UK government has marked the annual 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Based Violence with renewed efforts to work with partners to prevent violence and empower women and girls around the world.
The great announcement was made by the Development Minister Andrew Mitchell at an event in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on Tuesday, November 28th as Lord Ahmad visits Colombia to meet survivors and see the UK’s work in action.
This highly anticipated campaign will help women’s rights organisations in more than 70 countries.
“Our support to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women helped reach over 400,000 women and girls in 2022, but there is more to be done. We are stepping up our support for grassroots organisations in more than 70 countries around the world and new funding will go towards tackling gender-based violence to help empower women and girls everywhere.” Andrew Mitchell said.
These announcements come as Lord Ahmad, Special Representative for PSVI, visits Colombia, accompanied by HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh.
Lord Ahmad visited Colombia to meet survivors and see UK-funded support programmes a year on since the UK’s landmark Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) conference.
The Minister will see how UK-funded programmes are supporting survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) including with legal representation and psychological support, and formally hand over the chair of the International Alliance on PSVI – a growing network of 25 members established by the UK, including governments, the UN, survivors and civil society – to Colombia for 2024.
The Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Commonwealth and United Nations) Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon said:
“I am proud of the progress we have made over the past year in further tackling conflict-related sexual violence. The UK and Colombia are united in our desire to achieve further justice and redress for victims of the appalling sexual violence that took place during the Colombian conflict – and for survivors around the world.”
Here is what the UK is announcing a new package of support :
· Up to £18m in new support for grassroots women’s rights organisations across 70 countries to tackle gender-based violence in communities, focusing on the most marginalised as part of the UK’s biggest ever funding boost to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Funding will improve access to services including legal aid, shelters, and health care for survivors, support more effective legislation, and help to shift harmful attitudes and behaviours to prevent violence before it starts.
· The first round of successful grantees under the What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale programme which will initially support eight women’s rights organisations in Malawi, India, Pakistan, Somalia, Eswatini, Uganda and Madagascar to implement innovative, locally-led approaches to drive down rates of violence in homes, schools, universities and workplaces.
· A new £15m UK-funded programme in Somalia to reach more than 117,000 people with help to advance the rights of women and girls in humanitarian crisis through mental health support, training for health workers to recognise signs of violence and the establishment of centres to bring together medical, legal and psychosocial services.
At the halfway point of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, no country is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by 2030. Despite the scale of the problem, UK-funded evidence shows that violence is preventable and can be reduced by 50% by focusing on the most effective approaches.
