Thank you for contacting me about gender-based violence.
I was unable to attend the Westminster Hall debate on the 26th November, however I hear from colleagues that it was an excellent debate with very thoughtful contributions.
I am proud that the UK is a global leader in efforts to eliminate violence, exploitation and abuse of women and girls in all its forms and remains unwavering in the defence of women and girls' right to live free from violence. This commitment is something I firmly support.
The UK's leadership supports the UN and national governments to eliminate all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), including Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI). This includes the largest single investment to help end Female Genital Mutilation in the world to date. You may also be interested to learn that in September 2020, the FCDO launched the tender for a new £67.5 million programme to scale up effective interventions to prevent VAWG across development and humanitarian contexts, and to continue expanding the evidence base as a global public good. This is the largest investment by any donor government in programming and research to prevent VAWG globally.
The UK is also co-lead of the new global Generation Equality Action Coalition on gender-based violence (established to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action on Gender Equality). I am told that the UK will use this to drive more concerted, coordinated and scaled-up global action across the international system to prevent gender-based violence in all its forms.
The challenges of ending gender-based violence are more acute now because of the Covid-19 pandemic. At this challenging time, it is welcome that the UK has increased efforts to reach girls and women with life-saving sexual and reproductive health and VAWG services, including with an additional £10m for UN Population Fund's Covid-19 response.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
