Foreign and Commonwealth Office written question – answered at on 31 October 2017.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to (1) Somalia, and (2) the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the implementation of initiatives to prevent sexual violence in conflict.
Responding to the needs of women and girls is a priority of the UK's engagement in Somalia. We are supporting the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development to develop the institutional and legal framework required to address sexual violence. We are also working with the Somali Government and the African Union Mission to Somalia to ensure that police and security forces reflect women's priorities and are able to respond effectively to sexual and gender-based violence. Within communities we engage with men and women to challenge discriminatory social norms, support women's participation in political and peacebuilding processes and build the capacity of service providers to respond to sexual and gender-based violence.
We continue to lobby the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to take action to prevent sexual violence in conflict and welcome progress to date. We are concerned by continued accusations that DRC military forces (FARDC) are themselves perpetrators of sexual violence and call on the government to do more to prevent this, including holding perpetrators accountable. We continue to provide funding to organisations working to support victims and increase access to justice, including TRIAL International, Case Matrix Network (CMN), World Vision, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) and Unione Internazionale Superiore Generali (UIS).
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