To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the implications for its policies of Aid to the Church in Need’s report, entitled Hear Her Cries, published on 28 November 2021.
Answered on
2 February 2022
We have taken note of Aid to the Church in Need's report entitled "Hear Her Cries" published in 2021 and will study its contents .
The UK Government ensures our human rights policy work considers intersectionality of human rights, for example, the importance of gender-based violence, forced marriage and conversion, which is often experienced by women and girls from religious or belief minority communities.
In 2020, the Minister of State responsible for human rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, launched the Declaration of Humanity by Leaders of Faith and Leaders of Belief. The Declaration calls upon leaders from many faiths and beliefs to dismantle harmful misinterpretations of religious texts used to justify acts of sexual violence and to tackle the stigma facing survivors of this violence. Over 50 leaders, have already signed it.