Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the joint letter by United Nations Special Rapporteurs on 31 July regarding a rise in the instances of imprisonment of Baha'i women in Iran; and whether they intend to make any representations to the government of that country calling for their release.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK condemns Iran's restrictions against Freedom of Religion or Belief. Baha'is face particularly acute repression by the authorities in Iran, which includes but is not limited to unfair arrest, detention and lengthy prison sentences. We are aware of the UN Special Rapporteurs' joint letter - the increased targeting of Baha'i women is an alarming escalation. We are committed to working with international partners to hold Iran to account for its repression of the Bahai's, and other religious minorities, including at the UN Third Committee.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking in response to the mass killing of Rohyinya people, including mainly women and children, in August by drone and artillery attacks in Maungdaw of the Rakhine State in Myanmar.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
We are deeply concerned about the Rohingya communities' situation in Rakhine state, Myanmar and were shocked by the attack on civilians fleeing Maungdaw in August. We continue to work with members of the United Nations Security Council and other international partners in calling for the protection of civilians by all parties and the need for unhindered humanitarian access to ensure support can reach the most vulnerable. We will continue to work with international partners to ensure there is accountability for acts committed against the Rohingya, including through the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Since 2017, the UK has provided over £48 million in aid including cash assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene services to the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities in Rakhine state. The UK has announced 19 rounds of targeted sanctions, most recently in October 2024 against suppliers of aviation fuel and equipment to the Myanmar military.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what contributions they made to (1) core, (2) non-core, and (3) other funding, for (a) the United Nations Population Fund, (b) the World Health Organization, (c) the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, (d) the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, (e) the International Planned Parenthood Federation, (f) Women and Children First UK, (g) the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and (h) the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in (i) 2022, and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Based on FCDO "Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2023", the total amount of UK ODA financial contributions was:
2022 | 2023 | |
1.a United Nations Population Fund - Core | 8,000,000 | 8,000,000 |
2.a United Nations Population Fund - Non-core | 88,510,000 | 93,222,000 |
1.b World Health Organization - Core | 97,750,000 | 112,000,000 |
2.b World Health Organization - Non-core | 42,029,000 | 41,996,000 |
3.b World Health Organization - Assessed contribution (DHSC) | 17,629,000 | 20,241,000 |
1.c UNICEF - Core | 8,000,000 | 40,018,000 |
2.c UNICEF - Non-core | 174,240,000 | 183,342,000 |
1.d UNAIDS - Core | 8,000,000 | 8,000,000 |
2.e International Planned Parenthood Federation - Non-core | 2,250,000 | 21,336,000 |
1.g Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - Core | 434,000,000 | 958,076,000 |
1.f Women and Children First UK - Core | 0 | 0 |
2.f Women and Children First UK - Non-core | 0 | 0 |
1.h UN Women - Core | 0 | 3,378,000 |
2.h UN Women - Non-core | 4,704,000 | 2,750,000 |
Note omitted rows are a null answer, and figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the humanitarian situation in Gaza on the delivery of maternity care.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK Government is closely monitoring the situation in Gaza and collects information from multiple sources, including on the status of healthcare provision. We are also in regular contact with humanitarian partners who operate in Gaza.
The UK is doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air. We trebled our aid commitment during the last financial year, including £4.25 million to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, to provide life-saving support to vulnerable women and girls in Gaza. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are working with the United Nations and World Health Organisation in their efforts to strengthen laws and policies to protect women and girls from female genital mutilation in The Gambia, as committed to in the International Women and Girls Strategy 2023 to 2030.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK's position is clear that female genital mutilation (FGM) is a human rights violation. The Deputy Foreign Secretary spoke to The Gambia's Foreign Minister on 9 April and met with the Minister for Public Services on 29 April, to relay the UK's deep concern about the progress in The Gambia's National Assembly of the bill that would legalise FGM. He highlighted the serious implications if the bill were to become law, including for The Gambia's international reputation. The UK continues to engage broadly through regular contact with senior Gambian Government officials and other stakeholders. We are working with international partners to coordinate and complement messaging and activity.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure women and girls in Gaza have access to sanitary products.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We have provided £4.25 million to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, to provide life-saving support to vulnerable women and girls in Gaza. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 45,000 clean delivery kits and 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits. These dignity kits include tampons, reusable pads and underwear. The Foreign Secretary met with the London representative of UNFPA on 28 March to discuss the needs of vulnerable women and girls in Gaza and I [the Deputy Foreign Secretary] met with UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem, on 16 April in Geneva.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help support women and girls in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We trebled our aid commitment during Financial Year 23-24 to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme and the Egyptian Red Crescent. This includes £4.25 million to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, to provide life-saving support to vulnerable women and girls in Gaza. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits.
We have also provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution. This is supporting work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support.
Through our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict programmes and dedicated funding totalling £60 million since 2012, we are leading work internationally to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and strengthen justice and support for all survivors. We stand ready to use our PSVI expertise and tools to ensure victims and survivors of CRSV, both Israeli and Palestinian, receive the holistic and survivor-centred support they need.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the number of Israeli (a) civilians, (b) women and (c) children killed since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Any civilian death is a tragedy. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on 7 October 2023 according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). 253 hostages were also kidnapped and taken into Gaza on 7 October, of whom 124 have been returned to Israel (112 alive and 12 deceased). We continue to call for the immediate release of all remaining hostages.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Taliban leaders they have sanctioned using Magnitsky-style sanctions since 2021; and how many sanctions they have imposed in response to the suppression of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK continues to meet our obligations under the United Nations sanctions regime relating to Afghanistan through the Afghanistan Sanctions (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 31 December 2020. The Government has not introduced any Global Human Rights sanctions against the Taliban since they took power in 2021, but we keep all evidence and potential designations under close review. More broadly, officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers on human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including against women and girls.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that civilians in Gaza receive medical aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, with a focus on practical solutions that save lives. We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and are supporting NGO and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams.
We have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution. This is supporting work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support. At the end of February, we announced £4.25 million to the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits. On 21 February, the UK and Jordan air-dropped life-saving aid to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza. Four tonnes of vital supplies were provided, including medicines, fuel, and food for hospital patients and staff. We are also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.