To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of implications for her policies on provision of aid to Pakistan of human rights violations against women in that country.
Answered on
29 March 2022
Our funding targets the country's poorest and most vulnerable citizens, including women and girls. Between 2015 and 2021, the UK supported 2.1 million children to undertake decent primary and secondary education, of whom one million were girls. Since 2012, UKAid has reached over 1.7 million new family planning users and prevented 8,203 maternal deaths, over 7.37 million unwanted pregnancies, and 1.68 million unsafe abortions in Pakistan. The FCDO funds programmes in Pakistan that directly addresses early and forced marriages and gender-based violence. We regularly raise concerns around women and girls' rights at senior levels with the Government of Pakistan. During his visit to Pakistan last year, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia and the Minister responsible for Human Rights, met Prime Minister Imran Khan, as well as other senior Government Ministers, and raised concerns over numerous human rights issues, including violations against women.