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1151636

registered interest
date	22/10/2019
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Burma: Rohingya
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations contained in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rights of the Rohingya's report A New Shape of Catastrophe: two years on from the 2017 Rohingya Crisis, published on 10 September.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL273
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>I am grateful for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rights of the Rohingya's sustained work and attention on the Rohingya crisis response. I wrote to the Co-Chair of the Group, Anne Main MP, on 27 September in response to the report. The UK has recently announced further funding to the crisis, bringing our total commitment to the response in Bangladesh since August 2017 to £256 million, and making us the second largest donor to the 2019 international Joint Response Plan.</p><p> </p><p>DFID’s latest funding to the crisis will maintain and improve protection and humanitarian assistance provided to refugees, including through the provision of food, healthcare, water, sanitation, care and counselling for sexual violence survivors, and protection of vulnerable groups. Over 75,000 children and adolescents from the refugee and host communities will have access to education and skills training and over £20 million of new support will be provided to the thousands of already vulnerable Bangladeshi families in Cox’s Bazar district. The UK is also one of the largest donors in Rakhine State, Myanmar, where over 600,000 Rohingya remain in need of assistance. The UK is committed to justice for the Rohingya, and has led international efforts on sanctions and establishing an evidence gathering mechanism.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 30/10/2019 13:59:58 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1151157

registered interest
date	21/10/2019
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Pakistan: Religious Freedom
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they intend to have with the Pakistan Public Services Commissions about ways in which to support the training and professional development of workers from religious minority backgrounds; and what plans they have to increase aid funding to be used for training teachers in Pakistan to promote freedom of religion or belief.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL234
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>We have already funded teacher training modules on equity and inclusion delivered to nearly 100,000 teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. UK aid prioritises support for the poorest and most excluded people and communities in Pakistan regardless of race, religion, social background or nationality. DFID Pakistan is currently developing new education programmes and as part of this process we will actively consider what we can do to benefit these groups.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 30/10/2019 13:41:43 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1151158

registered interest
date	21/10/2019
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Religious Freedom
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include modules on freedom of religion or belief in all existing and future Department for International Development capacity building programmes.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL235
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>DFID’s increasing use of country context analysis has improved the way in which religious dynamics and religious groups are factored into country programmes. Through this process, DFID identifies the most significant problems that hinder development and the main entry points and opportunities to create change. This includes the role of religion and freedom of religion or belief.</p><p> </p><p>Through UK Aid Connect, DFID is funding a consortium led by the Institute of Development Studies to address the challenges in building tolerance and freedom of religion or belief. In November 2018, Lord Ahmad and Lord Bates launched this £12 million initiative which will contribute to making poverty reduction programmes more inclusive, by highlighting and redressing religious inequalities, with a focus on highly volatile contexts.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 30/10/2019 13:56:19 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1151159

registered interest
date	21/10/2019
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Pakistan: Religious Freedom
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support the government of Pakistan to develop financial incentives for parents from marginalised religious minority communities to register their children upon birth, and to send them to schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL236
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>DFID supports the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) which is the Government of Pakistan’s national social protection scheme. Under the BISP education programme, a total of 3.2 million children will be supported to enrol and stay in primary schools. Targeting is based on poverty status, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, and encourages parents to provide the birth registration certificate as part of enrolment into the programme.</p><p> </p><p>We do not support financial incentives for any parents to register the birth of their children, as our assessment is that this is not the most appropriate tool to improve birth registration. However, we will continue to actively engage with the Government of Pakistan to promote increased accessibility to birth registration services for marginalised and hard to reach groups, including for religious minorities. We are also designing interventions under our Aawaz II programme to directly work with groups like religious minorities in communities to better access services.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 30/10/2019 16:19:44 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1151160

registered interest
date	21/10/2019
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Pakistan: Minority Groups
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require organisations that receive UK aid funding for projects in Pakistan to hire at least 5 per cent of any in-country staff from minority communities.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL237
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>We do not have any plans to require recruitment by quota for DFID funded programmes. People from minority communities may be reluctant to disclose their minority status, which makes it difficult to count and monitor against this metric. However, our programme documentation makes clear that we require our partners to avoid discriminatory practices in recruitment as well as take action on safeguarding.</p><p> </p><p>Our Aawaz programme has helped members of minority communities to challenge discrimination and its successor Aawaz 2 will continue this work.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 30/10/2019 13:56:50 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752406

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the freedom of information response issued by the Department for International Development (DfID) on 13 March which stated that “whoever needs our help the most gets it first”, what assessment they have made of the needs of religious minorities in Northern Iraq and Syria; whether those minorities fall within the definition of humanitarian assistance applied by UN agencies; what assessment they have made of claims by NGOs that religious identity is the basis for human rights abuses including abduction and murder; what data DfID collect about the ethnic and religious diversity of those receiving its aid in those regions; and if such data is not collected, why not.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK Government recognises the specific risks such as abduction and murder faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh, and is deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses motivated by religious or ethnic identity.</p><p>All people in need, from any community, irrespective of religious affiliation, are eligible for humanitarian assistance. DFID’s humanitarian implementing partners, including the UN, consider a wide range of issues when assessing an individual’s vulnerability such as the impact of physical or mental disabilities, income, age, missing family members, and whether individuals are already receiving assistance from other sources.</p><p>The organisations through which we channel our support do not identify or record beneficiaries by their religion. The reason for this is because there is a risk that collecting information about the ethnicity or religion of people receiving aid could be obtained by others, including extremist groups, and used to persecute them.</p><p>We do not therefore hold information on how much UK-funded support is channelled to Yezidis and Christians either inside or outside camps. This year the UK will provide £40 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and £4 million for the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS) to help rebuild communities affected by Daesh, including for minority communities in newly liberated areas in Iraq. The UK is also providing £500 million to support people, including refugees and internally displaced Syrians, affected by the Syria crisis in 2017. DFID does not fund the Bishops Emergency Committee.</p><p>The Nineveh Reconstruction Committee comprised of Church representatives has not contacted the UK Government or submitted a proposal for UK support for the construction of homes on the Nineveh Plains.</p><p>The UK is funding the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS), which is supporting 152 projects in mainly Christian communities in the Ninewa Plains and 70 projects in Yezidi communities in Sinjar, Rabia and Sinuni.</p><p>UN agencies are obliged to operate by the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality which aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion; and to also ensure that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. DFID considers reports from a wide range of sources, including field visits by UK officials where these are possible, to assess the effectiveness of UN operations and their compliance with humanitarian principles. The UN carries out vital work in both Syria and Iraq, and UN staff frequently risk their lives to deliver assistance to people in need, including to areas where Daesh or the Assad regime seek to prevent aid being delivered.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL854 HL855 HL856 question first answered 25/07/2017 15:00:41 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752407

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to call for ethnic and religious minorities to be added to the UN’s diversity approach to humanitarian assistance; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which UN agencies have (1) protected religious freedom, (2) guaranteed the safety of religious minorities within their remits, and (3) provided equal and impartial support and access to services.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL853
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK’s humanitarian aid operates under International Humanitarian Law and is provided based on need. It must be available to people of all faiths and of none. All UN agencies are required to carry out comprehensive vulnerability assessments to ensure aid is reaching those most in need, including those from religious minorities. We do not intend to call for ethnic and religious minorities to be added. The Multilateral Development Review restated our vision of building open societies, where no-one is held back by their gender, ethnic group, sexual orientation, disability or belief system.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 20/07/2017 16:23:54 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752408

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which UN agencies have operated impartially and neutrally in responding to the needs of religious minorities facing persecution and genocide in Northern Iraq and Syria; and on what evidence they base that assessment.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL854
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK Government recognises the specific risks such as abduction and murder faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh, and is deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses motivated by religious or ethnic identity.</p><p>All people in need, from any community, irrespective of religious affiliation, are eligible for humanitarian assistance. DFID’s humanitarian implementing partners, including the UN, consider a wide range of issues when assessing an individual’s vulnerability such as the impact of physical or mental disabilities, income, age, missing family members, and whether individuals are already receiving assistance from other sources.</p><p>The organisations through which we channel our support do not identify or record beneficiaries by their religion. The reason for this is because there is a risk that collecting information about the ethnicity or religion of people receiving aid could be obtained by others, including extremist groups, and used to persecute them.</p><p>We do not therefore hold information on how much UK-funded support is channelled to Yezidis and Christians either inside or outside camps. This year the UK will provide £40 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and £4 million for the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS) to help rebuild communities affected by Daesh, including for minority communities in newly liberated areas in Iraq. The UK is also providing £500 million to support people, including refugees and internally displaced Syrians, affected by the Syria crisis in 2017. DFID does not fund the Bishops Emergency Committee.</p><p>The Nineveh Reconstruction Committee comprised of Church representatives has not contacted the UK Government or submitted a proposal for UK support for the construction of homes on the Nineveh Plains.</p><p>The UK is funding the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS), which is supporting 152 projects in mainly Christian communities in the Ninewa Plains and 70 projects in Yezidi communities in Sinjar, Rabia and Sinuni.</p><p>UN agencies are obliged to operate by the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality which aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion; and to also ensure that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. DFID considers reports from a wide range of sources, including field visits by UK officials where these are possible, to assess the effectiveness of UN operations and their compliance with humanitarian principles. The UN carries out vital work in both Syria and Iraq, and UN staff frequently risk their lives to deliver assistance to people in need, including to areas where Daesh or the Assad regime seek to prevent aid being delivered.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL852 HL855 HL856 question first answered 25/07/2017 15:00:41 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752409

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the freedom of information response issued by the Department for International Development (DfID) on 13 March which stated that “the vast majority of Syrian refugees across the Middle East, as well as internally displaced persons in Iraq and Syria, live in host communities rather than in camps” and that DfID is active in providing them with support, what funds have been made available to Yazidis and Christians living outside the camps; how much will be provided for (1) urgent humanitarian assistance, and (2) the rebuilding of those communities; and how much DfID funding is provided through the Bishops Emergency Committee.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL855
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK Government recognises the specific risks such as abduction and murder faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh, and is deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses motivated by religious or ethnic identity.</p><p>All people in need, from any community, irrespective of religious affiliation, are eligible for humanitarian assistance. DFID’s humanitarian implementing partners, including the UN, consider a wide range of issues when assessing an individual’s vulnerability such as the impact of physical or mental disabilities, income, age, missing family members, and whether individuals are already receiving assistance from other sources.</p><p>The organisations through which we channel our support do not identify or record beneficiaries by their religion. The reason for this is because there is a risk that collecting information about the ethnicity or religion of people receiving aid could be obtained by others, including extremist groups, and used to persecute them.</p><p>We do not therefore hold information on how much UK-funded support is channelled to Yezidis and Christians either inside or outside camps. This year the UK will provide £40 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and £4 million for the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS) to help rebuild communities affected by Daesh, including for minority communities in newly liberated areas in Iraq. The UK is also providing £500 million to support people, including refugees and internally displaced Syrians, affected by the Syria crisis in 2017. DFID does not fund the Bishops Emergency Committee.</p><p>The Nineveh Reconstruction Committee comprised of Church representatives has not contacted the UK Government or submitted a proposal for UK support for the construction of homes on the Nineveh Plains.</p><p>The UK is funding the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS), which is supporting 152 projects in mainly Christian communities in the Ninewa Plains and 70 projects in Yezidi communities in Sinjar, Rabia and Sinuni.</p><p>UN agencies are obliged to operate by the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality which aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion; and to also ensure that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. DFID considers reports from a wide range of sources, including field visits by UK officials where these are possible, to assess the effectiveness of UN operations and their compliance with humanitarian principles. The UN carries out vital work in both Syria and Iraq, and UN staff frequently risk their lives to deliver assistance to people in need, including to areas where Daesh or the Assad regime seek to prevent aid being delivered.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL852 HL854 HL856 question first answered 25/07/2017 15:00:41 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752410

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government (1) what contact they have had with, and (2) what support they intend to provide to, the Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, regarding (a) the rebuilding of 13,000 homes on the Nineveh Plains, and (b) the need to ensure that those Christians internally displaced from the Plains are provided with adequate food supplies.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL856
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK Government recognises the specific risks such as abduction and murder faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh, and is deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses motivated by religious or ethnic identity.</p><p>All people in need, from any community, irrespective of religious affiliation, are eligible for humanitarian assistance. DFID’s humanitarian implementing partners, including the UN, consider a wide range of issues when assessing an individual’s vulnerability such as the impact of physical or mental disabilities, income, age, missing family members, and whether individuals are already receiving assistance from other sources.</p><p>The organisations through which we channel our support do not identify or record beneficiaries by their religion. The reason for this is because there is a risk that collecting information about the ethnicity or religion of people receiving aid could be obtained by others, including extremist groups, and used to persecute them.</p><p>We do not therefore hold information on how much UK-funded support is channelled to Yezidis and Christians either inside or outside camps. This year the UK will provide £40 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and £4 million for the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS) to help rebuild communities affected by Daesh, including for minority communities in newly liberated areas in Iraq. The UK is also providing £500 million to support people, including refugees and internally displaced Syrians, affected by the Syria crisis in 2017. DFID does not fund the Bishops Emergency Committee.</p><p>The Nineveh Reconstruction Committee comprised of Church representatives has not contacted the UK Government or submitted a proposal for UK support for the construction of homes on the Nineveh Plains.</p><p>The UK is funding the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS), which is supporting 152 projects in mainly Christian communities in the Ninewa Plains and 70 projects in Yezidi communities in Sinjar, Rabia and Sinuni.</p><p>UN agencies are obliged to operate by the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality which aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion; and to also ensure that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. DFID considers reports from a wide range of sources, including field visits by UK officials where these are possible, to assess the effectiveness of UN operations and their compliance with humanitarian principles. The UN carries out vital work in both Syria and Iraq, and UN staff frequently risk their lives to deliver assistance to people in need, including to areas where Daesh or the Assad regime seek to prevent aid being delivered.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL852 HL854 HL855 question first answered 25/07/2017 15:00:41 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool