nations and civil society organisations from across the globe alongside the Countess of Wessex, the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, and Nadia Murad and Dr Denis Mukwege - joint Nobel Peace Prize winners - for their work to combat sexual violence. A wide range of parliamentarians were also invited to the conference and engaged extensively. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon briefed the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI), Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and the United Nations (UN) All Party Parliamentary Groups ahead of the conference last week.