To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to integrate support for victims of sexual violence as a result of their religion or belief within UK foreign and development policy.
Answered on
2 March 2022
The Foreign Secretary has put ending violence against women and girls at the heart of UK foreign and development policy. Through our £67.5 million investment to the What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale programme, we are scaling up proven violence prevention approaches globally, including sexual violence, for the most at-risk groups of women and girls.
In 2020, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for Human Rights, launched the Declaration of Humanity, which unites multiple faiths and beliefs to challenge damaging societal norms and calls for support for survivors of sexual violence internationally.
Bilaterally, Ministers and officials regularly raise specific cases of concern, and discuss practices and laws that discriminate on the basis of religion or belief.